Disclaimer: No, I dont own own Naruto, be it the series, manga, or any characters or ideas pertaining there to. I do however have original characters within this story, Tohya Kuren, Omey and Arana.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A/N: My first fic. It is kind of obvious. This is my first attempt not using my own world to write something, using it as a project to increase my skills. I want to focus on plot as much as possible in this fic, so am keeping OC to a minimum. Fight scenes are also not my forte, and again, practice, practice, practice. Hopefully things will smooth out as the story progresses, I have the ideas, just need to get them down. Help is appreciated. Also, forgive the puns.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Ones we Must Protect
Chapter 1 - A 'Rock'y Beginning
The figure in orange flipped back as the tiny shuruken thudded into the ground in front of him. His silver haired opponent landed about twenty feet away with a catlike grace as Naruto nearly finished his flip, landing unceremoniously on his face.
"Ah, Naruto, you seem a little distracted today, maybe we should finish now," mentioned the elite jounin.
The younger blond nin stood, brushed himself off and looked over at his mentor. "Heh, I have to be in top form sensei. I get my new assignment tomorrow." They both chuckled a bit at this.
"Don't wear yourself out too much Naruto," said Kakashi still laughing slightly, "leave some energy for Hinata tonight. It is your anniversary after all" The younger shinobi blushed slightly at having the copy-nin talk of such things. After a moments silence, Kakashi continued, this time with a note of seriousness in his voice. "Ne, Naruto, why is it you call me sensei still. You passed the Jounin exam 2 years ago, you and I are equal ranks now."
Naruto scratched his head and made a side-long glance at his former teacher, and spoke with the same level of seriousness, "Even when I become Hokage you will still be Kakashi-sensei, I will continue to call you Kakashi-sensei till I learn everything you can teach me, only then will I see us as equals." Kakashi cocked a brow at this levelheaded maturity from his student. Even after passing into the ranks of the Jounin, Naruto had retained most of his childish ways, a blessing in disguise perhaps, but a hard earned maturity was etched around his baby blues and a furious red scar that lashed across his left eye was the only visible evidence of his last battle with his nemesis, Saskue.
"Well, sensei, I guess I should go," Naruto looked out across the Hidden Leaf Village, and started walking town the cliff face. Kakashi followed suit and looked over at Naruto with his good eye. Naruto had grown in the last few years, now a tall, gaunt figure. The spiky blond hair and narrow face highlighted fox-like blue eyes, and long, well-muscled arms were crossed against a hard, rail like body. He reminded the older nin much of himself.
"Oi, sensei," Naruto looked over at Kakashi who regarded him with his uncovered eye, "Can we stop at the monument before we get back into town?" Kakashi nodded silently.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Naruto felt the cool onyx slab under his fingertips as they brushed across the name engraved on that spot. Jiraiya. He remembered the final clash, a battle of the titans as it were, in which he lost his friend and teacher.
The blow back from the Rasengen meeting the Chidori made the two Sannin have to move their feet to prevent being blown off balance. The Kyuubi's chakra surrounded Naruto, and Saskue was in full creature form. Demon was more the word for it. The Sharingan shone in his eyes as he stumbled back to his feet and rushed the Blond ninja again. Orochimaru attacked the same way, his giant summoned serpent lashing forward and gripping Gammabunta around the neck. The massive toad-lord winced, unable to shake off his attacker. Naruto had recovered from the brutal attack put on by Saskue and sent him flying across the landscape. He dashed toward Jiraiya, performing a few quick hand seals.
"Bunshin no jutsu!" a puff of smoke and a giant, nine tailed red fox grabbed the serpent, ripped it away from Gammabunta and pinned it to the ground with a massive clawed paw.
"Naruto! Your opponent is over here!" called Saskue, who was rushing Naruto again, chidori blazing. The black-haired missing-nin thrust himself into the air. Nine red tails lashed at him like whips but were ineffective against the speed of the attack. Blue chakra hit red fur with a screaming crackle. The fox puffed into a small log, which landed beside a visibly tired Saskue. "How basic," he jeered at Naruto who was now standing behind him, eyes red with fury. The two Sannin had un-summoned their creatures and were now engaged hand to hand about fifty feet away from the rivals.
"Nice little warm up, eh Saskue?" grinned Naruto, reaching into a little pack on the small of his back. He dug out Saskue's old head-protector and tossed it at him. Saskue affixed the symbol of his old life to his forehead, a sign that he was meeting his former rival as an equal. He quickly preformed some hand seals and unleashed a powerful fireball at Naruto, who countered with a water jutsu he picked up from Kakashi. Under the sizzle the 2 men crossed kunai, struggling for dominance. Saskue looked up to see a hail of kunai and shuruken rain down on him. The two opponents broke contact and bounced backward a bit. From his right, a Naruto bunshin rushed him with a kunai. He dispelled it by tossing a shuruken through it. And from the left now, the same thing, then immediately from above. A log landed at his feet.
