Hello all :)
It's been a while, I came across this story and remembered I'd forgotten about it due to work and such distracting me so I decided to pick it back up. Sorry if I disappointed anyone but my life just got so busy. I'll be re-posting the first few entries in a re-formatted chapter structure with a few very minor revisions. If you don't need to reread, the new content starts on chapter 4.
Anyways, there are a lot of things I love about Naruto, but quite a few things that absolutely bother me, such as the Lord of Edge; Sasuke and his counterpart, Lord of the Shounen Cliche: Naruto. I've always wanted to take the story, tear it apart and inject some actual character development into the series, unfortunately, I don't own Naruto...
So I decided to write my own story instead. This is a story where Naruto isn't a "love and friendship will prevail" cliche, nor is he a bumbling idiot. This story will feature Naruto as the main character, rather than the Lord of Edge for the first million episodes. This will also feature a stronger, much more naturally talented Naruto plagued by a different kind of curse other than the Nine Tails. I'm not into god-modding, so Naruto's strengths and limitations will be put into perspective as the story progresses. This story will also be changing events prior to the beginning of the show. Things like the Nine Tails being hijacked and Itachi going homicidal never happened, leaving both Naruto's parents and Sasuke's clan alive and well. Explanations as to why these events never happened will be explained as the story goes on.
Anyways, sorry for rambling on and on. I hope you guys enjoy :) pls let me know if there's any serious grammar problems, unfortunately I'm not immaculate, just divine.
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Bonds
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Namikaze Naruto...
There were theories about him; something along the lines of having the strange ability to move his consciousness into alternate dimensions within time and space, living in both this universe and some sort of contradictory universe at the same time.
His dad called him Mayor of LaLa Land, his sensei's thought he had ADD, and his classmates just called him weird.
Only his mom truly understood him. Naruto would stare off into space for hours, not looking at anything in this world but rather visualizing his own for so long that his vision would be blurry from being unfocussed for so long. HIs mom called him a dizzy dreamer.
Naruto could construct an entire existence in a span of just a few hours and when he was done, he would play in that existence until he had exhausted himself, so it was an ironic truth when others said he lived in alternate realities.
As he got older, his mind began to wonder about his state of being. He'd see so many other kids around the Village running around with friends without the scrutiny of their parents or a body guard. Not many kids wanted an ANBU Captain around when trying to play.
He was maybe five when he became fed up with sitting at the banks of the large lake he frequented with his ever vigilant body guard Hatake Kakashi, or Kakashi-baka as Naruto came to label him as, in near absolute silence after the boy became fed up with Kakashi's masterful skills as a white haired Shinobi would read his book and Naruto would put his consciousness on autopilot.
The highlights of his early childhood were weekly visits to the Uchiha Clan compound where Naruto's mother, Uzumaki Kushina would have tea with Uchiha Mikoto while Naruto and Mikoto's youngest son Uchiha Sasuke bickered about rules to a completely made-up game until they could no longer stand each other.
To put it plainly, Naruto was a rather lonely boy. And Kushina saw it every time they ventured out of their home where her son would stare longingly after the other children playing in packs at the park or just plain being joyfully ignorant nuisances in the street. She tried to fill the gap left by the friends Naruto wished he had only to realize that she wasn't a child. She couldn't see the world as Naruto could and the clever little boy saw right through her attempts.
But Kushina also saw something in her little boy that made her look into his future with pride. When he thought she wasn't looking, Naruto would sneak into his father's office and try to learn anything he could about being a Ninja. He pestered Kakashi relentlessly to teach him. Namikaze Naruto was eager to learn and Kushina saw this as something to curb his wandering mind away from his loneliness.
She taught him and he soaked it all up like a sponge. Like his father, he had an aptitude for the Ninja Arts, as if he were made to wield the inherited chakra inside him. He progressed far quicker than Kushina ever imagined. He ate up knowledge like a glutton would a cake. It wasn't just his physical prowess. His mental capacity for higher learning was more than evident in his reading level, his capability to solve mathematical problems that children twice his age couldn't even tackle and his developing theories about anything and everything around him. Naruto could take apart a television and figure out how to put it back together if ever allowed to. All he needed was time. Afterwards, he'd forever know the ins and outs of a television.
