A/N: I changed a couple of things, the prologue has become the first half of this chapter, and I added another 2,000 words or so on to the end. The size and length of the chapters may fluctuate. Like in any good book, I will finish the chapter when the goal of the chapter has been achieved, not when I reach a certain length. Thank you and enjoy. (oh and the title of the story is pending)
Death is Just the Beginning
Time. It's a funny thing. When we want time to stop it seems to speed up and blow us by. But when we want time to speed up and end our torture, it seems to slow down and multiply our pain.
As the figure looked out over the city below, time was the only thing on its mind. It thought about how its time was over, and how time had blown it by many years ago. Unfortunately, that figure could not accept that fate, in order to protect the people of the village, time would have to wait a little longer.
The heavens were angered and a gust of wind whipped up as if to say "Stand down and accept that your time is over."
But, the blonde did not listen, instead she sighed and pulled out a bottle of sake. "Why did I ever take this job?" Tsunade asked no one in particular.
It had been four years since the kage summit had sent the world into turmoil. The five great nations joined together and quickly destroyed the threat that Madara had become, but the war didn't end. Madara had a backup plan. In order to escape destruction Madara released all seven of the bijuu that he possessed and, to the surprise of all the nations, ran. The seven bijuu he released created chaos across the continent. The treaty between the five great nations was quickly broken, and just as Madara predicted, the fourth great ninja war began.
With the release of the bijuu many nations sought out these demons in a bid for power. Some demons were quickly found and taken, like the three and four tailed beasts, while others had hidden themselves, like the seven and five tailed beasts. What this all amounted to was a battle of not only ninja but of seal masters and spy networks as well.
Physical fighting only ever erupted when a demon was found by a spy network. When there weren't any bijuu to hunt, the only way to fight the enemy was through creating better bijuu seals and through expanding your spy networks.
It was not a war that Tsunade wanted to fight, but she knew the risks that came with letting the other nations have their way. She sighed as she set down the now empty sake bottle. It had been a long four years.
()()()()()()()()
Naruto walked through the streets with a slight bounce in his step. Baa-chan had sent a messenger telling him to come to the Hokage tower that morning. He had a feeling that today might just be the day that he was accepted as the rokudaime Hokage. At this thought Naruto began all but running to the Hokage tower. As he rushed by vendors and stores Naruto couldn't stop thinking about what Baa-chan would say, or for that matter, what he would say in acceptance.
As Naruto opened the door to the Hokage tower he looked like he was going to bounce off the walls. He knew that if he didn't hurry to Granny's office soon that he would explode right there in the hallway. He passed by Shizune's desk with little more than a nod of acknowledgement, and continued up the stairs to Granny Tsunade's office. There it was, right in front of him was the doors to the Hokage office that would soon be his.
Naruto opened the door and couldn't contain himself anymore. "YES I ACCEPT!" Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs as he entered the Hokage office.
At this point Naruto realized that there were five other jounin in the office all staring at him with what could only be looks of amusement. "What are you guys looking at? And why are you guys here?" Naruto confusedly asked.
"Naruto! Calm down and stand with the rest of your jounin as I explain the reason I have called you here." Tsunade commanded.
Naruto looked around and saw a couple familiar faces including his old teammate, and long time friend, Sakura. "Hey Sakura-chan!" Naruto began "Did you come here to congra-".
"Naruto! What did I just say! Stand at attention until I give you the order 'At Ease'" Tsunade angrily interrupted.
Naruto may have been dense, but there was one thing he did know. Don't get Tsunade pissed at you. It usually ended with you flying out a window of her office in excruciating pain. With this in mind Naruto decided to listen to Tsunade and stop talking, at least until she announced that he was the next Hokage.
"Alright, now that Naruto is here I can finally begin." as she said this, Tsunade gave Naruto a glare to keep him from commenting "All six of you were brought here today because you all have shown qualities of a jounin instructor. I expect that most of you would like to continue fighting on the frontlines, but let me assure you that this is the most important thing a jounin will ever do. I have in front of me the list of graduating genin from this year's exam, and I would like you all to choose three of them to teach." Tsunade finished speaking and waited for the outburst that she knew was coming.
