Well, the next chapter of all my stories are taking longer than expected, but that's not to worrisome, my mind has just been...let's just say else where, so, to get it back on track I decided to write this, I hope you enjoy the chapter.
Plus This is in an AU, all important plot of part 1 remain the same, but this is on its own storyline, minus the way, that will still happen.
The forest was quiet, a peaceful wind flowing through the air like water in a stream, birds could be heard chirping in the distance, the leaves of the trees swaying with the breeze, all this was interrupted by the group of seven ninja currently jumping through the trees. "Naruto?!" a certain pinkette called out in all directions, they had been out here for days searching for the missing blonde jinchiriki. "Hinata have you picked any chakra signatures up with your byakugan?" The same pinkette called behind her. "No, it's like he hasn't even been here!." Hinata called, shifting her feet to perch and jump on the branch in front of her. "Don't worry Sakura, we'll find him, wait, Ino! try locating him with the jutsu you've been working on!" A certain brunette jumping alongside his dog called. Ino nodded, coming to a halt. "Mind Locator Jutsu!" Ino murmured as she weaved the signs required. 'Please Naruto, please be alright.' Sakura thought as she quickened her pace.
"We'll find him, I don't doubt we will." a black haired ninja called as he sat next to Ino holding her up. 'I'm not worried we'll not find him, i'm worried we'll be too late.' Sakura thought as she came to a halt, looking up at the sky to reflect on the events leading up to the search.
Flashback
"Thanks for having ramen with me Sakura." Naruto said as they two members of Team Seven walked down the busy marketplace street, Sakura was met with waves and kind greetings, Naruto however was met with stares of rage and disgust, Sakura glanced towards Naruto to see his smile slowly starting to fade. 'Naruto...' She thought, a look of concern beginning to show on her features. "You're welcome Naruto, it was nice to catch up, I mean, you've been training with Master Jiraiya for three years, to be honest the village was starting to feel wrong without you around." Sakura said, covering up her concern by closing her eyes and giving the blonde a small smile. "Have you even told Kiba and the others that you're back yet?" She found herself asking, slightly wincing at her own question, you see, before Naruto left for training, he had gotten into a huge fight with both Team Ten and Team Eight, granted they all made up afterwards, there was still tension between the seven of them. Naruto suddenly stopped in his tracks, Sakura turned and stared at the boy with curiosity. "Naruto..." She trailed off looking in the same direction as him, hands rushing to her face, shock evident on her features.
Go die in a hole you Nine-Tailed murderous bastard! Was gratified on the side of Naruto's apartment, Sakura was the first to break out of her shock as she heard Ino calling her name. "What is it?" She asked Ino as Ino came to a stop next to her and Naruto. "Lady Tsunade wants to see you." Ino said as she looked behind Sakura. "Oh, hey Naruto." She said before her eyes widened. "NARUTO?!" Ino screamed as she went past Sakura and gave Naruto a giant hug. "How've you been-" Ino trailed off as she noticed how dull his eyes now looked. "Naruto?" She asked, as Sakura placed her hand on Ino's shoulder. "Look at his apartment." She said, Ino looked in the direction and gasped. "I'll be right back." She excused herself and went off looking for something, or some people. ""Naruto, c'mon we'll find you somewhere else to stay for now." Sakura said as she grabbed a hold of Naruto's wrist. "Yeah sure." was all he said as they began walking.
Ino's P.o.V Third Person
"Where are those two?" Ino asked herself as she ran through the streets of the Leaf Village, ever since she saw the... thing written on Naruto's own home she had been feeling a small fit of anger, she finally stopped her murmuring when Kiba and Shikamaru came into her sight, she rushed over to the two. "Kiba! Shikamaru!" She called as she ran over. The two in question looked over and startled as they saw her barreling towards them, they stepped to the side in fear of getting trampled, Shikamaru using his shadow possession jutsu to grab a hold of her and stop her right in front of them, he released after she stopped. "Thanks." She said as he pat the dust off her dress. "So, what had you in such a rush?" Kiba asked, Akamaru tilting his head and looking up at his master? friend? Ino honestly had no idea what they were. "Kiba, mind smelling the air real quick?" She asked, Kiba loooked confused. "Sure, but-" His eyes widened as he picked up on a scent he hadn't smelled in a long time and that he -and half of the Genin who are now Chunin- may or may not had a small crush on... "No way..." He murmured as he took in another sniff. "It really is...!" Akamaru began happily barking as he began to smell the scent too. "What is it?" Shikamaru asked, confused by Kiba's sudden outburst.
