AN: Alright, this is a story that came to mind, and I decided to write it. Please point out any flaws or mistakes, or just give me some criticism if needed, or tell me what you think. Starts off two years after the war. R&R
Ino collapsed, exhausted and in pain. It was supposed to be just a simple Info gathering, and she fighting an S-rank rogue ninja and loosing. The man walked forward slowly, sun glinting off of his tanto. Ino expected, even embraced the sudden death she knew was inevitable, but was surprised when she heard the clang of metal.
"Now now, why don't you face someone closer to your caliber," a voice came, and Ino looked up. She saw a man in a blue cloak, similar to that of the Yondaime's, his head bathed in shadows and a hood, so no detail showed who he was, though a single lock of blonde hair slipped into the sun for a quick second.
"Well, I was only going to kill her, but I guess I could kill both of you," the man said, swinging his tanto around, the cloaked man effectively blocking and shattering the rogue's sword.
"Don't mess with the flash," the cloaked man said, literally disappearing in a flash as the rogue collapsed to the ground, neck spurting blood. "Ino, are you ok?" Naruto questioned, pulling down his hood to reveal his face to the platnium blonde. He reached his hand down to help her up.
"Y-yeah. I thought you left the village?" Ino asked, taking Naruto's hand and standing to her feet. It had been 2 years since she had last seen him, 2 years since he defeated Madara and Obito, and 1 year since he was last heard from.
"I stopped being a ninja for Konoha, needing time to sort things out. I've actually restored my mothers old village and am the Kage of it. How's Kakashi-sensei doing with Hokage?" Naruto asked. Ino frowned, here was the Kage from another village, helping her out.
"He's doing great, he finally got rid of the CRA, and also the elders, though most everybody were devastated after what happened to Tsunade," Ino said, remembering when she and Shizune received news that Tsunade sacrificed healing herself to heal the other Kage.
"Good. Do you think he's up to an alliance with Whirlpool?" Naruto asked, receiving a smirk from Ino.
"Yeah, he'd do anything for a student," Ino said, frowning at the rememberance of what happened to the rest of Team 7. Sasuke was killed by a newly revived Orochimaru, and Sakura was killed in the war by taking on 20 white Zetsu by herself.
"C'mon, I'll help you back to Konoha. Jump on my back and hold tight. You may feel a bit sick, but it's the fastest way to Konoha," Naruto explained, helping Ino onto his back as they disappeared in a flash.
Konoha
"Kakashi-sama, the Uzukage is here to speak with you," Shizune said as she walked into the Kage's office, followed by a certain 'unkillable' jinchuriki.
"N-Naruto!" Kakashi yelled as he cleared the desk in a jump and tackled his student. Naruto chuckled and stood back up, helping the silver haired Kage up as well.
"It's good to see you Kakashi-dono. Now, I would like to inform you that I did indeed rebuild my mother's clan's country, and would like to ally with you," Naruto said, sitting down as Kakashi returned to his desk.
"Yes, I think we could work something out," Kakashi said, a sly grin coming across Naruto's face.
"So, I'll leave a clone with you to work everything out, and I'll be visiting a few people in the village," Naruto said, making a clone and disappearing. Kakashi cursed, but decided it was for the best. After all, Naruto hadn't seen his friends since Tsunade's memorial.
With Rookie 9
"So, Ino, how'd your mission go?" Shikamaru asked, sitting down next to the platinum blonde, who was sitting with the others at the Akimichi BB-Q.
"Well, guess who saved my ass from an S-ranked shinobi?" Ino teased, causing the whole group to look curiously.
"I think she was meaning me," Naruto said, entering the BB-Q, shocking the group. Like Ino, they hadnt seen him in two years.
"Well, yes, I was. By the way, I can't thank you enough for that," Ino said, sending a smile.
"Alright, I'd like to let you know that you are all invited to a 3 day festival in Whirlpool, my village," Naruto said, shocking them even further. He had his own village?
"Wait, back up a second, you have your own village?" Tenten asked, the first to speak their thoughts.
"Yeah, it was kind of home to the Uzumaki clan, and was destroyed in the second shinobi war. And, since Whirlpool and Konoha had close relationship originally, I'd like to continue that," Naruto explained receiving a nod from everybody.
"Wait, are you the Kage of your village?" Chouji asked, stuffing his mouth with food.