"YOU MEAN THIS ISN'T ABOUT ME BEING HOKAGE! I CAN'T WASTE TIME TEACHING GENIN WHEN THE WAR IS GOING ON! I HAVE TO FIND SASUKE, MADARA, AND THE REST OF THE BIJUU! YOU CAN'T KEEP ME-"
"I can and I will! From this day forth you are the jounin instructor of three very lucky genin." Tsunade responded in almost a yell. "Since I suspected that you would not want to teach a team of genin I took the liberty of choosing a team for you." Tsunade continued as she handed Naruto a slip of paper.
Naruto begrudgingly took the slip of paper from Tsunade's hand, but didn't bother to look at it. He didn't care who the kids were. He just couldn't teach a genin team right now. He took the liberty of seating himself in the back of the room while the rest of the jounin decided which genin to take under their wing. Sakura looked the most adamant about getting the specific genin she wanted. Naruto just didn't get it. There was so much he needed to do. It wasn't that he didn't want to be a jounin instructor, actually he really wanted to be one, but not now. Maybe when the war was over and Sasuke was back in the village, but until then he wanted to be fighting the war on the front lines. And he couldn't do that if he was constantly watching his genin's backs. As soon as the rest of the jounin left he was going to give Granny a piece of his mind.
Tsunade sighed. This wasn't going to be a fun conversation, but, luckily, she was prepared. Before Naruto could even make his point she was already explaining "All of the Hokage have had at least one apprentice or genin team, and until you become a jounin instructor I am not letting you have this hat." She firmly told him.
"But baa-chan, can't you make an exception. We're in the middle of the war and there needs to be a strong hokage leading the village at a time like this." Naruto responded.
"I am fully aware of that. That is why I have already chosen the rokudaime. He is a powerful young man who will lead our country through this war. But that man isn't you Naruto." Tsunade said sternly.
"WHAT! Why not me! I'm the most powerful ninja in the entire village and I've protected the village my entire life!" Naruto nearly screamed.
"It is true that you are strong, but you don't think things through enough. That's why I want you to be a jounin instructor. I want you to start using your brain." Tsunade explained.
"What do you mean! I use my brain all the time. Like when I took out that Iwa jounin and brought him back for questioning an-"
"And he turned out to be one of the Suna's undercover agents!" Tsunade finished.
"How was I supposed to know!" Naruto Exclaimed.
After that the room went suddenly quiet. Neither ninja knew how to continue the conversation. Finally, after nearly two minutes of silence Tsunade finally told the depressed Naruto "Come on Naruto. We both know that you're going to be Hokage someday, but now is not the time. I just don't feel right leaving you to lead the village just yet. You have good intentions, but you really need to start thinking things through more." Tsunade said in an almost soothing tone.
Naruto just stood there for a minute before saying "Alright baa-chan, I'll be a jounin instructor, but on two conditions. One: you buy me ten bowls of miso ramen from Ichiraku. And two: you have reserve my spot as the Shichidaime." Naruto said with the most serious tone he could manage.
Expecting something like this, Tsunade sighed and replied "Only if all of your students make chunin. Once they make chunin I'll make sure the rokudaime reserves you a spot as Shichidaime, and I'll personally acompany you to Ichiraku."
Tsunade had barely finished before Naruto began bouncing off the walls yelling about being the Shichidaime Hokage. But, she was happy that it didn't take that long to convince him. Despite having the title "#1 unpredictable ninja" he was pretty predictable.
()()()()()()()()
Three Days Later
Iruka stood before the group of newly graduated genin with a smile on his face, but it was a hollow act. The war had caused many things, and one of those things was letting more genin graduate each year. Now, instead of three teams going on to be genin, there were five. That would mean that all but three of the kids sitting in front of him would graduate. With this in mind he took one last good look at the class before reading off the team selections.
