Ishikengo no Kami

Author Notes:

Hello! Thank you for choosing to take the time to take a look at my fic. I hope you enjoy it. Few things first:

Disclaimer: I have no rights to the character, setting, story and otherwise that have been taken from the original manga and anime Naruto. I will make no money from this, nor do I intend to cost the holders of the original work's rights any money. I do this not to cause trouble, but to express a great appreciation for a wonderful series. I request that the original creator and those who have the rights to it to not look upon this not as a mean spirited infringement, but as a great compliment and free advertising.

Thanks: I would like to thank Tensai for beta reading, you were a ton of help! I would also like to give a big thanks to my friend Joe, whose characters and ideas I am, in part, using. Finally, thanks to Masashi Kishimoto-sensei for creating Naruto in the first place.

Denotation:

"Speech"

'Thought'

-Sound-

Japanese words and names:

Ano - denotes thinking or nervousness, like Umm or Err

Ara – sound of surprise, similar to 'huh?'

Demo – 'but'

Hai – The respectful form of 'yes'

Shuriken – Small star-shaped throwing weapon

Katana – A type of sword

-san – similar to Mr or Ms, but more widely used

-kun – added to the end of a name (usually a boy's) to indicate some level of friendliness

-chan – like –kun, but more for girls

-sama – very respectful, similar to lord, master or things like that

Ero-Sennin – Pervert-Hermit, Naruto's name for Jiraiya

Godaime – Refers to the fifth Hokage

Hokage – Leader of Konoha

Konoha – Leaf, refers to the Hidden Leaf Village

Genin – Lowest level of ninja

Chakra – The energy used to perform ninja techniques

Now, on to the story:

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It was a bright, cheerful day in the forest outside the hidden village of Konoha. The wildlife was going about its peaceful way, high up in the sky the sun was shining down on the world and nothing could have been more serene. The birds were singing, the grass was growing…

"Shit! I'm running late!"

…strange blurs in the trees were swearing…

A vague figure sprinted through the foliage, hopping from branch to branch. "The old lady is going to kill me!" said the figure. Its name was Uzumaki Naruto, age 12, and he was in a hurry. Bad things awaited him if he kept the Fifth Hokage waiting too long.

Naruto was on his way back from another mission. He'd been given a lot of them lately. He had been told it was because the village needed all the help it could get after that bastard Orochimaru's attack. He guessed, however, that the truth had more to do with Tsunade wanting to get rid of him so that he would stop asking her to let him go save Sasuke.Still, he was growing restless.

'Where is that stupid Ero-Sennin anyways! I should be out training with him, not fighting all these weirdoes.'

The local inhabitants of one particular tree branch were suddenly sent scampering away as, without warning, the strange boy dropped out of nowhere and stopped abruptly. A strange feeling was washing over Naruto. Without knowing why, he started scanning the area from his perch. 'What the heck is this feeling? It's like…' The thought remained unfinished as he felt a blade press against his throat, drawing a single drop of blood.

"Why am I so attracted to you?"

The voice was low, menacing and, above all, male. It was also coming from directly behind.

"WHAT! Who the heck are you?" The drop was joined by a small trickle, as the blade was momentarily forgotten.

"I asked you a question," replied the un-named man without care. "Why am I so attracted to you?" Funny how he managed to make such an innocent phrase sound like a threat.

"What kind of pervert are you? Let me go!" Naruto shouted, struggling until the blade was withdrawn. He stumbled forward and swung around.

The man behind him was dressed entirely in black. His head wrapped, his mouth covered and a katana at his side. He seemed to be in his early twenties, but the most noticeable thing about him were his eyes. They stared straight into Naruto with such intensity that he forgot he should still be yelling at the weirdo.

"I asked you a question, boy. I expect an answer."

Then again, it didn't take much to remind him.

"W-WHAT? Who do you think you are? You sneak up on me, cut me and now you're trying to order me around?"

Even though his mouth was covered, Naruto could literally hear the sneer in the man's voice. "You call your self a ninja, making a racket like that? Pathetic. If I had wanted, you would have been dead before you even noticed me." Naruto was really starting to hate this guy.

'This bastard!' "Hey! Just try saying that again!"

"Forget it. What a waste of my time," and with that, he disappeared.

"What! Hey! I wasn't done yelling at you!" but it was too late. Not only had he vanished into thin air but that strange feeling was fading, as if the source was moving away. 'Who the hell was that bastard?'