"Naruto's back!" Kiba nearly screamed, but contained himself and brought it to the tone of a whisper. "He is?!" Shikamaru whisper yelled as well. "Well, where is he?" He asked turning to Ino. She laughed nervously. "well...you see." She started, pressing the tips of her fingers together as she searched for the right words to speak. "Well, first of all, we have a villager to hunt down, and second of all, said villager wrote on the side of Naruto's apartment, 'Go die in a hole you nine-tailed murderous bastard!', and third of all, Naruto is not acting right." She repeated the message in a cold tone, venom and rage laced within her tone. Shikamaru's eyes widened at this side of Ino that he's never seen before. "Who would do something like this?" He found himself asking, a long list of names popping into mind. Kiba interrupted his train of thought as he got up on Akamaru's back. "We'd better find him." He said, Ino nodding. "I saw him with Sakura, it's safe its assume that he's still with her." She said as she took off running, Kiba following after her.
The two came to a stop as they saw the duo walking into the Hokage's Mansion. "Kiba, when we find the villager who did that, can i tear their throat out?" Akamaru barked, Kiba simply grinned, giving the ninja-hound the answer he was hoping for. "Yeah Akamaru, you can." kiba whispered into the dogs ear, the three quickly made their way over and joined Sakura and Naruto in the Hokage's office. A little known fact is that, the young Inuzuka and his hound, even his mothe and sister and their hounds too, had become protective of the blonde, the two still don't know how though, but they believe that it was during the retrieval mission to bring Sasuke back to the village that it happened, namely after they saw the state that Naruto was in after they got back from the failed mission.
Normal P.o.V
Tsunade looked up from her paperwork as she heard the door ope up. "Sorry, I was doing-" "LIAR!" Sakura interrupted, stomping up to the desk and moved the paperwork out of the way, revealing a small yet noticeable pool of drool. "Well, you caught me." Tsunade said as she heard the door open for the second time. Sakura turned around after she startled, and shivered at sight of the raging inferno that was the angry Inuzuka and Yamanaka.
"Naruto!" Kiba yelled as he grabbed Naruto and jerked him into a hug, rubbing against his cheek as Akamaru barked happily beside him. "How you been, you been good so far? He asked, mainly out of concern. Sakura stood there and gave Kiba a sympathetic look, "Kiba, he hasn't been talking since he was the message on his apartment, I'm actually concerned about what the Fox will do," Sakura paused to look at Tsunade who had a look of both terror and rage on her features, "I mean, what if Naruto decides to let Nine-Tails free? It won't hesitate to go on another rampage, and this time, without anybody who knows how to seal it away, we would have no chance of survival." she finished as Tsunade stood up and slammed her hand on the desk in front of her. "WHO WROTE THAT MESSAGE!?" She yelled out in a fit of rage, as it the room wasn't hot enough, Sakura swore she could see flames rising from behind Ino, Kiba, Akamaru, and Tsunade.
Sakura decided to intervene before the blazing inferno ended up burning the building down. "If I may." she started, getting Tsunade's attention. "Why did you need to see me?" Sakura asked, Tsunade cleared he throat and perched her elbows on the desk and interlaced her fingers. "It seems the Akatuski don't know when to quit, they kidnapped the Sand's Kazekage, the ninja of The Hidden Sand managed to get him back, but intel suggests that Akatsuki members Deidara and Sasori are planning on invading again, that being the case, the Sand has sent a request for reinforcements, normally I would send a team of Jonin to handle the situation, but under the circumstances I can't, that's why I'm sending a Merged Team on this mission." Tsunade said as she looked around the room.
"A Merged Team...?" Kiba asked as he slightly leaned his head to the side. "What's that?" Ino asked voicing the question on everybody's minds. "A Merged Team is a team that as the name suggests merges two or more separate teams for the mission, if they choose they can remain as a single team for good or simply split into their own teams again." Tsunade explained, she closed her eyes before opening them and furrowing her brows, "I'm merging teams Seven, Eight, and Ten for this mission." She said, I'll alert your respective sensei's, when you're all ready, meet at the Hidden Leaf Gate." And with that said Tsunade dismissed the four ninja -five if you count Akamaru.- to allow them time to go buy the needed supplies.
"Naruto, you wanna head out to buy supplies with me?" Kiba asked, a frown forming on his features when he saw Naruto shake his head "C'mon man, we never hang out anymore, not after the fight." Kiba winced at the memory.
