NOVPUB
Chapter 173 - CH 173
A kunai passed by his face while his mind was elsewhere. Now when a kunai usually comes at him behind the walls of Konoha he knew it would be either one of two people, and there were very particular ways to pinpoint exactly who it was. Did the kunai cut his cheek? No. Was there a shapely female form hanging off of his back with her arms wrapped around him? Again no. Did the kunai miss him by a mile in the effort to divert his attention? Yes. Did the damn thing have a pinwheel on it for some reason? Yes. And if he listened closely he could hear the creaking of a spandex jumpsuit rubbing together at high speeds.
The time it took for him to work out this equation in real time, less than one second, which was convenient, because that was all the time he had to react to it in one way or another.
Now depending on who was coming for him he would have one of two reactions. For the first person he would only have so much time and room to maneuver himself to put himself at an advantage instead of being left to her 'tender' mercies, and by tender I mean with a kunai pushing against his jugular and his maybe his junk depending on her mood. For the second person there was only enough time for one response and one response only.
"Dynamic Entry!"
At a speed that most could only keep up with assisted by a doujutsu, a spandex-clad figure slammed his foot into the side of Naruto's head before he burst into smoke. A Kawarimi combined with Kage Bunshin.
"Damn it Rock Lee!" Naruto said as he dropped a nearby tree, "That would have given me a concussion if that had actually hit! What the hell is your malfunction?"
Lee was taller nowadays, but other than the growth that came with him growing in age and the chunin vest he now wore he didn't look too different at all from the old days. Lee simply gave Naruto one of his gleaming smiles, "Ah, Naruto-kun it has been too long since we have seen one another. When was it? Oh yes, during our border assignment."
patrol
mission,
what
a
youthful
Naruto gave him a dry look, "We didn't do anything the entire time for three weeks except walk around the countryside and check the civilians that crossed our path."
"Protecting our home from foreign malevolence is always a youthful endeavor!" Lee said before shooting Naruto the nice guy pose.
Naruto simply stared at him, "Uh huh. How did you even know I was around? I just got back into town and I haven't raised a peep since I've gotten here."
"That would be me Naruto." Said a calm and familiar voice as Neji came into the picture. He had gotten rid of the straps around his hitae-ate and simply wore a simple black one around his head. Instead of his khaki shirt and dark brown shorts he now wore traditional looking black and white robes, and they suited his personality Naruto would have had to say, "I was the one that alerted Lee to your presence while we were training."
Naruto looked at the older Hyuuga, "I had to have been at least half a mile from any training field that you could have possibly been using."
Neji smirked, "Well my Byakugan can see up to 800 meters now."
Naruto frowned, "Showoff."
Neji shook his head with a satisfied look on his face, "Still upset that I was promoted to jounin before you Naruto? You found this out almost a year ago during the border patrol."
"Yes I'm upset." He replied, "You weren't chunin for even a damn year and you got boosted over me."
"Lee! Neji!" Called out a feminine voice that landed near all three boys, "Gai-sensei wanted to know why you two ran off so suddenly." A girl with her brown hair in a pair of buns on her head dusted off her clothing which had changed over time. She wore a flowing white Chinese-style blouse and loose red pants, now wore black fingerless gloves, and had a large summoning scroll across her lower back, "Of course he would make me come out here after you both."
Naruto lifted his hand in a short wave, "Hey Tenten. How are you doing?"
Tenten turned her brown eyes slightly and took in the scarred face of Naruto, "Naruto-kun? It's been a while."
The blonde rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Yeah, I've kind of been really busy for a while. I'm finally getting some off time but I could still be called for anything at the drop of a hat. Don't expect me around for too long, Tsunade-baachan has been running me into the ground." Tenten sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, "Why would you call Tsunade-sama a name like that?"
Naruto shrugged, "I have very good reasons to, you can be sure of that."
"I guess..." Tenten said before she saw Naruto shift the sheath on his back. Her eyes lit up, "Is that the sword that you replaced your old one with?" She asked brightly, "Can I see it? Please?"
Naruto almost face-fell. She hadn't seen it yet because when he knew he was going to see Tenten he left it at home. The danger of leaving his weapon at home was only equaled by the fact that if he brought it and she got a hold of it he might not get it back in time to defend himself with it anyway, "Um... About that."
Tenten turned Naruto-kun?"
on
her
puppy-dog
eyes,
"Please
Naruto attempted to avert his eyes only to catch Lee giving him a thumbs up and Neji smirking and attempting to hold back laughter, "Well you see..."
Tenten's brown eyes quivered at him, "Pwease Naru-kun?" Okay, this was getting ridiculous. Why had she not used this on him yet? Is this a damn genjutsu? He was one second away from yelling 'kai'. Well she can't even touch it anyway so maybe he was being paranoid.
He reached his hand up over his back, "Okay, but-." Before he even said another word he felt the sword being pulled out of the sheath from behind him and heard Tenten yelp in pain as the sword clattered on the ground. He turned around to see Tenten with her palms cut. Naruto sighed and picked his sword up to re-sheathe it, "I tried to tell you, no one can touch it but me. It's an old family heirloom."
Tenten waved her hands around as the stinging from the cuts got to her, "You have a sentient sword?"
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