The Red Flash Chapter 49 (A Song For Love) (Patreon)

Naruto

"Well after I arrived back, I started the academy" Naruto started and both looked at him waiting for him to say more.

So Naruto started describing how was the academy, Ashara was happy to hear that Naruto had friends in the village.

The redhead had told both Fuu and Asha about his friends back at the village, Naruto had stated that they had most likely forgotten him by now, or maybe had started hating him like everyone else.

So when Ashara heard he actually had friends, she felt relieved, Fuu just smiled with her eyes closed and eat a piece of bacon from her Ramen.

Naruto soon explained what was taught in the academy which caught the attention of Asha.

"Wait, what about  Fuinjutsu?! Or did they start learning it on the last year," Asha asked,  speculating that they probably saved Fuinjutsu to be taught in the last year since it was the hardest Shinobi Art to be taught.

Naruto sighed and shook his head in denial looking at Asha. "No, they didn't teach Fuinjutsu in the academy. I asked Iruka-sensei once and he told me that Fuinjutsu Art had been removed from the school teaching program, ten years ago"  Naruto explained and returned to his Ramen.

This caused both Asha and Fuu to raise an eyebrow in confusion.

The redhead couldn't fathom how they thought they could do without Fuinjutsu, by removing it from the school program they had dug their own grave, if anyone in  Academy was a prodigy in Fuinjutsu, they wouldn't be able to know that unless someone introduced it to him/her.

While Fuu was thinking the same thing, she wasn't exactly the best when it came to the Art of  Fuinjutsu, but being friends with Ashara for almost a decade, she was able to reach level II in Fuinjutsu.

Drinking the whole bowl with Ramen, Naruto ordered a second one soon followed by Asha and Fuu.

"This is delicious Chef-sama" Asha complimented the man, who smiled at her.

"Oh, thank you, is always good for a chef to know that his Art is appreciated" He responded and soon started preparing more ramen for his customers.

"What happens later?"  Fuu suddenly asked looking at Naruto, for a moment the Uzumaki didn't understand what she meant but soon realized.

"Ohh, well..." Naruto gave a quick summary of his four years in Academy, including getting a  sudden visit from his godmother, and that he was living in the Senju  Compound now.

Fuu felt good to know that Naru had a family now, someone to stay with, when Naru-kun had left  Taki, she had been worried that he would suffer from his loneliness and that would change him, but she felt her heart smile knowing Naru wasn't alone anymore, in this ... Village.

Naruto soon told them about Mizuki trying to brand him as a traitor of the village, after that he told them about the numerous D-Rank Missions that they needed to do,  like Capturing a Demon Cat named Tora, what caught the attention of both girls was... "You can't believe, this one time, Sakura was trying so hard to capture the cat, so when the cat jumped from a branch to another branch, Sakura flew like an arrow towards her, capturing her mid-air but they looked down to see they were falling in a bush full of nettles.

"She then started screaming of how she would need to wash and clean to be good looking again" Naruto finished with clear annoyance in his tone.

Asha almost felt bad for the poor girl, Almost. From what Naruto told her, she was an annoying girl who still held her head above the clouds, always screaming on how this 'Sasuke' guy was her true love or some bull crap like that.

Fuu on the other hand nudged Naruto gently making him turn to her.

"How old exactly is that  Cat? You said Tsunade-sama had chased the cat as well... so that begs  the question how old is she?" Fuu asked wondering.

Naruto just shrugged his shoulders not knowing the answer.

"Who knows, I asked  Tsunade-baa-chan, the same question but she just laughed and said 'I  don't know myself, all I remember that cat had been around even when my grandfather was alive, according to Sarutobi-sensei' " Naruto explained and they returned to eating the second bowl of Ramen.

After another hour of eating, they were finally done.

"30 bowl Naruto. Next time I will beat you" Ashara stated as they were walking away from Ichiraku.

Fuu turned to them,  "Thank You for the delicious food Teuchi-san" she said smiling and waving at them, Naruto and Asha did the same before they turned and decided to visit other places in the village.

"Naruto-kun, you told us, that Konoha had a beautiful sunset from the top of the Hokage mountain," Fuu said walking close to Naruto.

"Well, yes, we can go once is close to sunset," Naruto said agreeing and looking at the sun still high in the sky, if he had to guess, he would say it was around 5  pm to 6 pm.

