Mistake - A Naruto Fan-Fiction

"I"m Ino Yamanaka, Ori-kun." The blonde smiled at me, giving a hand for me to shake, "It"s nice to finally meet you."

I returned the smile and reached for her hand, "Likewise…" I nodded.

"I"m Chōji Akamichi—i-it"s nice to meet you, Orion-kun." The Akamichi looked away, lifting up his packet of chips.

I was a bit surprised of his action. From what I can remember, Chōji only does that to the person he trusts—so, am I that trustable? Trustable in one glance? Seriously?

"Th-Thank you…" I nodded, "It"s nice to meet you too…"

"Hm…" Ino"s face popped between Chōji and I, "Tou-san is right… you do look like a girl." She then grabbed my hands, "Shiro-kun"s kawaii."

"Ah, female presence. Help." I shot Shikamaru my look, but he simply snickered and looked away before whistling like he didn"t see me.

After what felt like an eternity, the blonde finally let go of me and dragged me inside Shika"s house towards the backyard like she owns the place. She also filled me in along the way—filled me in about stuff, like when they met and why the three of them are here together.

She told me that their parents brought them in a meeting of some sort and basically went from there. They"ve been together training bit by bit since then, considering they"re all heirs of their respective clans. It sounded like it was a drag, but they literally have no choice at this point.

Chōji then told me that the two of them, him and Ino, have heard about me from, like I"ve guessed, their parents and, mainly, from Shika. The Akamichi also told me that the Nara was thinking highly of me, and how he was worried when I wasn"t showing up in training.

"Oh?" A mischievous smile ran across my lips as I looked over to Shika, "You missed me, Shika?"

He shivered and narrowed his eyes, looking away with an "I"m-so-done" look, "What a drag…"

"Don"t worry though," I poked his head, "I missed you too." No h.o.m.o though.

But we kids, so we cool.

"Say," I sat back, making him perk up, "I want to see your progress while I was gone."

"A spar sounds good." He scratched the back of his head before directing a sharp gaze towards my direction, "Why don"t we add a twist like we used to?"

"Hm?" I blinked.

Ah, yes. We used to spar together when both of us were still under his father"s training—and Shikaku-san would often make us do the said activity while making us do something more distracting to up our mental capacity and to make us think quickly.

I"m pretty sure it"s called mult.i.tasking but whatever.

Well, we"d spar while Shikaku-san would give situational questions that we both need to answer correctly through our critical thinking, to come up with the most logical answer if we don"t want to be stuck playing Shōgi with him. It would be an absolute drag if we get stuck with that old man.

Talk about prison.

"Sounds good." I nodded at Shika. "You first."

It might"ve been a bit confusing for the two heirs standing on the sidelines, but I"m sure Shikamaru will explain it to them later...

"Oh?" Shikamaru led me in the middle of the gra.s.sy yard before jumping a few feet away from where I am. "Then, I"d like to ask what would you do if you were placed to lead the White-Masks case?" Oof—good question.

"Nice…" I sighed, pulling a few hidden kunai"s from my sleeves with the help of my ninja wires, swiftly running towards him and not minding the brow he raised. "Well, for me," I heaved a quick breath before quickly dodging his kunai-wielded hand, "like what Inoichi-san did, I"d round every suspects for questioning."

"Hm?" Shika hummed, jumping back and doing a quick seal for a Nara"s jutsu.

"But, then again, I"d still send out people, specifically from the Intel unit to gather information about their leader. The ANBU corps would do well at that area too…" I sidestepped when he threaded his shadow towards mine, dodging his Shadow Paralysis move.

"Getting a bit rusty here, are you?" Shikamaru mocked, "What if an unexpected army came?" His eyes glinted with curiousness as he ran after me, throwing a few ninja stars my way.

"Oi, oi…" I stared boredly, blocking the stars with my weapon in hand. "Then," I paused for a bit, remembering the Naruto show I used to watch before quickly turning around to face him, "an Allied Force wouldn"t hurt, right?"

