Chapter 18.5: An Unexpected Turn Of Events Part Two

'Almost there!' Nia kept her legs going forward as she was desperate to be able to get the makeover that would get her the normality she craved.

However, a sudden sight from above caught her attention as did everyone else in the area.

To her, time seemed to slow down drastically as her eyes widened upon witnessing what looked like a few balls of paper falling gracefully from the sky and landing either inside a building, on the roofs or ground even.

A p-paper... b-bo-

Instantaneously, there was a blinding flash, like sheet-lightning, and a huge ball of varicolored fire belched upward, leaving a series of smoke-rings to float more slowly after it.

It was an enormous explosion. It was as though a fist of orange flame had decided to punch it's way out of the main complex of every building in the area. Windows shattered, smoke and fire rushed out, thousands of pieces of glass and steel, and a deadly rainfall, showered down. Alarms - shrill and deafening- erupted. A huge bite had been taken out of the side and the roof of the building Nia wanted to go inside of.

Far from the explosion, Naruto was still walking around the village as he suddenly felt the force of a shockwave push him forward from behind. He quickly caught his footing as he tripped and witnessed as buildings collapsed and the dirt from the ground was forced upward into the air.

"What the hell was that?!" He freaked out as he took notice of everything that was suddenly happening around him.

"IT'S THEM!" Someone yelled as a stampede of people came running in his direction with smoke covered all over them, "THEY'RE HERE TO KILL US ALL!"

Not wanting to be stumbled upon by the frightened villagers, the blonde jumped onto the roof of a still standing building.

As his mind made clear of what had happened, another set of explosions had made themselves known in his area. There was the fearful blow of the explosion, the noise of glass, the hoarse howl of people, the rushing of men, the sudden gulf, the awful gulfing whirlpool of horror in the small village.

Quickly, he got himself settled and summoned a number of clones to help save the weak. However, his eyes snapped open as he realized his master and Nia were last at the area where the first explosion happened.

'Damn it!' He suddenly took off in the direction where he had last seen his companions, 'Curly Brow! Pervy Sage! They're in danger!'

Meanwhile, where he was at, Jiraiya had lifted some debris that had fallen on him and some others off and coughed a bit as he found himself outside as the bar he was in had completely collapsed.

"What on earth just happened?!" He too observed how everyone was panicking and running about.

"The neighboring land is here to take a scroll our feudal lord had promised to hand them over a long while ago yet has failed to do so." A woman the sannin was with informed him of what she believed to be what was happening.

"Yes," Another woman spoke, "They warned that if he didn't hand it over, they would wreak devastation in this village."

"I see..." Jiraiya stood slowly to his feet, "Now... why don't you two and everyone else flee to safety. I'll take care of these people who are attacking your home."

Quickly, they nodded and went off to be at a place where their safety was more guaranteed.

As they did that, the sannin headed off to where he could possibly find the crooks who had bombed the area.

'Naruto... Nia... please tell me you both are safe!'

Not too far from where the old man was, a number of bodies and limbs were lying beside Nia as they all were at the center of the explosion. Blood rained from sky as a result from that and a few pair of feet stood right where the kunoichi laid.

"Idiot!" A tall, slender man rammed his fist down on one of his lackey's head, "You almost killed her! Do you have any idea what we would've lost if we killed her?!"

"S-Sorry, Master." The Lackey, who went by the name Sukomo, apologized.

The boss, whose name was Makoro, kneeled down and placed two fingers on Nia's neck and sighed a breath of relief as he could feel a pulse on the unconscious girl.

"Phew... I managed to keep her safe at the last second... That was too close."

"Erm... aren't we supposed to be acquiring the scroll that old fool wouldn't give us?" Another male lackey with white spiky hair and green eyes reminded the boss.

"You fool! There's no such need for that scroll anymore. This girl is worth far more than that. That thing is worthless compared to her." Makoro stated as he he placed his hand on Nia's face and did something to cause her to open her eyes, "This girl is one of the infamous guardians."

"A guardian!?" The two others with him gasped.

"Yes... but this one is different. I can sense that she is not pure of heart like the others. Something has tainted her soul. There's nothing but darkness surrounding it—not even a speck of light is inside it. It's been driven out!"