At five, when it was time for Naruto to enter the Ninja Academy, he was already ahead of the rest of his peers, so much so that he was actually disappointed with the experience. He could've passed that stupid test before he even entered the Academy, but Hokage-baka made him stay and learn about teamwork and all that after-school special junk.
That same year, his mother and father announced their pregnancy. Namikaze Naruto was going to be a big brother. It made that extra year he was forced to stay at the Academy worth it as he got to witness his baby brothers experience the world.
Kushina gave birth to the twins, Namikaze Koji and Namikaze Eiji, the only two human beings in all of existence that scared Kushina about as much as she scared others. She used to say that they could probably accidentally destabilize Shinobi World Politics if they were ever allowed in the Shinobi Council meetings.
He came to be grateful for that extra year. Naruto was actually a very social person when he wasn't lost in some sort of advanced mathematic theories about the most efficient way of throwing kunai. He met two very special people in those classrooms. Akashita Noya, a very relaxed kid of about twelve years old at the time and Uchiha Shiori... who was, well... an Uchiha.
Noya became something of a big brother to Naruto, even though the blonde boy was much more advanced than his older friend. Noya taught Naruto about the world and about staying out late and causing mayhem. Ditching Kakashi and roaming the village, things that Naruto was generally not allowed to do before. He just had to be extra, extra careful he was never caught by his mom or it was bye-bye Naruto.
Shiori, on the other hand became his rival. Oddly enough, she was the only person in the academy who could stand up against Naruto and his Taijutsu which he was known to excel at. She once praised him on how efficient his movements were and how good he was at exploiting the Sharingan's weakness by being unpredictable. She was never rude or spiteful, but she definitely was driven to beat him one day.
They all graduated together. Naruto at six years old and the other two at twelve. Perhaps the most excited he'd ever been in his entire six years of existing was when all three were placed on the same Genin team. He actually got in trouble for "whooping" loudly when they called out his team.
Team 11; Namikaze Naruto, Akashita Noya and Uchiha Shiori under Jōnin Commander Hyūga Hiroaki (oddly, he was a very morbid person, contrary to his name.)
Together, Team 11 made a name for themselves as one of the top Genin squads in all of Konoha.
Life for Naruto was absolutely perfect. He used to think that nothing could ever get bad enough to lose sight of what he truly loved.
At nine years old, Naruto passed the Chūnin Exams with his team, and they began taking on more difficult missions.
Naruto remembered the mission's details that killed the thoughtful, carefree little shinobi he'd become.
Local Land of Fire law enforcement reported a strange man headed toward a place near the coast of the ocean called Port Town. They were ordered not to engage because he displayed characteristics of shinobi training and commissioned Konoha to investigate.
Whatever it was Team 11 was expecting... it was not what they found.
An entire town's population slaughtered like animals right down to the youngest soul in her crib. And the person responsible...
Naruto remembered him vividly. Long, sharp, metal claws on his left hand sticking out of a tattered poncho and a bulky gauntlet on his right hand, stringy hair, black eyes and a respirator covering his nose, mouth and lower jaw. According to Hiroaki-sensei, this murderer was known only as Joki no Shinobi: The Ninja of the Fog. He was sadistic. A half functioning psychopath who killed for fun half the time and killed for a dark purpose the other half.
Hiroaki ordered his team to run.
The entire town was smothered in a thick layer of white fog imbued with volatile chakra that rendered Shiori's Sharingan and Noya's sensory abilities absolutely useless. Naruto had no way of tracking this menace, and no way of knowing when he would strike. He couldn't protect his comrades. And as if affirming Joki no Shinobi's sadistic nature, he separated the group and systematically tore them down one by one, starting with Hiroaki.
Like a scene from his worst nightmare, Naruto was saved for last. He lashed out in a blood rage, succeeding only getting himself gravely wounded. He welcomed and honorable death on the battlefield, hoping that one day, this abomination would attack the wrong person and end up being the victim of a death more brutal than what he was capable of imagining.
But it left.
