There and Back Again
Disclaimer: Mangabear does not own Naruto.
Prologue: There and Back Again
It was gone.
There was nothing left. His village. His home. It was all gone with one strike.
Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto looked around. To his left, his friend, Yamanaka-Uchiha Itachi stood bravely, his Mangekyou Sharingan blazing as he helped Hatake-Senju Tsuyoshi upright. To his right, Hyuuga-Inuzuka Neji struggled to his feet as Nara-Kurama Shikamaru was one one knee, glaring up at their opponents. His best friends. His team…
Right beside him was his sister, Natsumi. She was in full Bijuu mode and staring at the scene in front of her in tears. Naruto turned his attention back to his opponents. Madara and Sasuke, Itachi's little brother, stood on the head of a giant monster with one big eye and ten flowing tails. The incomplete Juubi. On the other side was a massive army of Nukenin and Samurai led by one woman. She was Natsumi's age with long pink hair and piercing green eyes. Her face, which had once been beautiful, was marred with lichtenberg figures, mainly around her eyes and forehead. Her left cheek was completely gone, revealing pearly white teeth, giving the girl the illusion of a permanent grin on one side of her face.
Madara chuckled darkly. "Resistance is futile," he announced. "You six are the only remaining loyal Konoha Shinobi now. You can still join me, you know?"
"Hardly a tempting offer so we'll pass," Tsuyoshi replied snidely.
Sasuke scoffed. "Do you honestly think you dobes can beat us, let alone that army over there?"
"It's not the army I'm worried about, otouto," Itachi said stoically.
"Besides," Naruto added, "Bubblegum's not here for us."
"Naruto is correct," the pink haired woman replied in a scratchy voice, like she had a major sore throat. "I came here for you, Sasuke. Today, I will have my revenge."
"You could never beat me, Sakura," Sasuke sneered. "What makes you think you can now?"
"Sasuke," Haruno Sakura chided softly. "Unlike your brother and mother, all you other Uchiha think your Sharingan make you invincible. Well…" Her eyes turned black with several green lights swirling around in them… "Today, I show you just how ineffective they truly are! Today, I'll show you TRUE power! The power I spent every waking moment since you tortured me to death creating and perfecting! THIS… IS… POWER! THE TRUE MEANING OF PAIN!"
"Please, you two! Please stop this!" Natsumi cried. "T-There's still time for you two to come back! Back to Konoha!"
"Imouto," Naruto turned to his sister. "It's no use."
"NO!" she shouted, shaking her bright red hair. "T-They can! They…"
"Your brother is correct, Natsumi-chan," Sakura said. "There is no turning back. Sasuke has sown his field. Now it is time for him to reap that field." She gave the redhead a sad half-smile, half-grin. "You were always nice to me, Natsumi-chan, even when I wasn't nice to you. I thank you for that. Now, I am going to kill Sasuke for the both of us then we can truly be free of our horrible pasts."
"You two are weak!" Sasuke shouted maniacally. "You two were nothing but stepping stools to help me obtain greater power! You two have made me weak once! I WON'T let that happen again!"
"B-But…"
"Natsumi," Neji spoke up. "I'm sorry but they have made up their minds."
Natsumi sniffled. She didn't want to lose her two best friends but she knew she had a mission to finish. She composed herself and schooled her features into a blank mask.
"These formalities are pointless," Madara drawled out. "If you shall not join me, I'll…"
Suddenly, the ground opened up in front of the Juubi! Shocked, everyone watched as several Ninja shot out of the hole and turned to face the enemies. The final Shinobi to come out of the hole had dark red hair, not unlike the Uzumaki Clansmen, as well as a large gourd on his back as he rode a cloud of sand up.
"Gaara-kun!" Natsumi cried happily.
The Godaime Kazekage landed next to her and she immediately glomped him. "You're alive!"
"Of course," the male redhead's monotone reply came but Naruto could detect some humor in it. "I would not leave my fiancé alone, would I?"
Natsumi blushed a dark red. "Fiancé?" Naruto asked with a hard edge.
Before Natsumi could reprimand her brother, a loud sigh rang out. "Troublesome. Be the overprotective brother later, Naruto. We've got work to do," Shikamaru grumbled.
Naruto grinned at the 'Lazy Genius'. "Sure, sure, whatever." Turning, he glared at Gaara and said, "We will be discussing this later."
Gaara shivered but he did his best to hide it. "Of course."
Then Naruto turned to Madara and smirked. "You wanted to know if we'd join you or not? Well, here's our answer!" The Shinobi all unleashed a powerful roar scream that shook the ground all the way to Iwa and charged.
The fight was agonizingly short. The Shinobi that had survived the initial assault of the Juubi fought against Sakura's large army before they were soon all killed by the Juubi's Bijuudama moments into their fight.
Naruto and his team, the teens known as "Team Tensai," were struggling against the Juubi as Gaara and Natsumi took on Madara and Sasuke. Sakura had taken to fighting alongside Gaara in fighting Sasuke and the avenger had already lost an arm to the duo.
Naruto glared at Madara as he got a lucky hit on his sister. "Itachi, I'm really starting to hate your ancestor," he told the 'Prodigal Genius'.
"I am, as well," Itachi said back.
"What should we do?" Neji asked.
Naruto looked to Shikamaru, silently asking him if he had an idea. Shikamaru shook his head and Naruto felt dread. When Shikamaru couldn't come up with a plan, it meant they were screwed over.
"I think I can help you out, Kit," a deep, gravelly voice said deep within Naruto's mind.
'Well, given our situation, I'm willing to listen, Kurama,' Naruto thought.
"That seal I told you to make? Bring it out and activate it," the fox Bijuu told him.
'And that'll save our skins?'
"JUST DO IT, GAKI!" Naruto winced at the volume but quickly shook himself. "Hey, guys. The fuzzball's got a plan. We need to activate that seal he had me make."
"Should we trust him?" Tsuyoshi asked.
"We're losing terribly here. I think we can't afford not to," Neji commented.
"We've got nothing to lose so let's do it," Shikamaru said.
Naruto nodded and pulled out the scroll from his Jounin vest and opened it up. A large and intricate seal appeared. "Okay! Everyone put their hand on the seal and channel your chakra into it!"
The four nodded and soon the five were pouring their chakra into the seal, making it glow a eery red. Madara noticed this and frowned.
"Juubi! Destroy them now!" the Uchiha founder shouted and tried to jump towards them.
"No, you don't, asshole!" Natsumi shouted and roundhouse kicked the madman away. He grunted and flew back a few feet. Natsumi ran towards the seal to help her brother as Gaara and Sakura did the same after they had killed Sasuke.
Suddenly, a bright light blinded them all and they knew no more.
Naruto jolted from his seat. Wait, that was wrong. He shouldn't be sitting. He was in combat! Quickly looking around, he saw Itachi was beside him, looking around with the same expression he was wearing. Tsuyoshi, Neji and Shikamaru, who were sitting in front of the two, were in a similar state. Naruto looked up and felt his eyes pop out of their sockets. What the heck…
"And Team Ten has been selected by Hokage-sama to be the beta for a new type of team due to the uneven number of Shinobi graduating this year, which will consist of five Genin instead of the usual three and two Jounin sensei. Team Ten will be Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto, Yamanaka-Uchiha Itachi, Hatake-Senju Tsuyoshi, Hyuuga-Inuzuka Neji and Nara-Kurama Shikamaru," Umino Iruka stated from behind his desk.
The five geniuses were in shock, so much so that they could only form one coherent thought, 'What the freaking hell?!'