"All right class listen up. From this day forth you are ninja of the leaf, and I would like you all to act as such. Now, I am going to place you on teams of three to be trained by jounin. Listen up, because I will not repeat myself." Iruka began.
"Team two will be lead by Yuki Yamaguchi and her students will be Ichirou Motou, Kaito Shimizu, and Shinju Wakahisa."
"Team five will be lead by..." as Iruka continued to state the members of team five, the members of team three acknowledged each other with a nod but nothing more. Kaito looked at his teammates and then at his rivals with smirk, as if to say my "My team's the best!"
"Team six will be lead by Sakura Haruno" Iruka paused as the class broke into a few quiet murmurs and then continued knowing that there would be a bigger reaction later on "and her students will be Rikuto Nakahara, Kenta Inuzuka, and Saki Tsukino"
"Team seven will be lead by..." the members of team six were overjoyed by their team placements. Rikuto was smirking right back at Kaito as if to say "Hah! My team's way better!" Kenta was staring suggestively at Saki, and smirking at his luck. While Saki was daydreaming about being Sakura Haruno's student.
"Team nine will be lead by..." At this point in team assignments it was just a matter of who wasn't on your team. And there was one genin in particular who frowning at this realization. Takeru Takeda hated the prospect of being on the same team as Akio Nakagawa. It wasn't that he didn't like Akio, heck he was a nice guy, but he wasn't a very good ninja. In their class Akio was the "dead last", and Takeru definitely did not want to be grouped with the "dead last". But, as the penultimate team was announced Takeru realized, through the process of elimination, that Akio was in fact on his team. All that was left was for Iruka-sensei to confirm his worst fears.
"And finally team eleven will be lead by Naruto Uzumaki" Iruka paused so that the class in front of him could break in to a stampede of whispers before he once again took the reins "Ahem! As I was saying. Team eleven will consist of Takeru Takeda, Miu Akimichi, and Akio Nakagawa." This time speaking to the whole class Iruka continued by announcing "Your sensei's will arrive within the hour to pick you up for your first team meeting. Until then you are free to do whatever you want, but don't wander too far, you don't want to miss your first meeting after all."
As Iruka finished his speech and walked out of the room, the class of newly branded genin began talking wildly about their team selections.
Everyone in the class was out of their seats talking with friends and finding their teammates, that is, except a certain three genin. Sitting in the back row of seats were the three highest scoring students at the academy. Takeru Takeda, Kaito Shimizu, and Rikuto Nakahara. The three were not good friends, but they realized that they all had similar goals. They wanted to become powerful shinobi and renowned war heroes, despite the fact that none of them were from widely known ninja clans.
Throughout their time at the academy the three used each other as gauges to measure their growth. When one of the three grew stronger, the other two trained harder to catch up. When they were in class together they were rivals, but as soon as class was dismissed they would go their separate ways.
Kaito was a striking young man with indigo hair falling down to his shoulders, but his most distinguishable features were his eyes. His brown irises looked as if they had been shattered and put back together. Despite this Kaito said he could see just fine and that his eyes were hereditary.
Rikuto was slightly larger than Kaito, with a little more muscle mass and the smallest amount of hair on his head of the three. His hair was orange-red and had the look of being on fire. Compared to the other three, Rikuto looked much more rugged and prepared for the wilderness. In fact, as if to expand on this image, Rikuto was currently chewing on "god's gift to man" according to him, beef jerky.
Of the three Takeru would have to be the most normal looking. He had dark brown hair and dark blue eyes, and seemed to almost look like a civilian. He turned towards his rivals and stated "You two had better not slack off when we split up. I want to fight you guys in the chunin exams."
"Already thinking of the chunin exams? Thats like 5 months away! Anyway why would I slack off, if I want to keep my lead on you guys I better keep training." Rikuto almost growled between bites.
"I agree. Why would we stop training just because the academy ended? I'm gonna be a greater ninja than both of you combined, just watch!" Kaito added in.
Takeru almost smiled at his companions' drive. I picked some pretty good rivals Takeru thought.