Just like that, Joki no Shinobi just walked away. He didn't say a word. He didn't look scared off or worried. It was like a timer went off and he just decided it was time to go home for dinner.
Naruto forced himself patch his deep wounds up as best he could to search for his comrades. The fog never lifted, and he found himself walking through blood soaked sand and looking over disembodied civilians in hopes one of his teammates had survived.
He couldn't contemplate the condition he found his sensei and Shiori in, and that made him wonder why Noya had somehow lived through the attack. Barely lived. Naruto found him on the cusp of death, bleeding from his mouth as his ribs seemed to be crushed into him, and four gaping gashes running from his shoulder down to the opposite hip.
Naruto wasn't in the best of shape himself with one of his own rips cracked and pierced into his lung and a deep cut on his shoulder that rendered that arm useless due to pain. At the time, he wasn't aware of the severe internal damage that had been done to him.
But even in his condition, he promised Noya that he would save the older boy no matter the cost. And he did just that.
They called it a miracle. Naruto sustained Noya's life for three and had been in a near death state for at least two days out of the three, still managing to travel out of Port Town, gather food and water and patch Noya up to the best of his abilities.
Saved by the Hokage himself, Naruto stayed in a critical state for several weeks alongside his comrade. Both were extremely lucky to have survived with a toxin coursing through their bloodstream applied by Joki no Shinobi's claws.
Following the destruction of Team 11, Noya disappeared into the ANBU black ops, and Naruto contemplated walking away from the shinobi world. A surprising conversation with Kakashi-baka changed his mind. It was then that the two damaged souls began to bond.
Every shinobi had witnessed deaths of friends and comrades. Few were cursed to hear the terrifying screams of comrades being ripped apart, knowing they're unable to do anything to help. Few experienced hundreds of civilians torn to shreds and tossed carelessly into the streets, and having to walk through those streets, sloshing gore beneath their sandals.
Naruto was changed. He was haunted. His daydreams turned into dark memories and ceaseless rumination of that day that stained his innocence. There was no "shinobi psychiatrist" to make things all better, ninja were expected to deal and move on. This was their life. They ate death for breakfast and shit tragedy at night.
Naruto promised himself that he would become the strongest shinobi ever after that day, driven by self validated revenge disguised as justice at destroying whatever made that shinobi so sadistic. He just didn't know how to do that.
Naruto became reclusive and unresponsive to anybody outside of his parents, his brothers and Kakashi, who'd become something of a crutch for Naruto, someone willing to share his burden.
Maybe it was out of the goodness of his heart, or maybe he knew that Naruto needed it, but Kakashi unofficially took Naruto as a pupil. Naruto refused missions and offers to join other teams for four years until the Hokage decided that enough was enough. Both Naruto and Kakashi needed to learn how to work with a team and truly care about someone again.
Thus, Kakashi was forced into retiring from the ANBU Black Ops and becoming the most respected and the laziest Jōnin sensei in modern history.
But even Naruto had to admit; this life - the shinobi system in general was skewed. It was twisted how a child could go on a mission and witness things that would make grown men piss in their shorts. His new coping mechanism became shoving those thoughts and emotions into the deepest, darkest recesses of his mind in hopes that they would just dissolve into nothing more than ghosts of memories. His outlook was far from positive, but he would never let it become negative. So when he was told that he and Kakashi were now in the reeducation via cute little Genin program, he looked at it with optimism guiding his thoughts.
Maybe he'd find people who would actually bring him out of this rut he felt he'd fallen into. Who knew.
Naruto glanced at the sun, gathering the general time of day, and then at Kakashi sitting on the bench beside him with his face shoved in his book. They were late... again. "Oi, didn't you say we had two Genin to pick up today?"
Kakashi simply nodded, turning the page of his smutty book.
"Wasn't that like an hour ago?"
Kakashi nodded once more. Naruto sighed and slumped into the bench, shoving his hands into the front pockets of his orange accented, black hoodie - sleeveless because it was summer.
The sound of Kakashi laughing in that low, pervert sort of way made the vein on Naruto's forehead throb. "I swear, I'm gonna beat Ero-Sennin over the head with those damn books!"
The orange book snapped closed. "Maa, maa, relax Naruto. It's tradition to make Genin suffer."
