Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, the Naruto world, or the characters used (well maybe the OCs in this fic, but bleh). I'm just using them for a profitless fun play, while trying to make a fanfic story including some elements i'd very much love to see in the original Naruto story (but most likely never will).
Spoiler warning! This fic will spoil everyone who is following the plot through Naruto anime. Deviates from the original storyline around manga chapter 177, which is still ages ahead the anime.
A/N: About the "kake kanji": I took some liberties with this... Since Tsunade has only the "ka" from kake written on her back. It basically means "gambling" in English anyways, a sort of charm that stays always with her. Some of the characters might be bit OOC. It's somewhat of an AU anyways. Also since the specifics behind some Jutsus haven't been defined as canons, i just made up the theory part on my own.
Story warnings: Rated PG-13 for violence, blood, and character death. It's not going to start with any of that, though, so everyone can just relax for now... But this is the only warning.
Finally a greeting to everyone who finds their way here... This is the first fanfiction chapter i've finished and sent anywhere. I'm working on a few other Naruto stories too at the moment, in addition of chapter two to this one, so lets see if they become ready enough to be posted someday. I will not be able to update this story at a weekly rate.
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Prelude:
The Sand and the Sound and the Leaf had their happenings, and Tsunade has returned. Kakashi and Sasuke have been healed up. Naruto and Sasuke already tried to solve their disagreements with the results well known. The Sound hasn't sent any gate dudes or gals to the Leaf, but instead something far worse has happened elsewhere...
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"That kind of power... Damn you, Naruto..." Sasuke muttered to himself while sitting on a tree branch, chewing his thumb nail, and wearing a focused but clearly frustrated face. He had witnessed the power of Rasengan firsthand just a moment ago, and proceeded to frown at his own incompetence. Even Kakashi came to lecture him, but that was all forgotten by now. Sasuke is driven forward like a mad bull. He really must get much more powerful, and fast, to be able to face Uchiha Itachi still during this lifetime. He spat down from the tree once, rose up, and lept off towards his house. From a nearby rooftop Sakura watched after him with a very sad face. Naruto was heading for some extended breakfast at the Ichiraku Ramen along with Jiraiya, who was advising him against all kinds of misuses of his few Jutsus. Kakashi was traveling the short distance to the Hokage office for his next mission. Little did he know, that a surprise was already waiting for him when he arrived...
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Genesis Dragon, chapter one: It's a Mission
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Kakashi lands in front of the office building, and casts a tired glance at the people in front of him. A closer look reveals two messengers wearing Leaf headbands. They have apparently just arrived to the village and seem to be demanding an audience with the Hokage. A medical Ninja is sizing up their wounds, and two Chuunin officials query about the meaning of this whole thing.
"What is the matter here?" Kakashi asks. One of the messengers turns his head to Kakashi, and is revealed to be Genma, the Special Jounin. "Kakashi-san", he replies with a quick nod. Genma is wearing a slightly torn and muddy Leaf Jounin outfit around his very slim body, with the blonde, slightly muddy hair flowing to his cheeks from under the black bandana. The usual pipe, which should be hanging from his young mouth, is oddly missing. The Leaf headband is tied around his left arm. Also there are numerous injuries around his body, judging from the loose bandaging covering parts of his arms, legs, and torso. His companion seems to be in a similar shape. "Genma-san. Is there a problem here?" he asks again.
"We have to report to Hokage-sama immediately... Even if there is a mountain of paperwork to be done. Can you help us out here?" Genma is obviously tired; He has big bags under his eyes, and his stance seems to hold him up only barely. There is a short, but quiet pause, which everyone spends speculating about this peculiar scenario and its possible outcomes.
"Sure." Kakashi then replies, and turns towards the Hokage office. "Excuse me, but we need to report to Hokage-sama immediately", he declares to the two Chuunin officials, flashing his trademark unimpressed, uninterested face at a close range to intercept any counterarguments. He does have an appointment with the Hokage anyways, so stopping them to follow regulations and correct order has become that much harder already... In the end, only a hasty, forced, slightly agreeing grunt accompanies the three when Kakashi, Genma, and his mission partner start to walk up the ornamented stairs. The unidentified Ninja limps visibly as they proceed through the busy hallways.
---
Tsunade is overloaded. There is just too much work to be done. She already has been filling out forms and making decisions at a nerve-racking rate, but that isn't even nearly enough to empty her wide desk of the giant piles of various documents and files.
"Hokage-sama. Greetings." Genma begins and bows his head, as the three Ninjas enter her stuffed office past the bodyguards outside. The room smells strongly of old, stagnant paper. "I am Special Jounin Genma, and this is my mission partner, Special Jounin Kawanaka. We have just returned to Leaf only a few minutes ago. Have you been briefed already about our work?" He then asks, carefully studying their new leader. She is sitting behind the Third Hokage's office desk, wearing the usual green robe over a white shirt -- With a quite low neckline, only barely covering her enormous breasts. A cloth waistbelt is helping to hold the shirt in place. Her face has graceful features, and the big round eyes are sharp to stay on top of everything happening around her. The blonde hair is divided in two locks running down her back, around the famous "kake" kanji. Finally in the center of her forehead there is a diamond shaped mark. Genma wonders if her little errand boys do anything but smile from morning to evening, while trying to idle time in her office. The only thing ruining her rather overwhelming looks are the big, dark bags under her eyes ... Inevitable tax from many a night spent working restlessly for the village.
"Yes. Please report." is her reply with quick, but worn-out glances at each of the entering Jounins, before proceeding to fill out another document. "What a tired-looking bunch", Kakashi thinks to himself while rubbing his chin at the back of the room, and studying the people before him.
Genma gives one more emotionless look over his shoulder at Kakashi, then turns back slowly, breathing with a soft sigh, and begins, "Special Jounin Genma, and Special Jounin Kawanaka are reporting. Scouting mission in the Sand Country is successfully completed. Our job was to get information about unstabilities in and around the country, and the Stone Country has been identified as the main reason. After the Sand lost over a hundred of their better Shinobi in the recent attack, the Stone Country Ninjas have begun stirring revolts around the Sand Country's countryside, and also occupying border areas with gradually increasing manpower." Tsunade's eyes flash for a passing moment. Genma sighs once more, and looks like he is about to collapse.
