Chapter 10: The Item

There was no sound other than the rustling of bushes. Nia hid in one and was nearly close to having a heart attack.

'Where is he?' She thought as her eyes looked right to left.

Lately, for the past week, a certain genin made a habit out of trying to sharpen Nia's stealth skills since she was a bit dull in that area. Clones were sent out to find the girl each morning if she had awoken before him and adventured off to get an item Naruto tucked away somewhere in the forest.

Today, she woke up just ten minutes before he did and managed to travel a few miles to where she assumed the hidden item would be.

****

Inside the village, Naruto tightened his headband right after stepping out the inn with Jiraiya still sleeping inside. The young man smiled ahead of him.

'Time to test where her ninjutsu and stealth skills are.' He thought.

Immediately, he made a sign and about one hundred clones spawned into existence.

"It's that time of day, guys!" The original pumped his fist.

"YEAHHH!" The copies hollered in response. They all looked psyched to start the morning off the way they did.

"Five of you stay and travel with me. The rest of you scatter the entire forest and look for Nia. If you see her, don't bother fighting like the other times you did. Just disappear and I'll get the information. IS THAT CLEEEEAAAR?!"

"YEAH!"

Like the original wanted, five clones of himself stood by his side while the others were preparing for a hunt.

"Wait! One more thing!"

The clones all faced their leader. Naruto gave them a warning not to let Nia know that they've found her. He told them not to make a noise or she'll escape his grasp. Once the information was given, ninety-five of the clones left.

"All right, you guys. Let's head to the item and guard it."

The few clones with the original nodded and obeyed the orders given to them.

Just as they left, Jiraiya entered out the inn still in his robe and yawned.

'What does Naruto think he's doing yelling at 6:00 in the morning?'

Seconds later, several people walked out of their inns with an angry expression.

"Hey!" A young male with brown hair pointed at the sannin.

"You talking to me?" Jiraiya pointed at himself.

"Yeah you!" A rather muscular tall woman answered, "Don't you know what time it is?! Some of us have missions in less than three hours!"

"No no! That wasn't me!" The geezer sage waved his arms around, "You see, my student Na-"

"GET RID OF HIM!" The crowd roared. They all gritted their teeth and creepily approached the older man while cracking their knuckles or reaching for a hidden weapon.

'Young people have no respect these days...' Jiraiya frowned then jumped onto the roof of the building he was staying at for the past week.

"Sorry folks, but the great toad sage is outta this town! See ya later!"

With that, he transported out of sight, but not before performing a hair whip and a wacky pose.

****

Ba-dump ba-dump ba-dump

Nia's heart wouldn't calm. She saw a couple of Naruto's clones having a conversation with one another. She decided to listen in.

"The original never lets us do things for ourselves." The first one spoke.

The other crossed their arms, "Well duh! He's the main us. What was you expecting?"

"A bowl of Ichiraku."

"...That does sound good."

'They're talking about noodles...' Nia sweatdropped, 'Is that all he thinks about?'

"Wonder how Sakura's doing..." A clone continued.

Nia remembered the original saying that name in his sleep a week prior. She leaned closer to get a better sense of hearing.

"She should be fine, y'know." The other replied.

The clone with their arms crossed sighed, "If she is, I'll ask her on a date. Maybe that'll cheer her up."

"She always says no though."

"...You're right..." The clone slumped in disappointment.

'I don't get it... Is this Sakura girl his girlfriend or what? She seems more like his crush just from listening to these clones conversation.' Nia pondered.

Seconds later, she saw trees not too far from her with branches full of thick leaves. Climbing up and traveling from there would keep her unspotted for sure just as long as she didn't make a sound.

However, she couldn't just jump on a branch while the clones were there. They would definitely hear her feet landing on the branch and the leaves rubbing on her clothing. She had no choice but to climb the tree using chakra. That wouldn't make a noise as long as she's cautious of her foot placement.

She swallowed a lump in her throat.

'Okay... Jiraiya-sensei told me to send chakra to the soles of my feet. I need to focus.'

Though she practiced a few times during the week and got a lot better, she was still a bit lousy at using chakra in her feet to get her to walk on things ordinary people couldn't. She needed to concentrate.