"Yes, I am. And, I am also working on the terms of our alliance with Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said, receiving a confused look.
"Ok, I'll explain. Shadow Clones aren't only good at fights and training, but also for Kage work," Naruto explained.
"Oh, how youthful!" Lee shouted, receiving a bump upside the head from Tenten.
"So, as Kage, do you get alot of chicks?" Kiba asked bluntly, receiving a glare from Hinata.
"Nah, too much work and training. I'm lucky my team hasn't hunted me down for leaving them," Naruto said, receiving a small laugh from Neji.
"I didn't think you were the type to take on a team," Neji said, laughing.
"Yeah, well, I'm the best damned teacher in Whirlpool, so I had to. After all, starting a fresh village, most of the ninja are gennin," Naruto explained.
"Hey, what if we helped out? I mean, it could be like a mission for us, to help train an allied village's ninja," Ino spoke up.
"Too troublesome, besides, me, Chouji, Lee, and Tenten have our own teams, so we can't help," Shikamaru spoke up.
"Well, maybe I can help," Iruka said, patting Naruto on the shoulder as he walked in.
"Good, I'll send Kakashi the info, so long as everybody's ok with that," Naruto said, receiving nods from the six available ninja. Naruto made a quick clone and sent him off to the Hokage's office.
"So, how long are you staying in Konoha?" Ino asked, gesturing for the Naruto and Iruka to sit.
"Well, I'll only be here a few days, and then I've got an A-rank mission tracking down the scattered Uzumaki clan," Naruto explained.
"Wait, I thought that the Uzumakis were all killed but your mom," Iruka said, curious.
"Well, after the village was destroyed, the remaining Uzumakis scattered, and, using Ero-sennin's spy network, I've gotten a few leads on some, so I'm tracking them down to ask them if they would return to Whirlpool, and if they don't, I'll leave them be," Naruto said, receiving a nod from everyone.
"So, why is it an A-ranked mission?" Ino asked, receiving a sigh.
"Well, since we're facing unknown factors, I want it to be ranked properly," Naruto said. He was getting tired of explaining so much, but they needed to know.
"Well, wait 2 months and when we have the gennin teams trained, we'll go along with you, right?" Ino said, receiving agreement from the rest of the group.
"Alright, but I'll wait longer, they have to pass my test before they go on any mission above a C-rank. If they pass the test, then we'll go," Naruto said, remembering the test he put his team through.
"Deal. This way, we can split into groups and cut the time in half," Neji theorized. Naruto nodded skeptically, not too sure if that would be a great plan.
"Well, we've gotta get going," Kiba said, Hinata nodding in agreement as Shino left quietly.
"Yeah, I know my team is going to be troublesome if I come any later to training, so I gotta head out," Shikamaru said, leaving money for his meal before sunshinning away.
"So, the fire daimyo is sending some missions to you?" Iruka asked, receiving a nod.
"Yeah. If I remember his words correctly, he said that if the new Whirlpool was as good as the old one, then we'd become one of the greatest shinobi villages," Naruto recalled his meeting with the daimyo.
"Sorry, have to go, mission," Neji said, dismissing the summon hound of Kakashi's. Tenten nodded, having to leave for her team with Lee and Chouji for their respective teams.
"Well, I have to get going too, my lunch break is almost over. See you later," Iruka said, leaving the two blondes to talk.
"So, how'd you do it?" Ino asked, causing Naruto to look confused.
"What?" Naruto asked, suspicious.
"You know, how'd you pull off rebuilding an entire vilage in one year, even rebuilding the whole government system of it. How did you do it?" Ino asked.
"Clones. Lots and lots of clones," Naruto said, trying to stay serious, but couldn't help but laughing. Ino joined in, after all, the strongest man on the planet, was resorting to simple clones to do his work.
"So, you just let the clones do all the work and you sat back and did what, eat ramen?" Ino asked, a slight sarcastic tone in her voice.
"Actually, that is what I did, though it was nothing like Ichiraku's," Naruto said, missing the old man and Ayame.
"Naruto, I don't know how to say this, but the old man passed away," Ino said, remembering the memorial and how Kakashi had tried to find Naruto for it. Naruto looked gobsmacked; the old man, one of the first people to see him as an actual person was dead. That makes everybody that was there for him before he became a ninja dead.
"H-how?" Naruto asked, tears forming in his eyes as he tried to figure it out.