--------

'Where the hell is that brat?' Today was shaping up to be one of those days. That last mission she'd given him hadn't lasted as long as she had hoped. He was coming back already. Then, to top it all off, he's late! If he was going to not be around, that was fine by her (in fact, it's what she wanted), but that didn't mean he could just not show up!

"A…Ano….Godaime-sama…"

"Hmmm?" She'd almost forgot about the girl. That stupid brat was making her wait, too! "What is it, Hinata?"

"Ano, well, you see…"

"It's ok, just say what's on your mind."

"Th-the table…"

The Fifth Hokage looked down to where her hand was gripping the table's edge; the wood was starting to splinter. Damn that Naruto!

"Hey, Granny! I'm back!"

At those words she looked up to see the boy in question, dressed in his usual orange, scratching the back of his head and grinning like an idiot. "It's about time you showed up!"

"Sheesh," he mumbled not so quietly. "What's she so upset about?"

A vain twitched on the Hokage's temple. Momentarily, she pondered how much trouble she'd get into for pounding one of her own genin into the ground. "That's enough! No more out of you."

"Some welcome back," he mumbled a bit softer. "I've hardly said two words…"

"Stop mumbling. Or would you rather say that so I can hear it?" she said leaning forward sweetly, a false smile on her lips. An unhappy look crossed Naruto's face. "I didn't think so. Now can we get down to business? You've got a mission."

"Another one? Already?" he whined. He knew it; she was trying to get rid of him!

"Yes another one. Deal with it. The village has been having a lot of trouble lately and everyone's busy." This statement only earned a short -harrumph- from Naruto. "So, the two of you will be going together on this one."

"Huh? Two?" he asked, looking around. "Oh, Hinata?"

"Naruto-kun…."

"I didn't notice you at all!"

-Dong of Dejection- 'Naruto-kun…didn't notice me...'

"Alright, listen up you two. I'm only going to explain this once. Hinata, it's your job to fill Naruto in later when it turns out he wasn't paying attention."

"H-Hai!" She stole a glance to her side to see how Naruto would react to that. He had his hands behind his head and was staring at the ceiling, appearing to have not noticed the jibe. Was he really not paying attention already? Well, Hinata had never pretended that attentiveness was Naruto's strong suit. His strength lay elsewhere, in his courage and determination. He never gave up and always believed in himself, something Hinata had never been able to do.

Un bidden, her mind turned back to when she was young….

Her confidence had been shattered. Father had been so disappointed when she had messed up the tea ceremony that she had run off to cry. The shame burned her worse than the tea ever could.

That's when she saw him.

He had been practicing his shuriken throwing on his own. He hadn't done so well when they had practiced it in school, so he had come out in the afternoon to get it right. It was late evening now and he was still trying. She watched him again and again, trying to get it right, but it was no good. She felt the shame and embarrassment that he must have felt. Someone else was failing like she had. In the end, it was no use…

"Not yet! I'm not giving up yet!"

Startled from her thoughts she watched him pick himself up, ragged with exhaustion, and collect his weapons. He wasn't giving up. He was still trying…

"…and so that's your mission." The words startled Hinata from the past, whipping her forward into the present before she could catch her mental balance. "Get going you two!"

"Hai, hai. We got it. Come on Hinata, let's get this over with."

"Huh?" Oh no! She'd spaced out and missed what the Hokage had said! And Naruto hadn't been paying attention! And now they wouldn't know what the mission was! 'What do I do? What do I do?'

"Huh? Hinata?" he asked as his temporary teammate's head swiveled back and forth between him and the Hokage, a strange look on her face. 'Hmmm…maybe she is a weirdo after all…oh well.'

"Come on Hinata," he said, grabbing the pale-eyed girl's hand and dragging her out of the office. "Let's go."

"D-Demo…Demo…" her sputtered words falling on deaf ears.

'Well, that takes care of him for a while,' thought the Fifth. 'Damn that Jiraiya! I'm not the boy's keeper. Where is that stupid oaf?'

--------

They were all the way across town before Hinata managed to speak up. "N-Naruto-kun…D-do you know w-where we're s-s-s-supposed…t-to go?" All the blood in her cheeks appeared to be making it hard for her to speak.

Well, even harder than normal.

"Ah jeez, not you too! If you believed that old bag you'd think I never listen to anybody!"

"N-Naruto-kun…"

"I mean, seriously! It's not like I go around with my ears plugged or anything."

"Naruto-kun"

"I bet she doesn't give anyone else such a hard time. She just likes picking on me and…"

"Naruto-kun!"