Before Takeru could reply to his rivals, a woman with striking pink hair walked in and yelled "Team Six up on the roof now!"
"Looks like I'm ahead of you guys again, see ya later!" Rikuto grinned before getting up.
But before he could even walk to the door, another voice could be heard behind the pink haired woman. "But Sakura-chaaan! I wanted to bring my team to the roof!" whined the unknown voice.
From behind Sakura, in walked a man with striking blonde hair and blue eyes that all of the genin recognized.
Immediatly upon seeing him, fifteen genin tackled Naruto and began asking him for things like his autograph. Naruto tried to calm the class, but to no avail. No matter how hard he tried the genin wouldn't leave him alone. Finally Naruto, fed up with the genin, seemed to explode into a puff of smoke leaving the entire class speechless. In less than a second the class heard Naruto's voice once again, but this time coming from the other side of the room outside a window.
"Team eleven follow me quick!" Naruto hastily said before running down the road.
Before the rest of the class could react Takeru was already racing after his legendary sensei. After almost five seconds the rest of team eleven was running after their sensei and teammate. The rest of the class was still in shock from all the events that just occured. From meeting Naruto Uzumaki, to thinking he exploded, to watching him run away with his students. They all had one thought on their minds What the hell just happened.
()()()()()()()()
Takeru wasn't sure what to think of Naruto Uzumaki. According to the academy, he was the greatest ninja in the entire leaf, but so far Takeru was having a hard time believing that. First his sensei was caught off guard by a bunch of genin. Then his sensei stopped running after only five minutes to get something to eat. Then, after buying his food, his sensei inhaled the food as he began running again. Takeru had no idea what to think of this guy besides that he was an idiot. Takeru turned around for the first time since leaving the academy and saw that Akio and Miu were following him. He looked at them and deduced that they were having similar thoughts about their sensei. As the brown haired boy turned back towards the road he realized that his sensei was gone. Naruto Uzumaki was nowhere in sight.
"Where the hell did he go this time?" Akio yelled.
"I say we just wait here until sensei realizes he left us behind." Miu told her teammates.
"No! We will follow sensei! We are ninja now, and sensei is probably testing us. He can't be too far away, so let's split up and look for him." Takeru ordered his teammates.
"Why should we listen to you! I like Miu's idea better, sensei will probably come back here eventually." Akio informed Takeru.
"Fine! You guys can just stay here and be lazy! I'm going to do something productive and find our sensei." Takeru told his teammates.
"Hey what are you guys arguing about? You know if you keep arguing you'll never make it to our meeting place?" a familiar voice questioned the three genin.
Miu turned around to see that their sensei was standing behind them. A smirk on her face, Miu turned back to Takeru and said what any 12 year old in her situation would say "Told you so!"
Takeru merely looked away and glared off into the horizon before asking his sensei "Where are we meeting?"
"Oh it's not that far away." Naruto told his students "We're just going to sit up on top of the Hokage monument."
"Are we even allowed to do that!" Akio questioned.
"Sure we are! Well, that is, as long as we don't get caught." Naruto said sheepishly.
()()()()()()()()
Sakura stared down at her team and smiled. Oh they look so cute she thought before speaking to her students for the first time. "Alright, I'm Sakura Haruno, your sensei, but before we do anything else, why don't you three tell me a little bit about yourselves." Sakura sweetly told her students.
"Whad'ya mean sensei. What do you want to know about us?" Kenta asked his sensei.
"Well you could tell me your likes, your dislikes, and your goals for the future!" Sakura told her team cheerily.
"Could you give us an example?" Kenta asked in the hopes of finding out something about his sensei.
"Sure, why not! Well my likes... I don't really want to tell you. My dislikes... I don't really want to tell you those either. My goals for the future... that's none of your business!" Sakura calmly told her students, but in reality she was trying to keep her composure and not laugh hysterically. Now she knew why Kakashi pulled that trick on them so many years ago.
"What the hell sensei!" Kenta yelled, obviously mad that his sensei was toying with him.