Flashback Within Flashback
"Naruto!" A young Kiba screamed, "What's up Kiba?" Naruto asked, giving the young Inuzuka a breath taking smile, 'Why does he have to be so adorable?!' Kiba thought as he hid the incoming blush, it was like Naruto's smile itself was a form of jutsu that would force you to blush as if you were staring at a crush. "I was um..." Kiba trailed off when he stared back at the blonde, who was now offering out his hand, all while keeping up that magical smile of his. 'This confirms it, my death will not be by enemy ninja, but by Naruto's smile. I can already see it. 'Kiba Inuzuka, loved by all, perished not by the enemy but by the smile of a fellow comrade'.' Kiba thought as he turned as red as a tomato.
Naruto simply wore a look of concern. "Kiba? You doing okay?" He asked when he saw the brunette genin. "Y-Yeah, I-I'm fine." Kiba said as Akamaru popped his head out from hid hood and let out a happy bark. "I was wondering if you wanted to go train with me?" He asked Naruto's smile increased as he held his hand out, Kiba's blush returning full force.
"Well, let's get going then." Kiba said as he took Naruto's hand and was helped up, because apparently during his blushing fit he had fallen to the ground.
When Naruto and Kiba arrived at the training field, they were surprised to see the rest of the rookie nine -minus Sasuke- were standing there, jaws dropped, eyes wide, and hands over mouths. Shikamaru turned to face the two arriving Genin. "What happened here?!" Naruto asked, they all parted to reveal the form of a dead Hidden Leaf Chunin, Shikamaru slowly stood up, a sudden dark change in his aura. "You did this." He growled in a dangerous tone.
Sakura and Ino backed away at the sudden dark and hostile change in Shikamaru's aura, making a run towards Naruto and hid behind him. "How could I have killed him if I've been stuck in the hospital this whole time?!" Naruto yelled, sensing the sinister intent, "The proof is all here, the unique type of kunai you use was found right next to his body, this scrap of fabric-" Shikamaru paused to hold out and open his clenched fist, revealing a piece of orange fabric. "-This was found in the Chunin's hands, he even told us before he died that it was you who attacked him!" Shikamaru yelled as he threw a kunai with a paper bomb attached to it.
Naruto, Sakura, Ino, Akamaru, and Kiba leaped out of its range as the explosion went off. Sakura however was caught in the the edge of the blast and got propelled into the forest behind them, no doubt unconscious, Hinata, who was standing behind Shikamaru, stumbled back, her eyes widening as she looked between the explosion site and Shikamaru. "Shino-" Shikamaru began, as he turned his head slightly to face Shino. "Go see how hurt Sakura got, if she tries to run back here to protect Naruto, do not hesitate to fight her." He finished, Shino looked as conflicted Chouji when he had to choose between two of his favorite meals, as had Hinata, they both turned their gaze toward Kiba who nodded. "Okay." Shino finally said before jumping away into the trees. "Hinata, Chouji, let's go!" He yelled as he rushed forwards, pulling out a paper bomb and throwing it towards Naruto, Kiba, Akamaru, and Ino, who all dodged, Naruto took this chance to get a few punches in, he rushed forwards, watching as Ino and Kiba held off Chouji and Hinata.
"There's no solid proof that I killed that Chunin, that evidence could have been planted!" Naruto yelled, Shikamaru's eyes widened for a second, taking into consideration the point that Naruto had made, pushing it to the back of his mind, he rushed forwards and pulled out a kunai, throwing it at Naruto hitting him dead on. 'Got him!' Shikamaru thought before his eyes widened. 'A shadow clone?!' He thought as he saw Naruto poof out of existence, before another one jumped out from the bushes and punched him clean across the jaw, Shikamaru saw the next hit coming and blocked it, punching Naruto before jumping back, only to be met by the backs of Chouji and Hinata.
"Hey Shikamaru!" Naruto yelled, Shikamaru turned around to be met with Naruto, Kiba, Akamaru, and Ino, standing in a formation. "I know how the Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi clans have the Ino-shika-cho formation, so I thought it would be cool to try one of my own, I'll call it..." Naruto trails off to think before he snaps his fingers and shoots off a huge grin, Ino nervously closing her eyes and nervously smiling while letting out a small nervous laugh, Kiba doing the same. "Revelation Jutsu! It's formation name will be the Ino-Naru-ba Formation!" Naruto screamed, Kiba and Ino's eyes widening as they stared between each other, 'That's actually a pretty good name!' Was the shared thought between their two gazes. "Ino, Kiba, just follow my lead." Naruto said, "But-" "Naruto-" "Just follow my lead! you'll understand the steps soon after!" Naruto yells.