"Well, Ayame went in one morning a couple of months ago to wake him up, and he never did. Naruto, we tried to find you, but nobody could. It was like you disappeared," Ino said.
"I-I have to go," Naruto said, standing up to leave for the cemetery. Ino grabbed his arm and yanked him back down to the seat.
"You don't have to go anywhere, but right now, you need to talk about this. It'll help," Ino said.
"Thanks Ino, but I really have to go. Kakashi-sensei's done with negotiations, and I've gotta sign on it," Naruto lied, shaking Ino's arm off and disappearing in a flash. Naruto arrived at the cemetery. He searched row by row, stopping by the graves of all that died in the war over him. I was the reason these people died; I was the target, Naruto thought, feeling a bit sick at the thought.
'Naruto,' a voice whispered over the wind. Naruto looked around, looking for the voice, but finding nobody.
'Naruto,' another voice whispered.
"Naruto," a voice said right behind him, and Naruto turned, scared. He saw people he hadn't seen in at least two years; Jiraya, Tsunade, and his parents. They had this wierd glow to them, and they were a sickly gray.
"No, this has to be a jutsu! Kai! KAI! KAi, goddammit, Kai!" Naruto screamed, breaking down at the memories of these people.
"Naruto, calm down. We know what you're thinking, and it wasn't your fault. There was also Bee that was protected in the war, and had it not been you, another jinchuriki would've been chosen and they would've been the target of the war," Jiraya explained, a nod following throughout the group.
"Naruto, we're all proud of you. You've become the world's strongest ninja, became the leader of a village you rebuilt, and most of all, you have finally found your true love," Kushina said, walking over to her son and hugging him, the hug feeling a bit light.
"Thanks, mom," Naruto said, crying into his mom's ghostly figure. "Wait, what do you mean true love?" But it was too late, the group had disappeared, back to the afterlife, Naruto presumed.
"Naruto!" Ino's voice rang through the cemetery, worrying Naruto. She had knew he lied, and usually somebody hit him on the back of the head at this point. He felt it before he saw it, and was sent backwards by a flick to the forehead. Instead of whining, he smiled. He knew exactly who did it, Tsunade.
"Oh, hi Ino," Naruto said sheepishly as he realized where he landed, which was right in the wall next to the blonde.
"Baka, who sent you flying in the middle of the cemetery?" Ino asked, helping the blonde to his feet.
"Uh, I don't know," Naruto said, avoiding the 'ghost' subject to seem like a sane person.
"Wait, you're saying that some random person snuck up on you, landed a blow to the strongest ninja to live, and got away with it?" Ino asked a bit sarcastically, receiving a nod from Naruto.
"Hey, sometimes it can't be helped," Naruto shruggged it off, receiving a blow to the head from Ino.
"Baka, now come on. Tenten, Lee, Chouji, and Shikamaru's teams are begging to see the famed 'hero' of the world," Ino said,causing Naruto to laugh.
"Alright, but I'm not the hero. I fought off a couple people, everybody else fought off thousands," Naruto said, receiving another smack from Ino.
"Baka, you took on the strongest ninja known and came out alive where nobody else could, I consider that a hero," Ino said, grabbing Naruto's arm and pulling him out of the cemetery and towards the training grounds.
"Hey, I can walk," Naruto said as he stopped being pulled along and walked alongside the girl, who was still gripping his arm.
"Yeah, I know, though it shows that I have some power to be pulling you along," Ino laughed out. Naruto laughed along, slowly moving his hand down to hers. She gasped in surprise, but smiled back. This feels nice, just being around him. I don't know why forhead used to always beat on him if it feels this god around him, Ino thought as they walked along towards the training grounds peacefully, though they didn't fail to notice the hushed whispers when they walked by.
"Oi, what are you talking about?" Naruto said as he turned to a particularily large group of girls.
"Y-you're Naruto Uzumaki!" one of the girls said, fanting.
"Well, technically it's Namikaze, but I'd go by either," Naruto said, oblivious to the fact that they were fangirls.
"C'mon, Naruto, they're fan girls," Ino said, spurring Naruto on.