"What?!" Sokumo raised an eyebrow, "But Master Makoro, all guardians are supposed to be pure of heart, otherwise-"

"RASENGAAAN!" The three men were suddenly interrupted by a plethora of Naruto's shadow clones aiming blue balls of chakra toward them.

As they moved away, the real Naruto gathered Nia in his arms and moved her and himself out of the way just as his army of clones came crashing their jutsu's against the ground like a line of land mines.

Makoro cursed under his breath as he tried to feel out for Nia but couldn't lock onto her. As he did this however, he sensed a powerful dark presence hiding within the blonde that had ambushed him and his lackeys.

'A jinchuuriki...' His eyes widened slowly as he then engaged into hand-to-hand combat with many of the clones, 'And he's... not like the others either... he's... pure of heart. His soul is filled with light! How can this be?!'

Elsewhere, Naruto had managed to escape to the safety of a dark alley as he placed his back against the outside of a ruined building and slid down to the ground as he kept a firm grip around Nia as this happened.

He closed his eyes as he kept her head at his chest. Having thought that all the blood that was spilled on her was that of her own, the blonde was sure the kunoichi was murdered along with the others in the heat of the explosion.

There were no words to describe how he felt. In fact, he couldn't even say anything in his mind as it had momentarily been lost to shock and grief.

He bit his tongue, trying to hold the tears that threatened to leave his eyes. He refused to accept what had happened, even as his lips trembled and his shoulders heaved with emotion, unwilling to back down.

And that's when he couldn't hold them back any longer. First, one small crystal bead escaped from his right eye. He could feel the warmth, sliding down his cheek, and rolling off his chin. Then another. And another. Until his eyes flooded with them, coming like a rainfall. Sniffing every ten seconds, they fall, and fall, and he couldn't stop them from doing so.

However, feeling the almost crushing grip the blonde had on her and the droplets of tears soaking through her thin clothing, Nia regained complete consciousness as her sight began to settle in as well.

She only saw orange and a black collar. It didn't take her too long to realize she was being hugged.

But who was snuggling her up like that? She didn't understand what had happened or what was going on.

And so, she shifted around as this action prompted Naruto to widen his eyes in shock. Quickly, he looked down to see Nia coughing.

"Curly Brow!" His eyes seemed to sparkle as the girl weakly made eye contact with him, "You're alive!"

"Na-Naruto?" She mumbled as she observed he was weeping over something.

"Oh thank goodness!" The genin embraced her again as he choked on his words, "Y-You have no I-idea how much it re-relieves me that you're still alive, y-ya know!"

Hearing those words, Nia felt a softness in her that had never been there before. It was the first time she saw her world spring into color. She was able to see the world for what it was. Nature had became what she had seen of it as a child: Vibrant and full of life.

"Naruto..." She watched as he closed his eyes once more in order to get the rest of his tears out of his system.

"I... I thought I lost you... like how I lost Sasuke!" Naruto coughed a bit as his fingers trembled and his face was red with emotion.

In his embrace, the world stopped still on its axis to Nia. There was no time, no screaming, no sadness. Nia's mind was at peace. How could it be that she was feeling this way? Pure. Unselfish. Undemanding. Free. She felt her body press in, soft and warm.

Having been calmed down, Naruto took his sleeve and wiped his face as he still felt his shadow clones were fighting but were quickly disappearing with every passing second.

"Naruto, are you okay?" Nia's voice suddenly became sweet and soft as she placed a hand on the boy's cheek.

The blonde smiled and placed his hand atop of her's as Nia's heart began to race.

"Yeah..." He squeezed her hand, "Curly Brow, I'm sorry I wasn't there when that explosion happened... but don't worry, those bastards are gonna pay for what they did to these people, ya know?"

He then stood up as Nia stayed on her knees.

"Wait!" The girl grabbed his hand as soon as he turned his back, "Please don't go by yourself. I'll go with you!"

"No way, Curly Brow! I can't let you get hurt!"

"But-"

Again, Naruto turned back to her, got on a knee and placed his hand on her shoulders.

"I'll be right back, all right?" He told her gently, "I bet those guys are nothing. I'll take 'em all out in no time."