"Please calm down Kenta. You're making a scene." Saki quietly told Kenta.
"Since you're so talkative how about you go first dog-breath." Sakura cheerily said to Kenta.
"Hey! My name's not dog-breath it's Kenta Inuzuka!" Kenta yelled at his sensei "Fine! I'll go first! I like going on walks with Toyo. I hate getting my monthly bath and getting groomed. And my dream is to prove that the Inuzuka clan can do more than just talk to dogs!" Kenta told his teammates excitedly.
Sakura, showing no outward interest in Kenta's statements, turned to Saki and said "Your next."
Hesitating only slightly from Sakura's direct communication with her, Saki began. "My name is Saki Tsukino. I like to take walks in the parks, and I like my family. I dislike people who don't think before they act. And my dream is to be a student of yours Haruno-sama!"
"You can just call me Sakura-sensei. Anyway, it looks like you need a new dream." Sakura observed.
"No! I'm not your student yet! My dream won't be complete until I have learned everything I can from you!" Saki explained.
Sakura, stunned by her student's drive, turned to her last student "Your last, carrot head." Sakura stated while making fun of Rikuto's hair.
"Whatever. My name is Rikuto Nakahara. I like- no. I love beef jerky! I dislike it when Kaito or Takeru are better than me at something. And my dream is to be a powerful and well known ninja." Rikuto told his sensei in between bites of beef jerky.
"Well it's nice to meet all of you!" Sakura cheerily began "And, now that that's done, let's get down to business. I'll see all of you tomorrow at 6:30 on the dot at training field 17. I have to evaluate your skills, and determine your strengths." Sakura continued becoming much more serious.
"Wait, do you mean 6:30 in the morning! I can't come in then sensei! Why can't we meet later?" Kenta questioned in a desperate tone.
"To be a ninja you must be ready to act at any time of day."
"But sensei! I have pickup Toyo from the vet at 7:00; he's getting his yearly checkup!"
Hesitating only slightly from the shock that Kenta had a real excuse for not coming at 6:30, Sakura replied by saying "Fine. You may meet up with us at no later than 7:15." Turning to the rest of her team Sakura said "goodbye until tomorrow" and ran off into the distance.
The newly minted team six turned to each other and gave similar goodbyes, before running off in different directions.
()()()()()()()()
On the other side of Konoha, Kaito was sitting on the porch of a normal looking house along with the rest of team two. To Kaito's left were his teammates sitting in quiet contemplation , while across from him sat his new sensei who was currently smiling broadly at them.
"All right. My name is Yuki Yamaguchi, but you can call me Yuki-sensei. I already know who you all are, and I'm pretty sure you know each other, so let's get right to it. Tomorrow I want all of you to come to training field 25 at seven in the morning. I will be conducting a test to see how prepared the three of you are for war." Yuki explained to her students.
Though the instructions were clear and explanatory Ichirou Motou was still confused by one aspect of tomorrow's test "What happens if we fail?" he asked.
"That's a secret!" Yuki answered giddily before taking a step towards the house. Before going inside she turned to face her students and said "This house, is my house! You have permission from me to come to this house if you have a problem. If you come to my house without a good enough reason I will throw you out into the street without giving it a second thought. Am I understood?" Yuki paused giving them a moment to nod "Good! All right see you guys tomorrow, I need a nap." Yuki finished before walking into her house.
The rest of team two sweat dropped as they watched their sensei go into her house to sleep. "So... what do you guys think of our sensei?" Shinju asked her teammates.
"Who cares. I don't need a sensei to teach me. I train on my own or with my rivals." Kaito answered as he turned down the road.
"Hey! Where are you going!" Ichirou asked his teammate.
"I'm going to train. I wasted too much time just sitting around today." Kaito replied.
"Why are you training? We just passed the test to be genin. Aren't you going to take some time off and rest?" Shinju returned.
"Why would I do that. If I stop training even for one day I'll fall behind Riku and Take, and I am not letting that happen. Ever." Kaito stated "Now, if you're done playing twenty questions I'm going to train. See you guys tomorrow."
