They could not afford for anything to go wrong, not at this point, the future of their Village may rest on this.
"I refuse to allow you to hurt the boy. He is a member of Konoha and so is under my protection." Erza replied resolutely, as she glared down at Kankuro, refusing to move or be intimidated.
"If you lay a hand on the boy I will cut it off." She added in dangerously, her hand resting on the handle of her sword as she did so
...
Temari's eyes became flinty as she heard the threat to her brother, her hands now inching towards her large battle fan as she cautiously eyed Erza. "Don't threaten my brother, if you do I will have to get involved, and you wouldn't like it if that happened."
"It was not a threat" Erza said coolly, her frost glare now on Temari. "It was a promise."
"You arrogant bitch, you really don't know who you are messing with do you!" Kankuro snarled back, his anger only fanned by the girl's threats.
"Don't call my sister a bitch you ugly, butch old hag!" Mito interrupted her fingers twitching even as she gave both Temari and Kankuro a dangerous look.
"I am not a fucking girl!" Kankuro snapped back, stamping his foot on the floor as he did so.
"You could have fooled me!" Erza spoke up again before she looked over at Temari. "Try and keep your sister under control."
"I will if you do." Temari replied, her lips twitching slightly, despite the tension.
"Fuck off! I am not a fucking woman!" Kankuro shouted again.
An amused Naruto decided to make his presence known at that moment. "Could you girls all keep the noise down, I am trying to enjoy a pleasant stroll through Konoha here."
"I am not a fuc…" Kankuro began as he spun to snap at Naruto before his eyes widened, as he saw the speaker standing straight in front of him. The boy had moved so fast he had blinked and missed it.
"Who are you?" Temari spoke up cautiously as she looked at the odd boy in front of her. He was around her height, with short hair that looked distinctly grey and intense powerful eyes, that looked entirely too unnatural.
He was a stocky boy, with wide muscled shoulders, and thick arms. As she inspected him she also took not of the flak jacket he was wearing, and the Kiri headband.
Flak jackets were only usually worn by Chunin and Jounin, and since he was foreign to the Village, it was likely that he was here for the Chunin Exams, but not as a genin, which could only mean he was a Jounin.
"The name is Pain. And you all really should be civil, especially with the Chunin Exams about to start, I am sure there will be plenty of time for you to fight in the different tests." Naruto replied with a shrug, as he expected neither of his sisters had heard of his name.
He was however surprised by the recognition he saw on the faces of Temari and Kankuro.
"You're Pain?" Temari said cautiously.
"That is what I said, so why don't you two be on your way and go back to your hotel, it is a big day tomorrow after all.
We don't want you getting crippled before you can start." Naruto said not so subtle telling the two Suna Shinobi to 'fuck off'. "As for you two, don't you think the Hokage's daughters have better things to do than pick a fight with the Kazakage's children?"
Mito looked a little contrite at that, Erza however just gave Naruto a level look.
"Are you saying that we should not act to defend one of our own, when we are in our own Village?" Erza question sharply, a she hazel eyes met Naruto's crimson, the girl not even blinking as she did so. "Besides who do you think you are to tell Konoha Shinobi what to do in their own Village?"
"Someone who is not acting like a hot-tempered moron." Naruto replied blandly as she looked away from Erza, knowing as he did that his dismissal would annoy her more than his words, she might have matured in her appearance but he could still read his sister like a book.
Turning back around, Naruto was unsurprised to see another Suna Shinobi was standing with his brother and sister, an emotionless look on his face as he stared at Naruto, the boy had red hair, dark circles around his eyes and the kanji for love tattooed over his eye.
"My name is Gaara Sabaku. Who are you?" The red head carrying a gourd on his back asked his expression not changing as he looked at the two red haired girls behind the boy, before dismissing them as no threat as he instead focused in on the boy in front of him.
He made mother nervous, and mother did not like being nervous, mother claimed there was something both familiar and unnatural about him. Something Gaara should either avoid or destroy.
Naruto stared indifferently at Gaara, uncaring of the growing killing intent that leaked from him. Instead Naruto was more interested to see the looks of fear on Temari and Kankuro's faces.
It appeared the Intel he had read was right, the boy was uncontrollable and feared by even his own siblings. Why then was he here, unless it had something to do with the invasion.
It was confirmed as far as Naruto was concerned, and he would be adding it into his report back to Mei. He already had a plan beginning to take form in his mind, but first he needed more information.
"Well dumbass if you had listened before you would have heard. The name is Pain, a Jounin from Kiri and I suggest that you three head back to your hotel room, now." Naruto said a distinctly annoyed expression on his face at having to repeat himself.