"Very well, I want to see other stores around the Village" Fuu suggested and they soon started making their way towards the other stores of the village.

While walking there,  Asha noticed a few cold stares towards Naruto, she leaned closer to him,  and her other hand was resting on the small punch around her thighs that carried several seals that carried weapons.

Naruto noticed her tense muscles and grabbed her hand with his making her cheeks slightly blushing.

Holding his hand made her feel like a fire was turning inside, her tummy felt funny, like butterflies.

She knew what it was and her eyes went to his defied muscles around his arm, his stomach was covered by his clothes, she knew he was very muscular and wondered just how much stronger Naruto had gotten since the last time.

Just the thought of his body made her cheeks blush, even more, turning crimson red.

"Don't worry about that,  they can send their hatred towards me as much as they want, but they will never be as happy as I am right now" Naruto responded giving her a  reassuring... beautiful smile.

Fuu felt touched to know that Naruto was happy because of her and Ashara.

Suddenly Ashara remembered something that she had wanted to ask Naruto for some time now.

"Naruto, do you know if  Jiraiya-sama is in the village?" She asked while smiling slyly with a  husky tone, this caused Naruto to raise his eyebrows for two reasons.

What was up with that smile and that ... tone?!

Why his godfather?  Naruto knew Toad-Jiji had taught Asha a few things about Fuinjutsu and wondered if she wanted to be taught more since Jiraiya was a master in  Fuinjutsu.

The question caused Fuu to sigh and roll her eyes in annoyance, Naruto noticed this and saw her murmuring something under her breath.

"Oh No," both Kurama and Chomei thought at the same time.

"Why?" Naruto asked with insecurity in his tone, a small part of him dreaded what the reason could be.

Ashara put her hand on a pouch behind her and pulled out a book that was written by Jiraiya.

"I wanted to know when  he would release the new edition of Icha Icha books?" Ashara asked holding the cursed book in her hands in front of her chest.

This caused both Naruto and Kurama to freeze in place, for a long moment, Naruto was sure he had heard his friend wrong, he closed his eyes tightly, almost expecting it to be a bad dream and once he opened them, he would see that it was just that.

Opening them, he saw  Asha still holding the book in her hands and smiling innocently towards him, for some reason that made Naruto's blood turn cold as ice.

He opened his mouth to speak, to say anything, but no words were coming out, the only thing coming out were a few whimpers.

Finally understanding this was true and not a dream.

"WHAT!!"

"WHAT!!?"

Naruto and Kurama screamed out loud gaining the attention of many people around them.

Fuu covered her ears with her hands shaking her head, knowing this reaction would come.

When Ashara first started reading the stupid books a few months ago, Fuu had been wondering if the books were actually notes and tips to help in Fuinjutsu since Ashara has been this much invested only in Fuinjutsu, sure she trained her sword fighting, her Ninjutsu, and her Genjutsu a little, but nowhere near the level of Fuinjutsu.

When Fuu had taken the book at night and opened it to read it, within the first five pages, she understood what the book was all about and had screamed in the middle of the night causing Ashara to immediately wake up and look around for anyone.

It had taken half an hour for Ashara to understand that Fuu had screamed because of the book.

Now, Fuu was just waiting for the upcoming storm between the two.

"Why are you reading that garbage?!" Naruto half-shouted pointing a finger at the book.

This caused Ashara to clench her teeth. Fuu covered her ears again.

"THIS IS NOT GARBAGE, THIS ... IS ... ART" She shouted

Naruto looked even more confused and lost of words, looking at Asha who was performing some sort of pre rehearsed victory dance complete with confetti and a large sign that read.

"This Is True ART!' in big bold letters.

Fuu had closed her eyes in complete shame, shaking her head, looking at her now, both Kurama and  Chomei were thinking the same thing.

"Matatabi and her would be perfect for each other"

Naruto groaned after hearing Kurama saying that. He started murmuring something about killing a certain toad.

"Okay enough with this, as for toad-Jiji, he's out of the village right now," Naruto said lowering Ashara's hands.

She whined that Jiraiya-sensei wasn't around but hoped that he would be around until the End of Chunin Exams.

