A/N: This is my first story, I had the idea for it for a while, but I never got around to writing it. The story occurs post war. Instead of the typical "Naruto goes back in time and fixes stuff", I thought I'd focus on present time Naruto encountering enemies from a different era. Enough talking on my part, here's the story:

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor do I own the story or any of its characters. Kishimoto owns all of it, I only own OC's from this story and this fanfiction I am writing.

Chapter 1: A mission

At long last the Fourth Shinobi World War had ended upon Kaguya's defeat. Kaguya had proved to be the strongest opponent encountered in the Naruverse and being such a powerful opponent resulted in some sacrifices being made to defeat her. Ultimately to provide Naruto and Sasuke with a chance to seal her, Obito and Kakashi made a last ditch team effort, costing them their lives. Even with their sacrifice, Kaguya managed to get a final blow on a certain blond knucklehead as she was sealed, placing him in fairly bad condition. That brings us to the Konoha hospital where we observe the orange-clad ninja awakening from his week-long "coma".

(A/N: I'm leaving the fight fairly vague as I'm sure Kishimoto's fight with her would easily be better than mine and sorry for killing off Kakashi and Obito, but I assure you that it's necessary for the story)

Naruto groaned as he woke up in a far too familiar surrounding, a bland white room of Konoha's hospital. He glanced around him to take in his surroundings, noticing a vase with a few lavenders within it on a side table and upon glancing across the room, a brooding Uchiha. "Teme," Naruto said, acknowledging his comrade.

The Uchiha snapped out of his little trance and replied with, "Hn, what do you want dobe," staring at Naruto with his onyx eyes (or rather singular onyx eye and sharinnegan).

"Did we win?" Naruto asked quizzically.

"Obviously," huffed Sasuke. "Why else would we be alive if we had lost dobe."

"Well you could at least fix your attitude if we won!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Hn", replied Sasuke.

"Damn teme," muttered Naruto, staring outside the window at the village that was his home. A smile slowly grew across his face as he realized at long last the battle with the akatsuki was over, until he felt his stomach rumble and he groaned. "Hey teme, let's go to Ichiraku's, it's been sooo long since I last had ramen!"

"You really think you are in good enough condition? Sakura said that you suffered a severe concussion as well as some severe body damage." Sasuke replied. "Not that I really care about you though and I guess I could use some food myself."

Naruto ignoring Sasuke's comment got out of bed and opened the window and perched himself upon the window sill. "Let's go Sasuke!".

"You're actually going to go out wearing that?" Sasuke asked, staring at the polka dot hospital attire worn by Naruto.

"Of course, I've done this plenty of times," grinned Naruto. "Oi, how come you have your normal clothes!" Naruto exclaimed as Sasuke got out of his bed.

"I was only here because of severe chakra exhaustion, there was no reason for me to change into different attire." answered Sasuke.

Naruto nodded his head while grinning as he prepared to leap from the window into his home village. He glanced at the lavenders on his bedside table and felt as if it was reminding him of something, but he just could not remember. Without further ado, he leapt from the window determined to get some of his favourite food, with Sasuke trailing behind him.

Ichiraku Ramen Shop:

As two customers entered his shop, Teuchi, unknowing of the customer's identities, announced to them, "Welcome, what can I get you?"

"One miso pork ramen old man!" answered Ichiraku's favourite customer. "And whatever he wants."

"I'll have the same," the Uchiha stated, despite not being a particular fan of ramen.

"Ah, if it isn't the two war heroes! You two have been the talk of the village you know! Also, business hasn't quite been the same without you around Naruto. This ramen is on the house!" said Teuchi.

"Thanks pops!" replied Naruto.

Upon getting his ramen, Naruto slurped down the entire bowl within a few seconds, not really surprising those around him and ordered another bowl, whilst Sasuke slowly ate his ramen. Naruto couldn't help but notice that Sasuke was still subtly brooding, but he decided to leave him be.

"Naruto, I couldn't help but notice that your eyes look different, what's up with that?" Teuchi asked.

"Old man, that's gonna be a long story, let me begin with ho-" Naruto began as he and Sasuke were dragged out of the ramen shop and onto the street by a certain pink haired medical-nin.

"NARUTO, WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!" Sakura shouted whilst using the "big head" jutsu, "DO YOU THINK YOU ARE IN ANY CONDITION TO RUN AROUND, NOT TO MENTION HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE WORRIED ABOUT YOU! AND WHY DID YOU DRAG SASUKE-KUN INTO YOUR ANTICS!"