Patiently she waited for her chakra to descend. Half a minute later, it did just that and she was now prepared to walk on the tree. Slowly she crawled to the tree without the clones noticing, stood back up and placed her feet on the bark. She took a deep breath and began walking up.

'It always feels weird to do this at an angle. I don't really like not having my feet on the ground sometimes.'

Once successfully at her designation, she examined the landscape, looking for a clue as to where Naruto may have left his super special item. She wondered what that special item even was. The male genin did instruct her that she would be able to tell what that item was the second she spots it; if she does at all that is.

The clones below her continued having a very gregarious conversation and was clearly ignoring their task by now. Nia took advantage of it and took out a couple shuriken from her pouch. She prepared to attack them but then remembered something crucial.

Whenever she was to attack Naruto's clones and they would disappear, the real one would show up and find her in less than a few minutes. This time had to be different. She needed a strategy to eliminate his clones without being pinpointed moments later.

The girl with glasses took a moment to strategize. A few ideas came to mind but none would seem to work in the long run. They would get her captured for sure. One however, seemed to be a strategy worth taking a risk on. Concentrating, Nia made a clone of herself and whispered the plan into their ear. The clone nodded and waited for the signal.

"Whatever you do, don't get hit by a rasengan or you're finished, got it?"

The clone nodded.

Nia dug through her pouch again and wrapped a paper bomb into a ball like she did when she was escaping her village.

"Also, try to stall me some time and look out for the real Naruto, all right?"

"Yes."

"Good."

Throwing the bomb as far as she could, the paper eventually erupted and catched the attention of several Naruto clones. Since they were all the same, all who saw the explosion drifted off in that direction; including the ones near Nia.

"Go now." She ordered her clone.

It nodded and jumped down the branch it stood on then ran through the forest to where the bomb was seen. The original then hopped from tree to tree, passing the areas that she had already checked the past week.

Once her clone got to where a few dozen of Naruto's clones were also, she immediately engaged them in battle. She forced them into a close-range battle, then gained the upper hand and was steadily destroying the clones one by one.

Alerted by his disappearing copies, the real Naruto smirked.

"You five stay here and guard the item."
He ordered the few clones with him and left soon after.

'I got you now!' He thought as he kicked off the ground then hopped from branch to branch in the direction of where the action was taking place.

In the opposite direction, Nia searched from nearly every direction in that somewhat medium-sized forest. However, nothing that looked like an item Naruto would carry came into view.

'Damn... Where the hell is it?' She pouted.

Suddenly, a group of crows flew out of nearby trees. The kunoichi noticed and looked to see what was going on. As if by pure luck, a blur zoomed right past her from the other side of the area. Her heart raced when she realized the person who had past her was the real Naruto. She could tell cause he wore a very knowing smile. The smile he gave her each time he located where she was.

She placed her hand over her heart.

'Whew, that was scary; I can't believe he didn't see me! My clone must be doing a great job out there.'

"HOLD ON!" She gasped upon the realization of something. She quickly shutted herself up by putting a hand over her mouth.

'That direction he came from... Could it mean that the item Naruto has is that way?!'

Deciding to take yet another gamble, Nia leaped faster and faster north of her. Naruto had gone south; the complete opposite direction.

****

At the battleground, Nia's clone was down to one Naruto clone, but took over five minutes to get the number that low. The grass had been ripped away and all that remained was the brown soil underneath.

"I don't know how I keep getting into a fist fight with you..." The Naruto clone huffed, "But... If you wanna play that way, I'm glad to go along with it."

The Nia copy got into a stance once more, though she was weakened by an enormous extent. One more clone shouldn't be hard to get rid of right?

"Y-You might... Wanna look behind you." The male clone pointed behind the female one before dropping to a knee and vanishing.

She did as she was told and saw a blue spiraling chakra out of another Naruto's hand. There was no time to react as he was too close.

"Rasengan!"

A direct hit was made once Nia's only clone turned around and came into contact with the original male genin. She poofed and Naruto stared ahead dumbfounded.

"What?! A clone?"

Information then came from another clone of his near to the item. A few had spotted the young girl leaping through the trees in the direction of the hiding spot.

Naruto blinked a few times before he shook his head and rapidly leaped back into the trees from where he came.

"Gahhh! How could I be so stupid!" He scolded himself as he kicked off another branch, "She's gonna beat me!"

