Wild Side - Color

Original: [link]

Artist:

Commissioner: NOT , that's Big. Effing. Difference. That said, no calling me out on going against MY break from commissioning Naruto pictures when was the one commissioning this. Apparently people don't pay attention to these parts :I

NARUTO and Shizune © Masashi Kishimoto, TV Tokyo, Shueisha, ViZ and Studio Pierrot
The Mask © Mike Richardson, Dark Horse Comics and New Line Cinema

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So more Mask Mayhem in the world of Naruto (I don't think we've seen the end of this just yet <_< ) and it's now changed hands going to the 5th Hokage's aide, Shizune. In fear of being an old maid, the Mask is acting on Shizune's latent urges to land herself a man. Given Konoha's most eligible bachelors, will her altered self be a deterrent to her omiai sessions with the likes of Kakashi, Raidou, Genma, Kotetsu and others? I'm betting on "yes", and I'm a closet Genma x Shizune shipper

Of course the current arc in the manga is war, war and more war so maybe the failed love quest for the best.

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Life hadn't exactly been great for Shizune lately, in the past month or so she'd been killed, resurrected, swamped with work at the hospital, helping take care of the still weak Tsunade and all her usual jobs on top of that, sometimes being an apprentice to Tsunade was more trouble then it was worth.

Of course, Shizune would never voice her complaints openly because even though she was a trained kunoichi who'd faced many dangerous opponents throughout her career, she was still a spineless coward when it came to Tsunade.

So here she was, walking down the still partially destroyed streets of the village, carrying a huge stack of paper filled with copies of the various hospital records destroyed in the attack, normally Sakura would have come over and picked them up, but nobody knew where she'd gone.

And while Shizune was a kind person, who loved Sakura and Tsunade like they were family, she couldn't help but resent the treatment she got sometimes.

It was then, as she internally cursed her master and fellow apprentice, that she felt something fly into her stomach, knocking her and the stack of papers to the ground.

Shizune fell to the ground and landed on her rear end as a veritable blizzard of paper surrounded her, the wind knocked out of her by the object which had impacted into her stomach. She looked down and saw an odd looking wooden mask lying on her legs.

“Where did that come from?” she thought to herself as she picked up the mask.

Unbeknownst to her, her fellow apprentice to Tsunade had accidentally knocked this mask into the air when reprimanding Naruto.

Shizune continued to examine the mask, unaware or rather, uncaring, of the paper she'd been ordered to ferry, something about this mask interested her, though she wasn't sure what exactly.

Shizune lifted the mask up and studied it further, the wood was a dark shade of green with a large metal strip running down the centre of its surface to the mouth hole. She flipped the mask over and gazed into the back part of it, for a second she could have sworn she saw a green flash, though she told herself that wasn't possible.

Yet for some reason, Shizune began to bring the mask closer to her face, she wasn't sure why, but something compelled her to put it on.

Soon enough, her soft skin came into contact with the cold, hard wood of the mask and for a second nothing happened. Shizune started to laugh at herself for being so curious about the mask, until suddenly it started to move.

Before she knew what was going on, Shizune felt the mask start to stretch and latch onto her face, causing Shizune to grab at it desperately and try to pull it off, but to no avail.

Shizune tried to dig her fingers underneath the ever-expanding edges of the mask, but it stuck to her scalp like glue and continued on its quest to consume her head.

Soon enough, Shizune felt the masks material completely wrap itself around her head, causing her to yell out in surprise and frustration as she tried once more to rip the mask off her head. However, Shizune felt something like a surge of electricity pass through her as some weird force crashed into her side and before she knew it, Shizune was spinning around in a small black tornado.

The winds caused by the once human tornado made the long forgotten papers on the ground around Shizune fly into the air again and whirl around in all directions as the black tornado continued to spin uncontrollably.

Suddenly a loud screeching noise filled the air as the tornado stopped suddenly, revealing a changed Shizune. She still wore her black and white kimono like outfit, but now her face was a bright green colour as opposed to it's normal skin tone.

The new Shizune's green face burst into a gleeful grin.

“I have absolutely no idea why but I feel so free, so relaxed, so unburdened.” She said happily.

Suddenly Shizune noticed all the paper she had once been carrying, but now had been scattered to the winds.

