Soft Words

Naruto’s turn this time. I hope you guys liked Sumi because she’s making an appearance in this short as well.

Uzumaki Naruto cackled gleefully as he bolted through the streets of Konohagakure no sato, avoiding ANBU, Jounin and Chuunin alike with a skill that would be key to his survival later in life – not that he knew it. But for now, the seven-year-old was content to use it to avoid Iruka-Sensei and the various Shinobi he hacked off with many an ingenious prank they neglected to avoid.

Many forgot that you didn’t need Chakra to fight, prime example being an Academy Student by the name of Rock Lee whose underdeveloped Chakra Coils prevented him from even firing off a Jutsu, though no one would be sure if he was capable or not of Water-Walking or Tree Climbing. Time would tell. But there was no doubt in anyone’s mind, if enough time or effort was devoted, Rock Lee would become one of Konoha’s best Taijutsu experts, right along side Jounin Sensei Maito Gai. Which was probably one of the few reasons why he had not been discharged immediately from the Ninja Academy when his deficiency was discovered during the end of third year Shinobi Physical. When a Medic nin came in to examine each of the students and give them a small talking to about the psychological damage that being a Shinobi could cause, in particular picking out those who were completely unsuited for the damaging lifestyle and advising them to defer to a Civilian life.

Naruto hadn’t been allowed to attend; he was in trouble for a prank and forced to stand outside the classroom holding two heavy sand-filled buckets for five hours. A punishment disproportionate to rigging a chalk-board eraser to explode via an extremely low powered Ofuda explosive – it wouldn’t have even burned Mizuki-sensei’s hand, maybe singed his knuckle-hair but that’s all – causing white chalk powder to billow out and cover their sensei with it and also mean that he wouldn’t be writing on the black-board for once. Naruto couldn’t read as well as his classmates, he couldn’t read at all for that matter, all the jutsus he knew were figured out via overhearing his classmates chatting about it and the pictures he found in the scrolls detailing the effected.

It was wonder he wasn’t even lower than deadlast.

Whilst streaking across the roof of one of the hotels avoiding one of the more persistent – and pissed off – Chuunins, Naruto did the most impossibly stupid things he could have done... he vaulted through an open window into one of the rooms.

Now, Naruto was no innocent by any stretch of the imagination – his unfinished Oiroke no jutsu being a prime example, along side the pilfered half destroyed ‘Icha Icha Pin-up Calendar’ he found once while rummaging through the trash looking for food when he was younger (He originally hung on to it in the hopes to trade it for something, he’d seen those same Kanji on those little orange books that the majority of the men seemed to love and thought it might be worth something.) – he was however, completely unprepared for the sight of a REAL woman without any clothing on.

Blue eyes practically popped out of the seven-year-old’s head as the tall red head twisted to stare at him with amused black eyes, eyes that slid past him to rest upon the Chuunin who dropped in after the Jinchuriki only to freeze at the sight of her.

“Oh?” She demurred, her voice sending a chill up Naruto’s spine as he suddenly got the impression that he was barely inches away from a painful death. The blond did the first thing that came to mind and slapped his hands over his eyes and turned away so quickly his feet tangled in the discarded towel on the floor and he ended up falling over, all the while spluttering out apologies to the young woman.

The Chuunin did no such thing and actually erupted into a nose bleed, eyes still glued to the woman’s breasts, not noticing the sudden drop in temperature as her eyes narrowed.

It happened too quickly for Naruto to be certain, but one minute he was peeking at the situation from between his fingers – the pretty lady was stood in the middle of the room her red hair plastered to her back still wet from her shower with the Chuunin ogling her thoughtlessly next to the window – next, there was no window and no Chuunin and the pretty lady now had a set of bloody knuckles and a white Yakuta covering her body as she chuckled darkly to herself.

“Idiot. Just lucky Momo-chan isn’t here.” She muttered to herself before looking to Naruto who hastily squeezed his eyes shut before she beat him up too for peeping at her. Instead she just laughed at him and gently pried his hands away from his face, “Hey now, now what is a Sweetie like you being chased by a pervert like that hmm?” She asked helping him back to his feet, dark eyes taking in his ratty orange jumpsuit, scuffed and falling apart sandles, dusty blond hair, whisker marks and wide blue eyes even as she untangled her towel from his ankles and tossed it unceremoniously onto the bed.

Naruto scratched uncertainly at his head, peeking at her nervously, “You’re not gunna hit me for seein’ you naked are you?” He asked quietly, the woman blinked before smirking.

“Traditionally the guy has to buy the girl dinner before he can see her without any clothes. But I suppose that the order of things shouldn’t matter so much ne?” She asked winking at him, “Tell you what, you show me the best place to eat and we’ll call it even. You didn’t mean to catch me o’natural now did you?” She asked looking him square in the eye.

Something told Naruto it would be best to agree so the blond nodded vigorously and the woman nodded holding her hand out formally.