'Replacement technique again' thought Saskue, then he looked again, to see an explosion tag stuck to it. "Shit!" he cried and jumped back out of the range of the blast and heaved a sigh. Suddenly, he felt a presence behind him.
"Special Technique, Thousand years of pain jutsu!" Naruto was crouched behind Saskue and struck him with 2 fingers that sent him flying upward.
"Gah, cant you ever be serious, dummy!" he bonked Naruto, just as he would when they were younger, a time near forgotten by both.
"Ha, just humiliating you a bit before I kick your ass Saskue!" the youngest Uchiha had reverted to his normal human form with a smirk on his face.
"Try it, drop out."
Naruto didn't remember much beyond that, after Saskue's chidori brushed his face, leaving an angry scar, he went into what could be best deemed a berserker rage. He had forced the dark haired traitor into a retreat, and then turned his focus onto a drained and haggard Orochimaru. The perverted sannin teacher had held up well against the younger version of his old teammate, but in the end he succumbed to the serpents bite and died there on that battlefield, and what the spiky-haired nin did that day effectively placed Saskue as the head of the Hidden Village of Sound. Naruto brushed a tear off his cheek remembering his friend and mentor.
"He would be proud of you, Naruto, like I am." The masked copy-nin placed his hand on his students shoulder and guided him back toward town. Naruto looked a bit downcast at they turned back toward the Konoha village.
"I still haven't been able to keep my promise." Kakashi looked up at his young comrade. Naruto continued, "When I left that day, on the original mission to find Saskue, I promised Sakura…. I promised Sakura-chan I would bring him back."
"And you will, Naruto, when the time is right you will."
----------------------------------------------------------------
The office of the Godaime was rather crowded for 7 in the morning. Naruto looked around and saw mostly familiar faces, most of which had passed the Jounin exams with him. Neji, Lee, Tenten, Ino. Kiba leaned against a wall in the back with Akamaru perched on his head, while Choji and Shikamaru chatted near the Hokage's desk. The last to enter was Sakura, who came and stood beside Naruto. They talked for only a moment when the blond headed leader of the Hidden Leaf burst in, arms full of documents and her aide trailing, trying to keep up. Tsunade dropped the pile onto her desk and gently sat herself into the comfortable chair. With a skilled hand, she picked up eight manila envelopes and tossed them at their respective addressees.
"These are your new Genin teams. All fresh academy graduates. Have fun, now get out. Mission assignments will start next week." Tsunade was all business. Naruto looked at her more closely, and noticed the heavy eyelids and the general ill-looking features that were worn by the leader this morning. As they all filed out, except Naruto, he finally clicked in.
"Ah, obaachan? Where is my envelope."?
"You don't get one Naruto-kun. And don't call me that."
"But Hokage-sama…"
"Just shut up and wait Naruto."
The usually obnoxious shinobi plopped down into a chair just as a muffled poof revealed a fully geared Hatake Kakashi in the center of the room. Tsunade looked up at Naruto and Hatake.
"Here is your mission, gentlemen," she tossed a scroll at each of them. "You are to rendezvous with 3 ninja escaping the Rock Village. They are cousins whose clan has been persecuted by the Feudal Lord and the Village Council. The Kage for the Hidden Rock doesn't seem to care for them too much, even though the clan holds a powerful Dojutsu." Kakashi and Naruto both perked up at this. "We don't have any information on it at this point, and minimal information on the refugees. You will have to infiltrate into Rock territory and get them out. They can't make it into Fire Country on their own at this time. 2 of them are chunnin level and one is a genin. This is considered an A+ rank mission, gentlemen; no one outside this room is to know about it. Understood?" Both nodded. "You leave in an hour, Uzamaki, get geared up."
"Hai," he nodded and bolted out. Kakashi looked at the Godaime and smiled under his mask.
"So what aren't you telling us Tsunade-sama?"
She smiled bitterly and looked down at her paperwork, "It seems that I cant hide anything from you can I Kakashi-san? Well, here it is. The Rock Village doesn't want them to stay, and doesn't want them to leave. They are quite powerful if I her tell right, and most are afraid of them, but when they leave the village, you can expect their best to be on their tail. Exercise extreme caution." Kakashi nodded and poofed away.
------------------------------------
Tall rock spires reached up into the sky, creating long shadows across the dusty ground. Atop two such pillars stood 2 figures, of moderate height and smaller frame. On the ground below them stood a third figure, tiny of stature. A ways off from them stood Kakashi and Naruto looking over at them. The tiny one raised her hand and walked toward the Leaf ninja. Her forehead protector was bound tightly across her eyes, and seals adorned her hands and arms. She stopped short of them and as her escorts leapt down beside her.
