The Gift of Song

Chapter Six

By Boejangles

-/-

Shikamaru's eyes roamed over the situation. It appeared they were up against two enemy, though there could always be someone hiding in the shadows waiting for the perfect opening. The male who first attacked Kiba appeared to not have a single weapon on him, though that too could be deceiving. The second attacker was also male, but this one was holding oddly shaped knives in each hand; the blade curved to the side to rest against the user's outer wrist. His mind quickly began to process the situation to find the best method for continuing through the maze.

Kiba stood up and the anger surrounding him was palpable. "Get out of my way!" he demanded with his head still bowed towards the floor. When the boy detected no movement from the two ahead of him, he shot his head up with a glare. "If you won't move I will just have to beat you out of the way!"

Naru peeked over Shikamaru's shoulder as Kiba's form began to shake. She could see him race through several hand seals. Soon there was a 'pop' and there were two Kiba's standing in front of her.

Clutching his hands together, Kiba shot a look to Akamaru as if communicating a plan of action with that single glance. He was more than just a little ticked off that someone was attempting to stop him from getting to Hinata.

Images of the girl being pushed around as ignorant jerks made fun of her 'freaky looking eyes' flashed through his mind. Just thinking about it increased the fury within the already angry boy. He thought Hinata's eyes were beautiful and he would beat down anyone who spoke differently. He had been doing just that since the first time he saw someone poking at the girl in the academy; even though they were bigger than him and had him outclassed and outnumbered. He would get back up each and every time he was knocked down. He simply refused to allow anyone to hurt the girl. Now, he was the bigger and stronger one, most people didn't dare to give the girl as much as a look of disgust.

However, someone was currently attempting to hurt Hinata and these fools were in his way to helping her. With a growl permeating from the boy, Kiba and Akamaru charged at the two before twisting their bodies into a rapid torpedo.

Watching the two identical forms jump back, Shikamaru noticed the blood dripping from Kiba's arms. Just as he had predicted, the male with the blades had used them in a block causing the dog boy to injury himself by attacking. Speaking of the male with the blades, he was standing a few feet back from where he started having been pushed back from the attack, but only looking mildly worse for wear. The other male was currently picking himself back off the floor.

Shikamaru had found the weaker link and the defensive abilities of the other. "Naru, stay here. I know you have been working on long range attacks: if you see an opening, take it." When he received a shaky nod from the blonde, he turned his attention to the other genin. "Kiba, can you still fight?"

The brunette seemed to scoff at the idea that he had been knocked out of the fight. "This," he stated in a questioning voice while raising his arms up, which caused blood to drip onto the floor. "Barely a scratch." The fact that Kiba flinched upon raising and lowering his arms did not help his argument.

The other Kiba turned his head slightly to send a grin to the only girl in the area. "Naru, think you can do what we did before?"

The blonde furrowed her eyebrows for a moment before it registered. "Uh, yeah." Casting a quick look to Shikamaru, she threw two senbon, each hit their target in the center of the boys' backs.

The Nara sent an evaluating look towards his friend as she began molding chakra in her hands. He wasn't quite sure what she was doing. His thoughts were forced onto the enemy as they charged at both boys.

Running to meet the blade wielder, the uninjured Kiba attempted to sweep the legs out from the enemy. It proved futile when the other male simply jumped over the kick.

Meanwhile, the other Kiba hissed in pain as he blocked a punch from the male that had been forced to the ground. The blood trailing down his arm increased as the cut expanded with the force of the blow. "Any time now Naru!" he barked as he was forced to jump back as his arm gave out and refused to hold the other male back any more.

Having finished connected her chakra to the senbon, Naru took in a breath and gained her focus. "Sha-la-la-la-la-la, my, oh, my, look like the boy too shy; ain't gonna kiss the girl."

The uninjured Kiba was slashed at as the attacked flipped mid-air. The force of the blow caused the boy to fly into the wall where a race line appeared across his abdomen. There was a whimper before the form changed into that of Akamaru.

"Akamaru!" Kiba called out as his head shot towards his downed partner. The distraction was all the attacking nin needed to land a punishing blow to the male's gut that doubled him over.

"Sha-la-la-la-la-la, ain't that sad? Ain't it a shame? Too bad, he gonna miss the girl," Naru continued to sing as if on impulse, since it was taking her utmost attention to move the chakra strings so that they stayed attached her current teammates.

"Wha…what?" the bladed enemy called out as the injury he had just inflicted on the male turned dog sealed itself back up.

