Hello members of Fanfiction. I have returned. I know it's been a really really long time but I pretty much had no idea what I was doing with my other two stories. This however I have a solid plan for and will actually try to update this at least once a week. Yes the title is a reference to the One Piece OST "The Very Very Strongest" and it should hint to how Naruto will fight. Yes I recently fell in love with One Piece, however no devil fruits or pirates in this. Only one element from One Piece has made it into this story and I'm sure you know what it is. Anyway let me know what you think for a first chapter.
"Wha-what did you say?" Hiruzen Sarutobi, the sandaime hokage, was shocked beyond words. After hearing young Naruto always screaming to the heavens about becoming hokage just reject his offer to join the academy, he was understandably confused. "Why not? What happened to your dream of becoming hokage?"
Six year old Naruto gave a small yawn and gave the hokage a bored look. "Being hokage was my old dream. I have something else I wanna be now" Naruto gave the sandaime a large grin "I wanna be the very very strongest!"
Sarutobi looked at the young child with a confused look. "How do you expect to be strong if you don't join the academy and become a ninja?" Of course Sarutobi knew one didn't necessarily have to become a ninja to become strong, but it's not as if Naruto knew about samurai and other warriors.
The young boy tilted his head a bit, his red locks falling to the side, and gave a mischievous grin. "That's a secret old man"
"Hokage-sama?"
Sarutobi, interrupted from his thoughts, looked towards the one addressing him. "My apologies. What is it Kakashi?"
Kakashi Hatake for once didn't have his nose in his book and looked at the hokage with a little concern. "Team 7 passed their test. Is everything alright Hokage-sama?"
Sarutobi sighed. "Yes everything is fine. Just thinking about young Naruto."
Kakashi gained a sober look in his visable eye. "It's been six years since he went missing huh."
The two veteran shinobi stood in silence for a while, each thinking about the young Uzumaki. After telling the Sandaime of his so called new dream to be the strongest, Naruto seemingly disappeared without a trace. Not even Kakashi with his summons could find him. Normally if a civilian were the leave the village it wouldn't be an issue. They weren't bound to the village like shinobi were. However the case is a little different when that civilian carried the strongest of the bijuu within him.
"Kakashi go and rest. Be here tomorrow with your team to begin your missions." With a nod, the jonin left with a shunsin. The sandaime looked out towards the village wondering where the redhead jinchuriki was at this moment.
Land of Waves
Naruto opened his eyes and immediately covered them after looking directly into the sunlight coming through the window. He sat up in bed and gave a big yawn. He lazily got up and went into the bathroom to freshen up. After showering he comes out in just black boxers. At the age of 12 Naruto stood at 5'1. It was obvious to anyone who looked that he worked out his body regularly (no supermodel 8 pack Naruto. He's just fit). He had bright blue eyes and spiky red hair with two bangs framing the sides of his face and whisker marks on his cheeks.
He put on a red tank top with a black track jacket, black pants and black sandals with a red sash that held 3 swords on the left side of his waist. He leaned out of the bedroom window and inhaled the smell of seawater and smiled contently. It was great to enjoy the smell of the sea, the sound of the waves, and the feeling of nature.
*Stare* A head of light purple hair suddenly appeared in the corner of his eye. Naruto lazily turned to head to the right and came face to face with an upside down young girl staring at him unblinking with a lollipop in her mouth. Naruto blinked once. Twice. Three times.
"Yo" Naruto lazily brung up a hand in greeting.
"Hey" The purple haired girl did the same.
Naruto faced forward again and took another breath of fresh air. The girl continued to stare at him.
"You just gonna keep staring at me all day long?" Naruto asked the girl with a small glance in her direction.
"Actually Tsunami wanted me to tell you breakfast is ready." The girl replied.
"And you waited this long to tell me because?"
The girl blinked once then changed the position of her lollipop before replying. "…your whiskers distracted me" she said with the only emotion was the small pink tint on her cheeks.
Naruto sweatdropped. "Riiiight. Hehe, how about we go down and get some food, Mizore." He said.
Mizore nodded and dropped off of the roof she was standing on and jumped onto the windowsill. Naruto backed up to allow her into the room and they both headed downstairs. Mizore Shirayuki was someone Naruto met when he was nine years old while in Kirigakure. Her parents were victims of the bloodline purges and she decided to come with him and his master as she no longer had anywhere left to go. She was quite reserved with little emotion and had weird quirks such as staring at Naruto's whiskers at times because she found them cute. She said they reminded her of her pet cat. The fox in his gut took offense to that. She had short light purple hair and blue eyes. She wore a white sweatshirt with dark blue sleeves with a black singlet underneath and a light brown pleated checkered skirt. She had light and dark stripped stockings with white shoes and a belt tied around her left leg. When asked about the belt she looked blankly at Naruto and replied "It looked cool". She also had a gold pendent around her neck which she said she received from her mother before she died.