"Good work." Tsunade thanks the two Jounin, "You two are to get some rest and treatment at the hospital immediately. I'll get the information about your recovery and mission capability later." She beams a tired smile at the two bandaged Ninjas, and sharpens her eye at their legs.
"With this, I can help, though." Tsunade says as she walks over and kneels before Kawanaka, gathering Chakra to a visible glow around her hand. She grabs his knee firmly, and a short gasp escapes from a visibly sweatting Kawanaka. "That should mend the bone temporarily, and remove most of the pain", she says and finishes the medical Jutsu. Genma and Kawanaka slowly wobble out of the room, leaning to each other, with the latter one muttering a quiet thank-you with his trembling jaw. Kakashi is still holding his chin after the office door slams shut again, standing at the same spot in the back of the room, and pondering the situation over.
Tsunade turns her attention to him, "Hello Kakashi. As you heard, there is trouble in the Sand Country. Truthfully, I didn't believe at all when the three Sand Nins came in a couple days ago in a much worse condition, saying this same thing over and over again, and requesting our help to defend their country from hostile invaders." She fixes her gaze at a corner of the room, and nibbles the side of her robe. After a short silence she turns her face back towards Kakashi again, and continues with a sunny smile, "I want you to begin another mission. Forget the one I mentioned earlier."
---
An hour later Kakashi is searching for his Genins, thinking and pondering to himself while jumping from roof to roof above the Konoha residential buildings. He is still quite unassured of the decisions they came up with earlier, during the briefing with the four other available Jounin and the Fifth Hokage. His young soldiers had proven to be capable of surviving through the Chuunin test alive, atleast, but taking them to a warzone might still very well be too much. This mission has to be completed in any case, since ignoring the pleas of the Sand Country might seriously tip the power balances of the five great Shinobi nations off. The three brats all survived a confrontation with Orochimaru, and later with the Sand Demon, though...
Jumping along rooftops deep in thought, Kakashi doesn't notice another shadow creeping up on him and quickly passing by. Jiraiya stops him, and they both land on a rooftop, just next to the Konoha hospital, the one with a totally wrecked water tank sitting on top of it.
"I heard you are leaving for Sand Country." Jiraiya opens the discussion, and glances at Kakashi from under his white eyebrows. Kakashi is just quiet for a few seconds, staring at the faraway landscape opening up over and around the village, and then asks, "Aa. Do you think it's too much for the brats?" Jiraiya needs to ponder this over, too.
"Asuma is bringing his team along with him, and so is Gai... Atleast everyone he can get to come along. They all think of it as a growing experience for the kids; To be taken to the frontlines", Kakashi says, with maybe a slightly disgusted voice, and sharpens his uncovered eye, "Truth is, I'm really worried about them all." Jiraiya can only nod in agreement. The old sage continues, "There's a danger of death in every mission, especially these days." Jiraiya eyes the widely damaged village over. Orochimaru's recent attack on the Leaf Village had left toppled and smashed buildings everywhere, and killed far too many. "Their war experiences will show us if the brats are ready to really help the village out. From the dozens of Jounin and ANBU we had to complete our share of the A- and S-ranked missions, only a handful are left. Fresh blood will have to rise up to take responsibility. It's the only choise." Jiraiya concludes, and turns his body slightly to glance at Kakashi, "Also it's completely possible that no actual combat situations will occur."
Kakashi sighs behind his face mask. It's going to be a long and worry-ful trip. "I'd better get the mission preparations started", he says quietly from behind the dark blue face mask, and jumps off towards the village center. Jiraiya is left standing on the roof with a very difficult look on his face.
---
Next morning -- The sun is shining, and the weather is fine. Naruto arrives at the bridge where Team 7 always waits patiently for Kakashi to arrive, usually for overextended perioids. He is carrying a backpack readied with supplies for a mission outside the village, as Kakashi instructed him to do yesterday, and finds Sakura already there waiting for everyone else. She is wearing similar equipment over her usual clothing. Sasuke is nowhere to be seen, which is a sort of surprise with his regular cool-ass idiot punctuality. The biggest surprise of all is Kakashi himself, though, who is actually on time for once.
"Sakura-chan. Good morning. Want to wake me up? I'm seeing a dream of old man Kakashi standing on the bridge on time..." He begins and mutters something more to himself. Sakura would chop him in the head for being so rude, if she and Inner Sakura weren't still so shocked about the very same thing.
Kakashi looks at him, "Hiya Naruto. No dreaming now, because we are leaving for a very important mission right away. Lets go to meet the others. We'll have some company for this mission." He stops leaning against the building just across the bridge, and turns towards the village main road. Sakura looks concerned, "Sensei, what about Sasuke-kun?" she asks. Kakashi glances at her briefly without stopping, and says just, "We'll catch him before leaving." Naruto is still wearing a curious, unreassured look, and asks, "Company for the mission? Do we have to babysit the other teams too while completing the mission?" Kakashi chuckles as a reply. After a short pause, he continues with his uncovered eye smiling, "We are joining with a quite big bunch for this mission. Just wait for now and listen closely in the briefing." The two of them catch the hint of annoyed sarcasm, so Naruto and Sakura just follow him quietly through the busy main road, and still onwards to the village gates.
'Quite a big bunch' is a pretty good definition of the crowd waiting next to the village gates. There are various Genins from other teams, several Jounins and some people Naruto doesn't know, all waiting for something. "Hello Kakashi." Asuma says to him when they arrive, and continues with a puzzled face, "Where's Sasuke-kun?" Kakashi stares somewhere to the right of him briefly, and says, "Well... He's around. I'll get him before we leave. Lets begin the briefing if everyone else is here."
Jiraiya jumps in from somewhere and lands in the center of the group. "Good day to you all." he begins. "Ahh! It's the Perv...", Naruto was cut off by a sudden hit from Jiraiya's finger to his forehead, with him asking, "Didn't I tell you not to call me that?" He turns his mad I'll-kill-you-face into a bright laugh quite smoothly while turning back, to answer the curious looks of the people gathered around, brushing the hair on the back of his head with one hand, "Well well, lets not worry about that and begin the briefing. Can I have your attention?" he asks. The Jounins move about slightly, scanning the area, but the others just stay put. Naruto is observing the people he doesn't know, and the ones he hasn't seen in a long time. Most of the others are doing the same.
