I'm helpless, ain't I? Whenever I get pumped with Naruto, loads and loads of fanfic ideas come to my head. I really didn't want to start this, as there are two other fanfics that aren't even finished that I'm writing. I already tried twice to write a Naruto fanfic, but those attempts ended up in deletion of the story.
I won't try to make excuses if I suddenly give up on this fic. But it isn't a life goal to begin with, I'm just trying to take the ideas I have out.
I hope neither Naruto nor Sasuke get a power-up until the end. It will screw up this fic for good. And I hope the main characters for this fic don't die before the manga ends. Neji was a heavy blow, really heavy. Even though it brought huge development for NaruHina, it still got to me. I was more shocked at Neji's sudden death than the (basicly) confirmation of my pairing choice.
I will also portray a trustful relationship between Naruto and Sakura. Any scenes "between" those two will be to show their friendship. I'm a NaruHina shipper, but I'm not a Sakura hater, nor do I deny the bond that exists between Naruto and Sakura.
The fic will be set after the war. As with all my other Naruto fics, this one will be set one year after the war. Main characters will include Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Hinata, Gaara and Killer B. There might be others but I'm not sure.
The pairing will not be the main focus of the story, and there will not be a kiss scene. I want this fic to stay in the tone of the manga. However, I assure you NaruHina moments will be somewhat frequent. I'm still not sure if I should give hints to SasuSaku. I love that pairing, but I'm aware of its slim chances of happening. It will probably depend on the role Sasuke plays during the fic.
Also, the villains aren't exactly OC's. Both of them have already appeared in the Naruto franchise one way or another. However, I did give my own twist to them.
Anyway, let's get onto the story.
-o-
Sunagakure...
At night...
-o-
Gaara looked at the papers in front of him, reports from shinobi staying in the other villages. He was glad all the villages had started cooperating after the last war, but that had just tripled his paper work. He wondered what his life would be like if he were still a Genin. He would probably be free to do as he pleased, like Uzumaki Naruto. Still not a Chunin, still not Hokage, free of any shinobi duties...
Gaara went back to take a look at the reports, nothing special in them. Most of them were just information about trades between the villages, he would leave those to the negotiators of Sunagakure. He checked the watch in the room, it was getting pretty late. He would take a better look tomorrow in the morning. He stood up to leave the office, but suddenly the glass windows in the room were shattered to pieces and a gust of wind filled the room.
"What's this?" Gaara asked to himself as he saw a huge rain dropping down on the village all of a sudden "Rain? It almost never rains with this intensity..."
Out of the blue, several lightning descended from the sky, hitting parts of the village and blowing them appart. That was definitely not ordinary lightning, it had to be a Jutsu! The village was being attacked!
"Kazekage-sama!" a Suna Jonin opened the door to the room "We think the village is under attack!"
"I know." Gaara said as he strapped his sand gourd to his back "Find the caster of this Jutsu immediately!"
"Yes, sir!" the Jonin walked away in the corridor.
Gaara jumped out the window and used his sand to fly over the village. As soon as he did that, a handful of lightning came down on him, but it did nothing, as the sand protected him. He scattered sand throughout the village to protect it from the blasts. It wasn't that good of a protection, but if he had to battle against the caster of the Jutsu, he should preserve chakra, so he couldn't create an actual shield above the village. Now, he had just been attacked by the lightning, which meant that the caster could see him the moment he came out of the building. The only spots where it was possible to see that were the walls around the village, or the rooftop of the Kazekage building.
Gaara flew up, and as expected, didn't find anything. It was too obvious a choice. And the caster would be too exposed to attacks from around the village. He had to be on the walls then. Gaara sped through the skies of the village and started flying around the protective walls to see where the caster could be.
"You think it would be this easy?" he heard a voice behind him. Gaara turned to see a punch aimed at his head.
