Kitsune and Neko

Chapter-9

-Somewhere in the forests of the Land Of Fire

A group of three masked strangers were heading towards their home situated near The Hidden Hot Water Village. The one wearing the fox mask was dressed in black anbu trousers and a black jacket with three diagonal orange stripes and had the Uzumaki clan symbol on one sleeve and the Senju clan symbol on the other, the one with the cat mask was wearing black anbu trousers and a navy blue high collared t-shirt with a small Uchiha clan symbol on the back and the girl wearing the sparrow mask was dressed in a long sleeve t-shirt and a skirt with fishnet armor going down to her knees. A hawk carrying an emergency letter from Suna was heading towards them. AS soon as he was above them, he sat on Kitsune's shoulder and pecked him in the ear. Kitsune and the two stopped their journey and landed on the ground. Neko had grabbed the letter and was letting the bird go, while Kitsune was putting up his barrier.

"What is the letter about Sasuke?" The blonde asked while removing his mask. He had an annoyed expression on his face because of the hawk pecking his ear.

Sasuke removed his mask. "We need to go to Suna immediately, Naruto, the-" but before he could complete the sentence, Naruto had cut him off.

"I just finished a meeting with the fire daimyo and just as I am about to return home, a hawk from Suna wants us to go to Suna? Now we have to head in the opposite direction and I haven't had my dose of ramen." Naruto started anime crying.

"Is Anija bipolar or something, Sasuke-kun? Was he always like this?" The girl asked taking her mask of revealing a beautiful girl. She had medium length red hair and warm brown eyes.

"Yes, Aiko-chan. He's been that way since we were children. In the beginning I wanted to Chidori him, but after a while I got used to the dobe." He answered back.

The two had found Aiko while returning from their meeting with Kumo after the Chunin exams, a year ago. A bunch of Otogakure shinobi were attacking her and she was about to be captured due to chakra exhaustion but the two had killed the Oto Nins and taken her in. In the beginning she was cold and distant towards the two and only answered when asked something, but after a few months, she had warmed up to the two. She was a year younger than the two and was an orphan. A few months back, she started calling Naruto 'Anija' because both of them were Uzumakis and Naruto always treated her like a little sister, and she had a special bond with Sasuke. The raven always helped her with her nightmares when Naruto was away on solo missions.

"Oi Naruto, quit whining, this is a serious matter. The Akatsuki got Gaara." Sasuke said with a grim voice. "And poisoned Kankuro. The Sand is in chaos. We need to go."

"Okay." Naruto said closing is eyes. He entered his mindscape to have a talk with Kurama.

"Kurama, do you think that you could transfer your chakra to Sasuke and Aiko-chan? I can sense that their chakra reserves are low"

"Sure, kit. But hurry up. That Gaara brat would die if Shukaku was to be extracted from him." Kurama said, channeling some of his chakra into Naruto.

"We leave now!" Naruto said, opening his eyes.

"Anija, our chakra reserves are low. Even if we managed to reach the sand, we would be out for a long time due to chakra exhaustion." Aiko slightly rolled her eyes.

"I already thought about that. Aiko-chan, Sasuke give me a fist bump. Kurama is going to transfer some of his chakra to you so that you can refill your chakra reserves by the time we reach the sand." Naruto said while giving both of them a fist bump. A minute later, all of them were covered on Kurama's bubbly orange chakra. They put on their masks, pulled down the barrier and headed towards Suna.