Kiba straightened himself with condescending grin marring his face. "Checkmate," he stated as he lifted up his hand exposing an arm that was unscratched. The dog boy didn't know how to describe the feeling coursing through his veins except that he felt powerful: really powerful, undefeatable, untouchable.

"Now's your moment, floating in a blue lagoon. Boy, you better do it soon- no time will be better. She don't say a word and she won't say a word until ya kiss the girl."

The bladed enemy attempted to lash out at the dog again when he found that he was unable to move. His findings were voiced by his partner who screamed out in an attempt to break whatever was trying to keep him still.

"Shadow mimickery complete," Shikamaru spoke calmly from his crouched position. He had taken the enemies surprise to his advantage and stretched out his shadow to capture their own.

"Sha-la-la-la-la-la, don't be scared, you got the mood prepared. Go on and kiss the girl. Sha-la-la-la-la-la, don't stop now. Don't try and hide it, how you wanna kiss the girl. Sha-la-la-la-la-la, float along and listen to the song; song say kiss the girl." Naru was forced to move the strings as Kiba moved to land a punishing blow one right after the other on each of the opponents. She took a quick moment to appreciate how right before the hit landed, Shikamaru released his technique. Using her chakra strings, she pulled, yanking the senbon out of the Kiba and Akamarus' backs.

When the little white dog raced to the brunette's side, the blonde reached down and picked him up. While holding the dog in one hand, she placed her other on Kiba's back. "Sha-la-la-la-la, music play. Do what the music say, you gotta kiss the girl."

When the sting from the senbon's removal from his back dissipated, Kiba took Akamaru from the female. Casting her a look that clearly showed distaste, he let out an annoyed grunt. "Couldn't you have chosen a different song?"

With a pleased grin on her face, Naru shook her head. "Nope. That one was already on my mind and therefore the only song I could think about."

Shaking his head, the shadow user approached the two genin. He cast a sweeping glance over the knocked out bodies of the two that had been fighting with them only moments prior. Shikamaru advanced and patted Naru's head. "That was pretty impressive. I've never seen you do that before. So, you can channel your healing abilities through your chakra now?"

The blonde looked at her best friend before blinking cutely. "Is that what I was doing?" Putting her finger to her mouth, her face scrunched up in thought as she remembered how Kiba and Akamaru's wounds both seemed to disappear. The realization seemed to hit her as an excited smile took over her face. "Wow! That is so cool I didn't know I could do that."

The Nara shook his head in disbelief; leave it to blondie to not realize her own ability. She was definitely the most troublesome girl he knew. "Naru, if you didn't know what it did, why did you do it?"

Pointing to Kiba, she shrugged her shoulders. "Tramp asked me too."

Said boy took a moment to puff up as if he had been a genius to think it up even though it had started as an accident. Then his face suddenly changed. "Hinata!" as the word traveled through his lips, Kiba vanished around the corner.

With a muttered troublesome, Shikamaru ushered Naru to follow the single minded boy. As they themselves rounded the corner, they were met with the sight of Kiba standing in a circular room whipping his head back and forth. As they entered the room, Shikamaru let out an appreciative whistle. The entire room was lined with openings that led down dark hallways.

Scratching her head, Naru turned her attention to her friend. "Timon, which one would be a right turn?"

The Nara couldn't help the small chuckle that escaped his lips. "I have no idea."

Upon hearing the new occupants in the room, Kiba whirled around on them. "Shikamaru, which way will lead to Hinata!"

Shikamaru took a moment to wonder why people deemed it necessary to ask him impossible questions. He knew he had earned the reputation of a lazy genius, but that didn't make him the possessor of all knowledge. He was saved from having to answer when Choji entered the room followed by the girl in question and the Uchiha.

Creeping up behind the dog boy with a gigantic grin on her face, Naru leaned up to whisper in the boy's ear, "You know you want to kiss the girl."

Kiba reacted before he could think about it and brought his elbow back sharply into the girl's chest. He whipped his head around to make sure the girl was okay. The blonde let out an 'oof' as the air was shoved from her lungs, but otherwise showed no signs of distress.

The Uchiha was there in an instant with a fist cuffing and yanking the Inuzuka's collar. Out of reflex the dog boy sent his fist flying towards whoever had grabbed him. In a flurry of movement, Sasuke deflected the punch with the side of his hand against the other boy's wrist. Twisting his hand around the tan wrist to grip it tightly, he directing the momentum of Kiba's attack into the boy's own throat. The force of the blow combined with Sasuke's weight pushing forward caused the boys' to fall to the ground. On his knees hovering over the other boy, Sasuke kept a tight hold on Kiba's arm while shoving it against the boy's throat.

