Morale was high as team seven began the long walk back to the leaf village after their first successful mission. A town had been saved, two high level ninja defeated, and all had learned a hard lesson about the world they lived in. It was a bright, sunny day with a few white clouds drifting through the sky. A warm breeze drifted through the trees, and birds could be heard chirping in the distance
"Wait till I tell Iruka about how awesome I was! He'll probably buy me ten bowls of ramen for this one!" The smallest ninja, a blonde, tanned skinned young boy, wearing an orange and blue jumpsuit, proclaimed. Smiling as wide as his face could handle without tearing.
"Sure, Naruto," Sakura, a fair skinned young girl, with bright pink hair, answered. Seeing an opportunity to both deflate Naruto's ego and hit on her crush, Sasuke, the third member of their group with black hair and eyes, and a perpetual scowl on his face. "You can also tell him how Sasuke did all the work while you showed off like a loser." She looked at her crush with longing eyes, "Right, Sasuke?"
Sasuke kept his eyes forward, his only acknowledgement of Sakuras question an annoyed grunt. Their sensei, Kakashi Hatake, listened to all of this from behind his book. The bickering of his young students had long become just part of the natural noise to him, and he used the long walk to catch up on some reading and think on a few things. During the fight with that young ninja, Haku, Naruto had tapped into some of the nine-tailed fox's chakra. It was a power that felt as ancient and vast as an ocean. Kakashi remembered feeling so small when he felt Naruto tap into its power. He had expected it to feel powerful and evil, but what he got was very different. Yes, the chakra felt more powerful than anything he had ever felt, but it didn't feel evil like he expected. If anything it felt…protective. It felt like the fox was trying to keep his container safe from harm during the battle. It didn't make sense. The nine- tailed fox was an ancient evil. It destroyed villages, leveled mountains, raised tsunamis. It was more a walking natural disaster than a living creature, but he knew what he felt and he felt the fox trying to keep Naruto safe. When he got back to the leaf village, he was going to have a long talk with the hokage. This just might be important.
"Kakashi, who are they?" Sasuke grunted, breaking Kakashi from his thoughts and make him look up from his book.
Standing ahead of them was an older gentleman with long spiky white hair and horned headband with a kanji for oil on it. A large scrolled was strapped to his back, and he wore a red vest and stood tall on wooden sandals. Beside him was a small person, about Naruto's size, hidden behind a black cloak.
"So, you're the one who got charge of this half, Kakashi?"
Kakashi suddenly knew who the kid in the cloak was, and why the kid and Naruto were silently walking toward each other. "It's finally time, huh, Lord Jiraiya?"
Sakura was looking back and forth anxiously between her teacher and the two ninja, "Naruto, come back here! Kakashi-sensei, what's going on here?"
The boy in the black cloak held out a hand to Naruto, "We're making two halves into a whole again."
With his other hand the young boy brought his hood down to reveal… Naruto Uzumaki! The young boy looked exactly like naruto! The spiky blond hair, the baby fat face, bright blue eyes, even the six whisker marks on his face. There where two naruto's, staring at each other.
The naruto in orange took hold of the other naruto's hand, a bright glow enveloping their hands and spreading through their whole bodies. "About time! Do we have a ton of new jutsus to show off?"
The glow got brighter now, beginning to blind all others present. "Hell yeah, we do. We're gonna give the leaf a hokage they'll never forget."
With a bright flash, momentarily blinding all present, both narutos disappeared. When the light cleared, one naruto lay passed out on the ground, naked as the day he has born. Two piles of clothes, and shoes lay on the ground, suddenly empty. Jiraiya walked forward and covered the new Naruto with the black cloak, picking the sleeping boy up after he did.
He turned to see two shocked young ninja, a novel worth of questions forming on their lips. "I'll explain everything you need on the way back to the village, but just know that Naruto will be a little different when he wakes up, and really hungry. So we should get back to the village now so he can eat when he wakes up."
"No, I want answers now!" Sasuke growled, "What the hell just happened to that idiot?"
Jiraiya sighed and started walking, while Kakashi put his hand on his angry young students shoulder and began to explain. "When Naruto was four years old, a group of very powerful, very old people showed interest in raising and training Naruto with Lord Jiraiya's help. But, unfortunately, they knew that it would bring unwanted attention to Naruto if he were to suddenly vanish on a trip with no evidence." He took his hand off his shoulder and picked up naruto's clothes and gear, following Jiraiya and his team toward the village.