****

Nia took note on what was in front of her: Four clones were goofing off playing cards while the fifth one was actually doing what he was supposed to and guarded the place. Seeing this raised the girl's confidence.

'He's too far to catch up with me now. I'll destroy the clones right here.' She told herself with a grin on her face.

'Maybe I could try using a water-style technique that could destroy these things...'

Nia tried to remember the hand seals for the jutsu she was going to use. However, she couldn't remember which signs she needed.

'What was it again...? Tiger, sheep...? No, that's not it... Hmm.'

The hand seals kept her from performing a simple ninjutsu technique.

'Snake, horse, ram...? No. Wait! Maybe horse, rabbit, and rat... No. That's not right either...'

A few minutes passed and Naruto was getting closer and closer to Nia's location; he wasn't more than four miles back. He would be where she's at any minute now.

'Rabbit, monkey, horse, sheep.' The girl thought.

Liquid suddenly began to fill up the kunoichi's stomach the moment she performed those four signs. It began to rise but she felt incredibly weird while that happened and dropped the signs. The liquid disappeared and Nia felt back to normal.

'Oh my god, that's it! It had to be! There's no dang way it couldn't have been the right seals!'

Excited about finding the proper hand seals, the girl decided to once again give it a go; She repeated the seals in her head a few times then performed it outwardly. Again, liquid filled her belly and begun to rise up.

While in the sheep seal position, she hollered, "Water Style: Water Whip Justu!"

Water risen out of her mouth and formed the shape of a rope. It was crystal blue and broke off once it gotten to a certain length. Nia held it in front of her and gazed at it with sparkling eyes.

'Ahh my goodness! My first proper ninjutsu! Ohhh, I'm so glad Jiraiya gave me that paper to see what nature I had and teaching me what simple technique I can start off with! This is soo exciting, I swear! I wasn't able to get this right till now! Ohh I bet Naruto will be surprised once he sees this; maybe he'll be impressed!'

Taking a deep breath, Nia gripped her whip then jumped down into plain sight where the clone doing its job spotted and warned the others. Before the clones playing cards could react, the kunoichi gracefully used her whip to constrict the clones against one another until they could no longer stay in existence. The four dispersed.

"Woah!" She fancied her weapon, " This thing actually works!"

Next, Nia jumped into the air and forcefully slammed her weapon down towards the last clone. It dodged the attack and sprinted towards the girl. It leaped into the air and punched her across the cheek. Nia fell to the ground with her weapon still in her grasp. She quickly recovered and attempted to swing the jutsu around. However, her movements and aim were sloppy and easy to avoid. The clone simply took out a kunai and threw it at her weapon. It made contact and Nia's jutsu fell into a puddle of water beneath her feet.

"Nooo! Already?!" She groaned once she saw what the clone had done, "That was my first jutsu and you destroyed it! I didn't even have this out for more than a minute!"

The clone chuckled, "You couldn't have been thinking it would last forever, did you?"

"Of course I did!"

The blonde clone sweat-dropped.

Time was running thin. Nia knew the original would be here any second. At once, she charged forward, hoping to get into a fist-fight but the clone distanced itself by hopping backwards in the air. Nia quickly drew out shurikens and aimed them at her opponent. It dodged her attacks but doing so made it vulnerable. She then ran to below the clone's feet, grabbed it and swung it hard into the ground; destroying it.

She grinned and felt a boost to her self-esteem.

"I did it!" She celebrated and jumped up and down with her arms up.

Behind her, the original had finally caught up to her and smirked.

"It's not over unless you get to the item while I'm still around, Curly Brow." He said, making the girl freeze in place.

'He's here...' The girl looked behind her in disbelief, 'No, I took too damn long.'

"Anyway..." Naruto approached, "This is the end for you."

Immediately, he dashed towards Nia in a attempt to capture her. She did the same but slid between the open space of his legs and escaped his clutches. Quickly, Naruto turned around and saw Nia scanning the area.

"Where'd you put it, Whisker Cheeks?!" She asked as she frantically searched for the item.

"Not tellin' ya!" He replied, once more chasing after the girl.