"I know, but- I'm scared. I need to be with you, Naruto... when I'm not with you, I don't feel safe any longer. I only feel safe with you... Besides... I might not seem like it all the time, but I..." Nia gazed into the blonde's eyes in a way she hadn't before.

Seeing the sudden immense gentleness in them, Naruto slowly turned a bit red before he grinned.

"Don't worry about all that!" He cheerfully replied as he placed his hands on the kunoichi's burning cheeks, "I know you're a complete softie under all that attitude! I know you care about me, Curly Brow. You don't gotta say anything, haha."

"Naruto..." Nia began to smile also as her eyes lighted up, "Thank you..."

It suddenly became quiet for a bit as the atmosphere around the two quickly became filled with tension.

Like earlier, Nia found the blonde gazing at her in a way he hadn't before. Again, he cupped a hand on her cheek and the two started staring awkwardly into each others eyes, slowly leaning in.

'Wait...' Nia thought as her mind began to go blank and her heart fluttered intensely, 'Is he going.. to... kiss me? So... soon?'

She watched as the boy began to close his eyes as she then did also.

Yeah... he's going to-

"WELL LOOK WHAT WE HAVE HERE!" A sudden voice interrupted the two as their skin nearly jumped out of their bodies.

"GAH!"

"KYA!"

Nia and Naruto shrieked at the same time as they quickly spotted the person who had caught them together in this very awkward moment.

"Pervy Sage, what the hell are you doing?! You scared us, ya know!" Naruto became furious as he then locked eyes on the three goons that were clearly knocked out and were being hanged over the man's shoulders, "Hold on, those were the three guys my clones were fighting..."

"Yeah," Jiraiya responded, "Turns out these three were here to take a scroll promised to them by force and when the feudal lord didn't keep his promise, they attacked this village. However, these three were all talk and no action. I took them out fairly easily."

He then paused before saying, "However, their ambush slaughtered at least a dozen people and ruined lots of buildings. I think we should stay here for a little while and help them restore what it is they lost."

"Sounds good to me!" Naruto nodded.

"All right." Nia agreed as well.

Jiraiya breathed a sigh of relief, "Even though i'm bothered by the injustice of what's happened, I'm glad you two are safe. Oh! And I'm sorry for cutting in on your intimate time. I know you two have been waiting to lock lips with one another since the cave incident."

"KYA! WHAT FEELINGS?!" Nia's face blew out steam as she felt as though she was put out there in the spot light.

"Exactly!" Naruto crossed his arms, "Last I remember, I like Sakura!"

"WHAT?!" Nia shot a dangerous, ominous glare that made the blonde's face go blue.

"Err..." Sweat rolled down quickly on the genin's face as his eyes turned into two small black dots.

"If you like Sakura, then what the hell was that back there?" Nia placed a hand on her heart as tears filled her eyes.

"Hold on Curly Brow, it wasn't what it looked-"

Extremely angered as she felt played, Nia slammed her foot upon the genin's as he immediately hollered and brought it into his hands.

"OWWWW! THAT REALLY HURT, YA KNOW!" He bounced up and down on his uninjured foot.

"You jerk!" The girl then took off in search to see if there was anyone who needed her help.

"Man... just when I got her to show her gentle side too!" The blonde complained as he sat down and tried to ease the pain done to his left foot.

"You two need to grow up." Jiraiya shook his head.

Now I'm sure they like each other...

----

Anyway, so it's been a WHILE since I posted an mmd and that's because of the stupid software I was using to upload to YouTube was being trash so instead, I got me the all new Sony Vegas 15 Pro ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️👏👏👏👏👏

Today, I'm going to be showing you what an actual obsessive crazy girl looks like.

Here is: Notice Me Senpai!

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

I got something for the SasuSaku fans also: Love Confession Gone Wrong

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

And one last singing video of Sakura, Hinata, and Nia: I Got New Rules

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

Also, I may be taking a break for quite some time as I am exhausted from writing this story practically non stop with my free time lmao. I do love this story, but damn I wear myself out typing this along with creating my own original story simultaneously.

Anyways, thanks for the love and I'll be back when I can. Hopefully, you guys understand.

Thanks for reading! Please comment and vote and have a great night ❤️

QOTD:

1. Fave Part?

2. Fave Line?

3. Favorite MMD out of the three? Why? 😂😂😂