"I see there are questioning looks from quite many of you. We'll get to the introductions in just a moment. Let me just say, that this mission is a unique one in the history of the Leaf. For the first time ever there are Genins attending a very dangerous A-ranked mission. More so, there are five of you here, and one more to come." All the Genins start to give bewildered looks. An A-ranked mission? "How troublesome." mutters Shikamaru. Jiraiya continues before Naruto or someone starts shouting, "We expect and need good results from all of you. Serve your village well, and you will be rewarded. That's all about that. Lets hear who the Genin teams are, starting from you, Asuma." he nods at Asuma.
"I am Sarutobi Asuma, a Leaf Jounin, and the instructor of these two Genins and the Chuunin." Yamanaka Ino says her name aloud, searching around for Sasuke with her eyes. Akimichi Choji says his name too, and Nara Shikamaru ends the introduction of their team. Asuma nods at Kakashi, who says, "Hatake Kakashi. Jounin instructor of three Genins." He nods to the two Genins, and Haruno Sakura says her name to everyone present. Uzumaki Naruto boasts his name out loudly and mentions being the future Hokage of the Leaf, before being stopped violently by Sakura. "Uchiha Sasuke is the fourth member of our team, who will be joining soon." Kakashi finishes. He nods to Gai, who continues the round, "Maito Gai, a Jounin and in charge of a Genin team. Two of our members could not attend to this mission..." He is obviously getting teary-eyed from thinking about Lee and his injury, so Hyuga Neji steps in, introducing himself calmly. Tenten couldn't make it either, for reasons unstated. "Mitarashi Anko, a Leaf Jounin." Anko continues the round. "Morino Ibiki, a Leaf Jounin." comes the answer from her left. "Hagane Kotetsu, a Leaf Chuunin." continues the next person, "Tonbo, a Leaf Chuunin." is the next one, and finally "Kamizuka Izumo, a Leaf Chuunin." says the last person. Behind him are three more cloaked figures, who aren't making any effort towards identifying themselves.
"Aha! Aha! You were the Chuunin thing examiner!" Naruto points at Anko. "And you were too!" he points at Morino Ibiki, who looks mildly amused first, and then chuckles lightly. "But these guys.. Hmm..." Naruto ponders while looking at the three Chuunins, and the three more persons wearing Sand headplates. First of the three Chuunins, who called himself Kotetsu, is a spikeahead with bandages going over his nose, horizontally across his face. The second one, who was Tonbo, is an even more bandaged guy with bandages covering all of his hair and half of his face. The third one has a dark blue hood over his head, and black hair covering his right eye. All of them have the regular Leaf Chuunin outfits. The three sitting persons are all wearing full body cloaks, hiding just about everything about them, but still seemingly intentionally keeping their Sand village headplates in plain sight. One of them is tall, probably taller than anyone else here when he stands up, and the two others are at a head's height lower - Which doesn't look exactly short either.
Izumo sighs, and explains to Naruto, "We all were watching you guys over in the first test during that Chuunin Exam." The spikehead Kotetsu continues, "Also we set up the extra Genjutsu test before that with this Izumo here." They grin at each other. Naruto still doesn't look like he would remember anything. He is standing in the center of the small group -- Hands crossed and wearing a face, which would implify deep thought in case of anyone else but Naruto. In his case it's usually hunger. "We can further discuss these matters while traveling. Our cue is here." Tonbo finishes the discussion while looking at the village gates from behind his massive bandaging, after which he turns to nod slightly towards Jiraiya.
Jiraiya clears his throat, and says, "It seems to be time to leave for the mission. You will continue the introductions and explanations later." He turns towards the gates with everyone gathering up their stuffs and following.
"Kakashi-sensei... Where's that lousy bum Sasuke?" Naruto asks. Kakashi glances at Naruto, and says "Over there. Finally decided to come in sight, eh?" while pointing ahead. Sasuke is standing in front of them, looking extremely annoyed. The usual blue shirt has been changed to a lighter black one, which otherwise looks pretty much same as the blue one. The shorts and the sandals are the same he has wore on their every mission. "Bah... Who's a lousy bum, you idiot?" Sasuke replies, and turns to the gathering point without waiting for an answer. He can't face Naruto really well just now, and only managed to say something fairly natural out of reflex, with his mind working on several darker ideas. Mostly involving with ripping the mysterious power out of Naruto and eating it himself.
"Sasuke-kun ..." Sakura says, but doesn't get any kind of reply from Sasuke.
---
Few hours later the whole band is running through the forests of the Fire Country, jumping from branch to branch at a relatively high speed.
They had met up with some Leaf scouts at the Konohagakure village gates and then left for their undetermined mission destination. Jiraiya started to explain some more stuff, aimed mostly at the unexperienced Genins, when everyone checked over their supplies once more, "There's still a lot left unclear about this mission. For now, you all are to mentally prepare for real war, where people kill and get killed. All you Leaf units are very powerful and able in combat, which alone can drive even a strong enemy away. It might just as well be, that they will attack you without notice, trying to kill you. Be very careful while traveling, and keep your eyes open at all times. After you cross the border, it all is to be regarded as hostile enemy territory. The Genins who haven't been filled in on the situation can ask their Jounin instructors for the details. That's all. Take care, and return safely."
Naruto and Sakura are running next to Kakashi, and Sasuke seems to be somewhere ahead and above them. He still has troubles containing himself in front of Naruto. Sakura jumps from yet another branch and asks from Kakashi, "Can you explain what this all is about to us?" Kakashi ponders for a moment, and answers, "It's war." He lands to a branch, and takes a look at the reactions of Naruto and Sakura while jumping on, "The Sand attacked us with their best force, and they were driven away. Their overall strength has decreased so much, that Stone Country decided to attack them instead. Now Stone Nins are all over the Sand Country, the countryside is revolting and at this rate it's only a question of time before the cities fall from inside. The Sand citizens' pride and trust towards their leaders also took a serious blow after it was revealed, that Orochimaru had completely tricked them into a full-scale war with us."