"Uzamaki Naruto, Hatake Kakashi, greetings to you and honor to the leaf. Thank you for coming to our rescue" Naruto raised an eyebrow at this.
"Eh, your welcome, but how did you know our names?"
"There is not time for that. We are the remaining three of the Tohya Clan. The rest sacrificed themselves to make good our escape. Elite jounin from Rock follow us about an hour behind. We must make haste back to the forests of Fire Country." Kakashi nodded.
"Lets go." With chakra-enhanced speed they raced back toward the tree-lined horizon. Naruto looked over at his sensei and noticed him lining their path with small traps, explosive notes mostly, trip wires and a quick seal Naruto didn't recognize. Within a half hour they were back into Leaf territory and safely in the forest.
"Uzamaki-sama, now would be the best time to make a stand if we are going to, here you and Kakashi-sama are in your element." She nodded at the other 2, both of whom wore chuunin vests. She pointed at her cousins, "Kuren-niisan, Omey-neechan please follow Kakashi-samas direction." Naruto was puzzled, a genin was directing the two chuunin around and they were following. Kakashi began to talk to them and Naruto approached the young girl.
"Ah…." He started but was cut off.
"Naruto-sama," she reached out and touched his stomach, where the Kyuubi seal sat. He stiffened in surprise, "now is not the time for your questions, I will answer them later. Save one. Arana. My name is Tohya Arana."
"Arana-chan, please get to a safe place then, we cant allow any of you to be hurt."
"We will stay and fight Naruto-sama, such is our way." Naruto nodded and turned away just as a group of six Rock nin landed just outside of their range. Arana kneeled on the ground facing them as the other four readied for combat. The leader of the Rock shinobi shouted out at them
"Konoha, leave now and you will be left unharmed, our fight is not with you."
"We are in Leaf territory, and these shinobi are under our protection. Leave now and you will not be perused," replied Kakashi evenly.
"We will not."
"So be it."
With blazing speed three rock nin raced forward and in tandem began a flurry of hand seals. All leapt into the air and activated their jutsu's.
"Doton, Doryuu Taiga"
The ground beneath them rippled and turned to mud; causing the defending ninja to slide back as a fourth rock nin activated another jutsu.
"Doton, Doryuudan"
With an immense surge of chakra, a draconic form rose out of the mud and spewed forth muddy projectiles at horrendous speeds. Kakashi returned with a jutsu his own. The wall of water he created washed away the projectiles and Naruto rushed forward leaping up into the air.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"A dozen Narutos shimmered into the air around them and surrounded the attacking rock ninja. They all grinned, and started performing hand seals. Simutaniously all the Narutos finished. "Katon, Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" The heat alone from the twelve grand fireballs dispelled the Naruto clones. To his dismay though, four walls of earth had been formed around the rock nin, protecting them from the firey blast. Two climbed to the top of it, and jumped down, followed by another two. Using the existing mud, Omey preformed the Doryuudan jutsu, which Kakashi followed up with the Karyuudan. The now flaming bits of mud hurtled toward the Rock shinobi.
"Enough of this," Kuren muttered and poked himself with a kunai on his fingertip and wiped it across his eyebrows.
"Eyes of the Basilisk!" The unfortunate Rock jounin that made eye-contact with Kuren was immediately petrified, his skin and clothing taking a grey hue. Naruto was amazed. "Holy shit! That was so COOL!" Kuren deactivated his blood-limit and grinned at the tow-headed leaf ninja. He then looked at Arana who also poked herself with a kunai and slammed her hand into the ground from her kneeling position.
"Kyuichose no Jutsu!" Moments later when the small clouds of smoke vanished, a small pack of translucent wolves stood around the little girl, snarling. The pack raced forward, harassing one of the Rock ninja. Naruto took this hint and preformed his own jutsu, running at that same assailant.
"Rasengan!" The spinning ball of pure chakra slammed into the center of the rock nin's chest and through, leaving a round, fist sized hole in it. Dropping the body, arm covered in blood, Naruto turned to see Kakashi having done something similar with his Chidori. Kuren had engaged in a losing battle with one of the rock jounin but was being assisted by the wolf pack and Omey. The other two had escaped. With practiced skill, Naruto threw a handful of kunai at the remaining jounin and pinned him to a tree, spread eagle. Kakashi grinned under his mask and looked at the captured man.
"Please, Kakashi-sama, let me take care of this." Kuren placed his hand on the elites shoulder. Kakashi shrugged and let Kuren address him.
"Tell him, we are not coming back." With that, Kuren reactivated his blood-limit and the man froze in place.
With that, the group pointed towards Konoha and began to walk.