The attack was too fast for him to react, and he was sent crashing into one of the walls surrounding the village. Gaara immediately got up again and looked at his attacker. It was a man with blond hair, whose most proeminent feature was the crescent moon-shaped topknot. He appeared to be wearing some kind of gold armor under a red kimono. The gold gauntlets in his hands were saprking with electricity and he was flying by himself.
"Are you the one attacking the village?" Gaara asked.
"That's a stupid question." the man answered.
"Are you from Iwagakure?" Gaara interrogated again.
"My flying technique has nothing to do with the Tsuchikage's." the man replied.
Gaara had his sand take him up to the same level as the attacker "Why are you attacking the village?"
"The reason doesn't matter." he said "If you can't fight me off, then the village will be in danger, regardless of my reasons."
"You're right." Gaara said, as sand gathered up behind his opponent and proceeded to wrap itself around him, disabling him of any movement and making the rain and the lightnings disappear "We will know your reasons anyway. I'll bring you to the interrogation room."
The man struggled to break free from the sand "That's the Kazekage for you! I knew you were going to be a tough opponent." he said, just before sparks of lightning started surrounding the sand "But it's not enough!" he said as the sand simply fell down, and he was freed.
Gaara went for another attack, but the man blocked it and started flying away at high speeds "You won't escape!" Gaara said as he pursued him throughout the village.
The man started flying in between the buildings, constantly releasing bolts of electricity in an attempt to hit Gaara, who easily blocked the attacks with his sand. Gaara aimed his quick fire attacks carefully so they would only hit the village's attacker.
Soon they were low enough to enter a tunnel at high speeds, the attacker looked back and started releasing even more of his electric bolts, as if they were bullets. Gaara responded using his sand in the same manner.
The attacks had small impacts, but since they were so many, it became impossible to see inside the tunnel. Gaara pushed forward to the end of the tunnel to find out the man was flying high in the sky. Gaara used his sand to try to reach him, but the man dodged his attacks.
"I told you you wouldn't escape!" Gaara shouted as he raised his hand in preparation for another attack. However, nothing appeared to have happened.
"I will if I kill you!" the man said as he put his hands forward and the electricity on his gauntlets went wild "Zeus!" he shot a beam of electricity that hit Gaara head on "Heh! I expected more of the Kazekage."
"Did you now?" the man heard Gaara's voice coming from behind him. He turned around just as Gaara emprisioned him once again in his sand. But this time instead of keeping the man in place, Gaara sent him crashing down onto the Kazekage building.
"What?" the man said as he got up "But... how?"
"Sometimes it's best not to forget the basics." Gaara said as he started making hand seals.
The man panted as he finished getting up "A Sand Clone... I should've seen it coming." he said.
"You knew who I was, you had intel on me." Gaara said as he continued making hand seals "I won this battle because of your mistakes." Gaara put his hands on the floor, as if summoning something, and gold dust appeared and surrounded the attacker, keeping him in place like Gaara's sand had done before.
"This is nothing!" he said as he released electricity to break out, but nothing happened "What?"
"You used your electric charge to dismantle the sand." Gaara said "However, gold is one of the best electricity conductors, which means any electricity you release will immediately be dispersed and sent out. You cannot escape."
"Is this... really gold?" the man asked, Gaara nodded "Then... I guess I really can't escape." he said in defeat.
"Now we will interrogate you." Gaara said as he controlled the gold dust to bring the man into the building.
"Wait!" the man said "I guess you didn't get me after all."
"What?" Gaara saw some kind of seal forming on the ground right below the man. The seal activated, and the man disappeared.
"This will not be the last time we meet, Kazekage." the man's voice echoed through the night sky "You better be ready for when we meet again. Because I will be for sure."
Gaara examined the seal that had formed, it appeared to be a Kuchiyose seal. Did that mean the man was summoned to another place? So there were two attackers at least! Gaara went back to the Kazekage building and headed towards the External Comunication room "Sunagakure was attacked." he said "Send an alert to all the villages!
-o-
Outside Sunagakure...
-o-
"What were you doing, Lars?" he scolded "You were almost caught!"