Naruto caught some of it, and Sakura is pondering the information over. "Sensei, where do we fit in the picture? If the country is already falling on its own..." She asks.
"We are attending a small assumed battle at the north border of Sand Country, where a certain bridge will most likely be the center of action. The Sand Nins will take care of the Stone units inside the Sand Country, their leaders will try to convince the people, and we will stop the possible supply chain of the Stone Country army. That is, if they really are doing a large-scale attack. Otherwise we will just guard the bridge and the surrounding area for a month or so." Kakashi replies. They jump from branch to branch again, slowly making their way towards the west border of Fire Country. Kakashi glances over his shoulder at Naruto and Sakura, and says, "Be prepared, and respect the power of your opponents. Stone Country isn't famous for any great legendary Jounins like the Fire Country is, but that doesn't mean we are safe at all. More so, since we aren't really fighting with the rest Leafs in a single big group, but work towards our given objectives with only the four of us."
---
When the sun went down after several more hours of traveling, they stopped and built up a camp for the night. Dark forest opens up to every direction, nothing else is visible. Wind brushes against the tree leaves, birds have quieted down already. An occasional small animal runs away from the scary band.
"Hey you sensei, if we are going to war, you have to teach me a new super Jutsu!" Naruto begins bugging Kakashi. Quite a many eyebrows, including Kakashi's, are raised at Naruto. Shikamaru chuckles, sitting on a rock, breathing heavily, "I can't believe you would do Jutsu training on top of this." Sakura just sighs very loudly and lumps into her sleeping bag, falling asleep immediately. Sasuke crushes a small stick in his hand while looking at Naruto, sitting high up on a tree at the side of their camp. Ino is just panting on her sleeping bag, and everyone else is settling down and eating up their rations around the small camp. Some of the Jounins and Chuunins are on watch duty. Gai and Ibiki both jump off to the trees to join the watch. Choji and Neji are bringing firewood to Anko and Tonbo, who manage to start up a campfire with a small fire Jutsu. Anko turns towards Naruto and says, "Well well, what do we have here... Do you want to go run a few extra miles for me?" while walking over to Naruto. He crosses his arms, has a usual weird Naruto-face, and is probably trying to come up with a decent retort. Kakashi can't help but to smile, "Don't worry Anko, he's a stamina freak. A little training shouldn't stop him from getting up in the morning." He still casts a curious eye at Naruto, though.
It seems like quite a many of the people in the camp would like to say something, but they can't think of a nice enough way to say it.
Kakashi then raises his finger and places it in front of Naruto's face. "Concentrate. I will show this only once." He makes five seals slowly, and says, "Fuuton." aloud. Naruto memorizes the seals quickly. "Try doing those, and tell me how it goes." Naruto has a look of suspicion written on his face, "Hey hey hey, that Fuuton doesn't look like a too spectacular Jutsu to me!" Anko sighs. The spikehead Kotetsu has a curious look on his face, and he asks, "You are teaching something like that to a Genin? I don't think he has enough Chakra..."
Naruto had finished the seals, and a strong burst of Chakra out of his body was clearly evident to everyone nearby. "...Uh." Kotetsu grunts with a slightly surprised face after seeing this. Two completely white eyes are staring intently at Naruto and his efforts from the other end of the camp. He is turning his head around, looking in every direction. After the Chakra burst it all became very quiet again, so Naruto asks, "What the heck is this Fuuton? Is it maybe the Nothing no Jutsu?"
No one laughed at his joke, and all the Jounins present are wearing a grave look. Kakashi finally says, "Those are the initial seals for Wind Elemental Jutsus. Your Chakra comes out quite... nicely... when executing them, but try to focus it more around your body, and then finally try to keep it all inside your skin, or embraced in your arms . If you let the Chakra get wasted like that, it won't do any good." Anko's eyes flash at the word 'nicely'. What a Chakra burst that was. It's already amazing to find something like that from Genin or Chuunin level, but he did it after a day of running through the forest, using Chakra constantly to keep him from slipping down the trees and fixing his jump lengths. Or maybe he can jump through the forests at that speed without using Chakra? That can't be anyhow possible. Could he just casually extract power from the Ninetails all the time? That should have very serious side effects. She decided that it's best to just go to sleep now.
A cold chill runs down her spine, as another Chakra burst explodes behind Anko. Naruto grins to himself. He already has the super Rasengan, which only his team knows about, and now he can master another cool Jutsu. "Hey hey, Kakashi-sensei... Tell me... I feel a strong Chakra coming out, but what kind of Jutsu is it?" He asks, and receives just a calm stare back at him. Finally Kakashi says, "It can turn into quite a lot of different techniques, once you master the initiation part", comes the reply. Naruto obviously didn't figure out what he meant. Kakashi sighs. "Do you remember when we were on our way to the Wave Country, and I did the Water Dragon Blast; Suiton, Suiryuudan no Jutsu?" Naruto looks at him blankly for a while, then a imaginary light bulb blinks repeatedly above his head. "Aaa! I do, I do! That was a very cool move!", he grins and smiles at the same time, which becomes something that is neither. Next he makes a serious face again, "Then, what does this Fuuton thingy turn into?" Kakashi is silent, looking calculatively at Naruto. Slowly realization reaches Naruto's facial features, and he starts to grin and shout wildly, hopping about and hugging his Kakashi-sensei, who would rather not be hugged. Then he turns back to training with a very serious look. Almost everyone else has already went to sleep.
Naruto finishes the seals for the third time, and Chakra flows freely out of his body, causing strong nausea from overexhaustion. Kakashi chuckles to Anko, "That'll keep him off my back for now." She didn't get the sarcasm. Anko is still thinking that Naruto will just dry himself out with a higher Jounin level Jutsu, and die before the morning rises. What the heck is Kakashi thinking? Even if the kid survives, does he realize that they are about to enter a battle zone? Never mind wasting Chakra by loosing it out during the Jutsu, what about saving some energy for the actual fighting...
