The destiny of Naruto was completely altered by the fact that during Zabuza's exodus from Kiri, Haku was able to convince Zabuza to take Kimimaru. What consequences would it have on the world and more specifically to Team 7 during their wave mission? (NaruHinaMei) warning SasuSaku bashing!
Oh for those who have been keeping up with NSU I want to do a power ranking of the significant characters in that story, feel free to PM me or leave a review on your own personal list of what you think is the proper power levels for that story and I will take them into consideration when constructing the rankings.
I don't own Naruto! If I did then Naruhina would have been canon since day one
Reuniting the Seven, Chapter: 1 Change in Destiny
How stupid could he get Kakashi angrily berated of himself, this mission was clearly out of his team's league yet somehow he allowed them to convince him to continue. Truly Kakashi had become far too complacent these years, how much had he allowed his skills to deteriorate to the point where he had been caught so easily by Zabuza's water prison.
His students fared no better than he did against Zabuza's, His subordinate Kimimaro was what Zabuza called him and if Kakashi wasn't mistaken then he was from the Kaguya clan whom had recently tried a coop on Kiri.
Sakura had been pretty much useless and fainted after one punch, and while Sasuke had fared slightly better, however the flaunting of his ego and belief that he was unbeatable caused him to actually become easier to defeat… oh the irony.
The only one that did even decently well was Naruto who through sheer stamina and determination of will, was able to still stand up too Kimimaro and defend the bridge builder if just barely. While Naruto was deceitful and cunning it could only do so much against the pure skill the other boy had.
Zabuza chuckled and said to Kakashi, "That boy has potential… too bad you all have to die… or maybe I will add him to my collection of tools…"
Kakashi frowned and said with a tiny bit of pride, "Naruto is one of the most loyal Shinobi in Konoha I'm sure he would rather die than defect…"
Zabuza gave him a toothy smirk and said, "Every Shinobi has his price and his weakness…"
Kakashi remained quiet at this statement he knew deep inside exactly what to say if he wanted to turn Naruto, but at least he had the reassurance that Zabuza didn't know what it was.
Feeling his water prison shudder for a moment Kakashi's heart dropped as he saw Zabuza replace himself with a water clone to hold the prison intact.
Zabuza himself was now heading toward land where Kimimaro continued to toy with Naruto, Naruto was forced onto one knee by Kimimaro as Zabuza walked up to them.
"Kid I see potential in you, what if I said I would spare you if you came with me and joined my team?" Zabuza said too Naruto.
Breathing heavily Naruto responded, "I have no interest in joining your little posy, you dam shirtless eyebrow less bastard!"
Zabuza smirked and said, "Pity… Kimimaro kill the other 2 children then the bridge builder, let's have the infamous Copy-cat Kakashi suffer a bit and display to him how much of a failure of a sensei he was, then afterwards slowly kill him too prolong his suffering a tad more…"
Naruto's breath hitched as he heard this, this was the true life of a Shinobi just as Kimimaro was about to walk past him. Naruto leapt and grabbed onto Kimimaro's leg hoping to at least somehow slow him down, "RUN!" he yelled out while clinging with what little strength he had left, Tazuna turned to run but was immediately stopped by Kimimaro who had vanished from Naruto's grasp and now stood directly in front of Tazuna. Tazuna fell to his knees in submission.
Kimimaro raised his arm which morphed into a drill like object made of bone and was just about to thrust it into Tazuna when Naruto yelled out, "WAIT! PLEASE NO I'LL COMPROMISE!"
Zabuza nodded at Kimimaro whose hand became normal human skin and flesh again. "I'm listening boy…" Zabuza directed to Naruto with a feral grin.
"My life for theirs!" Naruto offered pleadingly with a few tears flowing down his cheeks. "My life has never been worth anything to the majority of the people but please for once allow it to be just enough, I beg you spare the bridge builder and at least my sensei…"
Zabuza was intrigued, "You're sensei? Why not your team mates boy?"
Naruto looked down in sadness for a moment, "Because he has never scorned me, and he has even saved me on occasions of great peril…" Kakashi's one eye widened at that, "He can remember those memories!" he thought to himself. Those horrid memories that Kakashi himself didn't want to remember when they would borderline disembowel and maim the boy.
