The Feral World of Shinobi

The Trade-off

You all continued on, after tying up the enemy. Eventually camp was set up for the night, somewhere in the desert. Almost everyone was huddled in the blankets and warmer clothing due to the deserts nightly temperatures. You though...? "How are you not cold?" Sasuke asked as you looked around for anything off. "Temperatures don't really affect me. I can feel it, but it just doesn't... do anything I guess." You shrugged, glancing at the raven headed boy. "Is it because you're half made of bones?" Sasuke asked. "You looked at your legs. "Probably." You agreed, before you headed off. "I'm patrolling now until trade off, talk later Uchiha." Sasuke opened his mouth to retort, but you'd already sprinted off. "Are you mad because there's actually a girl that doesn't like you~?" Naruto teased. "Shut up, loser." You tuned out of that conversation quickly and listened around for anything unusual as you moved. Lots of talk about today's fight. Lots of talk about what you could possibly be too. You tuned out most of that. Sakura was fawning over Sasuke while Kasai had joined Naruto in teasing him. "You four should probably get some sleep." Yoru grumbled.

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You were up early despite your night shift. "Ready to finish the mission?" Your father drew your attention immediately. "Yeah. This was pretty... I can't say fun, but it certainly wasn't boring." Kakashi chuckled. "Most missions outside the village are like that. You'll get used to it since this one was a roaring success." You beamed at him. "That's great! I'm pretty excited to start going on more!" You fist pumped as Kakashi shook his head, otherwise highly amused. "Let's finish this one first. Wake the others." You gave him a mock salute before you started waking everyone up, starting with your ever favorite blonde. It was easy to wake him up with persistent Blaster nudges. You sent more Blasters to wake your team and Sasuke in that manner as well while you tried to wake Sakura personally. You really didn't want her to hate you forever so you were trying to bond. Plus Naruto liked her and you were trying to figure out why. You didn't really have any female friends. "Wha, huh, you..?" You gave her a friendly smile. "Morning, it's time to get up." With a snap of your fingers your Blaster's came flying to you as you stroked their muzzles.

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Finally the caravan got moving again and they were off to meet the Sand Ninja. You'd never met ninja outside of Konaha before, so naturally you asked Naruto about it. "Oh, well I met the rouge ninja once! They were kinda alright. Otherwise I haven't really met any ninja from another village either." He admitted. You remembered hearing him talk about Zabuza and Haku. Ninja that had been trying to kill some bridge builder, but turned on their employer instead. "I guess this will be a new experience for both of us then?" You decided while Naruto pulled off his coat. "Sometimes I wish that I couldn't be affected by the weather like you... how can it be so hot now when it was so cold before?!" You chuckled. "It's all in the sand. It absorbs heat when in the sun, but can't hold it, thus when the sun goes, that heat goes with it." Naruto blinked. "Oh. How'd you know that?" You shrugged. "Observation and reading up mostly." You had read up on Suna once a while back because you were simply curious about the desert. Now you were glad you did.

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There was a lot less Sand Ninja than Leaf Ninja. Only three, actually. A blonde, a brunette, and a redhead. They were all powerful, the the power the redhead eluded was similar to that of Naruto's. A Tailed Beast. His appearance was that of someone who no longer cared. He would murder if he felt threatened. You wanted to flee as far as you could from him yet you almost wanted to be... closer... at the same time. Like something was tugging at your chest. You decided to head towards the back while the others talked to the ninja. You paced the back of the caravan, tail low, body hunched, teeth bared with uneasy fear. A growl or whine would sometimes emit from you throat. That was how the others found you. "[Y/N]?! Hey, what's going on!" Naruto was immediately concerned, of course. "I've... never seen this.." Kakashi admitted as he crouched down. [Y/N], [Y/N] what's wrong?" You stopped at his touch, eyes flickering in [M/C] flame. Only it wasn't fire. "Is he gone?"
"He? Which he?"
"He was dangerous. He is not something to be messed with.." You growled again. "He was like Naruto... but different. He would kill us if he wanted." Kakashi and Hizuki Sensei shared a look. "Let's... just get back."

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The trip back was an uneasy one. You were shaken to the core by this other Tailed Beast child. That look matched with that Chakra spelled ultimate disaster that you didn't want any part of. Now you felt bad for the transport. That poor caravan. You were so high strung, you hadn't slept in two days despite the others trying to get you to. You feared they would come back for some reason. They were coming, you knew it. You couldn't let your guard down in the least. "Come on, even you need sleep [Y/N]!" Even Sakura was worried. "I can sleep later." You replied, head snapping in the direction of a snap. It was just a wild Naruto in his natural habitat. Nothing to worry about. Wait. Naruto. Naruto and the boy was the same. Naruto wasn't a threat unlike the boy. Could he win in a battle against him? Honestly... he was probably the only chance. Naruto would protect you, you knew that. With Naruto you were safe. With Naruto you could.. you blinked and yawned. You could sleep... just a little bit....