“Names Kusanagi Sumi. Just call me Sumi Sweetie.” She requested before pointing to a large sword, “This is Kogetenamida. Know what it means?” She asked tilting her head as the boy nodded grinning brightly,

“Burning Tears, right?” He asked making Sumi smile,

“That it does. My sword is special, it splits into three parts, each with a different special power, one controls Ice, one Fire and the last controls Water, put them all together and I can control all three elements. Neat huh?” She asked getting to her feet, “Just don’t touch her, she’s very sharp and I don’t want you getting hurt Sweetie. I’m just going to go and get changed here in the bathroom so don’t go wondering off kay? You still have to show me where to eat.” She exclaimed before ducking into the small side room and leaving Naruto to peer around.

The room was small but comfortable, furnished for two and judging by what he could see, aside from Sumi-chan, the other occupant was a man. Blue eyes stared at the discarded boots not too far from him, a very BIG man. Was he Sumi-chan’s boyfriend?

Naruto’s little face scrunched up slightly, which brought him to another matter, why was she being so nice to him? Everyone else was really nasty apart from Old man Ichiraku and Ayame-neechan and jijii-chan.

“Alright Sweetie. I’m ready.” Exclaimed the exuberant voice from the doorway, whirling around Naruto’s eyes immediately glued upon the Hitai-ate fastened upon her forehead proudly displaying the fact that Sumi-chan was from Mist and the fact that she was a Shinobi.

“You’re a Ninja!?” He exclaimed in shock, “Cool! Can you teach me some cool Jutsus!? Please Sumi-chan!” He exclaimed gleefully practically glomping her legs, little hands tangling in the pale blue and pink sakura blossom patterned knee-length yakuta she wore over Shinobi style brown-grey pants and dark blue sandals. He did take note of the two Kunai holsters on each leg, but he didn’t see the two wrist braces with spring loaded Kama – a simple clasp of her forearms would have the twin blades snapping out ready to fight – or the Summoning Scroll tucked into her cleavage. She was one of the lucky people to gain a Summoning Contract with the Cranes – traditionally the Crane contract stayed in the Kusanagi family, but Sadako the Boss Crane(1) was picky about her choice of Summoners and it had been over four Generations until a Kusanagi met her standards, Sumi had been the lucky Summoner to her father’s fury.

Sumi laughed, “Sorry Sweetie, but I’m not allowed. Village rules, you know the jizz.” She explained tapping her Mist headband making Naruto frown slightly but nod. The woman smiled brightly and held her hand out to him, “So, you going to take me out to dinner or cling to my legs all day? I could go either way, you’re that cute but I’m hungry.” She pointed out as Naruto promptly went red and retreated from her legs, smiling hesitantly before placing his much smaller hand in her own.

The two continued out of the Hotel and down the streets, Sumi frowning slightly at the dark looks shot towards her Sweetie along with the disgusted and somewhat alarmed looks sent her own way. Was this a village of moronic child abusers? First Hina-chan and her own father, though really – she shouldn’t have been so surprised/appalled after her own paternal experiences – and now Sweetie? Black eyes narrowed and the Kiri-Shinobi began to radiate Killer Intent, specifically aimed towards those who would treat her Sweetie badly, the majority of people on the street cringed back and completely avoided looking at the pair while Naruto blinked and looked up at her in worried confusion before relaxing as she smiled down at him and squeezed his hand slightly.

Ichiraki was fairly busy and Grandpa Teuchi was more than happy to serve the two of them, even going to far as to playfully flirt with Sumi who merely smirked playfully and flirted back, much to Ayame-neechan’s embarrassed horror –no child should ever have to see their father flirting with a younger, much younger woman.

Naruto loudly explained what he was doing at the Academy and how boring it was and how the teachers were all horrible to him, which made Sumi frown slightly but inevitably smile when Naruto went onto explain how Iruka-sensei – who Mizuki was substituting for because he was on a mission right now – wasn’t like that and was really nice even if he lectured him all the time.

Sumi laughed and ruffled the Uzumaki child’s rebellious blond spikes, “Y’know, to a teacher, a child who listens and wants to learn is a blessing. Those other teachers are bakas for discouraging you.” She pointed out, her mouth stuffed full of Pork-ramen – at last, Naruto thought, someone who knows the fine art of Ramen Slurping as well as I do! – as she waved her chopsticks around negligently, “I say, you work extra, extra hard for Iruka-sensei and make him look really, really good and sooo much better than those other baka-senseis. That’d show ‘em you’re not such a ‘deadlast’ ne?” She declared boisterously.

Naruto’s eyes went wide, “But that means Kanji and homework!” He whined dejectedly.

The red head swallowed the last of her ramen with little difficulty and crossed her legs, a finger resting upon her chin thoughtfully. “You don’t read so well do you?” She pondered looking a little sad as she said this. Naruto’s blush of shame and the way he looked away picking churlishly at his Ramen was all the answer she needed, the woman ‘hmm’ed thoughtfully. “You want to be Hokage am I right? Well... being a Kage means you’ll have lots of paperwork, which means you need to read what you’re signing so you don’t sign the wrong things, like an order to stop shipping Ramen into your village!” Naruto’s look of horror told her she’s used the right metaphor to describe how bad not knowing how to read or write would be.