“Oh yeah” She muttered out in a depressed tone “I was on a mission for Tsunade-Sama....Oh well!”

And with that, Shizune spun into a black tornado again and rocketed off into the streets of Konoha.

Soon enough the tornado came to a stop near the memorial stone, where the names of hundreds of brave shinobi warriors were engraved and where a certain silver haired Jonin sensei was paying his respects to his deceased comrades.

Kakashi Hatake sighed loudly as he finally grabbed his favourite book from it's pouch and began to read, unaware he was being watched.

Shizune hid behind some bushes as tiny pink cartoon hearts fluttered all around her, screw being Tsunade's personal mail girl, she was going to finally find a man and Kakashi seemed like the best option right now, strong, wise attractive, yep he was just the kind of man she was looking for.

Kakashi began to walk away from the stone, nose deep in his novel when Shizune made her move, she zipped out of the bushes she was hiding in and stood in Kakashi's path.

“Why hello Kakashi” she said seductively.

“Oh, hey Shizune” Kakashi responded, not looking up from his book.

“So...Kakashi, notice anything different about me?”

“You got a hair cut, it looks nice”

“Yes I- Wait what? Are you even paying attention?”

“Of course I am” He said still not looking up from his book.

“Okay....Listen I was wondering if you wanted to go out to dinner, maybe a movie, come back to my place have a few drinks and see where the night takes us.”

“Sorry but I kind of have a team meeting with Naruto, Sakura, Yamato and Sai, maybe sometime next week when we can get all the other Jonin together.”

Shizune was dumbfounded “Are you serious? He isn't picking up on my subtle hints?” She thought to herself as one final plan hatched in her mind.

Shizune gave a sexy smirk as she moved both hands to the top of her Kimono and pulled it apart, exposing herself in front of Kakashi.

“This'll get him” she thought confidently, only to realise Kakashi had just walked past her, still engrossed in the damn book.

Shizune was silent for a few minutes, before letting out a booming howl of pure rage “Fine! If he's too fascinated with fictional romance to engage in real life romance who needs him!?” And with that Shizune zipped away, this time towards the gates of Konoha.

Kotetsu and Izumo were as usual at their position watching the main gate into the village, but this time was different, this time they were joined by Raidou and Genma, who had the day off from normal missions.

Shizune stopped just out of sight of the four men “This is perfect.” she thought “Four hot guys, it's like it's my birthday, Christmas and New Year's all rolled into one”.

The four shinobi sat in silence as they watched those who went in and out of the gate when suddenly their concentration was broken by a distinctly female figure sitting on the desk in front of them.

“Fancy seeing you boys here” Shizune said slyly as she gave a quick wink to them.

All four stared at her green face before Kotetsu nervously asked “Shizune? Is that you?”

Shizune chuckled in response “Of course it's me, do you know any other medic-nin this hot?”

That comment, mixed with the green face really knocked the four off their guards.

“Are you alright Shizune?” Genma asked.

“Of course I am, why?”

“Well you're acting kind of funny...And your face...”

“Oh! This? It's just a umm...A new facial mask for treating skin problems! I'm umm...I'm trying it out to see if it has any adverse effects on healthy skin.”

“I guess that makes sense...” Genma responded uncertainly.

“Anyway, I've been given an unexpected day off, do any of you boys mind if I join you? Shizune said with a smile.

All four shook their heads “Nah, it'd be nice to have some company” Izumo said.

And with that, all five of them watched the gates in silence.

Shizune quickly grew bored “Is this all you guys do?” she asked.

“Yep”.

“Pretty much”.

“Sometimes I mingle in crowds during big events”

“I haven't done anything of note in years”.

Were the responses she got.

Shizune was flabbergasted “Well lets go and do something then!” She yelled out.

“Can't do that, our orders are to watch the gate” Kotetsu and Izumo spoke up.

“And we promised those two we'd help out today” Genma and Raidou said.

Shizune stared blankly before growling in frustration and leaving muttering something about useless unimportant side-people.

All four watched her leave “Well there's no reason to be rude” Raidou said, with the other three agreeing.

A while later Shizune stood on a familiar bridge and sighed depressingly, she was having a hard time processing the fact that five guys in a row had shown no interest in her, when suddenly a voice behind her shook her out of her stupor.