"He tricked me!" Lars replied "And didn't you need to do something?"
"I can't. It's impossible to know where he is." he said "Anyway, did you manage to get what we wanted?"
Lars took out a scroll from his robes and opened it, it was empty. Then he made some hand seals before tapping the scroll, it immediately filled up with text. Lars took the scroll and closed it, before handing it to his ally "This is all I could get on how Gaara controls sand."
"It will do for now." he said as he took the scroll "I guess it will be difficult to attack either Konohagakure or Kumogakure for some time."
"The Shinobi Alliance really is troublesome." Lars said "All of the villages must be receiving alerts by now."
"Don't sweat it. With the power we have, we will be able to attack them anyway." he said "And after we're done with that, we will move on to our target."
"You sure know your stuff... Menma." Lars said as they started walking through the desert.
-o-
Konoha...
Three days later...
-o-
Naruto walked out of the graveyard after paying his respects to the Shinobi who had given their lives in the last war. He was feeling a bit sulky, as it always happened when he visited the graveyard. He had achieved true peace... but the cost was incredibly high. He needed to cheer up, and there was no place better for that than the Ichiraku Ramen Shop.
"Naruto-kun?" he heard, before looking to see Hinata.
"Hinata? What-" Naruto said, before noticing she was holding a bouquet of flowers "Neji?"
"Yes." Hinata replied "I figured I should replace the flowers on his grave..."
"When was the last time that you replaced them?" Naruto said in an attempt to keep the conversation going and preventing it from becoming awkward.
"Last week." Hinata replied.
"Last week?" Naruto asked, a week didn't seem that much time, why would the flowers need to be replaced? "And when are going to replace these ones?"
"Next week." Hinata said.
"You mean...?"
"Yes, I've been coming here every week since the end of the war." Hinata said "I want to keep Neji-niisan's memory alive, so he can keep living within me." she explained "I'm actually surprised we never ran into each other..."
"Well, actually I don't come here that often." Naruto said "It reminds me of the cost this peace had..."
"Do you feel sad when you come here?"
"I wouldn't say it makes me sad..." Naruto replied "It just gets me thinking..." he said "Anyway, I'm off to Ichiraku, wanna come with me after you pay your respects?"
"Um... Actually..." Hinata stuttered as she started blushing, she almost dropped the bouquet. Naruto-kun had invited her to come with him to Ichiraku "I would love to go, but..."
"But?"
"I have something to do at home..." Hinata finally said. She was mortified, even after all this time, all she could do in front of Naruto-kun was stutter and blush...
"Oh, bummer... That's a shame..." Naruto said "Well, I guess it will have to wait until next time. See ya, Hinata!" he waved her goodbye before walking toward his favorite ramen shop.
Hinata stood there for a few seconds, thinking about Naruto-kun's invitation. She would love to have gone with him, but unfortunately she wasn't lying when she said she was busy at home... She would have to wait until next time...
Hinata snapped out of her thoughts and headed to the graveyard to pay her respects.
-o-
Later...
-o-
"Ah..." Naruto said "That was so good!"
"Just wait until our new dish is developed." Teuchi said "I'll even give the first one to you for free."
"Whoah! Really?" Naruto said "When will it be ready?"
"We will have everything ready until next week." Teuchi said "This is going to be so good even Hokage-sama will announce it!"
"Awesome! I can't wait!" Naruto said in excitement "You can count on me to be here!"
"We sure do!" Ayame said.
Naruto paid the bill before heading out "I'll be loking forward for that dish!"
"I promise you you won't be disappointed!" Teuchi said as Naruto left "Ah, that Naruto..."
"He might be grown up, but he is still a kid after all." Ayame said.
Naruto walked through the streets of Konoha, heading to the Training Grounds. It was almost time for his training with Sai and Sakura-chan. He arrived there with no problems, but he wasn't the first one to arrive...
"What kept you so long?" Sakura, who was sitting on a tree brach, asked.