()()()()()()()()
One Hour Later
In the woods, not far from the academy, two boys stood facing each other waiting in silence for some unknown signal. "Where the hell is he! He was supposed to meet us here an hour ago!"
"Calm down Riku. I'm sure Take has a perfectly legitimate reason for missing our training session."
"He better! If he gets here and he doesn't have a good enough reason for being late then I am going to stick that sword up his ass!"
"His sensei is Uzumaki-sama, they're probably out learning something from him."
"No way! If he's learning something from Uzumaki-sama then I will personally rip his throat out. He's missing our monthly spar!"
"You never win so what does it matter? It's always a three way tie."
"Well that's going to change. Just watch, when the chunin exams start I am totally going to kick both of your asses!"
"Calm down Riku. Don't start making empty threats; we all know that I'm going to be the one to beat you. Just as the rain puts out the simple flame, when we fight you are going fizzle out into nothing."
"Why do you have to be so god damn poetic? Can't you just say 'I'm gonna kick your ass!' isn't that a thousand times easier?"
"If you have something to say you might as well put a lot of thought into it."
"Whatever. Well, it looks like Takeru's a no-show, I'll see you tomorrow Kaito. Same time. Same place."
"I wouldn't miss it for the world Riku, see yah later."
()()()()()()()()
Takeru looked up at the sun Crap! They're gonna kill me! Takeru thought as he realized how late it was getting. Currently he and his team were sitting in front of their legendary sensei who was in the middle of telling them about all the different types of ramen. Why does Akio have to open his big mouth all the time? Did he really have to ask 'What's so great about ramen?'
Finally fed up with this conversation Takeru stood up and demanded "Sensei, I don't care about ramen! Teach me how to be a powerful ninja, that's all that matters!"
"Why should I teach you?" Naruto asked Takeru "You haven't even passed my test yet. Until you pass my test tomorrow I don't have to teach you anything."
"Kami! This is just a waste of time! I'm going to train!"
With that being said, the meeting of team eleven was quickly disbanded. Takeru went to train, Miu went to eat, and Akio just looked longingly at Miu as she walked off.
"You like her don't you?" Naruto asked while trying to suppress a grin.
Instead of flustering around like any other 12 year old would, Akio stood there for a couple of seconds before walking away "Yeah, I like her more than you can imagine." Akio said over his shoulder before leaving.
()()()()()()()()
Around midnight
"Well you were out practicing for a long time tonight." Tenten commented as Takeru walked in the door.
"Yeah I had some pent up frustration to let out." Takeru replied as he walked into their shared apartment.
"What happened today?"
"I met my sensei, and he's an idiot! All he did was sit there and talk about ramen!"
Tenten sat there for a second before bursting out laughing. "You have Naruto as a sensei? That's hilarious! He's probably going to teach you guys all of his messed up jutsu! I can't wait to see three new naruto clones running around town."
"What are you talking about! Why would I want to be anything like that idiot!"
"Oh you'll see. Give it time. After awhile everyone gives into Naruto's will. Before you know it you'll be completely loyal to him." Tenten told Takeru with a glint in her eyes.
"Why would I ever follow him? He's an idiot! I don't care if he saved the village, he probably did it on accident!"
This was where Tenten drew the line "Alright, that's enough! You can call Naruto stupid as much as you like, but don't you dare say he isn't a hero! Naruto is the bravest and most powerful ninja in the entire village of Konoha, and I will not let you degrade him any further." Finally fed up with this conversation Tenten left a stunned Takeru standing in the doorway.
What the hell is she talking about! This Naruto guy is nothing like how he was in the textbooks! The textbooks said he had jutsus that could topple mountains and slay gods, but ever since meeting him all he's done is act like an idiot! Still not convinced that Naruto was that great, Takeru laid down on the couch to go to sleep. Takeru fell asleep thinking about the day that had passed and the day that had just started, he dreamt about war and ninjas, and he woke up to the beginning of the rest of his life.