Naruto pouted. "Hiroaki-sensei never tortured..." He paused, remembering the grueling training session involving wasps from Kiri and paled. "Never mind."
Kakashi stood up and stretched the laziness from his bones. Failing miserably. "Alright. I guess they've waited long enough."
"Finally." Naruto stood.
"I'll meet you there?" Kakashi then disappeared in a swirl of leaves, leaving Naruto staring at the vacant spot.
His fist clenched and the vein nearly exploded. "Meet me where!?"
Kakashi-baka!
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After searching the entire village for Kakashi and his new team, Naruto gave up in frustration. They weren't at the academy, or at the training grounds - he'd checked all of the public ones, he'd even burst into the Hokage's office and demanded he tell him where his loose cannon, former student was. Not even the great Yondiame Hokage knew.
He finally caught a break when he heard someone mention that Hatake Kakashi had been on the academy's roof for a while, going on about how he was a hero - blah blah blah. That man was insufferable. So, Naruto went to the roof of the academy only to find a piece of paper taped to the railing that said "Training ground sixteen, 6:30. I win this round."
Naruto's teeth ground together so hard he was sure he'd buffed them to dust. Yeah, he won, but it would be the last time that happened. Shinobi hide and seek was something he took very seriously seeing as Namikaze Naruto had been the champion since he was five years old. He even managed to hide from the Hokage for three hours. No way would Kakashi win ever again. He crushed the paper in his hand, and it lit aflame, falling into charred dust in the wind. Kakashi was going to drive Naruto to homicide one day.
And the first person he'd kill would be that white haired, one eyed, perverted, lazy motherfu...
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Home.
He could hear the ruckus coming from the back yard of the family house, the loud protests coming from two youthful voices, and the unmistakable yell that signified Uzumaki Kushina's demon form. Not Kyūbi form - that would've been welcomed in place of her demon form. One of the twins - or both, who knew - had awoken the monster sleeping deep within. A monster that didn't do too much sleeping anymore, and also didn't do too much to frighten the two mini-monsters it spawned. By the sound of it, things were about to get bloody as they patronized Konoha's Red Hot Habanero. They were brave souls.
Luckily for them, their father wasn't too keen on killing the youngest members of the Namikaze family and the situation was promptly diffused.
The smell of dinner wafted through Naruto's nose, unfortunately - it was extremely unfortunate, actually - that ramen wasn't on the table tonight. Though, it rarely was. Something about unhealthy, greasy... who cares. His mother was obviously insane.
He lingered in the front yard, hoping to get just a few more moments of peace before the twins attacked him, quite literally. But, to his dismay, the younger of the twins, Eiji, the brown-haired anomaly of the family, peeked his head out of the door. Damn sensor types.
The door was shoved open, smacking against the wall as Eiji stood with a hand on his hip, an angry look and a finger pointed right at Naruto. Despite attempting to look as intimidating as he could, Naruto couldn't help but smile. His unkempt hair, blue sash tied around his forehead leaving a tuft of hair hanging down the middle of his forehead and a light blue tee shirt that matched the color of his eyes was anything but intimidating. "Naruto! You're late!"
Naruto rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "I know, I know. I got caught up with-"
A shuffle and a shift in the air cause Naruto to react quickly to the other twin behind him with a kunai aimed for his neck. The sound of another sharp kunai slicing through the air thrown by Eiji sounded at that moment.
Naruto's wrist came up and bumped the offending twin's wrist with enough force to knock the weapon out of his hand before Naruto spun and latched onto his head, snatching the kunai out of the air and tossing it right back at Eiji who's eyes went wide. He was forced to duck.
Naruto was behind the brown haired boy instantaneously, free hand gripping the kunai, and tossed the other twin right into Eiji's back. The twins stumbled to the floor with a chorus of grunts.
Naruto sighed and shook his head. "C'mon guys." He berated. "Eiji, you were way too tense, and your eyes kept shifting to look behind me." The boys rolled off of each other, rubbing their heads.
Naruto's gaze went to the other. The blonde haired, spitting image of his father with a red sash on his forehead and a red shirt. The only quality they shared was height and eyes. And mischievous personality. "Koji, I heard you pull out your kunai and jump at me."
