Naruto the Scarecrow

Chapter 8

Mikoto Uchiha was worried. She was doing her best not to show it to anyone but her taut muscles and twitching fingers gave her away. 'Naruto should be back by now. His fights don't normally last this long, has something bad happened? No one has returned so he hasn't die- he hasn't lost.'

Mikoto would most likely have continued this train of thought but the opening of the cell door drew all of her attention. The door had swung into the cell and with their group's position; she was unable to see through the solid steel into the corridor. The span of time it took for someone to walk in seemed to last for years until finally Naruto walked back into the cell. Mikoto let out the breath she had been holding in relief and walked over to the young boy before fussing over him.

She was smart enough to realise that she had come to see Naruto as far more than just a boy she wanted to protect. This also meant that she knew this complicated matters since before she had been prepared to give her life for Naruto but now she wanted to escape. She wanted to take him back to the village and raise him along side Sasuke as her adopted son. This little bundle of life had kicked Mikoto out of her depression and given her a reason to live in exactly the wrong place and time.

Hitomi watched Mikoto tend to Naruto when out of nowhere, a strange sense of jealously came upon her. 'This is ridiculous. Why am I jealous?' but she couldn't lie to herself. Mikoto had become much closer to Naruto than anyone else in their group when he appeared those months ago. As the only women in their group, and two of the five women in the cell, Mikoto had been the closest thing she had to a sister here. They were forced to stick together out of necessity and the Kaito and the others helped protect them during the night.

'I suppose it's a mix of losing the attention of my sister and not getting enough notice from Naruto.' That thought brought a small smirk to Hitomi's face. It was just typical of her to get bent out of shape by not getting enough attention, from anyone. 'He really has changed all of us though, before we knew it he had wormed his way into our hearts and we all came to see him as a little brother. At least Sora got that forgiveness he was looking for before he left us, it's only a matter of time for the rest of us.'

Another problem Hitomi felt was that she hadn't helped prepare Naruto enough. She had only taught him the Heavenly Rotation as a defence; she could teach him anything else. Kaito was the best taijutsu fighter and took over that part of his training, with Koba and Mikoto helping with ninjutsu and genjutsu respectively. As a Hyuuga, she relied on the Gentle Fist which, although a devastating fighting style, really couldn't be used by non Byakugan users, with almost no other jutsu's being used in combat.

Moving over to Mikoto and Naruto, Hitomi ruffled her hand through Naruto's hair playfully while talking quietly to Mikoto. 'Even if others are better suited to training him, I will be his friend. He needs people to care.' The sensation of Hitomi's hand ruffling his hair was strange but not unpleasant. Taking an unconscious step closer to Hitomi, Naruto looked up at her and gave her a small smile. In return, Naruto received her customary lopsided grin.

Kaito was quite proud of his young charge. Naruto proved to be an extremely quick study and had perfected the Academy style before learning more specialised moves of his own as well as some Inuzuka techniques from Koba. 'He has to get back; Gai would lose his mind at this boy's aptitude for taijutsu,'

xXx

The week passed as it normally did, with Naruto learning a small handle of new jutsus for him to master. However, all too soon, the time for Naruto's scheduled fight happened and Mikoto felt the familiar fear grasp her heart. She was distracted from her well wishing when she saw another man approaching the door. It was Enji Ichimaru, an A ranked Jonin from Kiri who had a 'Kill on Sight' status in the Bingo Book. The trickle of fear became a rushing torrent and Mikoto grabbed Naruto with urgency.