“Shizune? Are you okay?”

Shizune whipped around and saw Yamato was stood on one end of the bridge, who did a small visual take upon seeing her now green face.

Shizune smirked, she remembered all the times when he'd helped her...Even though she was having difficulty remembering if they'd actually happened or not....But nevertheless, she moved over to Yamato.

“I'm doing much better now that you're here” she said sexily.

“Umm...That's good...I think” He said nervously.

“You know I never did thank you for that time you helped me carry my paperwork when no one else would”.

Yamato looked confused “I did?”

“Yes, don't you remember?” Shizune said as her eyes enlarged far beyond normal and began to tear up.

“I think...so...Maybe?”

Shizune groaned with annoyance “Whatever the point is you were a gentleman for helping little old me in my time of need and I need to repay you...hey what time is it?”

“Oh umm...About 11:00 AM, why?”

Shizune stared blankly, before bursting out laughing uncontrollably.

“Oh god I can't believe it, morning wood he he he” She laughed hysterically.

“No! Stop laughing, stop laughing it's a childish joke this is ruining my chances with him. Why can't I stop laughing damn it!?” She thought as she continued to laugh like a mad woman.

“Hey Shizune are you-”

“Yes I'm heheheh Fine, I just need to hehehe get some hehehe fresh air” and with that Shizune ran away.

“But we're already outside!” Yamato yelled after her.

Shizune eventually stopped laughing when she was far enough away from Yamato and the bridge.

“Damn it to hell! Why was I laughing like that? I don't even like crass jokes” She yelled at herself angrily, she'd blown it yet again, but this time it was all her fault.

“I hope ol' Granny's got a new mission for us!”

An overly familiar loud voice cut off Shizune's self loathing rant, Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno were walking towards the bridge.

Had Shizune been paying attention she' have noticed the two seemed extremely awkward towards each other, but right now she didn't care, she was sinking to new depths to get a man.

Shizune zipped over and blocked the path for the two team mates “Hey there Naruto” She said excitedly, the more she thought about it, the less of a bad idea this seemed, he was cute, strong and was easy to please.

Both Sakura and Naruto stared at her before yelling out simultaneously “The Mask!?”

“Yes...Wait, how do you two know about it?”

Sakura and Naruto blushed and looked in opposite directions to one another “We've umm...We've had experiences with it” Sakura said finally.

Shizune then zipped over to Naruto, subconsciously pushing Sakura backwards.

“You know Naruto, I never did thank you for indirectly bringing me back from the dead, helping to save me and Tsunade-Sama from Orochimaru all those years ago and for saving the entire village from Pain”.

Naruto blushed, he'd had enough experience with that Mask to know exactly where this was going “Well I had a lot of help...Pervy Sage was the one who beat Orochimaru....And it was Nagato who brought you back”

“Details, details, the point is I think it was really sweet and brave what you did, and I think you and me should go and have some fun.”

Sakura wasn't sure why, but her impressive temper was starting to rise up, something about the way she was treating Naruto like a piece of meat irritated her.

“Well that sounds like fun...But I've got to meet up with Kakashi-sensei and Captain Yamato”

Shizune suddenly looked a lot less happy “Oh who needs that idiot who prefers fantasy to reality and that nice guy with the awkward powers...”

Naruto wasn't quite sure what she was talking about, but he knew he couldn't be left alone with her.

“Umm, besides, I umm, I promised Sakura-Chan I'd spend the day with her, right Sakura-Chan?”

“Hmm? Oh right yeah, he did” Sakura said, just now starting to get a hold of her rising anger.

Shizune scoffed “Why would you rather spend the day with that flat-chested, big foreheaded psycho that strikes like a gorilla when you could spend it with a older, but not too much older, mature woman?”

Shizune felt this nagging feeling in the back of her mind, like she'd just walked into the lions den wearing a suit made out of steaks, but she figured it was probably indigestion.

Then again, Shizune was starting to wonder why her head hurt, and where Naruto was...And where the ground was exactly.

Naruto watched fearfully as Sakura punched Shizune high into the air, though secretly he was kind of glad it wasn't him this time.

“Insulting me was the last straw!” Sakura yelled as she watched Shizune's form impact into the ground on the other side of Konoha.