"That"s… a high dream, considering that a war just happened a few years before we were born." He smiled, dodging the blow he was about to receive from my open palm—he narrowed his eyes at that. "But in situations like that, dreaming like that won"t hurt, right?" He smiled before pushing me away, "Your turn."

"Mhmm…" I nodded.

I looked down at the ground, smiling softly. This might actually be a good chance to give him a hint if what will happen in the future. I don"t want them to lose their future sensei now so…

"What will you do, Shika, if…" I slowly raised my head, putting up a smile that might"ve looked like a solemn one, "… a Zombie Duo came your way with your future team?"

He scrunched his nose, confused about it, "What "Zombie Duo", exactly?"

"Uh… let"s say…" I pretended to think as I run at full speed towards him, appearing right in front of him with my weapon raised, "… one"s an immortal being that literally can"t die even if you severe its head… oh, and he can do some cool voodoos…" I pushed back as he blocked my quick attack, "… and the other one is also immortal in a way, made out of threads and have multiple hearts."

"A weird… choice of pair but…" He struggled to block as he skidded back, jumping away and putting a bit of distance between us. "… seeing that you "gave" me a team, I"d say we"d deal with the immortal one before the thread one." He seemed confident with his choice of answer.

"How, exactly?" I smiled, throwing away my kunai at him for a brief moment before controlling my shadows like the way I used them when I first challenged Kakashi.

Of course, using jutsu without hand seals startled him and took him off-balance as I weave my threads of shadow towards his way. "When did you—" With a fatal mistake of tripping on a small root sticking out of the ground, he froze, eyes widened in shock as he fell backwards.

I smiled, "I might"ve been a bit unfair… but…"

Shika recovered quickly and used the ninja wire that was connected between me and the kunai I had just thrown before quickly dodging to the side, avoiding the thread-like shadows that went his way. "You cheeky—" He saw my smile as I pulled back my shadow. "I"d probably paralyse the immortal one and let my team deal with him…"

I narrowed my eyes. "That"ll be a lethal mistake…" I muttered as I dodged the shadow he sent my way. "How about taking his weapon of choice first, after separating him from his partner? Then maybe trap him with ninja wires before severing his head and burying him alive, the head at least?" I asked, he paused for a moment at the detailed answer.

"That"s a pretty thorough way of explaining it… that it almost sounds like it"s so troublesome." He sighed, before directing a smile at me, "I like it."

"How about the other one?" I asked as he charged towards me, making me pull back the wires I had sent off earlier.

"The thread one with five hearts?" He wondered, "I think he"ll be the most troublesome of the two… so it"s best to separate them like you said, right? My team would deal with him last, or at least have another team to deal with him." He twisted his body while in thin ait to dodge the incoming kunai"s his way.

I smiled as he came close at the speed. "Good choi—oof…!!" I didn"t get to finish my words as the air got knocked out of my lungs, with the force knocking me back into the forest as well—into a bush, a p.r.i.c.kly one too.

I quickly scrambled my way out of whatever bush that was, which I think are roses, and sat down, panting as I looked up to see the Ino-ShikChō trio running towards me with concern written on their faces. I simply laughed and scratched the back of my neck.

"I might"ve been… I little too troublesome…" Shikamaru helped me up by giving me a hand to stand up. "My bad…" He apologised.

"No worries…" I a.s.sured him. "I"ve been through worst." I looked away as the thought came to my mind.

To be honest, getting knocked back into a bush full of thorns is a lot better than running away from my s.a.d.i.s.tic uncle.

"You could"ve dodged that though… why didn"t you…?" Shikamaru sighed after receiving a familiar look from me, "Ah, what a drag. Let"s take you to kasan to treat your wounds and uh…"

"You kind of look like a cactus, Orion-kun." Choji pointed out.

No s.h.i.t. I literally just grew thorns, thank you very much.

"I think a cute porcupine sounds better." Thanks Ino… I REALLY appreciate it. "I"m actually surprised that you"re not complaining about those thorns stuck on your arms."