Eiji threw his hands up with a frustrated groan. "Why are you so strong?"
"Baka, he's a Chūnin!" Koji glared at Eiji.
"So?" Eiji shrugged. "We can at least hit Iruka-sensei once."
"Yeah, one time when he was reading." Koji reminded. "And then he whooped us. I told you it's useless unless a Jōnin teaches us."
Eiji growled in reluctant agreement.
"And you!" Koji pointed threateningly at Naruto. "You cheated!"
"Yeah! You said you wouldn't use Hiraishin!" Eiji pointed as well.
Naruto's eyebrow rose. "Would you rather I threw you across the yard?" He asked Koji pointedly.
Koji paused, unable to form a valid argument. "...I see your point."
Naruto shrugged. He returned the kunai to Eiji. "Simple mistakes, guys." He hauled them to their feet.
"Naruto?" His mother's voice sounded from around the corner.
Both twins held in a mischievous laugh. "Good luck." Eiji whispered.
Naruto smirked and slapped the tailing twin as they both scurried off.
He turned and Kushina smiled. "You're late."
"Sorry. I got held up."
"Well, get in here. You're literally just in time." She turned back around the corner.
Naruto closed the door behind him and followed the twins into the house.
His mother was moving the dinner to the table as his dad set the table. "Kakashi-baka is rubbing off on our son." She said to Minato.
Minato just chuckled, walking up to Naruto and giving him a half-hug. "I think he'll be fine."
"Wash up for dinner." Kushina ordered the three boys. "And if I find so much as a towel out of place, I will send you to Mikoto-obasan's for a week so Fugaku-san can beat some respect into you!"
The twins paled at that threat. "Hai, Kaachan!"
"Good."
Naruto followed the twins to keep a keen eye on them less Sasuke's dad turned them into Itachi. Or worse, Sasuke.
"So, did you meet your new teammates? Who are they? What are they like?"
Post dinner small talk was the most pleasant part of the night. The twins were stuffed and beginning to get tired, so the mayhem stopped at that point and the elder three enjoyed a nice conversation.
It was apparent that Kushina was excited to see Naruto be around kids his own age. He knew that she wanted him to heal so badly and her hopes were so strong that she nearly believed wholeheartedly that having a team was the answer.
Naruto just smiled lightly. She loved her kids so much it probably hurt. "No, I didn't."
"So you never found him, eh?" Minato smirked.
Naruto sighed, pushing his irritation down.
"What do you mean? Kakashi-baka didn't meet his team?" Kishan's asked, the anger in her voice rising subtly.
"Oh no. He met them. He just ditched me at the lake." Naruto replied irately.
"That insufferable, lazy, no good shinobi!" Her demon form was starting to leak out, causing everybody to sink into their chairs nervously.
"Kushina, I'll scold him tomorrow." Minato assured with a nervous rubbing of his neck.
Her demonic presence receded and she glared at Minato. "You'd better scare him to death! Tell him death is coming his way If he doesn't start taking Naruto and his team seriously!"
Minato just nodded nervously. "Hai, hai."
She crossed her arms. "Hm." A collective internal sigh silently sounded across the table. She turned to the twins. "Almost time for bed you two. It's your turn to clear the table."
Both twins groaned, mumbling under their breath about how unreasonable it was for her to ask.
Naruto eyed. "Come on, guys. Kaachan made dinner, the least you can do is clear the table."
Both sighed but nodded reluctantly. "Hai, niisan..." The stood and collected everybody's plates as Kushina watched, her jaw in her lap.
She pointed a shaky finger at them as they piled the plates in the sink. "H-how... what did..." She turned to Naruto. "What did you do to them? Genjutsu?"
Naruto shrugged. "Uh... no? They always listen to me."
"Yeah, they're usually pretty obedient with me too." Minato added.
"You're serious!?" She nearly yelled. "You two have had this ability the entire time and you've never bothered to teach me?!"
"Uh..." They both said nervously. Minato instinctively rubbed the back of his head and Naruto poked his fingers together as their nerves frayed.