"Huh? Hinata? What's up?"

"….m-my hand…." He looked down. He was still holding it.

"Huh? Oh! Sorry about that." His hand released hers. As much as she wished it hadn't, at least now she wasn't at risk of passing out. She took a moment to catch her breath.

"Well, now we wait. He'd better not take too long."

"Huh? Who…who are we waiting for, N-Naruto-kun?"

"Ara? Did you forget, Hinata? Come to think of it, you're looking rather red…are you ok?" he asked, advancing. "You don't have a fever do you?"

"N-NO!" She shouted, waving her arms in front of her and backing away. "I-I'm fine! R-Really!" His holding her hand had been about as much as she could take. Having him check her temperature…she hoped she'd make it through this mission without losing consciousness.

"Huh? Ah, ok then. If you're sure." He resumed waiting, tapping his foot impatiently on the ground. "We're supposed to meet some guy from the Hidden Branch. It's some new village or something and they want help getting set up. So we're stuck hiking all the way there with some representative of theirs to…"

It took Hinata a moment to register the sudden silence. Looking up at Naruto she saw him frantically scanning around the area as if searching for something. "N-Naruto-kun?"

"Shhh…can you feel that?"

"H-Huh?" Hinata was confused. What was Naruto talking about?

Slowly, Naruto found what he was searching for. 'Oh crap.'

"You again."

Naruto wheeled around at the sound of the voice, intending to do some serious yelling. Instead, he jumped backwards when he found himself face to face with that bastard from earlier. "Ah! You don't have to stand so close!"

"You felt me coming. I take it you feel it too; this attraction between us."

Somewhere in the background, a very surprised young girl made a small yelp.

"Stop saying that! Who are you anyways?"

"Still yelling like an idiot. How pathetic," he paused a moment to look the two genin over. "My name is Alucard. You will remember it. I take it your presence here means that you and that girl over there are the ones being sent? A meek little girl and a loudmouthed idiot; I told them Konoha would not take the request seriously."

"What! That's it; I've had about enough of you! You're going down bastard!" Crossing his fingers in front of him, Naruto summoned his chakra. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Seven more Narutos appeared around the original. "Alright you bastard! Time to…Hey, where'd he go?" His adversary had vanished again. The assembled clones looked around in surprise. "Hah! He must have run away again!" The real Naruto, however, didn't share their enthusiasm. That guy was still here; he could feel it.

-Poof Poof-

Naruto turned to see two clones burst into smoke on the left.

-Poof Poof Poof-

Three more on the right. 'Where is he?' The last two clones burst and Naruto only had time to brace himself as that strange feeling suddenly came into focus. He was right behind him.

"Pathetic once again" Naruto turned slowly to see Alucard standing behind him casually. "I see no benefit in bringing such a weakling back with me."

'This bastard…'

"But, my orders are to bring back the ones Konoha chooses to send. Therefore, you will come with me."

"Like hell I will! You and your stupid village can just go jump in a lake for all I care!" Burning with embarrassment and anger Naruto turned to leave, only to be stopped as Alucard's arm suddenly shot straight out to the side, bringing his sword directly in front of Naruto's neck.

"I may be under orders to bring you, but they never said you both had to be alive."

The moment stretched on. Naruto could feel beads of sweat rolling down his cheek. Finally Alucard, eyes still filled with venom, lowered his sword and began to walk away.

"Bring the girl."

--------

Naruto fumed for another moment. He considered refusing to go and heading back home, but decided that would be running away. He would not only see out his mission, but also look for a chance to pay that bastard back. That's the ticket!

He didn't admit it to himself, but the fact that Alucard would probably come looking for him was also a factor. Besides, he wanted to know what was going on. That nagging feeling…

The blonde boy turned to look for his companion. He found her on the ground, mumbling incoherently while unconscious. "…A-Attracted to Naruto-kun….Feels it too…."

Perhaps fortunately, she seemed to have missed the battle.

--------

"He is leaving."

Two figures in the darkness, far from the path, watched the ragtag group head down the road.

"Are we sure he is the one? Fallen said that…"

"Fallen could not have found him. It's because of that seal… No matter. He is the one we are looking for. That is certain." The speaker's voice was firm. He was obviously the leader. "But more importantly, did you notice who he was with?"

"Yes. We should grab them both quickly."

"Don't be a fool. If we move now we will lose him. We can wait." There was a pause as the figure looked up into the sky. "How fortuitous that the two who have proved hardest to find should happen together just as we arrive… Send word. I shall handle this personally."