From high above, two Sharingan eyes were following intently everything that happened down below.
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Chapter one / END
Spoiler warning! This fic will spoil everyone who is following the plot through Naruto anime. Deviates from the original storyline around manga chapter 177, which is still ages ahead the anime.
A/N: About the "kake kanji": I took some liberties with this... Since Tsunade has only the "ka" from kake written on her back. It basically means "gambling" in English anyways, a sort of charm that stays always with her. Some of the characters might be bit OOC. It's somewhat of an AU anyways. Also since the specifics behind some Jutsus haven't been defined as canons, i just made up the theory part on my own.
Story warnings: Rated PG-13 for violence, blood, and character death. It's not going to start with any of that, though, so everyone can just relax for now... But this is the only warning.
Finally a greeting to everyone who finds their way here... This is the first fanfiction chapter i've finished and sent anywhere. I'm working on a few other Naruto stories too at the moment, in addition of chapter two to this one, so lets see if they become ready enough to be posted someday. I will not be able to update this story at a weekly rate.
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Prelude:
The Sand and the Sound and the Leaf had their happenings, and Tsunade has returned. Kakashi and Sasuke have been healed up. Naruto and Sasuke already tried to solve their disagreements with the results well known. The Sound hasn't sent any gate dudes or gals to the Leaf, but instead something far worse has happened elsewhere...
---
"That kind of power... Damn you, Naruto..." Sasuke muttered to himself while sitting on a tree branch, chewing his thumb nail, and wearing a focused but clearly frustrated face. He had witnessed the power of Rasengan firsthand just a moment ago, and proceeded to frown at his own incompetence. Even Kakashi came to lecture him, but that was all forgotten by now. Sasuke is driven forward like a mad bull. He really must get much more powerful, and fast, to be able to face Uchiha Itachi still during this lifetime. He spat down from the tree once, rose up, and lept off towards his house. From a nearby rooftop Sakura watched after him with a very sad face. Naruto was heading for some extended breakfast at the Ichiraku Ramen along with Jiraiya, who was advising him against all kinds of misuses of his few Jutsus. Kakashi was traveling the short distance to the Hokage office for his next mission. Little did he know, that a surprise was already waiting for him when he arrived...
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Genesis Dragon, chapter one: It's a Mission
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Kakashi lands in front of the office building, and casts a tired glance at the people in front of him. A closer look reveals two messengers wearing Leaf headbands. They have apparently just arrived to the village and seem to be demanding an audience with the Hokage. A medical Ninja is sizing up their wounds, and two Chuunin officials query about the meaning of this whole thing.
"What is the matter here?" Kakashi asks. One of the messengers turns his head to Kakashi, and is revealed to be Genma, the Special Jounin. "Kakashi-san", he replies with a quick nod. Genma is wearing a slightly torn and muddy Leaf Jounin outfit around his very slim body, with the blonde, slightly muddy hair flowing to his cheeks from under the black bandana. The usual pipe, which should be hanging from his young mouth, is oddly missing. The Leaf headband is tied around his left arm. Also there are numerous injuries around his body, judging from the loose bandaging covering parts of his arms, legs, and torso. His companion seems to be in a similar shape. "Genma-san. Is there a problem here?" he asks again.
"We have to report to Hokage-sama immediately... Even if there is a mountain of paperwork to be done. Can you help us out here?" Genma is obviously tired; He has big bags under his eyes, and his stance seems to hold him up only barely. There is a short, but quiet pause, which everyone spends speculating about this peculiar scenario and its possible outcomes.
"Sure." Kakashi then replies, and turns towards the Hokage office. "Excuse me, but we need to report to Hokage-sama immediately", he declares to the two Chuunin officials, flashing his trademark unimpressed, uninterested face at a close range to intercept any counterarguments. He does have an appointment with the Hokage anyways, so stopping them to follow regulations and correct order has become that much harder already... In the end, only a hasty, forced, slightly agreeing grunt accompanies the three when Kakashi, Genma, and his mission partner start to walk up the ornamented stairs. The unidentified Ninja limps visibly as they proceed through the busy hallways.
---
Tsunade is overloaded. There is just too much work to be done. She already has been filling out forms and making decisions at a nerve-racking rate, but that isn't even nearly enough to empty her wide desk of the giant piles of various documents and files.
"Hokage-sama. Greetings." Genma begins and bows his head, as the three Ninjas enter her stuffed office past the bodyguards outside. The room smells strongly of old, stagnant paper. "I am Special Jounin Genma, and this is my mission partner, Special Jounin Kawanaka. We have just returned to Leaf only a few minutes ago. Have you been briefed already about our work?" He then asks, carefully studying their new leader. She is sitting behind the Third Hokage's office desk, wearing the usual green robe over a white shirt -- With a quite low neckline, only barely covering her enormous breasts. A cloth waistbelt is helping to hold the shirt in place. Her face has graceful features, and the big round eyes are sharp to stay on top of everything happening around her. The blonde hair is divided in two locks running down her back, around the famous "kake" kanji. Finally in the center of her forehead there is a diamond shaped mark. Genma wonders if her little errand boys do anything but smile from morning to evening, while trying to idle time in her office. The only thing ruining her rather overwhelming looks are the big, dark bags under her eyes ... Inevitable tax from many a night spent working restlessly for the village.
"Yes. Please report." is her reply with quick, but worn-out glances at each of the entering Jounins, before proceeding to fill out another document. "What a tired-looking bunch", Kakashi thinks to himself while rubbing his chin at the back of the room, and studying the people before him.
Genma gives one more emotionless look over his shoulder at Kakashi, then turns back slowly, breathing with a soft sigh, and begins, "Special Jounin Genma, and Special Jounin Kawanaka are reporting. Scouting mission in the Sand Country is successfully completed. Our job was to get information about unstabilities in and around the country, and the Stone Country has been identified as the main reason. After the Sand lost over a hundred of their better Shinobi in the recent attack, the Stone Country Ninjas have begun stirring revolts around the Sand Country's countryside, and also occupying border areas with gradually increasing manpower." Tsunade's eyes flash for a passing moment. Genma sighs once more, and looks like he is about to collapse.