"You wouldn't let us." Naruto replied meekly. "Every time we tried you yelled at us."
"You said you had it under control..." Minato affirmed.
Kushina's hair went back to normal and she sat down. "Oh. Well, I'll stop yelling at you then."
Naruto went wide eyed. "Wait, really? That's all we have to do and you won't yell at us?"
"Yes, I'll stop. So long as you don't do anything stupid."
"Oh." Naruto replied. Way to crush my hopes...
The twins sat back down at the table. "Oi! niisan! When did you become a Genin?" Koji asked curiously.
Naruto saw Minato's face pale in fear. He gave his dad a questioning look as the man shook his head slowly, pleading for Naruto not to tell them. "Uh..." Naruto began. "Why?" He asked the twins.
"Because Tousan wouldn't let us graduate this year." Eiji pouted.
"Just like last year." Koji crossed his arms.
"Oh... well, I, uh..." Naruto glanced at his father who was subtly holding up his hands, making strange symbols. He held up ten fingers, and bounced his hand once. Ten again. And then one finger. "Twenty one?"
Minato slapped his palm to his face.
"Oh!" Naruto exclaimed. "Eleven! I was eleven."
"We know that's a lie." Koji rose his eyebrow. "That was only two years ago."
Minato sighed. So much for that... "Naruto was six when he became a Genin." He admitted.
"See!? That's so no fair!" Eiji whined. "How come Naruto got to graduate and we don't?"
"Yeah! What he said." Koji glared.
A flash of unwanted imagery and memories went through their parents and Naruto's minds. At their age, Naruto was constantly on the move, taking one mission after the other, preparing for the Chūnin exams and using up his entire time training. He regretted not staying in the academy, maybe then he'd be normal. "Because." Naruto said lowly. "Being a kid is more important than graduating early." He smiled weakly. "So just enjoy it. Stop trying to grow up too fast."
Both boys sighed in defeat, completely unsatisfied with that answer. "Can someone at least teach us?" Koji questioned.
"Like who?" Minato asked. "I can't spare a Jōnin right now."
"What about you?" Eiji asked his father.
Minato chuckled. "Eiji, I'm the Hokage. We'd only get about ten minutes of training in a day."
"No fair. You trained Naruto." Koji pointed.
Minato's eyebrow rose. "I did? I didn't know that." He teased.
"Ahem... that was all me." Kushina interjected.
"Huh?" The twins turned in confusion. "You trained Naruto? You're not even a ninja."
Minato held in a laugh.
"Where did you hear that?" Naruto nudged Koji who was closest to him.
"Excuse me, but I was a top tier Jōnin back in my hay days!" She protested in offense.
"A Jōnin?" Koji questioned. "Really..."
"Dude, there's plenty of pictures in the photo albums of Kaachan with her team." Naruto reminded with incredulity in his voice.
"Right." Eiji replied sarcastically. "'Cause that's what we do on our free time: hang out and look through family photos." He rolled his eyes.
"Besides, Kaachan hid them." Koji added.
Naruto glanced at his mother. "Why?"
Her fist clenched at the incident. "They painted a mustache on Mito-sama!" She revealed. "And a penis!"
Naruto did his best to hold in the laugh as the twins giggled.
"Don't you dare laugh!" Kushina warned. "Mito-sama was a respected member of this Village! She was an intricate part of Konoha's safety and deserves to be treated with respect!"
"Alright, alright. That's enough about Mito-sama and... penises." Minato shook his head in amusement. "To answer your question, no. I did not train Naruto. Your mother did."
"Wait... if you trained Naruto then how come he knows Tousan's Jutsu?" Eiji asked pointedly.
Kushina turned to Minato. "Why don't you enlighten them as to how you allowed our son to learn S-rank Jutsu at eight years old." She glared.
Minato sighed. He was never gonna live that one down...
"Uhh, well... he was curious and asked me to explain the principals of Hiraishin. Then he asked your mother to teach him about Fuinjutsu... three months later, he just showed us his own Hiraishin formula. It was nearly correct but I had to teach him what he did wrong to perfect it... he kind of played me now that I think about it..." Minato shrugged.