Seeing that the situation was back to ... 'normal'. Fuu walked over to them and put a  hand on both of their shoulders. Turning to look at her, she smiled.

"How about we visit the shops now" she suggested and they started walking towards the shops.

Looking around, Fuu saw many shops, but none of them had anything really that interesting, some had souvenirs, soon they visited the fifth shop filled with different decorations, this one had a large red carpet in the floor decorated to look like flames.

Walking inside, Fuu saw small necklaces behind glass, she eyed each one and saw one that caught her attention.

This one looked like a  butterfly with green wings and a blue body. She opened the glass and took it in her hand, to look it more closely, her face beamed.

Turning to Naruto who was helping Ashara with something.

"Naru-kun, can you help me to wear it?" Fuu asked innocently and showed her puppy eyes.

Naruto chuckled nervously, his face blushed, he couldn't help but see how cute Fuu looked right now, nodding his head, he walked over to her and helped her with the necklace.

Fuu beamed after he was done and turned around.

"How does it look?" She asked hoping that Naruto liked it.

"It looks beautiful Fuu,  it makes you look even cuter" Naruto blurted out without thinking, his face turned as red as his hair, while Fuu spread her arms and hugged him, slightly rubbing her cheek against his.

Just her skin alone, made Naruto feel a burning sensation on his middle, hugging her back, he pulled away.

"It suits you Fuu-chan" Ashara complimented.

Soon Fuu paid for the necklace, even though Naruto had wanted to pay it himself but Fuu had assured him that it was no problem whatsoever.

Walking outside they resumed walking around the shops.

"How about we go to my home. I'm sure Shizune-chan and Baa-chan would be happy to meet you two"  Naruto suggested earning a nod from both of them.

As they were walking away, Naruto felt three chakra levels hiding behind them, his eyes roamed around and saw that there were barely any civilians in this part of the street, turning around.

"Come out. I know you're there" Naruto shouted, Ashara narrowed her eyes at the three genins walking from behind a tree. One of them jumped from the tree while the two others came out from behind the tree.

With a single glance, Naruto saw they looked around his age, but couldn't help but feel the amount of chakra they had.

All three of them were trying to suppress it, especially the guy in the middle, while the two girls had Low-Jonin Chakra Level, the one in the middle had around  High-Jonin Chakra Level.

Looking at their headbands, Naruto's eyes narrowed at the Iwa shinobi in front of them.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked with a firm tone and released a small amount of KI.

The one in the middle took a step forward, looking unfazed by his KI.

"Just wanted to see with my own eyes, you must be Naruto Uzumaki-Senju, my name is Ikano  Āegenka, my twin sister Ikamano Āegenka, and her friend Lulja Łetaka" he introduced them.

Naruto's eyes slightly widened at his last name. Āegenka?! I thought that clan died in the first Ninja War? Naruto asked himself.

The one named Ikano had  Aqua eyes, dark lines that went from the middle of his eyes to his jawline. Triangle-shaped face, slightly small nose, small eyebrows, Long  Grey hair like ash that reached his cheeks, three fangs that covered his right eye, that had a small slash above his eyebrow. A long dark shirt underneath his dark-blue jacket, blue shinobi pants, with dark-red sandals, a strange sword handle tightened around his thighs, but no steel attached to the handle, just an empty dark handle!...

He was slightly taller than Naruto and had a strange chakra that Naruto couldn't explain.

"Kurama? Do you feel this?" Naruto asked him, still keeping his eyes on the shinobi in front of him.

"I don't know Naruto,  he feels like he has two different types of chakra, but I can't feel any Bijuu sealed inside him, I don't know what that might be, but be careful, he's not to be underestimated" Kurama stated.

Naruto mentally nodded his head and turned his attention at the guy in front of him.

Ikano said nothing before a small smirk spread on his face.

"You done Talking to Him?" He asked with a strong tone.

Naruto's eyes widened and so did Ashara's and Fuu's and Kurama but surprisingly Chomei didn't look surprised by what he said.

Naruto wanted to ask how could he know but kept his mouth shut.

Only then did Naruto notice his right hand, the whole hand was covered in white bandages, he narrowed his eyes at that, he wondered what he was covering.

"You will be in Chunin Exams?" Naruto asked already knowing the answer.