"I was eating at Ichiraku's." Naruto replied "And don't get mad at me, Kakashi-sensei takes a lot more time to arrive."
"That's why we started scheduling the meetings with him for half an hour earlier." Sakura said.
"You should be careful, Sakura." Sai said "Kakashi-sensei might be hearing you."
Naruto and Sakura gulped in fear, what would Kakashi-sensei do if he knew of their scheme? He would probably think they were mocking him... He would get angry... and use 1000 Years of Death on them... and then-
"I'm just kidding!" Sai said before laughing at them "Kakashi-sensei won't be coming today."
"Sai, you idiot!" Sakura shouted "Don't scare us like that!"
"Do you even have any idea of how much that scared us, 'ttebayo!" Naruto screamed.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Sai said "I just couldn't help it."
"Okay, let's get started, then." Naruto said, before a tree in the forest around them fell aside, prompting him to look there "What was that?"
"Maybe someone is training there." Sakura said.
"Ha!" they heard, before another tree fell down.
"Yeah, someone is definitely training there." Sakura said, before looking at the other two "Wanna see who it is?"
"I don't want to disturb them." Naruto said "Better let it be."
"Okay, we just have to make sure we don't-" Sakura was talking when Naruto suddenly pushed her and Sai toward the forest "What the hell are you-"
Suddenly, an explosion engulfed the Training Grounds, sending Naruto and the others flying backwards. Part of the forest was torn apart as the other person training was also sent flying. After the shock wave, it was possible to see another person standing in the middle of the blast radius. Naruto got up immediately and looked at that person.
"Sakura-chan, Sai, are you guys okay?" he asked.
"Yeah..." Sakura said.
"We're good." Sai said.
"And Hinata, you okay too?" Naruto asked, still looking at the one who had caused the blast.
"I'm okay." Hinata said.
"Hinata, you were the one smashing the trees?" Sakura asked, Hinata nodded.
"Who are you?" Naruto shouted.
"My name is Menma." the man said "As I expected you weren't caught by the blast. And you also saved your friends..."
"I could feel you with Sage Mode." Naruto said.
'So that's how he knew it was me. Naruto-kun detected my chakra...' Hinata thought.
"Yes, that Sage Mode certainly is a nuisance." Menma said, as he started walking toward Naruto.
"Why did you attack us?" Naruto asked.
"'Us'?" Menma repeated "I was only attacking you, Kyubi."
"What did you say?"
"You heard me." Menma said "You're my target, Kyubi." he looked at Naruto, before his eyes revealed a Sharingan.
"Wha...? That is..." Naruto couldn't believe his eyes "You're an Uchiha?"
"What?" Sakura asked.
"No, I'm not an Uchiha." Menma said "I went into a lot of trouble to get these eyes." he said as he prepared to fight.
"Everyone, stay back!" Naruto said just as Menma charged at him.
Naruto blocked Menma's punch, but even with Sage Mode, he had to put a lot of strength to stop it. What was it this guy? His punch was so strong!
"Not yet!" Menma said as he prepared to kick Naruto from the side.
Naruto blocked the kick, but was still sent flying sideways. He crashed into one of the trees that had survived the blast.
"Naruto-kun!" Hinata shouted in concern. She stood up and prepared to run to his aid, before she was stopped by Sakura.
"Don't rush in, Hinata." Sakura said "Naruto's got this."
"But he-"
"Don't worry." Sakura said "Trust in my teammate."
Naruto stood up and faced Menma 'This guy... He's strong...' He created two clones and went for an attack. Menma evaded all of the punches and kicks with ease before delivering two powerful punches that took the clones out. He then looked around to find Naruto was nowhere to be found.
"Where...?"
"Here!" Naruto said as he came down to Menma from above, before attacking him with a Rasengan "Rasengan!"
"Aah!" Menma shouted in pain as the attack connected, he was pinned to the ground, with no way of escaping the power of the attack.