The two look between each other, before hesitantly nodding to him. Naruto leaps off the ground and into the air, followed closely by his two temporary team mates. 'Wait, I know this maneuver.' Ino thought as she followed behind Naruto. Kiba was starting to recognize it too. "Akamaru!" Kiba callled, Akamaru knowing what to do jumped onto Kiba's back and transformed into him, Naruto jumped on after his Shadow Clone finished making the Rasengan. "Fang Over Fang!" Kiba yelled as he and Akamaru both grabbed a hold of Naruto with one hand to keep him steady as he held out his hand. "Flower Bomb!" Ino yelled as she threw out a bouquet of paper bombs disguised as flowers, the Flower Bomb connected with Fang Over Fang, -which from the Rasengan, had a blue tint to some spirals- and Ino saw as she caught herself on the ground that it had gained some fiery type spirals now, if she was being honest, it was a beautiful sight, the three separate colors merging together to create this powerful move. 'I can't believe I'm saying this but, the three of us make a good team.' she thought as she panted.
"Wow..." Hinata whispered as she was mesmerized by the sight before her. "MOVE!" Shikamaru yelled, but they were already too late, the move had made impact. "REVELATION STYLE! IGNITED RASEN-FANG!" Naruto yelled as he, Kiba, and Akamaru made impact with the ground, breaking and sending it flying into the air, the three of them jumped to where Ino was sitting, eyes surveying the field for their opponents, when they found them, they were relieved to see that they were outside of the blast. "Let's go." Naruto said as the three of them got up and made their way over.
Shikamaru's eyes were still wide from shock, if they hadn't used a substitution jutsu they would've been caught in the resulting damage, and probably seriously injured if not dead. "CHOUJI, HINATA, SHIKAMARU, YOU ALL OKAY?" The three named turned towards the direction they heard the yelling from and they hesitantly took a step back, when they saw the reasons for this destruction running towards them.
"Yeah, we're fine." Shikamaru said as he inwardly counted to calm his nerves which were firing on all cylinders. "Look-" Shikamaru started, but was interrupted by Sakura and Shino jumping between them, it looked like this was the final hit of a battle. "CHYAA" Sakura yelled as she thrust her fist forwards and hit Shino in the stomach, causing him to sputter and cough, then black out. "WHO WANTS SOME MORE?!" Sakura yelled, letting Inner Sakura out, before calming down and putting her act back up. "I mean...I guess I underestimated my strength...?" She feigned innocence as she put on a friendly smile and put her hands behind her back.
"Look-" Shikamaru paused eyes darting around waiting for any other unexpected interruptions, when they didn't come he sighed and put a hand in his hair. "I'm sorry I accused you, I just saw the evidence and the dead ninja, normally i'd think things through if it was from a village requesting our help or something, but, I saw the Chunin dying and he told me it was you, my mind closed down any other facts and focused solely on that comment." Shikamaru said as he held out his other hand, Naruto took it, and simply started smiling, everybody who were there -And were conscious- started blushing, Ino and Sakura looked away to hide it, and Hinata simply fainted.
End Flashback Within Flashback
"Look, if you wanna be alone that's fine, but..." Kiba trailed off to look at Akamaru who started whimpering. "Look, I'll leave Akamaru with you so that you'll at least have company." He said, Akamaru started wagging his tail and walked over to Naruto. "No thanks Kiba, I'll be fine." Naruto said as he plastered on a fake smile.
Kiba looked at Naruto concerned. "Just, it'll put my mind to ease to know that you're safe." Kiba said, then remembered something then quickly added. "Plus, I know a certain Yamanaka and Haruno who would both punch me into next year if you weren't safe." He grinned, but inwardly feared that that was really a possibility There was an unspoken rule between Sakura, Ino, and Kiba, and that was that when one of them was threatened they were not allowed alone, usually Akamaru simply accompanied the one who was threatened, and now that Naruto was back, the rule would have to extend to him as well.
"Okay fine, I'll go buy supplies with you." Naruto murmured under his breathe, but it was clear that Kiba heard him due to the sparkling in his eyes. "Really?!" He yelled, he grabbed Naruto's hand and started dragging him along, Akamaru running alongside him.
the two of them met up with Ino as they were buying some Explosive Kunai and some Smoke Bombs.
"Hey you two!" She shouted as she made her way over to them both, Kiba turned and smiled as she reached them. "Hey Ino, buying some supplies too?" He asked, Ino closed her eyes and shook her head. "No, I already got done, I was actually looking for you two." She said, this statement had caught Naruto's attention, he turned to face her as she motioned for them to follow her.