Kiba held a healthy appreciation of what it felt like to have the wind knocked out of him and the arm against his throat was keeping him from taking in the craved air. He noted with frustration that the arm suffocating him was his own. For the first time he got a good look at his attacker and realized it was a furious Uchiha. It was in that second that he truly feared the other boy. The venom held in the Sharingan made perfectly clear that Sasuke was capable of killing him, fellow Konoha ninja be damned.

Both boys' names were cried out simultaneously. One voice belonged to a fidgeting Hyuuga that looked completely distressed at the situation. The other voice was that of a shell shocked Uzumaki.

The blonde's voice broke Sasuke from his rage as his attention turned to the girl. Leaping off the now gasping boy, the raven haired male started evaluating his charge with concern etched over his features. An almost unnoticeable growl of frustration left the boy's mouth as his green glowing hand hovered over the girl's side.

"You have three broken ribs," he ground out as anger was beginning to fill him once more.

Feeling Sasuke begin to turn towards the male Hinata was hovering over, Naru stuck her arm out slapping the boy across the face. "Stop it!" she yelled as loud as her voice would allow her. "My ribs were more than likely broken while I was fighting and defeating an enemy all by myself."

The Uchiha's body had completely froze after a hand had connected against his cheek. He was having trouble processing the fact that his charge had actually hit him. Blinking a few times he listened to her screaming at him. He didn't deserve this. Here he was trying to protect her and she had the audacity to not only hit him, but to yell at him. "Protecting you is my highest priority," he let out in a volume barely above a whisper that did nothing to mask his anger.

"I'm fully capable of protecting myself now! That is what I have been training so hard for. If it didn't get through your thick head or maybe you missed it: I defeated an enemy all by myself!" Naru's face was distorted with her own handful of anger.

"And if you missed it," Sasuke began his voice rising as well, "you were injured in that fight!" His voice ended in a yell that could rival the girl's own.

"Sasuke, Naru, cut it out!" Sakura's voice broke through the yelling as she pushed herself between the fighting pair. The blonde huffed and turned around crossing her arms. Sakura was about to demand an explanation for why the two were fighting and Kiba was slowly lifting himself from the floor, when Sasuke quickly rushed around her and placed himself in front of Naru to block an attack.

The boy's kunai was pushing back against one wielded by a silver haired jounin. "Congratulations! You made it to the center of the maze. Now, you simply have to stay here until the bell goes off."

Sakura cracked her knuckles at the sight of her perverted sensei. This was her chance to pay the man back for the dirty trick at the beginning of the test. Throwing her fist with a surprising amount of force, she forced the older male to jump back or risk injury. Following the movement of the masked shinobi, she could see that Kiba had managed to get back on his feet and was standing protectively between Asuma and Hinata with Shino, who had come in with her, beside him. Ino, who had also joined the room alongside her, was facing off against Kurenai with Shikamaru and Choji. Turning her attention back to where Kakashi had been standing, she realized that he was no longer there. She was unable to locate the male until his hands were grabbing her and hurling her through one of the opening and into the darkened hallway.

It only lasted a few minutes, but the fight had been hard and at one point or another each genin faced all the sensei present. The bell had rung precisely two minutes ago and all of the genin were still attempting to catch their breath. Naru looked the least affected, but that was due to the fact that six people had taken it upon themselves to ensure that she wasn't injured. Sasuke had put his effort into protecting the girl, not only because it was his duty, but also to prove just how much the girl truly did need him. Kiba attempted to guard the girl in a sense of retribution while also attempting to protect the Hyuuga heiress. Shikamaru, Choji, Ino and Sakura also made moves to protect their beloved blonde. With all of them switching off they had made it almost impossible to get to Naru while still holding back to the level they wanted.

Naru looked as though she was about to repay everyone for their efforts to protect her by healing them, when she was lifted into the air. Kakashi crinkled his eye in what was his trademark smile while bouncing her slightly. Opening his eye, he addressed the winded genin, "Congratulations, you passed. You are now all eligible to enter the Chunin exams which will take place in a week. Now, I will be taking this," he stated while bouncing Naru again. "It isn't good to develop a dependency on one's ability. You all should rest up and heal the old fashioned way." Then with a simple head nod, he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Sasuke allowed his head to fall back to the ground from where he had been all but glaring at his sensei. He knew that with the jounin Naru would be safe. Closing his eyes, he hoped that the previous fight proved to Naru just how much she truly needed him and that she was not ready to be on her own by any means. However, that troubling thought was met with overwhelming exhaustion and pushed to the side for now. He had really overstretched himself to keep Naru from having to move a muscle. He knew he had gone so far not only to protect her, but really to prove that he had been right.