Naruto holding his ears stated "Sakura-chan, no need to be so loud. I heal quickly anyways." "Besides, Sasuke teme came he-"

"SHANNARO!" Sakura shouted as Naruto was punched (likely to Kumo). "Anyways, Sasuke-kun, Tsunade-sama requested your immediate attendance at the council meeting"

"Hn" Sasuke replied as he Shunshinned away, leaving Sakura by herself in the street. Sakura figured that since her patients were now "excused" from the hospital she could do whatever she wanted, but first she figured it would be a good idea to notify some people of Naruto's awakening, especially a certain Hyuga Heiress who had been visiting him daily.

Wherever Naruto landed:

"Urgghh," groaned Naruto, "How can Sakura-chan go around punching me like that if I'm in such a 'bad condition', anyways I 'ought to get my normal clothing back or something." and with that statement Naruto got up and headed to his home.

After shuffling around for a little while he found a black shirt and some orange pants and decided to make do with that for now, considering he assumed the hospital had taken his previous clothes from the war. Strangely enough, something didn't feel right when he thought about the allied shinobi forces' victory; its almost as if Naruto felt sad.

It was then when Naruto remembered the plan which Obito and Kakashi made and he did not even have a chance to react as Kaguya struck them down. Naruto paused for a second, there was no way Kakashi sensei died was there? Naruto got a sinking feeling in his heart, until he tried to reaffirm himself, Obito had his sharingan, so he must have found a way to save them right? Naruto left his apartment and headed towards the Hokage tower, he was certain Granny Tsunade would know where Kakashi was if he was injured.

Hokage Tower:

Sasuke twitched his eyebrow in irritation as he awaited for the Hokage to announce the punishment for his crimes. Despite saving the alliance from the threat that was Obito, Madara and finally Kaguya, he still was not going to be given a complete pardon for his crimes and Homura and Koharu, the village elders, were very adamant on this.

"Sasuke Uchiha, as a result of the assassination of Danzo Shimura and the attack on the Five Kage Summit you should be placed off the line of duty as a shinobi for at least a year and possibly face imprisonment. However as a result of your incredible usefulness during the war as well as freeing many people from the infinite tsukuyomi I was able to reduce your punishment to a single month restriction to staying within the boundaries of the village. As Hokage my decision is final, so do you, Sasuke Uchiha, acknowledge your punishment?" stated/asked Tsunade, the active Hokage.

"Fine, I accept the punishment. The rules and standards of the village should be followed by all of its shinobi." answered a slightly displeased Sasuke.

"Tsunade, how can you let such a scoundrel run free in this village, he murdered Danzo in cold blood!" argued Homura.

"He is not running free, he will be carefully monitored by Anbu, besides Danzo committed his fair share of crimes towards the village as well! Death is a light punishment for that old war hawk!" bellowed Tsunade.

Koharu and Homura gave an appalled look at Tsunade before they stormed out of her office, Tsunade giving a sigh of exasperation after they left. "You're dismissed Sasuke, if you see Naruto can you tell him to come here?" she stated. "Hn" replied the Uchiha.

As Sasuke reached for the door it burst open, a blond haired teenager ran in knocking over the Uchiha. "Baa-chan, what happened to Kakashi sensei and Obito?!" questioned Naruto.

Tsunade looked away, a sign of remorse on her face, indicating the horrible news. Naruto's eyes opened wide in shock as he realized that what he suspected was true and he hung his head down while clenching his fists. "Why do so many people have to die just to bring peace to this world? Is it that hard for people to just get along?" a shaky voice Naruto said, more to himself then to the others in the room.

Sasuke stood up next to Naruto and stated the unexpected, "I'm sure both Kakashi and Obito wouldn't want you moping Naruto. They entrusted the future to us, and even though we may have won the war against the Akatsuki we still have a long way to creating peace. Even within the village there is still conflict." finished Sasuke, while reminiscing of the argument between Tsunade and the councillors, as well as the situation regarding his brother.

"But, -" a choked up Naruto tried to argue back.

"Shut it dobe, a Hokage can endure the loss of others if it is for the sake of the village, don't tell m-" said Sasuke before being counter cut off.

"Of course I can endure, I'll be a much better Hokage then you, teme." stated Naruto, wiping a tear away from his eye with his renewed confidence.

Tsunade gave a sad smile before announcing "There will be a mass funeral for all those lost in the war, it will take some time before we are able to recover all the bodies, but before that I have a mission for you Naruto."