"Kaachan stopped teaching me Fuinjutsu after that."
"You're damn right I did!" She affirmed. "Think of the damage you would've done..."
"Would've?" Minato scoffed with a wink at Naruto.
"So Tousan didn't train you?" Eiji asked Naruto.
"Nope. Not a day in my life."
Minato chuckled. "I never had to."
"What about Kakashi-baka?" Koji asked. "He trains you, right?"
"Uhh... if you can call it that. He just attacks me and tells me to dodge." Naruto chuckled. "When he's serious he teaches me Jutsu and some tactics he employs in battle."
Koji sighed. "See? Naruto has all the teachers and knows all the Jutsu and we're just here, wasting our potential."
"Maybe we should just ask Jiraya-sama to teach us." Eiji suggested conspiratorially.
Kushina's eyes shot wide.
"Good idea. I'm sure he'd gladly take us along on his ninja research trips." Koji added.
"I bet we'll learn a lot."
Kushina stood up instantly and pointed a finger at Naruto. "You! Teach them!"
Naruto pointed at himself. "M-me?"
"Yes!" She yelled. "I'll be damned if that old pervert corrupt my babies! He's already ensnared Kakashi-baka!"
"I... Uh..." Naruto paled as his mother's face basically dared him to refuse. "Sounds fun?"
"You're damn right it does!"
The twins chuckled evilly, rubbing their hands together.
Naruto glared. Oh... they were in for it now.
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Insomnia was a curse. As more and more years separated him from that day, that curse became more manageable. Before, he would refuse to sleep. He refused to relive the horror in his dreams. Now, these instances of sleeplessness were few and far between. Maybe four times a month.
This just happened to be one of those nights. And Naruto knew exactly why.
The idea of him having a team again was a terrifying prospect. He found himself lost in his head running over the possible scenarios that could befall his teammates and what he could do to stop them. To protect them. Those daydreams shifted slowly into a game of what ifs, focusing on the worst day of his life. If only he'd done this, or what if he did that. It was torture.
He had to force himself out of his own mind. His heart was slowly dropping as that familiar agony of their memories and his failure descended on him, like the burden got heavier on his shoulders.
His eyes scanned over the vast village, admiring the lights flickering, almost like a constellation of stars. These were his people. His community. Those people relied on shinobi like him to protect them from the hatred that surrounded Konoha right at it's gates. That he need to see them safe and happy was something inherited right from his father. They called it the Will of Fire.
And it definitely burned brightly in Naruto's chest.
He silently thanked the man who's stone head he sat on. Naruto's hero, his role model. Senju Hashirama. That man was what every shinobi, every Hokage should strive to be. Selfless, strong, loving and unshakable. Even when his closest friend became a threat, the Shodai Hokage didn't waver.
Sandiame-sama once told Naruto that Hashirama was the perfect role model, having known the man for a short time. After the incident, he said that Hashirama and Naruto shared several qualities, and he was sure that Naruto would never waver just like the legendary Senju. That Hashirama would be proud to have Naruto as a shinobi of Konoha.
Hirūzen would never know how grateful Naruto was for those words. How much strength had returned after hearing that. After knowing how much faith Sandiame-sama had in him. It drove him to never disappoint the man, or anybody who held even the tiniest spec of faith in him.
That always seemed to pull Naruto from his dark moods of reflection and regret. Instead of blaming himself, he would honor Shiori and Hiroaki's memories by becoming strong and delivering Justice.
The light sound of shunshin broke Naruto from his thoughts. He could only smile. "You're breaking the law by being up here." Noya's voice rang from behind his ANBU mask.
Naruto shrugged. "So? Arrest me."
Noya pulled up his mask, revealing the brutal scar on the left side of his face where he'd been smashed by the metal gauntlet of Joki no Shinobi.
He plopped down next to Naruto with a sigh. "That's way too much work for me."
"I figured." Naruto playfully replied.
"Man, I haven't seen this view in almost four years." Noya lamented fondly. "Forgot how beautiful it is."
Naruto nodded. "Puts what we fight for into perspective, doesn't it?"
Noya shrugged. "That wasn't the first thing that came to my mind, but yeah, it sort of does."