-/-

When Kakashi set Naru down, she brushed herself off and looked around. They were in training ground seven, in front of the posts. Blue eyes looked at the older male expectantly.

Lowering his gaze to look into those all too blue eyes, the Hatake brought his hand to his mouth and cleared his throat. "Ma, I wanted to tell you that you did a wonderful job making your way through the maze. The way you tricked your opponent by playing possum was very clever. Then the way you were able to manipulate your chakra like that truly shows how much work you have been putting into training. I feel that we will need to further explore on your ability to channel your healing ability through your chakra."

As the male lavished praise upon her, Naru couldn't help but perk up. Then her eyebrow quirked up in question. "You were watching me the whole time?"

"I was keeping an eye on all of you," he responded while sweeping his hand to the side. "Now, I have something very important to talk to you about. Now, in the upcoming Chunin exams there is no telling what you will have to go through. What I do know is that there will be fights against opponents with varying skill level. While you performed admirably in today's exercise, the Chunin exams are much more dangerous and that water attack you received earlier could have been a more deadly attack."

Scrunching her face up in thought with confusion leaking in, Naru was beginning to think that her sensei was attempting to talk her out of taking the exam. "Do you not want me going?"

Kakashi shrugged his shoulders before running a hand through his hair. "It is up to you to decide whether or not you want to take the test. I just wanted to let you know that because of your condition you are not required to participate in the exams. In fact, if you choose to sit out, the Hokage has a replacement that could fill the spot for the duration of the exams to help Sasuke and Sakura."

The blonde clenched her fists tightly before meeting the silver haired jounin eyes to eye. "I have worked so hard so that I would not be a hindrance to my friends. I have poured hours into training to prove that I can do it and I will do it. I refuse to back down and give my spot to anybody else. I may not look like much, but heroes are filled with surprises." Naru ended her speech with a big smile taking over her face.

The Hatake had to give it to her, the girl had spunk. He was soon smiling down at his smallest student. "Well if your mind is made up, I look forward to seeing your surprises."

Giggling, Naru held up a victory sign. "You bet!"

-/-

Naru had spent the rest of the day avoiding Sasuke. It was now well into the afternoon of the next day and she still had yet to say a word to him. All around it was just awkward. Sure they had fights before, but never had either of them been truly angry or been so aggressive towards each other. She felt bad for yelling at him, but she just wanted him to recognize that she had skill on her own.

Sighing, the blonde shook her head. She had yet to see the raven all day and that was perfectly fine with her: she still had no idea what she would say when the inevitable decided to arrive.

"Naru!" Upon hearing her name, she turned to see a boy racing towards her. "Naru-nee-chan!"

With recognition filling her eye, the Uzumaki smiled. "Aladdin, how are you?"

"Naru, Naru, I entered the ninja academy! I am on my way to becoming Hokage! I want you to meet my new friends," Konohamaru all but shouted as he finished playing with the goggles that rested upon his forehead and motioned towards the two children behind. The action caused the blonde's recognition of the two for the first time. One was a rather dull looking boy in glasses and the other was a girl with orange pony tails that went straight up. "This is Udon and Moegi. I met them in the academy and they are super cool. We should play together. Please play with us, Naru-nee."

The blonde was forced to take a moment and process all that the younger boy has said. The amount of excitement and energy rolling off of the Sarutobi made her seem calm. "Congratulations on making it into the academy. I am sure that you are going to be Hokage if you push your whole heart into it. Hello, Udon, Moegi." Tapping her chin with her pointer finger she wondered what game they should play.

As if reading her thoughts, Konohamaru grabbed the girl's hand that was still by her side and looked at her excitedly. "Can we play another song game, please?" the slight whine to his voice made refusing highly difficult.

Using the hand that was tapping her chin to poke the boy's nose, she smiled. "Though I come from a land, from a faraway place were the caravan camels roam." Reaching into her pouch, she pulled out a senbon and made a motion along the outer side of the younger boy's face. "Where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face. It's barbaric, but hey it's home."