“Best way to be a Kage is to be as smart as you can Sweetie. Your current Hokage is known as the Professor where I come from, he knows hundreds of jutsus and is the strongest Kage of the Shinobi world – at least in my opinion, he’s certainly the nicest for that matter.” She added before taking a long slurp of the remaining broth in her bowl before burping loudly and wiping her mouth with the back of her hand – her unlady-like behaviour casting a few of the business men around her to glower until they saw her Hitai-ate and scowl/look away fearfully – “So, I suggest you go to Iruka-sensei to get some lessons on how to better read and write. When we first met you asked me to teach you some cool Jutsus ne? Well, when you learn how to read and write you can go to the Shinobi Library next to the Hokage’s tower and read about all the cool Jutsus in there! But you’ll have to be quiet; people don’t like lots of noise when they’re reading. It distracts them and makes them angry.” She explained, “And when you’re a Hokage, I’ll be your liaison between Kiri and Konoha and you’ll pay me lots of money and I’ll take you out for Ramen on the weekends. Sound good?”

“YEAH!!” The blond boy exclaimed pumping a fist, practically jumping out of his seat to run off and find Iruka-sensei to ask for help with his reading. “Thanks Sumi-nechan!” He called as he raced off down the street, leaving the amused Mist-Shinobi shaking her head as she finished off the last of her broth and cast a sideways glance to Naruto’s unfinished Miso.

There was a pause before she too descended upon the unfinished bowl and slurped the last of the broth down in record timing – a record that would be broken by Naruto later after his first attempt at a Katon Jutsu and needed to get his energy back by consuming eight bowls of miso and beef flavoured ramen – much to the amusement of old Teuchi who had been keeping half an ear on the conversation.

“Thanks for your advice.” He stated over the counter to the young woman. Sumi grinned,

“Sweetie’s a good kid. He deserves better than what I’ve seen.” She declared getting to her feet, “Well I’d better head back, I’m leaving tomorrow and my partner will be wondering where the hell I am and hoping I haven’t gotten myself good and liquored up yet.” She declared with a bark of laughter. “How much do I owe you Old man?”

Teuchi shook his head with a fond smile, “On the house. Call it my thanks for helping our Naruto-kun out of a black hole.”

“You sure old man?” Sumi asked hesitantly, her hand already holding up a small wadge of Ryou. Teuchi waved her away with a grin.

“I’m sure.”

Needless to say, Iruka-sensei had several extremely harsh words for his other senseis the next day and Naruto soon became Sasuke Uchiha’s main rival for the spot of Rookie of the Year.

One thing was for certain, Iruka owed the change of his most worrisome students into his best to a single woman who wasn’t even from the village. Who wouldn’t even live long enough for him to express his thanks.

Kusanagi Sumi died two months after leaving Konoha during the rebellion and attempted assassination of the Mizukage of Kirigakure no Sato. She threw herself in front of an S-class Houton assassination technique to save the lives of her partner Momochi Zabuza and the young boy they had rescued from the gutter on their return trip to Kiri.

Sumi died in the arms of her most Precious people with a smile on her lips.

(1) Sadako the Crane Boss: I called the Summon Boss of the Cranes Sadako in honour of Sadako Sasaki, a young girl diagnosed with Leukaemia from the Hiroshima atom bomb. She was a baby only 1 mile away from ground zero when the bomb hit and was unharmed during the explosion. She was however diagnosed with the deadly disease on February 18th 1955 when she was little over 12-years-old. She was hospitalised on the 21th of that very month and given, at most, a year to live. In the beginning of August Sadako began the task of folding 1000 origami cranes, a legend claiming that if you fold a thousand you’ll be able to make a wish.

She died October 25 1955 in the morning with her family around her. Popular opinion is that she never finished all 1000, only getting as far as 644 and her friends finished the task and buried her body with all 1000 paper cranes, whereas in an exhibit in the Hiroshima Peace memorial museum it is officially stated that she eventually DID reach her 1000 mark goal and continued to fold the Origami cranes. Sadako has since become a symbol of the suffering that an atom/nuclear bomb can cause. There is a statue of her holding up a papercrane in the grounds just outside of the Museum only the left not too far away from the official Peace Memorial. (Yes, I have actually been there, both to the exhibit and the memorial. It was both a beautiful and very sad place. And I’m not so big of a baby to admit I did cry while walking through the museum.)

Excuse me while I go off and cry at the fact I not only just killed a character I really, really like but over remembering my short time in Hiroshima. (Goes off to wibble and find kitchen roll to dry her eyes)

Sorry, I’m a bit of a baby when it comes to shit like this. I cried when I was walking through the museum and some kind little old lady from Osaka, I think it was, stopped to give me some tissues, I think I actually cried harder – thankfully I was a bit further ahead than anyone from college as we were on a trip with people from our Japanese class, so I didn’t completely embarrass myself by being a cry-baby X3

Anyway, off I go.

Araceil

PS: Remember, nuclear warfare is WRONG.