Naruto continued while tears slipped from his eyes, "And in these last moments, I begin to realize that even my teammates who I once believed to be my friend and the girl who I loved. Actually hate me and despise me. At this moment I can see clearer then I have ever before and I am nothing but another flee or stepping stone to them, but Kakashi-sensei is different while he never spoiled me… at least he gave me the chance to prove that I am actually human and worth the time!"
The last lines sent Zabuza's brain into overdrive as he tried to connect to pieces of what the boy said after a short moment, Zabuza's face screwed into a grin and leaned in close to Naruto "Fine… I accept your deal though I can maybe sweeten it a bit for both sides… how about I spare your entire team and the bridge builder…" Naruto nodded, "And I'll even get that bastard Gato and his henchmen out of the way…" Naruto asked hopefully, "What do you want from me then?"
Zabuza raised one finger, "You're eternal loyalty to me…"
Naruto's eyes widened at that statement, his eternal loyalty was completely different than sacrificing his life, because there would have been a chance where he would have at least been acknowledged as a hero for saving his team. But Zabuza was asking him to turn his back on Konoha…
Wait! Why did he even care about Konoha, there might have been a few people that liked him like the Sandaime Iruka-sensei, Kakashi-sensei, Teuchi, Ayame and maybe his other… friends…"
But were they really worth it?
Slowly he took off his forehead protector from around his forehead, he stared at the piece of metal for a moment then he slammed it plate down into the mud as tear slipped from his eye landing directly onto the cloth. However as he was about to give Zabuza an answer he suddenly appeared in an entirely dark and damp room.
Naruto panicked a tad as he fell back onto his rump while scanning the darkness nervously. However he had nearly soiled his pants when a giant red face unexpectedly lit up the darkness. His knuckles slowly grew white from clenching his fist in fear as he listened and watched the giant face laugh manically.
"Think your all cool and tough shit now don't you brat!" the face mocked as it continued to laugh.
Trying to calm himself Naruto yelled back, "Who the hell are you!" though his shakily voice ruined any chance Naruto had of sounding brave.
"Oh you know who I am you imbecile, don't you listen to your teachers? Granted he did try to kill you." The face roared out in an insanely creepy laughter again
It took Naruto a moment but he was able to piece the parts together, his fear quickly became annoyance than anger, "KYUUBI! YOU DAM FOX YOU RUINED MY LIFE!"
But instead of being insulted the Kyuubi just continued to laugh, "Oh no, don't blame me for ruining your life. Blame your precious Yondaime Hokage whom you cherish so much, for he was the one that sealed me inside of you, I didn't willingly wander into this blasted cage."
"Don't you dare mock him! He was a great Shinobi and a great Hokage! AND ONEDAY I WILL BE JUST LIKE HIM!" Naruto yelled as he slowly gained confidence and stood up and inched his way toward the giant bars that separated the two.
However before he could finish his rant he was cut off by the Kyuubi. "Oh and let me guess, because I'm going to be Hokage… believe it!" he finished in an extremely mocking and sarcastic voice.
"Yeah and so what!" Naruto angrily replied back.
The Kyuubi snorted than laid down onto his arms, "Honesty you are an idiot that doesn't think before he speaks! Because did you not just agree to leave with Zabuza?"
Naruto stilled for a moment the dammed Kyuubi was right, didn't he want to become Hokage and if he became a missing-nin then he would never get to achieve that dream. "I…"
"Don't even try and give me a narcissistic response you moron…" the Kyuubi roared.
"THAN WHAT DO U WANT ME TO DO!" Naruto screamed in retaliation as he banged his fist against the bars of the cage.
The Kyuubi pressed his face closer to the bars so that his nose was almost pressed against the cold hard steel, "You see that seal on the gate?" he said as he pointed up toward the seal, "Rip it off, and I'll end the need for you to make any decisions. Free me and I swear I will bring my fury down on all those that have wronged you! I will crush the entirety of Konoha like the worms they are!"