Konohamaru gulped with having something so sharp before turning towards his friends and screaming to run. Looking over his shoulder to make sure the blonde was following he let laugh tear through his lips.

"When the winds from the east and the suns from the west and the sand and the glass is bright, come on down, stop on by, hop a carpet and fly to another Arabian night." Naru had to stop herself from giggling as she chased after the three academy students. It appeared as though the three were enjoying themselves.

The leader of the pack, Konohamaru, shot a look over his shoulder to his pursuer before he shot around the corner of a fence where he planned on turning back and lashing a sneak attack against the older girl.

Naru saw the children vanish from sight a split second before a scream pierced through the air. From the pitch, she could tell instantly that the scream came from Moegi. Pushing herself to move faster, she rounded the corner to find Konohamaru on the ground moaning as his hands held onto the end of a kunai that was imbedded deep into his abdomen. Breaking her eyes from the boy, she saw a panic stricken silver haired male crying about it being an accident and the boy jumping in front of his target practice.

Ignoring the male for now, she slid onto her knees next to Konohamaru. Seeing the blonde next to him, the boy reached out to her. "Naru-nee-chan, it hurts. It hurts really bad," he choked out between his sobs. His shirt was slowly become soaked with blood along with the ground beneath him. Moegi had fallen to her knees crying her eyes out and Udon had run off to find someone to help.

"Shh, shh, I'm going to make it all better Aladdin," Naru spoke reassuringly as she smoothed back the male's hair. "But in order to make it better, I am going to have to make it hurt worse. I'm really sorry." Gripping onto the handle of the kunai, she removed it from the boy in a swift motion in an attempt to make it the least painful. The action still received a sharp cry from the boy who quickly moved both of his hands over the wound as fear and pain raced through him.

Keeping one hand stroking the boy's hair, the blonde moved her other hand to rest over the boy's own. "Arabian nights like Arabian days, more often than not, are hotter than hot in a lot of good ways Arabian nights meet Arabian moons. A fool off his guard could fall and fall hard out there on the dunes." Having finished the song, she moved the boy's hands to make sure the wound was healed. She had to use her sleeve to brush the blood away to be definitive. Pleased with the unmarred skin, Naru turned her attention to the boy who was still crying. "Does it still hurt?"

When Konohamaru shook his head in response, blue eyes softened. "Are you still scared?" Her question was met with a small nod. Pulling the boy close to her, Naru began to hum softly.

"I'm really sorry." She could hear the boy apologizing still. "Is he okay? I didn't see him until it was too late. I really didn't see him."

"He is going to be fine," the blonde responded as she rocked the small boy. "Though, I would suggest finding a more suitable training ground."

"Ye-yes, of course!" the boy spat out before turning a rushing from the area. With all of their attention on the still shaky boy, no one noticed the smirk on the silver haired male's face as he turned away and pushed up his glasses.

With Moegi's help, Naru was able to brace Konohamaru enough that they were able to walk to the Hokage tower. Once inside, the Uzumaki left after telling Mufasa what had happened and assuring that Aladdin was going to be okay. She needed to get back to her room and changed before any of her overprotective friends saw her covered in blood.

It was later that night, after a nice hot shower and a change of clothes, which brought Naru to her favorite room in the orphanage: the movie den. She was slowly escaping the stress of the events prior by falling into the fantastical world of her movies.

Her quiet was interrupted as a form sat next to her. Casting her eyes to take in her couch buddy, she was only slightly surprised to see Sasuke leaning back into the couch and watching the movie. A small smile began to tug at her lips. Her she had been wondering what she would say when they were finally alone with the lingering argument from before, but just like that, the argument was forgotten.

Noticing her eyes on him, Sasuke turned his attention to his charge and offered the plate of cookies he had snagged from the kitchen.

Naru's small smile turned into a full grin as she happily accepted the peace offering. The Uchiha couldn't stop the small smirk at seeing the girl so excited. The rest of the movie was watched in peaceful silence excluding the chewing of cookies.

A/N: No, this is not a genjutsu. Yes, this is an update. Hehe. I hope that you all have enjoyed the story so far and will continue to enjoy it as the story continues. Thank you for all the reviews; they motivate me to publish chapters faster. ^.^ so, thanks for the encouragement!

Songs in order of appearance:

Kiss the Girl – Little Mermaid

Arabian Nights - Aladdin

Character names used:

No new names

So, tell me what you think and all that jazz. I look forward to hearing from you and hope that you have enjoyed!

Thanks and Tata!

Boe