Chapter 12: Give Him Back!

"So now, make sure that you're very careful with not being too wordy. Some sentences can be more simple and straight to the point." Jiraiya instructed Nia then pointed his finger at a certain line she wrote, "Like this line right here."

The line he was referring to read this:
In this world, it is very unusual to find a single living human being who has not made one mistake in regards to how they do on their missions.

"This line here, though I know what you're saying, it still can be a bit confusing to those who don't understand the meaning of a sentence this structured."

"So what should I write instead?" Nia asked.

"It should be revised like this:
Rarely do you find a human who has not made a mistake in their mission." Jiraiya said, "Of course, if you can find another way to shorten it up, that'll be fine also."

Nia nodded and scribbled down the newest advice her master had given her on her notepad. There were about several other advices that were given to her that were already written before.

As she continued her writing session with Jiraiya, Naruto was already close to falling asleep. It was about 9:30 P.M. and the genin had only stayed up as late as he did because he was thinking about the change in his chakra nature.

'Kakashi-sensei told me that cutting those leaves in half with my chakra would signify me that the physical state of it has changed but still... The new jutsu Pervy Sage helped me learn takes up so much of my chakra. If I use it, I might end up hurting myself in the process if I'm not careful.'

Naruto then flipped around in his futon and looked at the two others in the room. It seemed like they were done with what they were doing and was now talking about something else but he couldn't make out what they were discussing.

"When I used my water style jutsu on Naruto's clones the other day, it only lasted long enough until it was hit by a kunai. After that, it dispersed into water and became useless." Nia informed the sannin.

"So it didn't have enough solidity to stay up after it received damage..."

"Yeah." Nia nodded.

Jiraiya crossed his arms, "It sounds like to me you need to increase the amount of chakra you put into your jutsu so that it can stay up longer and have a better defense."

"How do I do that? It's not like I have a huge supply of chakra."

"That's true but there's training for building up your chakra, Nia. I'll show and instruct you on how to do that."

"All right."

"It's getting late now, why don't you go to bed and get a good nights sleep?" Jiraiya spoke softly.

Nia nodded and asked if he was going to bed also. The sage said that there was something he needed to do in the village they were in and was preparing to head out.

"Can I go with you?" The girl begged.

"No." Jiraiya said. He then pointed at Naruto with his thumb and whispered, "That kid over there will get lonely if he has to sleep all by himself tonight."

"..."

He then placed his large hand on top of Nia's head, "That's why I need you to stay here and keep him company."

Nia looked down and understood what Jiraiya was telling her.

Teasingly, the sage leaned closer and said with a sly smile, "Besides, this'll be your chance to get closer to him without anyone around."

Steam shot out of Nia's face.

"I'M NOT THAT TYPE OF PERSON, SENSEI!" She freaked out.

"What's going on with you guys over there?" Naruto overheard the girl's fit and decided to ask about, "What are you talking about?"

"Nothing really." Jiraiya smirked, "But Naruto, I'm going out for a walk around town. I won't be back for a while so don't worry about me. Nia will stay and keep you company."

"All right, Pervy Sage." Naruto nonchalantly replied.

"You're fine with this guy leaving?!" Nia pointed at her master.

"He's only going to head to a bar and pick up some w-"

"Pick up some drinks!" Jiraiya stopped his male pupil from saying women.

Nia raised an eyebrow.

He was still trying to give the girl the impression that he wasn't a womanizer so that she'll continue showing him respect and not see him as an old pervert. If she knew, she would probably not seek any help for her writing skills and Jiraiya would lose the one person who was interested in his first novel.

"Well, I'm off. See you kids later." Jiraiya waved and left the building right after.

"Try not getting drunk, Jiraiya-sensei!" Nia yelled out the door.

"No promises!"

The girl slumped her shoulders.

'He's gonna get a bad hangover and will be too wasted to train me tomorrow...'

"It's getting cold. Shut the door, Nia." Naruto shivered.

"Kay, sorry." She closed the door and went over to her futon near Naruto's.

She layed down with her back faced towards her friend and pulled the covers over her. She didn't know why but her face was warming up due to sleeping near a male who she was alone with.

Back when she would be on missions with her original team, Omoi would always be in a separate room from the girls or if they were all in a large room, he would be in the far off corner while the girls slept the opposite side.

This time however, a guy and her were in a small room and were forced to sleep about a few feet from eachother.

"Naruto?" The girl called with a small voice.

"Yeah?" Naruto laid on his back with his arms crossed behind his head.

"How did you meet Jiraiya-sensei?"

"Pervy Sage?" Naruto laughed a little as he remembered how they came face-to-face, "I only met him because my sensei  made me train with some pervert name Ebisu... I already knew he was gonna be a horrible teacher the second he fell for my sexy jutsu."

Nia flipped to her other side and looked at Naruto.