Naruto found Tsunami and her son Inari setting the table for breakfast. "Good morning Naruto-kun, Mizore-chan."
"Mornin' Tsunami-san." Naruto ruffled Inari's hair a bit in greeting and the little kid laughed a bit. Inari really came a long way. When they first met him he was just a depressed little brat. Now he smiled and laughed like normal kids his age. Tsunami thanked Naruto for that, but he just waved it off. When Naruto and Mizore came to wave, it was a miserable place with adults and children alike begging for food. Gato took control of the Land of Waves and almost everyone lost hope of being free again. Their only hope was in the bridge Tsunami's father was building but he was in danger because of Gato and supposedly went off to hire some ninja to protect him. When Naruto and Mizore got there however and saw the state of the country, Naruto took care of Gato himself. Gato had hired Zabuza, one of the seven swordsmen of the mist and his partner Haku who was also a victim of the bloodline purges in Kiri. After killing Gato and his henchmen, Naruto offered Zabuza all of Gato's money and the two parted ways. Since then Naruto, who everyone regarded as a hero, stayed in Wave a bit to make sure none of Gato's thugs or any ninja he hired didn't come back.
Naruto suddenly stopped eating and narrowed his eyes. "There's a group of five people on their way here. Looks like four ninja and a civilian."
Mizore tensed a bit. "How far?"
"About a mile or so. Tsunami-san, didn't you say your father went out to hire ninja to protect him?"
Tsunami nodded a bit nervously "Ah yes. He did, but he left before you arrived so he didn't know he didn't need to."
"Hmm from what I can tell it seems like a genin team with their sensei. Although one of those genin feel a bit more than a genin. It's most likely your father and the team he hired, but we'll stay alert just in case."
Tsunami sighed in relief. "I really can't thank you enough Naruto-san, Mizore-chan."
Naruto grinned. "Nonsense. Your delicious food and lovely home is thanks enough. Right Mizore?" Mizore nodded with a small smile that Tsunami returned.
With the Konoha Team
After several boring D ranked missions, Team 7 found themselves on their first C-ranked escort mission. To escort the bridge builder Tazuna back to the Land of Waves. The team was made up and Sasuke Uchiha, the only survivor of the Uchiha massacre, Sakura Haruno, Sai, and their sensei Kakashi Hatake. Usually on C-ranked escort missions there might be a group of bandits or something, but so far its been fairly quiet. Not that Kakashi was complaining. It gave him more time to read his favorite book. However it did seem like Tazuna was a bit tense throughout the trip. Sasuke seemed to be a bit upset he didn't get a chance to test his skills against real opponents. Sakura was the opposite. She was relieved they weren't attacked on their mission so far. Besides her smarts, she wasn't really a strong genin. "Hmm I'll have to change that. She can't rely on Sasuke to come to her rescue in the heat of battle like a fairy tale." Kakashi thought to himself, already planning a training regime for her. Meanwhile Sai was just quiet with a weird smile on his face.
"Ah there's my home" Tazuna exclaimed, relief clear in his voice. Kakashi glanced to up towards a figure on the roof. He narrowed his eyes at what appeared to be a girl sitting on the roof. She gave them a lazy wave before disappearing into the house via window. Not knowing if she was friend or foe, Kakashi rushed to the house and slammed open the door to find…the girl he saw on the roof calmly drinking tea with a redhead with three swords by his side. A woman with black hair and a little kid came from a room a assumed was the kitchen since they both carried a dish in their hands. The woman and child he concluded to be Tazuna's family after seeing a family portrait. The other two were unknowns and he prepared himself to attack.
"Relax Shinobi-san. As you can see, we're clearing not harming Tsunami-san or little Inari." The redhead said calmly then took a sip of tea. The girl mirrored his actions, although her tea seemed to look a bit chilled. "Actually we've been protecting them the past couple of days." The rest of team 7 arrived at the house with Tazuna behind them. Tazuna clearly looking a bit frightened from the jonin's actions.
"It's true ninja-san." The woman known as Tsunami said with a soft smile. "Naruto-san and Mizore-chan has been staying with us after saving the village from Gato."
Tazuna looked confused. "Wait Gato is gone?" Tsunami ran to her father and hugged him with a huge smile on her face. Inari also ran to hug his grandfather by the waist.