“Last...Wait so were you already angry at her Sakura-Chan?”

“I... Umm...Shut up Naruto” she said as she raised her fist threateningly as she started to walk towards the crater.

“Where you going Sakura-Chan?”

“Oh...I just remembered I left something at my house, don't worry I'll be back long before Kakashi-Sensei gets there.”

Meanwhile Shizune sat in the middle of a giant crater, it wasn't fair, all she'd done was insult the insanely strong, short tempered kunoichi, how was she supposed to know she'd take it so badly.

“Yo! Shizune are you okay?”

Shizune looked up and saw Might Guy standing on the edge of the crater looking down at her worriedly.

“Oh I'm fine now...You know I never noticed before but that jumpsuit brings out the youthfulness in you eyes” Shizune said as she smirked.

“I am sorry Shizune, but I cannot love you” Guy said.

“That's fine...Wait What!?” Shizune yelled out.

“Alas, my heart belongs to the village I love so much and my training, it would not be fair on you if I could not give 110% of my love and youth, but I hope we can remain friends.

And with that Guy went to continue his training.

Shizune was stunned, and before she knew it, she began to pound the ground as she cried “It's not fair! It's not fair! It's not fair!” she yelled out.

“This stupid Mask is the cause of this, if it wasn't for this thing I'd still be a happy doormat for Tsunade-sama, doing what I'm told and not being rejected by everyone!”

Shizune then reached up and gripped the edges of the Mask and pulled with all her strength, till finally she felt it start to come off.

She continued to pull till finally the Mask came off and returned to just being an ordinary looking wooden Mask in her hands.

“Now I'll just find somewhere safe to put this thing where no one else will-”

Shizune was cut off however as a pink and red blur jumped onto her and grabbed the front of her kimono.

“Listen here, if you ever try to pull a stunt like that again, I'll destroy you” Sakura warned.

Shizune yelled out in fear “I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry please don't hurt me”

“Oh...You aren't wearing it anymore....” Sakura let go of Shizune and picked up the Mask for herself “I think I'll hold onto it for now, till we decide what to do with it”.

“But what about Tsunade-Sama? Shouldn't we tell her?”

The two pupils of the Slug Sannin looked at each other for a second.

“No nevermind, that was a terrible idea.”

Sakura then turned and left, taking the Mask with her, while Shizune sat and reflected on what was probably the worst day of her life.

backstory courtesy of
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-I go in order, this could have been done faster but I wasn't going to upload it before Psylocke

-Changed some things in the backstory. There was a reference to Wookie Life Day, but that was replaced with New Year's to reduce 4th wall tapping. Naruto being based off Japanese culture, I figure New Year's would have just as much importance as a "Birthday" and "Christmas". Not sure everyone (some, not all) would get if I put in "White Day" or "Girl's Day".

-"violent tsundere" was a bit redundant. Also labels like that can be confusing to some folk here. The line was originally "Why would you rather spend the day with her, a violent tsundere with a large forehead and a tendency to almost kill you, not to mention her lacking in several regions, when you could spend it with a older, but not too much older, mature woman?”. The reason for the gorilla reference is because one of the words for superhuman strength in Japanese is "kairiki". Sakura has taken it as an insult by Naruto before (at least in the first Japanese GNT/CoN game's story mode on the Wii). While I'm not certain WHY Sakura was offended by Naruto pointing out Sakura's monstrous strength, it's POSSIBLE the word tends to be synonymous with calling one a gorilla...that's just my take. Plus more people get "psycho" (as in 'psychotic', not the ESP kind to any non-native English speakers) over "tsundere".

-Changed "baa-chan" to "granny". By this point you know I'm deviating towards the EVIL ENGLISH DUB THAT WAS (NOT) DONE BY 4KIDS AND LET THAT LADY WITH AN ALTERNATE LIFESTYLE VOICE (as if that even affects Ms. Flannigan's acting...it doesn't) NARUTO! Okay, facetiousness aside... more people would understand the terms in English and this is just me using these notes to express my anime politics, the Naruto dub isn't the worse out there AND IT WASN'T DONE BY 4KIDS >=C ... oh wait, this was supposed to be about changing a term so people that aren't too keen on Japanese would get that Naruto was referring to Tsunade.