Naruto jumped backwards and waited to see the effects the attack had on Menma, but soon enough, he got up and started attacking again. Now prepared, Naruto blocked the kick effectively, before delivering a kick of his own, which was also blocked. Without wasting any time, Naruto created two clones who jumped above, while he pinned Menma to the ground.
"That won't work." Menma said as he freed himself from Naruto and jumped high in the air, before kicking one of the clones into the other, making both of them disappear.
"What do you want with me?" Naruto asked "Wasn't the Akatsuki destroyed?"
"Akatsuki? No, I'm not an Akatsuki." Menma said "I just want to complete it."
"Complete it?" Naruto repeated "What are you trying to complete?"
"There isn't any need to tell you that." Menma said, before advancing for an attack "Once I'm done with you, you can say goodbye to your world!" he said as he charged chakra onto his arm and it started glowing silver.
Naruto tried to duck, but the punch was too fast to even be blocked. Menma's fist buried itself on Naruto's gut, before he was sent flying towards the surviving forest, cleaning away more trees.
"Naruto-kun!" Hinata shouted as she struggled to break free from Sakura's grasp.
"Hinata, calm down!" Sakura said.
"Don't worry. He's not dead." Menma said "But he might've broken a rib or two."
"I don't think so!" Naruto's voice was heard, before a high-speed rotating chakra giant shuriken emerged from the forest and went on to hit Menma, who didn't have the time to dodge the Jutsu. The Rasenshuriken hit him and carried him into the air, before exploding in a wind blast.
Naruto, now without Sage Mode, emerged from the forest and slowly walked to where the others were. He tripped halfway, and fell down to the ground.
Hinata finally freed herself from Sakura and went to check on Naruto "Naruto-kun, are you okay?"
"I can manage..." he said as he struggled to get up "Ah! Ow!" he fell down again with the pain.
"Sakura-san!" Hinata called.
"I'm on it." Sakura said as she started healing Naruto.
"That guy..." Naruto started "He's not normal... Especially that last punch..."
"Sai." Sakura called "Scan the area, see if that guy is still around."
"Okay." Sai said as he pulled out his scroll and drew a bunch of mice on it "Ninpou: Choju Giga!" the mice came to life and jumped out of the scroll before searching around the area.
"Hinata, use your Bya-" Sakura was cut short as another explosion ensued. They all looked forward to see Menma on his feet. But something about him was different.
"What is that...?" Naruto was shocked "That's just like my Kurama Chakra Mode..."
Menma was enveloped in silver chakra, and had markings all over him, the Rasenshuriken didn't seem to have worked. He looked at Naruto and the others "I am impressed. I never thought you would actually push me this far without using the Kyubi's chakra..."
"But how? It was a clean hit, the Rasenshuriken should have defeated him!" Sakura shouted in shock.
"Sakura-chan, stop the healing." Naruto said as he got up.
"What? Are you mad?" Sakura replied "You're going to fight him in your condition?"
Naruto activated the Kurama Chakra Mode "If you continued, he wouldn't let you finish." he said "Sakura-chan, Hinata, step down." Naruto ordered.
"There is no need to fight." Menma said "I only wanted to see how you battle."
"What do you mean?"
"Goodbye!" Menma said as he disappeared.
"What?" Sakura said "Where did he go?"
"I can sense him, he won't get away!" Naruto said as he used the mode's speed to pursue Menma. It didn't take long to catch up to him, he was trying to escape the village "Wait!"
"His speed is incredible." Menma noted to himself as he continued running away. He looked ahead, Konoha's walls were close, he would soon get away.
"Sakura, Hinata-san." Sai called "You go and help Naruto if he's injured, I'm going to warn the Hokage!"
"Got it!" Sakura said "Hinata."
"On it!" Hinata activated her Byakugan and looked around "There!"
"Let's go!" Sakura said as they started running.
"Got you!" Naruto shouted as he aimed a punch at Menma.
Menma jumped backwards to avoid the attack "That is no good!" Naruto's hand extended forward and hit Menma square in the face, sending him crashing onto the protective walls. Menma got up almost immediately "Okay, I spoke too soon."