When they reached the destination, Kiba stared in shock as Naruto stared in awe. "Ino..." Kiba stared to ask until he saw Ino's father walk up beside her. Kiba's eyes widened and he started to stutter a greeting, this caused Ino and Inoichi to laugh. "Ino, why are we in front of my home?" Kiba finally managed to ask as he pointed to the Inuzuka compound. "Well..." Ino started, "You remember that combo move we did three years ago?" Ino asked, this caused both Kiba and Naruto to nod their heads. "Well, I kinda told my dad about it, and he said that when Naruto got back, he would need to talk to your Mom Kiba." Ino explained, that was when the Compound doors opened up revealing Tsume and Hana, accompanied by their respective hound. -Hounds in Hana's case- "Wecome to our home Inoichi." Tsume greeted before waving the small group in, Kiba simply walked in with Akamaru before she waved them all in.
"I brought something along for this talk." Inoichi said before he sat down a scroll. "Is that?" Tsume asked as she sat her hand down on it. "Yes, Open it." Inoichi said as Tsume untied the ribbon holding it shut and opened it up. "This-" Tsume gasped before she sat it down revealing a set of three names. Team 11: Minato Namikaze, Yoma Inuzuka, and Asumi Yamanaka. - Sensei: Legendary Sannin Jiraiya "Naruto, are you aware that The Great Fourth was your Father?" Inoichi asked, Naruto nodded his head before explaining. "Pervy Sage told me, at first I didn't believe him, but as he started pointing out so many similarities that it couldn't be a coincidence, I finally believed him." He finished before placing his finger on the other two names. "Who are these two though?" Naruto asked, Kiba and Ino turned, wondering the same question as well.
"They were his teammates, they both died during the war, but they were both just as well known as Minato the Yellow Flash, Yoma was known as the Thorned Fang, while Asumi was known as the Truthful Reader." Inoichi looked up at the three before turning his gaze to Tsume. "Ino brought to my attention that three years ago, before Naruto left, he got accused of killing a Chunin Ninja, the evidence was later proved false, but that was after a fight broke out between Shikamaru Nara, Chouji Amikichi, Hinata Hyuga, Shino Aburame, Sakura Haruno, Ino Yamanaka, Kiba Inuzuka, and Naruto Uzumaki, this broke the eight off into two sides, Shikamaru, Hinata, Chouji, and Shino on one, Naruto, Kiba, Ino, and Sakura on the other,, well, nearing the end of the fight Naruto, Ino, and Kiba used a merged move that destroyed about three fourths of the training field, Ino told me that the formation they used she recognized even though they never heard or learned of it, I dug deep and did some research, apparently Asumi Yamanaka was my Father's Sister, she died during the Third Great Ninja War, and Yoma." "Was my Mom's brother." Tsume cut him off. "And he died during the Third Great Ninja War as well, so I didn't really get to meet him." Tsume finished. "What is this about?" She finally asked, Inoichi finally gave the answer to the question plaguing the room. "Like the Ino-Shika-Cho formation, i wish to reestablish the Yama-Nami-Zuka Formation with this generation." Tsume looked shocked so did Kiba. "What do you mean?" Kiba asked, Ino turning towards him.
"He want's to create a Formation." She began, taking in their confused looks. "You know how Shikamaru, Chouji, and I are on a team, same with our parents?" She asked, when the two nodded she continued. "It's because of the Ino-Shika-Cho Formation, our three families made it a priority for a member of the three families to be in the same team." She finished explaining, Kiba and Naruto's eyes both widened as they turned back towards the two parents in the room. "The fact that they pulled off one of the Team's strongest combination moves in outstanding, the fact that they never even practiced it makes it even more impressive." Inoichi said, Tsume now had her chin clasped between her pointer and thumb. "I must agree, and the fact that this could do Kiba some good does make the bargain hard to refuse." Tsume said "But..." She added causing the room to fall so silent you could hear a leaf land. "The fact that Naruto's parents are both dead, there's no one to agree to it their end." She finished. "Well, why not leave the decision to Naruto himself?" Inoichi suggested, causing Naruto's eyes to widen once again. "I mean, he is sitting right here." Inoichi added as he gestured to where Naruto was sitting.
Tsume nodded and they both turned to him. "Well Naruto?" Tsume began. "What will it be?" She asked. "Your Formation could some day be as strong as the one that nearly surpassed the Sannin." Inoichi stated.
Naruto stared up at them and smiled, the magical smile that everybody was used too.
Ino and Kiba glanced at each other to notice them both blushing. 'This boy is gonna be the death of us!' was their common thought.
And there's the end of the chapter, now hopefully this removed my wandering mind syndrome for a bit, because I just spent the last 24 hours writing this and I am literally running on fumes, so I'm just gonna take a small little nap and possibly sleep for the rest of the year.