"I will, I'm looking forward to our match, It will be an honorable Fight" He stated respectfully with a small smile at the edge of his lips.

He bowed his head slightly and gestured for his team to walk away.

Naruto had a small smile on his face. This Exam will indeed be interesting, he thought, remembering the strong shinobis of this exam. Gaara, Yugito, and Ikano. He turned to look at Asha and Fuu.

Soon they left and were in front of the gates of Senju Compound.

Fuu felt nervous and was holding her left ring finger with her right hand, her eyes not focusing on the gate, instead of at the ground, anywhere else except the gate.

Ashara held her chest high, and her eyes filled with confidence, she knew the one she would be meeting was Tsunade-Sama, one of the Sannin of the Konoha.

From the corner of her eyes, she noticed the state of Fuu, and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, Fuu looked at her and Ashara smiled at her.

"Don't worry there's no need to be nervous" Asha whispered hoping she helped her.

Fuu's face lightened up like a firecracker and her orange eyes focused on the door opening.  Outside came a woman with dark hair holding a ... pig!?

A smile formed on her face when she saw Naruto.

"Naruto-kun," she said quickly giving him a bear-hug, Naruto was desperately trying to talk.

"Shizu-chan... I ..."  understanding what was happening, Shizune let go of her little brother,  her hands behind her neck and chuckling nervously.

Only then did she notice the two girls that were basically in his arms, a smirk on her face.

"And who are these beautiful ladies, I didn't know you have found girlfriends," Shizune said smirking, and started laughing when both Naruto and the green-haired girl tried to deny anything, while the redhead had a small smile on her face.

Looking at her red hair, and noticing the green hair, Shizune understood who they were.

"You must be Fuu, and you are Ashara," Shizune said hoping she was right and they nodded.

"Come inside,  Tsunade-san will be happy to have guests for Dinner," Shizune said and walked inside the house soon followed by Naruto, Asha, and Fuu.

At the doorstep they removed their sandals and walked inside, Fuu looked around in wonder at the beautiful house while Ashara kept more a neutral face, and was following behind without saying anything, but from the corner of her eyes, she could see that the house was indeed beautiful.

Opening another door,  they walked inside in what Asha guessed should be the dining room, in the middle of the room stood a large table made of decorated wood, in the center of the table was the Senju Clan Symbol carved, at the edges she could see little carving that made it look like the symbol of  Konoha.

At the head of the table was sitting a woman, Ashara immediately was confused, she had thought that the Sannins were old, Jiraiya-Sama was old, at least around their fifties or sixties, Asha wasn't sure but the woman in front of them was anything but old.

Tsunade had a cup of tea near her and reading a few scrolls, hearing the door opening, she moved her eyes from the scroll to whoever came inside.

She had expected Shizune, but instead, she saw Naruto standing at the door and two unknown girls by his side.

"Naruto-kun," she said smiling and stood up smiling, giving him a quick kiss on the forehead.

"Tsunade-san" the Sannin raised her eyebrow at the name, the redhead always called her baa-chan or Tsunade-baa-chan much to her annoyance, the redhead hadn't called her like that since almost four years ago.

"Who are your lady friends?" Tsunade interjected before he could say whatever he wanted to say.

Naruto chuckled nervously and Ashara saw that as her cue to introduce herself.

"My name is Ashara Uzumaki," she said with a firm tone.

So this is the Uzumaki girl! The other girl must be Fuu, Jinchuuriki of Nanabi.

"My name is Fuu, I hope we can be great friends," Fuu said smiling like usual.

Tsunade thought she was kind of weird, but she had figured it out a long time ago by now, that in the shinobi world, everyone was weird in their own way, no exceptions.

She narrowed her eyes at the little brats, and for a second Naruto was afraid his godmother might tell them to go away.

"I see, well we were just about to eat so you can eat with us" Tsunade decided and wanted to know more about them.

Naruto sighed in relief while Fuu gulped, Ashara kept her cool and wasn't intimidated by the Sannin... yet.

Everyone was seated at the main table, Tsunade sat at the head of the table while the others sat at the sides.

Shizune and Naruto sat at the right side of Tsunade while Ashara and Fuu sat at her left.

"So, Naruto had talked about you two" Tsunade started drinking a bit of tea.

"Only good things I hope," Ashara said with a hint of respect in her tone.