"What are you trying to do?" Naruto asked "What's this thing you're trying to complete?"
"As I said, there is no need for you to know." Menma replied "After you're trapped here, the same thing will happen to the Hachibi."
"What did you say?"
'What is taking Lars so long? The barrier should've already been activated!' Menma thought, just as a seal appeared beneath him "Oh, so that's it."
"What are you talking about?"
"This time you won't be able to catch up to me." Menma said as he disappeared.
Naruto didn't even have time to wonder where Menma had gone to, as a sound came from the village "What's happening?" he looked around and saw Hinata and Sakura running toward him, but right behind them, the ground itself was being teared apart by some kind of chakra wall.
"Naruto, no time to explain!" Sakura said as she charged her fist with chakra and punched Naruto, forcing him out of the Kurama Chakra Mode and sending him flying above the walls and out of the village. She then punched a hole in the walls themselves and jumped out, along with Hinata.
Soon, the sound went away. Naruto got up from the fall, rubbing his broken ribs, before looking at the village. It was entirely enveloped in some kind of barrier "What's going on?"
"The Intelligence Division informed us by telepathy that a barrier had appeared in the center of village." Sakura said, catching a breath "They said it was keeping everyone inside it, no one could come out."
"Now that the barrier is settled, it probably doesn't let us in either." Hinata said. She used her Byakugan to look inside the village "I can't look inside the village, it's blocking everything."
"Did anyone else get out?" Sakura asked.
"I see two people fleeing the village." Hinata said. But just then, the chakra signatures disappered "Huh? They disappeared!"
"Did you manage to see who they were?" Sakura asked.
"No, I didn't recognize any of the signatures..." Hinata replied.
"One of them is probably the one who attacked us." Naruto said "I think he wanted to trap me inside the village..."
Sakura started healing Naruto "Trap you inside, but why?"
"I don't know." Naruto replied "But I think they're after the Bijus. That guy told me something about the Hachibi..."
"This barrier will probably stay until they are defeated." Hinata said "Then we should head to Kumogakure. They're after B-san, so if we go there, we will find them."
"And then I'll beat the crap out of them." Naruto said.
"Sounds like a plan." Sakura said "We can't contact anyone of the village, so that's the best shot we have." she then analysed Naruto's wounds with her chakra "Once Naruto is healed, we will head toward Kumogakure."
-o-
Somewhere...
A day later...
-o-
He walked through the forest quietly. He didn't want to catch unwanted attention. He wasn't in the mood to fight right now. He stopped as he felt a presence around him, and quickly threw a kunai right behind him.
"My, my... You almost got me..." he heard "I was ready to give up and get the Hachibi before I looked for you again."
He turned around and looked at the man "Who are you?"
"My name is Menma." he replied "Pleased to meet you, Uchiha Sasuke."
"What is your business with me?" Sasuke asked.
"You will see." Menma said, before preparing to attack.
"I'm not in the mood for a fight right now." Sasuke said "If you know who I am, then you know it's better not to get on my bad side."
"What if I attack you now?" Menma replied.
"As I said, I'm not in the mood to fight." Sasuke said "If you attack me now, I assure you there won't be a fight."
"What do you mean?" Menma asked "Are you going to kill me?"
"I will crush you until there's nothing left." Sasuke replied.
"That's good." Menma said "I want you to come at me with the intention to kill me."
Sasuke unsheathed his sword and activated his Sharingan "Don't regret it when you wake up in Hell."
-o-
And that was it!
Well, I guess that thing to get Naruto, Sakura and Hinata out of the village was kind of an asspull, but nothing else came to mind.
You might notice I didn't mention many characters outside the main ones and the villains. That's because I have no fucking idea of who is going to die. If Kishimoto killed Neji, he can kill anyone. I just hope these characters don't die for the sake of the fic.
Anyway, how was the chapter? Leave a review.
Have an awesome day.