"Good work." Tsunade thanks the two Jounin, "You two are to get some rest and treatment at the hospital immediately. I'll get the information about your recovery and mission capability later." She beams a tired smile at the two bandaged Ninjas, and sharpens her eye at their legs.
"With this, I can help, though." Tsunade says as she walks over and kneels before Kawanaka, gathering Chakra to a visible glow around her hand. She grabs his knee firmly, and a short gasp escapes from a visibly sweatting Kawanaka. "That should mend the bone temporarily, and remove most of the pain", she says and finishes the medical Jutsu. Genma and Kawanaka slowly wobble out of the room, leaning to each other, with the latter one muttering a quiet thank-you with his trembling jaw. Kakashi is still holding his chin after the office door slams shut again, standing at the same spot in the back of the room, and pondering the situation over.
Tsunade turns her attention to him, "Hello Kakashi. As you heard, there is trouble in the Sand Country. Truthfully, I didn't believe at all when the three Sand Nins came in a couple days ago in a much worse condition, saying this same thing over and over again, and requesting our help to defend their country from hostile invaders." She fixes her gaze at a corner of the room, and nibbles the side of her robe. After a short silence she turns her face back towards Kakashi again, and continues with a sunny smile, "I want you to begin another mission. Forget the one I mentioned earlier."
---
An hour later Kakashi is searching for his Genins, thinking and pondering to himself while jumping from roof to roof above the Konoha residential buildings. He is still quite unassured of the decisions they came up with earlier, during the briefing with the four other available Jounin and the Fifth Hokage. His young soldiers had proven to be capable of surviving through the Chuunin test alive, atleast, but taking them to a warzone might still very well be too much. This mission has to be completed in any case, since ignoring the pleas of the Sand Country might seriously tip the power balances of the five great Shinobi nations off. The three brats all survived a confrontation with Orochimaru, and later with the Sand Demon, though...
Jumping along rooftops deep in thought, Kakashi doesn't notice another shadow creeping up on him and quickly passing by. Jiraiya stops him, and they both land on a rooftop, just next to the Konoha hospital, the one with a totally wrecked water tank sitting on top of it.
"I heard you are leaving for Sand Country." Jiraiya opens the discussion, and glances at Kakashi from under his white eyebrows. Kakashi is just quiet for a few seconds, staring at the faraway landscape opening up over and around the village, and then asks, "Aa. Do you think it's too much for the brats?" Jiraiya needs to ponder this over, too.
"Asuma is bringing his team along with him, and so is Gai... Atleast everyone he can get to come along. They all think of it as a growing experience for the kids; To be taken to the frontlines", Kakashi says, with maybe a slightly disgusted voice, and sharpens his uncovered eye, "Truth is, I'm really worried about them all." Jiraiya can only nod in agreement. The old sage continues, "There's a danger of death in every mission, especially these days." Jiraiya eyes the widely damaged village over. Orochimaru's recent attack on the Leaf Village had left toppled and smashed buildings everywhere, and killed far too many. "Their war experiences will show us if the brats are ready to really help the village out. From the dozens of Jounin and ANBU we had to complete our share of the A- and S-ranked missions, only a handful are left. Fresh blood will have to rise up to take responsibility. It's the only choise." Jiraiya concludes, and turns his body slightly to glance at Kakashi, "Also it's completely possible that no actual combat situations will occur."
Kakashi sighs behind his face mask. It's going to be a long and worry-ful trip. "I'd better get the mission preparations started", he says quietly from behind the dark blue face mask, and jumps off towards the village center. Jiraiya is left standing on the roof with a very difficult look on his face.
---
Next morning -- The sun is shining, and the weather is fine. Naruto arrives at the bridge where Team 7 always waits patiently for Kakashi to arrive, usually for overextended perioids. He is carrying a backpack readied with supplies for a mission outside the village, as Kakashi instructed him to do yesterday, and finds Sakura already there waiting for everyone else. She is wearing similar equipment over her usual clothing. Sasuke is nowhere to be seen, which is a sort of surprise with his regular cool-ass idiot punctuality. The biggest surprise of all is Kakashi himself, though, who is actually on time for once.
"Sakura-chan. Good morning. Want to wake me up? I'm seeing a dream of old man Kakashi standing on the bridge on time..." He begins and mutters something more to himself. Sakura would chop him in the head for being so rude, if she and Inner Sakura weren't still so shocked about the very same thing.
Kakashi looks at him, "Hiya Naruto. No dreaming now, because we are leaving for a very important mission right away. Lets go to meet the others. We'll have some company for this mission." He stops leaning against the building just across the bridge, and turns towards the village main road. Sakura looks concerned, "Sensei, what about Sasuke-kun?" she asks. Kakashi glances at her briefly without stopping, and says just, "We'll catch him before leaving." Naruto is still wearing a curious, unreassured look, and asks, "Company for the mission? Do we have to babysit the other teams too while completing the mission?" Kakashi chuckles as a reply. After a short pause, he continues with his uncovered eye smiling, "We are joining with a quite big bunch for this mission. Just wait for now and listen closely in the briefing." The two of them catch the hint of annoyed sarcasm, so Naruto and Sakura just follow him quietly through the busy main road, and still onwards to the village gates.
'Quite a big bunch' is a pretty good definition of the crowd waiting next to the village gates. There are various Genins from other teams, several Jounins and some people Naruto doesn't know, all waiting for something. "Hello Kakashi." Asuma says to him when they arrive, and continues with a puzzled face, "Where's Sasuke-kun?" Kakashi stares somewhere to the right of him briefly, and says, "Well... He's around. I'll get him before we leave. Lets begin the briefing if everyone else is here."
Jiraiya jumps in from somewhere and lands in the center of the group. "Good day to you all." he begins. "Ahh! It's the Perv...", Naruto was cut off by a sudden hit from Jiraiya's finger to his forehead, with him asking, "Didn't I tell you not to call me that?" He turns his mad I'll-kill-you-face into a bright laugh quite smoothly while turning back, to answer the curious looks of the people gathered around, brushing the hair on the back of his head with one hand, "Well well, lets not worry about that and begin the briefing. Can I have your attention?" he asks. The Jounins move about slightly, scanning the area, but the others just stay put. Naruto is observing the people he doesn't know, and the ones he hasn't seen in a long time. Most of the others are doing the same.