"Anyway, we ended up making a bet and that ended up with us at a bathhouse." The blonde continued, "That Ebisu guy got knocked unconscious by Pervy Sage while there. I got angry and yelled at him for knocking down the guy who was supposed to train me and that's when he introduced himself with this wacky uncool pose. Not to mention, he was standing on a huge frog too!"

Nia giggled, "You mean that thing he does when he flips his hair?"

"Yeah that one." Naruto smiled.

He continued telling Nia about how he managed to get the toad sage to train him and how the two eventually became friends over time.

"Those memories will always be right here." Naruto placed his hand over his heart and smiled, "I'll never forget them."

'I wonder... If he'll remember meeting me too?' Nia thought but then shook her head in doubt and stared at the floor, 'What am I thinking? Of course he wouldn't...'

"Anyway, I'm going to bed; I need to restore my chakra if I wanna train tomorrow, right?" Naruto stared at the ceiling.

"Of course." Nia agreed.

The younger one moved his eyes towards the older female and didn't look away.

"What?" Nia responded.

"Nothing. It's just I never really have anyone to talk to when it's this late at night, y'know."

"..."

"It's like a new feeling." The male said.

Nia thought of the fact that Naruto was always living in his home alone.

'He doesn't even know what it's like to have a family... I'm used to having late night conversations with my siblings but he isn't. He doesn't have what I do...'

The outline of Nia's bottom lid slowly filled up with tears. Naruto didn't seem to notice as he already had turned his sight back at the ceiling.

"I guess things might be different once I become hokage."

"What?" Nia quickly wiped her tears, "That's still what you wanna be?"

"Heck yeah!"

This response made the teen girl smile, "I remember you used to run around the whole village screaming, 'I'm gonna be hokage! Me: Naruto Uzumaki!' You would carry a can of paint with you all the time then draw on the hokage's faces. The adults would chase you for hours."

Naruto scratched his cheek and blushed, "Oh... you remember that?"

"Yeah. You were a loud kid always running around with paint all over you. It's hard to completely forget about that now that you're right here by me."

"I guess you're right." The genin chuckled.

There was a brief pause before Nia reminded Naruto that he needed some sleep. The two said goodnight and minutes later, they fell asleep.

However, outside the window to Naruto's right, the same woman he had encountered earlier, watched him in his sleep.

'How sad.' She thought, 'The boy's a lonely child.'

She then licked her lips and smirked.

'After I get his delicious chakra, he won't have to be alone anymore. He'll get to see his mommy and daddy.'

Performing a quick sign, the woman transformed into pretty pink flower petals that resembled cherry blossoms. She managed to enter through a small crack in the window and had sparkly pollen rain down on Naruto.

'This'll keep him from waking up.'

Some of the pollen was reaching Nia also. The lady payed no attention to it and began to pull the covers off Naruto, who was wearing a robe and boxers using her pedals. Next, she wrapped it around his body and slowly, the man began to ascend into the air like magic.

As pollen incessantly got breathed in by Nia, her nose eventually got irritated and forced her to sneeze. First it was just once but then it got to a point where it caused her to wake up.

She sat up and rubbed her nose.

'God, what is making my nose so stuffy?'

The kunoichi turned to look at Naruto sleeping but she only saw him being raised into the air by flowers.

"GYA!" She screamed and backed away, "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!"

Nia could see the woman controlling the petals lifting up her friend.

"What is this?" Mumi shot a bewildered look at the younger girl, "How is this possible? How can you see me while I'm using this jutsu?"

"What do you think you're doing with him?!" Nia ignored Mumi's question and yanked her covers off then stood up.

The woman only smiled and flipped her hair, "I'm taking this young gentleman so that we can have some... quality time together."

"What was that?!" Nia cracked her knuckles.

"Oh? You have a problem with me stealing this handsome man from you?" Mumi teased, "I bet you're jealous cause you know a beautiful honey like me could easily win the heart of a hunk like Naruto. He doesn't want to be by an ugly mutt like you."

"How do you know his name?!"

"He didn't tell you?" Mumi giggled, "We met not too long ago; I asked him if he wanted to have some... fun with me and he said later. I'm simply here to take him up on his request."

Nia's heart quaked slightly, "You can't mean that he agreed to have-"

"That's exactly what he agreed to. He has such enormous chakra. I'll definitely be able to gain that if I succeed in having him to myself for the night."

"Well, I won't let you use him like that  just to get some damn chakra!"

Nia then charged forward and attempted to throw a punch but she only made contact to the petals that formed a barrier in front of the woman.

Mumi smirked, "Later."

Suddenly, a large gust of pollen seeped out of the petals that Nia's fist had made contact with. Immediately, she covered her nose and partially closed her eyes as Mumi opened the window wide and escaped with a sleeping Naruto in her grasp.

'No ! Narutooo...!' Nia helplessly watched as her first male friend was taken away from her.

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A/N- doooone! I think this is a decent length chapter. I hope you guys liked it :) Please comment and vote! Thx for reading. :)