"Of course, now what is that you two like to do in your free time?" She asked and Naruto wondered if she was interrogating them.

"I like to learn  Fuinjutsu, read my books, sing and spend time with my friends" Ashara replied first and pointed at Fuu and Naruto as her friends.

Tsunade said nothing and her brown eyes turned at the green-haired girl.

"I like to spend time with my friends, and I enjoy nature, especially birds. I also like to visit new places and make New Friends" Fuu replied with a cute smile on the end.

Again, Tsunade said nothing and decided to break the ice between them.

"You're here for Chunin exams, I hope you're ready for everything," Tsunade said with a  half-joking tone, easing the tension between them.

"We have prepared as much as we could, if we fail, that means we weren't ready yet" Ashara responded.

"You will be Chunin by the end of this exam," Naruto said.

"Well. I wish all three of you 'Good Luck'"

With that said, they kept talking about their favorite places, what were their plans for the future.

Ashara said that one day she would like to see 'Valley of Thd End' since it was the place where  Her grandmother and Uchiha Madara had fought almost a century ago.

Tsunade noted that their answers about the future were pretty vague, especially Ashara's response.

The Sannin couldn't help but feel worried about the future, Kakashi had told them that Naruto had left at night to go to Uzushiogakure without telling him anything and the worst part, Naruto hadn't told her anything once he arrived in the Village.

Tsunade had said nothing but it had hurt her that Naruto had told her nothing about him visiting  Uzushiogakure but a part of her understood him.

Naruto had told her many times since she had arrived in Konoha, that he wanted to rebuild  Uzushiogakure and revive the Uzumaki Clan, Tsunade had suggested to him many times to build his compound in The Village but every time she mentioned that Naruto would always say that he would never want to raise his kids among people who chase and torture a little kid.

Even after such a long time, people still saw Naruto with hatred, it hadn't disappeared, it was just hiding in the shadows.

Tsunade knew Naruto would be branded as a Missing Nin but the worst part was herself, for a  long time she had seen him as a grandson, as family, he was her reason to be here, Tsunade in a way thanked Naruto.

She was sure that without him, she would still be drunk in a local somewhere, drowning in her own sorrow.

Taking a deep breath she stood up and left the room as the kids were asking Shizune something.

Walking outside, it was close to sunset, her eyes searched the face of her grandfather. She couldn't help but imagine her brother, and then her mind drifted back to  37 years ago, sometimes she wondered how things would have been if he had just survived, she still remembered the cursed words of the doctor.

"I'm sorry but he didn't Survive, his Chakra was abnormal. I'm sorry Tsunade-sama"

A tear was slowly rolling down her cheek, just remembering the words made her heart feel pain.

Why did you have to leave us? My ...

"Baa-chan"  she escaped her thoughts when she heard his voice. She quickly whipped the tears from her cheek and turned around to look at Naruto.

Just looking at him, reminded her so much of Kushina, Minato, and somehow of Jiraiya.

"Naru-kun, what are you doing outside?" Tsunade asked with a teasing tone.

Naruto chuckled his hands behind his neck. "I could ask you the same thing,  but Asha got in a conversation with Shizu-chan and Fuu looked interested" he replied.

Naruto of course had felt the sadness of his grandmother and wanted to know what was happening.

"You alright Baa-chan?" Naruto asked with a sincere tone, that reminded Tsunade of ... Jiraiya.

She turned her head away, looking back at the Hokage faces in the mountain,  she knew he could feel her pain but he didn't need to see her.

"Thinking about him again?" It was more of a statement.

Tsunade said nothing but just nodded her head.

"Sometimes  I can't help but look at you Naruto, wondering if he would have been like you. Reckless, kind, smart, but most importantly with a sweetheart"  Tsunade said quietly still looking at the faces of the past Hokage.

This earned a chuckle from Naruto. "You should know that I see you as my grandmother, as my family" he replied.

Tsunade closed her eyes and happy tears streamed down her cheek. "I know  Naru-chan, and I see you as my grandson" she stated, turning around she gave him a hug that Naruto happily returned.

"Be careful in the exam, I want you alive once this exam is done" Tsunade whispered in his ear.

Naruto smiled, a genuine smile, he remembered when she had told him that from now on, he would live with her.

"I promise you"