"I see there are questioning looks from quite many of you. We'll get to the introductions in just a moment. Let me just say, that this mission is a unique one in the history of the Leaf. For the first time ever there are Genins attending a very dangerous A-ranked mission. More so, there are five of you here, and one more to come." All the Genins start to give bewildered looks. An A-ranked mission? "How troublesome." mutters Shikamaru. Jiraiya continues before Naruto or someone starts shouting, "We expect and need good results from all of you. Serve your village well, and you will be rewarded. That's all about that. Lets hear who the Genin teams are, starting from you, Asuma." he nods at Asuma.
"I am Sarutobi Asuma, a Leaf Jounin, and the instructor of these two Genins and the Chuunin." Yamanaka Ino says her name aloud, searching around for Sasuke with her eyes. Akimichi Choji says his name too, and Nara Shikamaru ends the introduction of their team. Asuma nods at Kakashi, who says, "Hatake Kakashi. Jounin instructor of three Genins." He nods to the two Genins, and Haruno Sakura says her name to everyone present. Uzumaki Naruto boasts his name out loudly and mentions being the future Hokage of the Leaf, before being stopped violently by Sakura. "Uchiha Sasuke is the fourth member of our team, who will be joining soon." Kakashi finishes. He nods to Gai, who continues the round, "Maito Gai, a Jounin and in charge of a Genin team. Two of our members could not attend to this mission..." He is obviously getting teary-eyed from thinking about Lee and his injury, so Hyuga Neji steps in, introducing himself calmly. Tenten couldn't make it either, for reasons unstated. "Mitarashi Anko, a Leaf Jounin." Anko continues the round. "Morino Ibiki, a Leaf Jounin." comes the answer from her left. "Hagane Kotetsu, a Leaf Chuunin." continues the next person, "Tonbo, a Leaf Chuunin." is the next one, and finally "Kamizuka Izumo, a Leaf Chuunin." says the last person. Behind him are three more cloaked figures, who aren't making any effort towards identifying themselves.
"Aha! Aha! You were the Chuunin thing examiner!" Naruto points at Anko. "And you were too!" he points at Morino Ibiki, who looks mildly amused first, and then chuckles lightly. "But these guys.. Hmm..." Naruto ponders while looking at the three Chuunins, and the three more persons wearing Sand headplates. First of the three Chuunins, who called himself Kotetsu, is a spikeahead with bandages going over his nose, horizontally across his face. The second one, who was Tonbo, is an even more bandaged guy with bandages covering all of his hair and half of his face. The third one has a dark blue hood over his head, and black hair covering his right eye. All of them have the regular Leaf Chuunin outfits. The three sitting persons are all wearing full body cloaks, hiding just about everything about them, but still seemingly intentionally keeping their Sand village headplates in plain sight. One of them is tall, probably taller than anyone else here when he stands up, and the two others are at a head's height lower - Which doesn't look exactly short either.
Izumo sighs, and explains to Naruto, "We all were watching you guys over in the first test during that Chuunin Exam." The spikehead Kotetsu continues, "Also we set up the extra Genjutsu test before that with this Izumo here." They grin at each other. Naruto still doesn't look like he would remember anything. He is standing in the center of the small group -- Hands crossed and wearing a face, which would implify deep thought in case of anyone else but Naruto. In his case it's usually hunger. "We can further discuss these matters while traveling. Our cue is here." Tonbo finishes the discussion while looking at the village gates from behind his massive bandaging, after which he turns to nod slightly towards Jiraiya.
Jiraiya clears his throat, and says, "It seems to be time to leave for the mission. You will continue the introductions and explanations later." He turns towards the gates with everyone gathering up their stuffs and following.
"Kakashi-sensei... Where's that lousy bum Sasuke?" Naruto asks. Kakashi glances at Naruto, and says "Over there. Finally decided to come in sight, eh?" while pointing ahead. Sasuke is standing in front of them, looking extremely annoyed. The usual blue shirt has been changed to a lighter black one, which otherwise looks pretty much same as the blue one. The shorts and the sandals are the same he has wore on their every mission. "Bah... Who's a lousy bum, you idiot?" Sasuke replies, and turns to the gathering point without waiting for an answer. He can't face Naruto really well just now, and only managed to say something fairly natural out of reflex, with his mind working on several darker ideas. Mostly involving with ripping the mysterious power out of Naruto and eating it himself.
"Sasuke-kun ..." Sakura says, but doesn't get any kind of reply from Sasuke.
---
Few hours later the whole band is running through the forests of the Fire Country, jumping from branch to branch at a relatively high speed.
They had met up with some Leaf scouts at the Konohagakure village gates and then left for their undetermined mission destination. Jiraiya started to explain some more stuff, aimed mostly at the unexperienced Genins, when everyone checked over their supplies once more, "There's still a lot left unclear about this mission. For now, you all are to mentally prepare for real war, where people kill and get killed. All you Leaf units are very powerful and able in combat, which alone can drive even a strong enemy away. It might just as well be, that they will attack you without notice, trying to kill you. Be very careful while traveling, and keep your eyes open at all times. After you cross the border, it all is to be regarded as hostile enemy territory. The Genins who haven't been filled in on the situation can ask their Jounin instructors for the details. That's all. Take care, and return safely."
Naruto and Sakura are running next to Kakashi, and Sasuke seems to be somewhere ahead and above them. He still has troubles containing himself in front of Naruto. Sakura jumps from yet another branch and asks from Kakashi, "Can you explain what this all is about to us?" Kakashi ponders for a moment, and answers, "It's war." He lands to a branch, and takes a look at the reactions of Naruto and Sakura while jumping on, "The Sand attacked us with their best force, and they were driven away. Their overall strength has decreased so much, that Stone Country decided to attack them instead. Now Stone Nins are all over the Sand Country, the countryside is revolting and at this rate it's only a question of time before the cities fall from inside. The Sand citizens' pride and trust towards their leaders also took a serious blow after it was revealed, that Orochimaru had completely tricked them into a full-scale war with us."