I blinked at her before looking at my left arm. "They do sting a bit but… meh." I shrugged and made my way towards the door to get in the house.

After getting scolded a couple hundred times with our reckless actions, Yoshino-san finally treated my small wounds. Now, I look like a wrapped-up mummy—my arms at least, thanks to that.

Currently, we"re sitting on the tatami floor, just chilling around and resting after the exhausting spar between Shika and I. Of course, Chōji and Ino asked a few questions about the fight and was pretty satisfied with Shikamaru"s answers.

"You do look cool though." Ino poked my bandaged arms.

"Hn." I almost jumped when Karasu-niisan suddenly appeared by my side.

"Since when did you…?!" I suppose I"ve already given up, "Ah, whatever… you watched the whole thing from the roof, didn"t you?"

He simply shrugged.

"Hm?" Ino tilted her head upon seeing the black-masked man, "Who are you?"

"…" Of course, the crow responded in silence.

I sighed and sat back, using my arms as support, "His name is Karasu… and… he"s my guide, I guess? Guard? Meh." I told her in a very lazy tone before directing a look at the said person, imitating his shrug.

I still need to know who on earth is behind that mask. Well, I need to confirm it since I already have an idea of who it is.

As Karasu-niisan get acquainted with the two heirs, I watched them while sitting comfortably next to Shikamaru. He would glance from time to time, and when I caught him, he didn"t look away.

"You"ve become a lot stronger from these troublesome training, huh?" He smiled.

"I still have many things to learn." I told him and gave him my closed-eyes smile, "So, it might be a drag but, I need you to do the same."

"I"m up for it as long as it interests me." He snickered.

The sliding wooden door then opened, making all of us look at the person who entered. Shikaku-san looked back at us with utter wonder, probably thinking of things that happened whilst he"s gone.

"Shikaku-san." I stood up and greeted him.

"Ah, Ori-kun. It"s been a while." He smiled, "I heard that you dove in a rose bush?" His tone was of kidding.

"Maybe." I waved my hands, letting my torn sleeves slide down from my wrists to my elbow, showing my bandaged arms.

He simply chuckled, turning his gaze to his son. He smiled at him before walking through the room to reach the other room that connected to this—well, not before saying something along the lines, "Tell your parents congratulations, Ori-kun."

I was a bit confused at his words but…

"Seeing that my old man"s already home," Shika turned to me, "it"s probably… already late."

"Is it?" I wondered and looked out of the open window, seeing the sun setting, "It is." I answered my own question—great. "I should probably go before kasan wonders where I am." I told him as I waved goodbye.

The three waved back to Karasu-niisan and I as we disappeared into the horizon. It sounds romantic, but it"s just a masked man and a child walking side by side. Though, it would"ve looked a lot normal if the crow just took his mask off, really.

I sighed as we both reached the front door of my house. I took a glance at the crow and raised a brow, "Karasu-niisan,"

"Hm?" He hummed as he knocked on the door.

"Why don"t you stay for dinner?" I asked him and he seemed a bit surprised.

"…" Ugh, silent treatment—amazing.

"Ah, Ori-kun." Kasan"s voice reached our ears, "Welcome back." She seemed awfully cheerful today. "You"re just in time for dinner. You must be hungry. You too, Karasu." She pulled (well, dragged) us inside and into the kitchen.

It all happened so fast—we were already seated around the table with Karasu-niisan joining us. The servants of this household also gathered around us as though they were called for a meeting.

Just what on earth is—

"Everyone…!" Kasan gathered our attention as tou-san walked to her side. "We have wonderful news for all of you."

I simply remained silent, like Karasu-niisan. "Just what is going on here…?"

"Especially for you," Kasan directed her smile towards me, "Ori-nii."

"Huh?" I blinked at her as I slowly process her words. "Could it be…?"

"Yes," Tou-san smiled and hugged kasan, "we are expecting an addition in our family."

Simultaneous gasps filled the room after a silence that felt like an eternity.

WHAT?!