"NO! I will never let you destroy Konoha!" Naruto screamed.
Chuckling evilly the Kyuubi backed slightly and slowly away from the bars of the cage. "The old man has done a great job in brain washing you, hasn't he?"
"The Sandaime would never do that to me!" Naruto angrily protested as he was all but a step away from being inside Kyuubi's cage now.
Laughing a touch quieter but still just as evil the Kyuubi said, "Of course… not intentionally at least, yes he would love for you to become the Hokage… but both of your dreams will never come to fruition, because both of your forget that the denizens will never accept you, even if you were to save their precious city and put your life on the line for them every day, they will always see you in their hearts as the demon brat." Finishing that the Kyuubi retreated a little further into the back of his cage.
Naruto had his head down but didn't follow the Kyuubi any further. "You might be right… however not even I am that stupid to enter your cage!"
Seeing his plan to draw the idiotic boy inside his domain fail greatly annoyed the Kyuubi, who launched himself at the bars unexpectedly Naruto stood his ground even with the Kyuubi's nose and razor sharp teeth just mere feet from him now. "What happened to that wimpy whiny scared idiot that you were just a few minutes ago?" Kyuubi asked and Naruto swore he saw a ghost of a grin on his face.
Shrugging his shoulders Naruto answered, "I'm still scared; and I took the risk when I didn't move… and I guess that when you are put on the brink of death you start realizing things you don't normally comprehend, however the biggest factor is because I believe in a way we are kind of similar… We are both a bit misunderstood, and hated for reasons that might not be necessarily true…"
"Don't you dare pretend you know the suffering I've been through boy!" The Kyuubi growled out with a hint of anger in his voice.
Naruto paused and thought carefully about his next words and actions than slowly lifted his hand extending it into the cage, "We could try to understand each other a little more thought? Couldn't we?" Holding his hand up he hoped that the Kyuubi would connect with him in a way that wasn't biting his arm off
The Kyuubi was now extremely intrigued by this brat; no doubt he was an fool. However he had this part of him that saw past the hatred of everybody and discovered only the good in people.
However the Kyuubi had a reputation to keep up but in a way maybe consulting with the boy wouldn't be the chore he thought it would be, it would definitely make things inside the brat slightly more interesting.
Using his nose the Kyuubi softly nudged Naruto's hand out of his cage while off-handedly saying, "This cage is cramp enough without your hand being in here…"
Deciding to test his luck a little longer Naruto gently patted the Kyubi's giant nose. And asked with one of his trademark giant smiles, "So… tell me do you have a name? Kyuubi just means nine tails doesn't it?"
The Kyuubi narrowed his eyes because the boy just continued to wowed him, it was hard to believe but maybe getting his ass knocked around by the bone Shinobi possibly could have fixed his frontal lobe.
"Kurama..." the now dubbed Kurama replied in an almost bored manner.
And even though it might have seemed impossible Naruto's smile just grew wider as he changed from petting the fox's nose to rubbing it now, "Well Kurama! One day I'm sure we will understand each other and you can BELIE…."
"KID! If you want to keep that hand of yours, swear that you will never use that phrase ever again!" Kurama angrily interrupted. As Naruto instantly stopped rubbing Kurama's nose and slowly inched his hand away.
Kurama snorted in annoyance than said, "Look I'm bored of this chat already, get out of here… your destiny awaits."
With a blink Naruto was no longer inside his mindscape he starred at his left hand which was still pressing down on his forehead protector, flipping it over Naruto reached into his pouch and drew a kunai out without hesitation Naruto scratched a line horizontally through the leaf symbol.
Taking one last quick look at the item he had cherished so much in the past he threw it to the side into the bushes and stood up looking straight at Zabuza, "I accept…"
First chapter of RTS completed, favorite, review, trash, w.e go for it
Even though it might seem like it THIS IS NOT A SANDAIME BASHER!
REPEAT NOT A SANDAIME BASHER! I LOVE THAT OLD MONKEY!
On another note RTS chapters will be significantly shorter then NSU chapters because I devote most of my time too writing those and possibly trying my hand at a sequel chapter to "Who in the world is Menma Uzumaki!"