"Well, I only have one thing to ask; why are you all wasting time chasing after some so-called hero when you could make something of your lives? I've seen what happened to girls who have stayed a fan girl, and they don't ever become successful. You all want to be ninjas, right? Well if you want to become a ninja, you have to focus on working hard and doing the best you can do. Since I know that medic-nin courses are optional, I know at least one of you knows who Sakura Haruno is. She was my teammate, and a fangirl up until Sasuke left the village. On every mission leading up to that, I mean no disgrace, but she was useless for teamwork, and I don't want anybody to ever turn out like that," Naruto said, aweing the fangirls with his speech. Even Ino was shocked at this speech. For once, his speeches seemed to be mature.
"Wow," was the groups only response as Naruto and Ino walked away, still holding hands. They walked silently to Tenten's training grounds first, as they were the closest.
"Where is everybody?" Ino asked, scanning the horizon for any sign of the team.
"Hiding, waiting to ambush. I can sense their chakra, and they're doing a good job at hiding, but alas, nobody can hide from me," Naruto said as he disappeared, most likely to where the gennin were hiding, as was proven by the kids falling to the ground and groaning in surprise.
"You'll see, I'll become stronger than you, just you wait!" a particularily loud boy yelled. He was dressed in Black pants and sandals with a tanto strapped to his back, which was over a dark green muscle shirt. He had his headband around his neck, his slightly spiked brown hair drooping over his emerald eyes.
'Hey, do you know who you're talking to?" a black haired girl said, slapping the boy on the back of his head. She wore an outfit similar to that of Ino's outfit as a child, though instead of purple, it was green and blue. Her black hair was pulled back into a ponytail, wich covered her nodachi. She wore the headband on her left arm, and her yellow eyes shown brightly as she stared at Naruto.
"Hey, why'd you attack my students?" Tenten asked, walking up to her team eating dango. The third and final teammate showed up, a large scar running across his face, from his forehead to his top lip, narroly avoiding running through his left eye. His short blonde hair showed his black eyes off brilliantly. He wore a green and black jumpsuit, two katanas strapped to his back with his forehead protector strapped on his waist.
"Naruto-sama, it is nice to meet you," the kid with the scar said, bowing as the rest of the team did the same.
"So, what are your names? And please, no formalities. I'm just a normal person, like the rest of you," Naruto said, gesturing for the brown haired boy to start.
"My name's Kamizuki Talarra, and I'm going to be the best ninja ever, even better than you!" Kamizuki shouted, a bit cockily.
"Tell me, what drives you to become stronger; what makes you truly strong?" Naruto asked, interested in the boy.
"I, I don't know," Kamizuki said, thinking back to the day he became a ninja. It was his happiest day, though he shared it with few. His friends, mainly. His parents were killed in the Pain invasion, and after the war, the new Hokage adopted him, though he doesn't see Kakashi much because of the job.
"Alright. I'll tell you something that I use as my ninja way. I actually learned this from one of the ninja I fought on my first mission, a kid named Haku. He told me in the last fight that we had, "When someone has something important they want to protect, that is when they can become truly strong," Naruto recited, having taken those words to heart. Kamikuzi said nothing, memorizing those words and searching deep to see what he could truly protect.
"Alright, blondie, you're next," Naruto said, pointing to the boy with the scar.
"My name is Minato Yamanaka, and I was named after your father. I became a ninja to protect this village and become as strong as I can be," Minato said, a stern detirmination in his voice. Naruto smiled; this boy would turn out fine.
"Alright, next," Naruto said, gesturing to the girl who jumped excitedly.
"Alright, my name is Tsuki Namaka, and I became a ninja to become as great as Tsunade-sama and to save my comrades, on and off the field," Tsuki said, bringing a smile to Naruto's face. This team seemed like it would go far.
"Alright, Tenten, I'd actually want to train Kamikuzi, maybe take him on a short little training trip, so long as it's ok," Naruto said, receiving a nod from Tenten in approval.
"Ino, anything to add in?" Tenten asked, receiving a quick no.
"Alright, I have to go, but I'l definitely stop by later," Naruto said, turning to leave. He was stopped by a yanking on his arm. He turned to see it was Kamikuzi who was pulling on him.
"Thank you," Kamikuzi said, smiling sadly. Naruto just squated down and smiled back.
"No problem. Besides, I want you to achieve your goal someday, so what better way than to train under the person you want to become stronger than?" Naruto said, raising a small laugh from the child.
"Naruto, c'mon, Shika's team is next," Ino said, grabbing Naruto's hand and pulling him along. The team laughed at the sight, and went back to training. They walked off slowly, relaxed, towards Shikamaru's team training grounds.