Both Temari and Kankuro tensed and looked fearfully at Gaara when they heard Naruto's insult. The red haired boy however didn't say anything, as he instead continued to stare at Naruto and let out small amounts of Killing Intent.
"Temari, Kankuro we are going to meet Baki." Gaara suddenly spoke, his voice quiet and toneless as he stared at his two elder siblings, both of whom complied without hesitation. Turning on the spot, Gaara gave Naruto one last searching look before he vanished in a swirl of sand, both Temari and Kankuro disappearing in their own Shushins as they followed him.
Before they left however, Temari sent Naruto a speculative and cautious look, a look that Naruto returned with a slight scowl.
As the Suna Shinobi vacated the area, this left Naruto alone with his sisters, Konohamaru and the people spying on them.
"You might as well come out of hiding." Naruto said bluntly as he looked around the area.
His eyes fixing on where the four genin were hiding, he decided not to call out the ANBU, as not only would he reveal himself, but it might raise red flags about Naruto himself.
Erza look at Naruto in confusion at that. "And what do you mean by that… Pain… none of us are hiding."
Mito replied to her before Naruto could. "He is talking about the people who are spying on us."
"A sensor?" Naruto guessed, a smile on his face, not that they would be able to see it through the half mask he was wearing.
Mito grinned at that, before nodding. For some reason this person was very familiar to her, whether this was for a positive reason or a negative she wasn't sure yet.
But considering he had just helped them, she was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Naruto's smile soon turned to a frown as he sensed three of their watchers disappearing. The three genin level Shinobi quickly disappearing from the scene.
It was irritating but not overly so, Naruto knew their souls, and he would be able to find them again. This is just what he planned on doing, after all what bet way to get information than interrogating a spy, even if they were no doubt genin spying on the competition.
You never knew what little nuggets of information you would be able to find.
The other spy revealed himself to be Sasuke Uchiha, who appeared besides his teammates in a blur of motion. His dark eyes fixed suspiciously on Naruto.
"How is someone so young a Jounin?" Sasuke asked straight away, not caring about introductions as he instead decided he wanted to find out just how someone around his own age was already a Jounin, whilst he a prodigy was still a genin.
"Because I am just that good" Naruto replied, it might sound arrogant, but it was true, the reason he was a Jounin was because he was far too skilled and powerful to be a genin.
Sasuke sneered at that. "Would you like to prove it then? Why don't you fight me and we will see just how good you are?"
Naruto didn't rise to the bait, as he dismissed Sasuke with a simple. "You wouldn't stand a chance." Before he turned to leave, he did still have a job to do after all, he couldn't keep spending time catching up with family.
Before he could leave though, he was stopped by Erza calling out to him, a strange look on her face as she looked at him critically. "Wait a second."
Naruto turned to look at her at this, his crimson eyes locking with hers as he gave her a curious look.
"Have we met before?" Erza asked as she kept her eyes locked on Naruto. "There is something about you… it feels very familiar. Almost like a long forgotten dream."
"DO you really thing you would forget someone like me?" Naruto asked in amusement. "A former Outcast and now a proud Jounin of Kirigakure?"
Erza gained a thoughtful look at that, not at all bothered by his revealing he was an Outcast. Some Shinobi may still look down on them, even now most of them had settled in Kiri. But she, her sisters and her brother were raised to be tolerant and decent people. "There is still something about you though."
Naruto smiled faintly at that, even as he once again turned to leave. "Well maybe you will just have to wait and see."
Erza and Mito gave him confused and curious looks at his cryptic answer as he left, the two of them deciding that they would try and find out more about the enigmatic Pain over the course of the Chunin Exams.
Sasuke however was incensed that he was so easily ignored and dismissed. "Hey you fight me? Or are you too scared? Is that why you are running away, because you have heard of the Uchiha and are terrified to face one!? Come on coward fight me!"
Naruto just ignored him though as he left, knowing as he did that that would annoy and humiliate the Uchiha more than words ever could.
The boy was still that just a boy, one who seemed to need constant validation. Naruto's sisters however, they were both much more complex and confusing than the Uchiha brat. Naruto was already looking forward to seeing how they would do in the Chunin Exams. He had a job to do, but he was not going to let it stop him from enjoying himself.
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So I hope you all like it. The Chunin exams start next chapter and Naruto will be much more active.
Things will begin to take their course for a unique (I think) take on the Chunin exam ending. We will also see a bit more of Naruto's sisters as I want to develop them more.
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