"A mission already? The war just ended!?" exclaimed Naruto.

"I'll explain it in a second Naruto, wait for the rest of the team to arrive, I already summoned them. Also Sasuke, you are dismissed." said the Hokage.

"Hn" replied Sasuke as he used his sharinnegan technique to teleport outside, determined not to be run over by anymore crazy idiots.

"So who is going to be on the mission granny?" asked Naruto.

Tsunade replied "Still as impatient as ever kid? Just wait, they'll be here in a few minutes."

A moment later the kunoichi member of team 7 knocked on the door before opening it, followed by the ex-root shinobi, Sai.

Naruto gave a quizzical look before turning back to Tsunade, asking "If Geam 7 is going on this mission, why isn't Sasuke here?"

"Sasuke is on a temporary probation, so he will not be leaving the village. Since your team is lacking a set of good eyes, I believe I found a suitable replacement." Tsunade answered.

Just as she finished her reply, someone else knocked on the door, before Tsunade called out, "Come in!"

The door opened as Hinata Hyuga entered the room, but she then paused as she saw her crush awake for the first time since the war. Naruto turned around as he heard the door open and made eye contact with Hinata and froze as suddenly he remembered what the lavenders in the hospital room had reminded him of and his eyes lost their usual gleam. Hinata noticed the difference in Naruto's eyes immediately as they had the cross pattern of his sage mode and kyuubi powers, yet she was more concerned about the guilt ridden in his eyes. She felt the urge to comfort him, but this was not the time as they had to be assigned a mission.

"As I'm sure you know, all missions in the major hidden villages were put on hold as we had to deal with the war. However this provided an opportunity for missing-nin to commit crimes unpunished. The mission I am about to assign you involves dealing with a major missing-nin threat. A few missing-nin developed the idea that they could create a large organization of missing-nin to complete larger crimes and tasks. I am sure you can see the issue with this, as this organization has grown quite large and could prove a threat to the hidden villages in their weakened state." Tsunade paused before continuing, "The organization situated a base not too far from Takigakure. It is estimated that they have gathered somewhere between 100 to 200 missing nin, but it is highly unlikely that they would all be found at the base. It seems that most of the missing-nin are at maximum chunin rank, but I am sure there are a few jonin level and the leader is likely high-jonin level. If the group is left unattended they are likely going to attract the attention of some stronger missing-nin."

Tsunade now addressing the team in front of her stated, "Your mission is to defeat and capture the leader of this organization as we believe that the organization will crumble without someone to organize it. You are not to engage the grunts of the organization and the mission should be treated as a stealth mission, you must not let the leader know you are coming for him or else he will be given a chance to escape. Sakura Haruno will be team captain for this mission."

"Baa-chan why can't I lead a mission!?" Naruto whined.

"Baka, you'd just destroy the entire base, I trust that Sakura will have good enough judgment to know when to strike the enemy and when not to." replied Tsunade. "Now, Sakura Haruno, Naruto Uzumaki, Hinata Hyuga and Sai, I assign you to complete this S-rank mission, good luck. You are dismissed."

Sakura turned around to address her team, "Everyone meet at the gate in 2 hours, pack enough equipment for one week." She then exited the office, followed by Sai leaving Naruto, Hinata and Tsunade.

"Hinata can I talk to you about something for a second?" Naruto asked whilst gesturing towards the hall, having regained the gloomy look on his face.

"O-Of course" replied Hinata, exiting the office followed by Naruto leaving Tsunade to drink her sake.

Somewhere near Takigakure

"Yakekoge, tell me more about this group?" asked a figure from his seat in the shadows.

"They call themselves 'Dusk' probably based off the Akatsuki, I am sure they would be very beneficial as part of our organization as they same rather. I would recommend investing some money in their organization." replied the aforementioned Yakekoge in a nonchalant tone, who could be identified by their short hair tied into a ponytail which was a mixture between some hair which was bright red and some hair which was a Uzumaki red. Yakekoge wore loose kimono-like clothing which was also red, and wore a bandana over his/her lower face.

"Very well, tell them I am interested in their services and bring them some money as well, 100 000 000 ryo should suffice, although that is half of our treasury I am sure it would pay off." replied the figure.

Yakekoge nodded and left the room, leaving the man alone in the room.

A/N: Yakekoge means scorch or sear in Japanese (I'm bad with names :P)

Anyways what did you guys think? Feel free to let me know in a review and thanks for reading! The next chapter will probably be up in a week give or take a few days.