Again, she was forced to slow down the male by throwing whatever weapon was left in her pouch. This seemed to work for a brief moment until Naruto eventually flipped in the air and landed in front of the girl. She panicked and aimed a kick at him but he blocked it using his forearm, surprising her.

Again, she tried to attack, but this time aimed a jab to his face. Naruto caught her fist.

"You're not the only one whose been improving, y'know. I've been working hard too." He informed his opponent.

"Clearly." She replied as she looked around in a desperate fashion.

Just to the right of Naruto, Nia saw something hanging off the edge of a tree branch: it was a light blue  pendant. The same one Nia had saw the blonde wear in previous days.

'That HAS to be it!' She convinced herself.

Still in the male's grasp, the kunoichi had to think of something quick. She remembered the name of the girl Naruto said in his sleep and pointed behind him dramatically.

"Hey! That Sakura girl is smiling at you from behind!" She lied.

Immediately, Naruto dropped Nia's fist and looked behind him, clearly excited by what he heard.

"Sakura's here?! And she's smiling at me?!" He blushed.

Immediately, Nia rushed to where she believed the item was and kicked off the ground in a graceful motion then yanked the necklace off the branch just as Naruto realized he had been duped.

"I got it!" The kunoichi grinned ear to ear as she fell to the ground on her stomach.

Naruto, who was disappointed that he fell for the easiest trick in the book, smiled anyway and approached his fellow genin.

"This was it, right?" Nia stood up and held the necklace in Naruto's face.

"Yeah. Good job... Even though you tricked me." He slumped his shoulders and head.

He then took a moment to collect himself then smiled and said,

"It was a gift from Grandma Tsunade."

"Grandma Tsunade?" Nia repeated. The name had ringed a bell, but she wasn't sure where she heard the person.

"That's right; she's one of the legendary sannin and is currently the hokage of my village."

"Oh! Now I know who you're talking about."

'That's the last Iruka wrote in that letter when he talked about the Leaf having a new hokage."

"She really gave you that? Sorry, but that's hard to believe sorta."

Naruto smiled, "You bet she did! I worked hard to get this thing, y'know."

"Oh really?" Nia raised an eyebrow, "What did you do?"

"I'll have to tell you later. Right now I wanna know how you know Sakura."

The dark-haired girl awkwardly stretched her arms, "Oh... Um... To be honest, I heard you mumbling her name in your sleep and also a couple of your clones were talking about how you wanna go on a date with her or something like that. I don't actually know who she is."

Naruto's face reddened from slight embarrassment. Nia noticed this.

"You like that girl?" She asked with no expression.

"Yeah... Basically." The ninja answered.

His answer made Nia very slightly uncomfortable, "Oh, I see... Why don't you give me a description of who she is and what she looks like? Maybe I've seen her before somewhere."

"Sure." Naruto nodded, gently took his item back and placed it back around his neck.

He then began to stroll through the forest with Nia by his side, "I'll tell you all about her while we go back to Pervy Sage."

"All right." Nia smiled, "And I forgot to tell you that I finally performed the proper water style jutsu Jiraiya-sensei was trying to teach me."

"I know. My clones saw it and they gave me the details of it once they disappeared. That's one scary whip."

"Wait! So the reason you kept finding me is because you're clones tell you my location?"

Naruto sheepishly grinned, "Uh-huh, that's right."

'I knew it!' Nia spoke in her head, 'I freakin' knew it!'

"How did you even do that though?! Im sure you probably destroyed my clone but I didn't get any Intel from it. Why's that?"

"Well, it's complicated to explain right now but I'll show you sometime."

"Kay!" Nia felt a surge of happiness inside her, "Well then, you wanted to talk about that one girl you like, right?"

"Oh yeah. So Sakura's..."

----

A/N- Another update!! Yay! This was fun to write and didn't take me too long to finish. I thought it was a bit cute in a way but this seemed more like a NaruSaku chapter by the end lol. So if you're a fan of them, hope you liked that small part. If not, sorry bout that. As I said, multiple pairings will be showcased.

This chapter just happened to be a NS one in a light way or if you're already shipping Naruto and Nia for some reason, I guess you can kinda see this as a cute chapter for them idk. What would their ship name even be?! NarNia? Lol like the movie? NaruNia? Idk, I'll stop. Anyway, please comment and vote. Thx for reading and have a great day everyone.