Naruto caught some of it, and Sakura is pondering the information over. "Sensei, where do we fit in the picture? If the country is already falling on its own..." She asks.
"We are attending a small assumed battle at the north border of Sand Country, where a certain bridge will most likely be the center of action. The Sand Nins will take care of the Stone units inside the Sand Country, their leaders will try to convince the people, and we will stop the possible supply chain of the Stone Country army. That is, if they really are doing a large-scale attack. Otherwise we will just guard the bridge and the surrounding area for a month or so." Kakashi replies. They jump from branch to branch again, slowly making their way towards the west border of Fire Country. Kakashi glances over his shoulder at Naruto and Sakura, and says, "Be prepared, and respect the power of your opponents. Stone Country isn't famous for any great legendary Jounins like the Fire Country is, but that doesn't mean we are safe at all. More so, since we aren't really fighting with the rest Leafs in a single big group, but work towards our given objectives with only the four of us."
---
When the sun went down after several more hours of traveling, they stopped and built up a camp for the night. Dark forest opens up to every direction, nothing else is visible. Wind brushes against the tree leaves, birds have quieted down already. An occasional small animal runs away from the scary band.
"Hey you sensei, if we are going to war, you have to teach me a new super Jutsu!" Naruto begins bugging Kakashi. Quite a many eyebrows, including Kakashi's, are raised at Naruto. Shikamaru chuckles, sitting on a rock, breathing heavily, "I can't believe you would do Jutsu training on top of this." Sakura just sighs very loudly and lumps into her sleeping bag, falling asleep immediately. Sasuke crushes a small stick in his hand while looking at Naruto, sitting high up on a tree at the side of their camp. Ino is just panting on her sleeping bag, and everyone else is settling down and eating up their rations around the small camp. Some of the Jounins and Chuunins are on watch duty. Gai and Ibiki both jump off to the trees to join the watch. Choji and Neji are bringing firewood to Anko and Tonbo, who manage to start up a campfire with a small fire Jutsu. Anko turns towards Naruto and says, "Well well, what do we have here... Do you want to go run a few extra miles for me?" while walking over to Naruto. He crosses his arms, has a usual weird Naruto-face, and is probably trying to come up with a decent retort. Kakashi can't help but to smile, "Don't worry Anko, he's a stamina freak. A little training shouldn't stop him from getting up in the morning." He still casts a curious eye at Naruto, though.
It seems like quite a many of the people in the camp would like to say something, but they can't think of a nice enough way to say it.
Kakashi then raises his finger and places it in front of Naruto's face. "Concentrate. I will show this only once." He makes five seals slowly, and says, "Fuuton." aloud. Naruto memorizes the seals quickly. "Try doing those, and tell me how it goes." Naruto has a look of suspicion written on his face, "Hey hey hey, that Fuuton doesn't look like a too spectacular Jutsu to me!" Anko sighs. The spikehead Kotetsu has a curious look on his face, and he asks, "You are teaching something like that to a Genin? I don't think he has enough Chakra..."
Naruto had finished the seals, and a strong burst of Chakra out of his body was clearly evident to everyone nearby. "...Uh." Kotetsu grunts with a slightly surprised face after seeing this. Two completely white eyes are staring intently at Naruto and his efforts from the other end of the camp. He is turning his head around, looking in every direction. After the Chakra burst it all became very quiet again, so Naruto asks, "What the heck is this Fuuton? Is it maybe the Nothing no Jutsu?"
No one laughed at his joke, and all the Jounins present are wearing a grave look. Kakashi finally says, "Those are the initial seals for Wind Elemental Jutsus. Your Chakra comes out quite... nicely... when executing them, but try to focus it more around your body, and then finally try to keep it all inside your skin, or embraced in your arms . If you let the Chakra get wasted like that, it won't do any good." Anko's eyes flash at the word 'nicely'. What a Chakra burst that was. It's already amazing to find something like that from Genin or Chuunin level, but he did it after a day of running through the forest, using Chakra constantly to keep him from slipping down the trees and fixing his jump lengths. Or maybe he can jump through the forests at that speed without using Chakra? That can't be anyhow possible. Could he just casually extract power from the Ninetails all the time? That should have very serious side effects. She decided that it's best to just go to sleep now.
A cold chill runs down her spine, as another Chakra burst explodes behind Anko. Naruto grins to himself. He already has the super Rasengan, which only his team knows about, and now he can master another cool Jutsu. "Hey hey, Kakashi-sensei... Tell me... I feel a strong Chakra coming out, but what kind of Jutsu is it?" He asks, and receives just a calm stare back at him. Finally Kakashi says, "It can turn into quite a lot of different techniques, once you master the initiation part", comes the reply. Naruto obviously didn't figure out what he meant. Kakashi sighs. "Do you remember when we were on our way to the Wave Country, and I did the Water Dragon Blast; Suiton, Suiryuudan no Jutsu?" Naruto looks at him blankly for a while, then a imaginary light bulb blinks repeatedly above his head. "Aaa! I do, I do! That was a very cool move!", he grins and smiles at the same time, which becomes something that is neither. Next he makes a serious face again, "Then, what does this Fuuton thingy turn into?" Kakashi is silent, looking calculatively at Naruto. Slowly realization reaches Naruto's facial features, and he starts to grin and shout wildly, hopping about and hugging his Kakashi-sensei, who would rather not be hugged. Then he turns back to training with a very serious look. Almost everyone else has already went to sleep.
Naruto finishes the seals for the third time, and Chakra flows freely out of his body, causing strong nausea from overexhaustion. Kakashi chuckles to Anko, "That'll keep him off my back for now." She didn't get the sarcasm. Anko is still thinking that Naruto will just dry himself out with a higher Jounin level Jutsu, and die before the morning rises. What the heck is Kakashi thinking? Even if the kid survives, does he realize that they are about to enter a battle zone? Never mind wasting Chakra by loosing it out during the Jutsu, what about saving some energy for the actual fighting...
From high above, two Sharingan eyes were following intently everything that happened down below.
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Chapter one / END