"Yes father. These two got rid of Gato and saved us."
Meanwhile Kakashi could only look at the redhead who Tsunami called Naruto. "There's no way. It couldn't really be him. But he has the whisker marks." Kakashi's thoughts were scrambled.
Naruto looked at the jonin with a raised brow. "Any reason you're staring at me shinobi-san?" he questioned. He glanced at the Konoha symbol on the ninja's forehead protector. "Hmm. He must recognize me. Wonder who he is."
Kakashi calmed himself before asking his question. "Are you Naruto Uzumaki?" Sasuke and Sakura looked confused as to how their sensei recongnized the redhead while Sai narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Yea that's me. Do I know you or something?"
Kakashi couldn't believe it. After six years he found his sensei's son in the same place his team's mission took him. He wasn't one to believe in fate, but if this truly was fate, he might have to reevaluate his beliefs. Tsunami usered everyone inside and served the Konoha ninja had explained the truth about what was happening to the country to the Konoha ninja and apologized for lying about the details. Kakashi warned him about doing such things but ending it accepting the apology since technically they didn't run into any ninja and it still was a C-rank at the moment.
Evereyone turned their attention to Naruto as he stood from his seat and stretched. "Whelp, since your father returned with shinobi, it seems our time here is over." He announced. Mizore finished her tea and stood as well, ready to leave with her friend. "I'm sure you guys can take it from here."
"Actually, Naruto, I wondered if you might stay a bit longer."Kakashi wasn't about to let him get away so easily. "It is our mission to protect Tazuna and his family and since you've been here longer I wondered if you might give us a sitrep."
Naruto gave him a curious look. "Gato's dead. His henchmen are either dead or ran away and the missing nin Zabuza and his assistant took Gato's money and left as well. The only thing you might have to worry about are any henchmen looking for revenge but I'm sure a Konoha jonin can handle that without any problems. If that's all, we'll be off." The redhead turned to Tsunami and bowed his head a bit. "Tsunami-san, we thank you for your hospitality. Inari, remember what I told you." Mizore gave a small bow and they two walked out the door, Tsunami and Inari waving goodbye.
"Excuse me." Kakashi got up and disappeared after the two. Sasuke and Sakura gave confused looks towards the door. Nobody noticed Sai discreetly make mice made of ink that followed after Kakashi.
"Naruto wait." When Kakashi caught up to them, the redhead hardly seemed surprised.
Instead he gave an annoyed sigh. "Anything else you need from us? Or do you just enjoy follow kids around?" Naruto asked annoyed. Mizore giggled a bit.
"Wouldn't that make him a pervert Naruto?"
"If that book's any indication, he's already a pervert" Naruto said with a grin
Kakashi sweat dropped. These kids really had respect. He quickly got serious though. "Naruto, I'm not sure if you remember but you were born in Konoha. You went missing at the age of six and we have reason to believe you were kidnapped."
Naruto blinked. Then he and Mizore looked at each other, before they both started laughing.
"I wasn't kidnapped jonin-san" Naruto said after finally calming down. "By the way can I get your name? Kind of annoying calling you by a title."
"It's Kakashi Hatake."
"Well Kakashi-san, I wasn't kidnapped. I left of my own free will."
"What? But why" Kakashi asked a little surprised. There's no way a six year old could just leave Konoha without anyone noticing.
"Why not? The villagers obviously hated me so leaving made us both happy." Naruto said with a frown. "Besides its not like I was a Konoha ninja. I could've left whenever I wanted."
Kakashi sighed sadly. "That may be true in most cases, but yours is a different matter Naruto."
Naruto smirked. "Cause I'm the kyubi jinchuriki or because I'm the son of the yondaime? Or is it a mix of both?"
Kakashi stared at him in shocked silence. He actually knew of not only the kyubi but his parents as well? This wasn't good.
"Can we go now Naruto?" Mizore butted in before Kakashi could say anything. "I'm bored now."
"Yea yea lets go. Kakashi-san, I bid you farewell". Naruto turned on his heel with Mizore right beside him.
The jonin sighed. It seems he had no choice. He jumped in front of the two and took a stance. "I'm sorry Naruto but I'm to bring you back with force if necessary."
The redhead narrowed his eyes at the Konoha ninja. Mizore giggled at the cyclops's words. "Unfortunately no amount of force you possess can handle him" she said with an amused smile.
"Obviously you underestimate what a Konoha jonin can do" Kakashi stated, confident he can disable two kids.
"No Kakashi." Naruto slowly unsheathed one of his swords. It had a black blade with a red hamon in the appearance of sharp teeth. "You obviously underestimate what I can do."