Gee... I didn't expect that kind of reaction I kinda just realized I'm a pioneer of this ship... which is actually rather exhilarating. I'm glad you guys liked it. Just do me a favor before we get to this point: instead of saying something useless, like "it's too short", or "this story sux!!11!", please, do elaborate. I'd like to improve and make my story better. If you're praising it, that's great. I have no real requests in that area.
Anyway, I've wasted enough time on this author's note. It's story time.
--
Naruto awoke to the sounds of birds chirping. He had a strange dream, a nightmare. From what he could remember, he had died. But that's all. He went out of his tent to see his clone sleeping on the job. To his right, he saw that his clone had made another clone, and so on and so forth.
"Jeez... dismissed." Naruto said, watching as the clones all dispersed. Naruto felt a painful twinge in his head as the memories of the night came to him.
Nothing had happened. Though one of the clones had gotten bored, and scouted the area. It had found a nice little creek. Naruto shook his head, unable to badmouth his clones. After all, they were him.
--
"Lee. Lee. LEE!" Naruto said, each time getting more forceful, as he shook his companion. The Gai-clone looked at Naruto groggily, before jumping up.
"That is odd. I overslept." Lee said. After knowing him so long, Lee's formal manner of speech didn't bother Naruto at all anymore. It had been one of the things that irked him as a child.
"Don't feel bad, Fuzzy-brows. I did too. I guess this is kinda like a vacation, though. With the dragon guy dead, it's not like there's anything threatening, right?
--
Miles away, a man had sneezed. He looked at his subordinate expectantly.
"Yes, master?" Kabuto said, confused, before realizing.
"Bless you!"
--
Lee shook his head.
"I believe that would be true, Naruto-kun. Still, we must not be completely unprepared. After all, you were on a mission that was supposed to be simple, but it turned into something more, correct?" Lee said, reminding Naruto of his genin adventure to the Wave Country.
Naruto nodded.
"You're right. Now, let's get something to eat and head out. I think we should take it at a normal pace. We're in foreign territory now, and we don't want to upset anyone."
Lee nodded. He and Naruto left the tent, and began to clean up the camp. Naruto made a few clones. One began to get out cooking supplies, while the other three headed to the creek Naruto had found out about earlier to get some fish. Naruto had no intention of losing his ramen early.
After an hour of getting ready and eating, the two took off. They were still rather fast, much faster than the average ninja's normal pace, but it was as slow as they could get without feeling like they were walking. Traveling all day, Naruto and Lee once again stopped.
Only this time, they weren't resting.
Naruto and Lee looked out to the the great temple of the High Priestess of the Demon Country.
"So, I guess we are guarding Shion..." Naruto said, scratching the back of his head. The mission scroll was in his hands as he looked at the directions to his destination. He nodded to Lee in confirmation.
"Yep. We're guarding the spoiled brat again, Fuzzy-brows. You got lucky with that guess."
Lee shook his head.
"Sorry, Naruto-kun. I just listened when you read the mission scroll. I remembered the path we took, and the one you talked about sounded the same." Lee said, cracking a slight smile at Naruto's disbelief as the orange wearing ninja listened to him.
Naruto shook it off, before looking at his partner.
"Let's go. And hope that the mission doesn't start out like it did last time." Naruto said, as an afterthought.
Lee grinned.
"Why? You're looking forward to some kind of action." the green clad ninja said to his partner in a mock-accusing tone of voice.
Naruto shook his head.
"Yeah... you're right, 'tebayo. Maybe I am..." Naruto said. Without another word, the two ninja nodded at each other and sped off towards the temple.
--
"Shion-sama! We have reports from our front guard. Two ninja from Konoha are requesting permission to enter!" A young guard said, running into the room. He was barefoot as he sped his way to the priestess's feet, bowing humbly. He was rather new to the job, so he didn't know how to really relax around the feisty pale blond woman.
The priestess nodded.
"Bring them to me." Shion had to stifle a chuckle at the guard's expense as she watched him stumble to get up and carry out her order. She was clothed in an elegant kimono. It was rater plain in color, but it was covered in intricate designs. Many stars, the moon, and a black dragon battling a fox were just some of the things decorating the fine work of clothing. It was a pale orange color. She said it was a homage to a hero she knew. Few knew who she was talking about, and the ones who did were rather amused at how long their priestess had crushed on the blond ninja from Konoha.