With a chuckle, Naruto grabbed a stray rock and tossed it off of Hashirama's head. "How's life protecting my dad?"
"I wish I was his guard." Noya breathed. "I wouldn't have to investigate every little whiff of trouble in this village."
"Like what?"
"Everything. Burglary, assaults, domestic disputes, bar fights," he shook his head at that one. "drugs seem to be the most popular crime in the past few years. Lowlifes from the Land of Fire's Capital have been migrating here after their crackdown on illicit activities."
Naruto's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Wow. I didn't even know we had that sort of thing here."
"Well, it's nothing big, but they're like cockroaches. Stamp one out and there's another one in the next corner." Noya replied in exasperation.
"Why aren't the Uchiha dealing with this?" Naruto asked curiously.
"They are. Just in other sections of the village. They rotate our squads in and out of active combat kind of to give us a break from all the assassinating and destabilizing of governments - all the fun stuff we get to do. During the family vacation - that's what everyone calls it - different teams have different duties around the village like community work or even helping out with the training at the Academy."
Naruto cringed. "Yeesh. Some of you ANBU guys are terrifying."
Noya chuckled. "Those ones get the less calm jobs. Like me. Right now, my team is assigned to work under Fugaku-sama as an extension of the Uchiha Police Force."
Naruto nodded in understanding. "That actually sounds pretty fun."
"It's a lot of spying on people who could lead us to these dealers and hopefully the ring leader eventually." Noya explained offhandedly. "It's boring."
Naruto chuckled.
"How's life as the most spoiled shinobi in the village?" Noya jabbed playfully.
"It was peachy, but Tousan decided to put me back on a team... of Genin no less."
Noya laughed. "Oh I don't envy you."
"Don't worry, I don't envy you either." Naruto smirked.
"Touché."
"I just hope they're not completely useless." Naruto said. "I'll be stuck doing D-ranks for the rest of my career."
Noya nodded. "In a strange way, that might be kind of nice."
They both say in comfortable silence for a few moments, enjoying the night breeze and the view of their home.
But that came to an end when Naruto's face became serious. "Listen, I know you didn't come here for small talk." He said lowly. "You found something?"
"We alone?"
Naruto nodded.
Noya's expression changed as well. "A lead worth looking into." He answered. "Two weeks ago, a squad of Danzō-sama's Foundation ANBU was found in pieces near the border of Ame. Their wounds match up with the ones from Joki no Shinobi's attack on the Temple last year."
Naruto's fists clenched unintentionally. "Does my dad know?"
Noya shook his head. "Danzō-sama wants to keep this under wraps. If Joki no Shinobi catches onto ANBU tailing him, he'll disappear again."
"Didn't he catch onto The Foundation?"
"Yeah, but The Foundation has no visible ties to Konoha. For all he knows, those shinobi could've been Hunter-killer squads from any nation."
Naruto nodded. Made sense given how far from Konoha this took place at.
"Foundation thinks they've found his trajectory. If that's true..." Those words hung heavy in the air. "I can't get out to investigate any time soon." Noya added. "He told me to ask you..."
Naruto nodded. "I'll try to get out."
"How? You have Kakashi-sempai watching you now. He won't let you abandon your team." Noya reminded.
"I'll figure something out." Naruto assured.
Noya gave Naruto a questioning look. "Noya, relax. It's me we're talking about."
The older shinobi rolled his eyes. "That's what worries me."
Naruto ignored the comment. "I'll keep you updated." Naruto said.
"Right. I'll let you know when you can access the report." Noya stood up and then paused, staring down at his former teammate. "Naruto..."
"Hm?"
"Observe and confirm. Do not engage." Noya sternly said. "Those are Danzō-sama's orders."
The blonde boy scowled.
Naruto nodded, and like that, Noya was gone.
This was huge. The first lead they'd had in at least ten months. Naruto was itching to tear Joki no Shinobi apart.
He wanted to so bad, he could taste it.
Standing up, Naruto dusted his pants off and jumped off of Hashirama's head.
On the side of the face, sideways and pressed against the mountainside, the cloaking Jutsu hiding Kakashi dissipated.
So this is what you're up to.
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