When her more trusted advisors commented on it, Shion would blush, get frustrated, and would just flip on whoever did so. They thought it fun to get a rise out of her, considering how emotionless she had been before that orange wearing Konoha ninja showed up in her life.
Shion patiently waited until the guard came back.
"Shion-sama! May I present to you Rock Lee-sama and Uzumaki Naruto-sama." the young guard said, throwing himself at Shion's feet.
Naruto and Lee walked in. Naruto's hands were in his pockets, standing in a lazy pose. Lee was happy, smiling and waving at the blond girl.
Naruto had a frown on his face.
"Jeez, this place is still really uptight. Come on... I thought the big threat to you was gone, Shion." Naruto said.
Shion's face fell as this thought went through her head:
"After all this time, he greets me again with complaining? I suppose it's better than how we met last time..."
She shook her head and smiled.
"You haven't changed a bit, eh, Naruto? You either, Lee!" Lee grinned as he saluted.
Naruto shook his own head.
"Nope. Haven't changed at all, especially if you ask Sakura-chan. You've gotten shorter though. And I like the bow more than the huge ass bead thing you had in your hair." Naruto said, smiling.
It was true. Naruto had thought that the teal bead was rather tacky. The orange bow was a lot better.
Orange...
"Hey, you're copying my style! You're wearing a lot of orange!" Naruto said, pointing his finger.
Shion blushed slightly, as she glared.
"YOU IDIOT! I just happen to like orange! That's all! You have nothing to do with it!" Shion said, looking flustered.
Naruto held his hands out in front of him, trying to hold back the invisible force of the priestess's wrath.
"Just kidding, Shion! I promise."
The young guard was baffled at these three acting so familiar. Rock Lee saw the questioning look on the young man's face.
"We're friends from a while back. Naruto, some friends of ours, and I were protecting Shion-sama." Lee explained. The confusion disappeared from the man's face as understanding filled his eyes. He nodded at the Handsome Blue Beast of Konoha, who then nodded himself.
"Naruto-kun! Maybe we should find out why we are here exactly!" Lee said, trying to guide Naruto back to the mission. Even though the blonde ninja didn't show it on the outside, Lee knew his friend well enough to see Naruto was overjoyed to see the blonde priestess again.
Naruto grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.
"Right, thank you... yes, Shion, as Lee was saying... why are we needed? Is Mouryou back?" Naruto asked, now genuinely curious as to why she needed the ninja support.
Shion sighed, mildly depressed at the small talk ending. Though Lee was right. They needed to know.
She inhaled and exhaled deeply.
"Not Mouryou. Sort of." Shion began.
"Sort of?" asked Naruto.
Shion nodded and continued.
"I have had a recent vision of a cult trying to again resurrect the Black Demon Dragon. I know enough from that vision that they need the power of the priestess to do so. I also think that there is a high level ninja running the show, so I have requested this as an A Rank. I'm glad that it is the two of you. Tell me, though, how are Sakura-san and Neji-san?" Shion asked.
Naruto and Lee took all of the information in. Lee looked up slightly at the next question, now looking at everything except the priestess.
Naruto sighed.
"Touchy subject around Lee. Long story short? Neji's got a genin team, and Sakura's carrying triplet Uchiha babies. We're all Jounin now. I'm actually training to take over Hokage in a few more years. I'm apprentice Hokage. The vice-Hokage, if you will." Naruto said, grinning.
Shion smiled at the two shinobi.
"Well, I'm glad. The two of you are heroes and should be treated as such. In fact... I think a banquet is in order."
Shion grinned. Everything was going to plan... and soon, very soon, little blonde haired, whiskered children would be running around the village.
--
So I'm trying to keep multiple plots going on. Sorry this is late. One of the downsides of living with your parents as a minor is that you can be grounded. I'll try to have the next one out sooner. This one doesn't feel right to me, but it's the best draft I got.
And one more note:
People, don't complain about length. I like the writings of Edgar Allan Poe. Poe wrote short stories, so people could read a good work of fiction in one sitting. Obviously, this is no short story, but I like to try and keep a plot going with as small of a chapter as possible. Many times, I'll be reading a fic with super-sized chapters and not be able to finish them due to other things getting in the way.