Sakura looked at her sensei, "Why's that?"
This time it was Jiraiya who answered. "Because when powerful people want to train a kid, it makes bad people take notice and try to find out what makes the kid special. We didn't want that kind of attention, so my colleagues told me about an ancient and powerful jutsu, long forgotten in the ninja world." He turned and looked behind him "The Soul Clone Jutsu"
Sasuke was suddenly interested. If these people showed interest in a dope like Naruto, then they would jump at the chance to train an elite uchiha like him. They could be the key to avenging his family. "Who are theses people and what is so special about this Jutsu?"
Kakashi turned to answer Sasuke, "They are people who you don't make demands of, Sasuke." Kakashi answered, already knowing what Sasuke was thinking. "And the Jutsu is one that makes a full, living, breathing copy of the person it's performed on. Like the shadow clone jutsu, except this one stays unless killed. The clone grows, eats, sleeps and reacts just like the person they are cloned from, because they have half the soul from the original."
Sakura was amazed that such a jutsu could exist. "Why did this jutsu get forgotten? It sounds perfect for long spy missions and reconnaissance?"
Jiraiya kept walking in front of them, noticing they were a few minutes out from the village now. "Because the jutsu itself comes with a huge risk to the people it's used on. Not only can it only be performed on younger ninja, who have less knowledge and thus less to split, but if one of the halves dies than so does the other. So, really, it's more dangerous to use this technique because it gives the enemy more chances to kill you. But, this way, Naruto could stay in the village and be trained and raised by me and my colleagues at the same time."
Sasuke crossed his arms and stopped walking. "Why Naruto? What's so important about that idiot? And who are you, exactly?"
Jiraiya caught the condescending tone in Sasukes voice, and knew this kid was gonna get on his nerves. "You don't know who I am? Why, I am the Toad Sage Jiraiya! I am one of the three legendary Sannin and Lover of all women!" He wanted to strike a pose, till naruto groaned in his arms and made him calm down. When Jiraiya saw blank looks on the two gennin, and Kakashi laughing behind his mask, he just grumbled under his breath and moved on to the next question. "And we did it because they promised to protect Naruto if something happened to his parents." He looked down at Naruto's sleeping form, a sad expression coming over his face. "And I promised as well. And the great Jiraiya is far too amazing to be called out for a broken promise!" Jiraiya finished with a big smile and a boisterous laugh.
Sakura kept on with the questions. "So, what you're saying is, there have been two Naruto's. The one raised with you and you're 'colleagues', and the one who was raised in our village."
Jiraiya nodded and saw the wall of the village come into view. "Yes. It will take a little while, little more than a week they told me, for Naruto to be able to perform all of his jutsu and techniques and have all his memories sort themselves out. So, for a little while, Naruto will be acting a little strange. He'll be trying to figure out himself again. So, get ready to meet a slightly different Naruto when he wakes up."
Kakashi but a hand on both of his still conscious students and gave them a look that let them know how serious he was. "WHat you two have just seen is an S-class secret to the village. You are not to tell anyone about what you've seen here today. Understand?" Sakura nodded and Sasuke gave a grunt of agreement and the continued on to the village.
As they walked through the front gates of the village, the guards immediately recognizing one of the legendary Sannin of the leaf village and allowing passage, both Jiraiya and Kakashi saw what Sakura and Sasuke failed to notice. Ever since they started waking, foxes had been following them. Now they all sat around in the forest, there eyes cast protectively toward the sleeping Naruto Uzumaki.
This is a story i've had kicking around in my head for a little while now, so I decided I'd put it on here and see if anyone likes it. Just let me say that naruto will be a little smarter and stronger in this story, though i'm not gonna make him some god tier fighter. Half the reason i love the character of naruto uzumaki is how he overcomes obstacles, so i don't want to take that away by making him powerful enough to snap his fingers and kill everything in the general area. But, come on! The dude deserves a little more to work with besides the rasengan and shadow clones when everytime an uchiha gets a little overwhelmed in a fight they pull out some new jutsu from nowhere. The susanoo, amaterasu, that "reset button" jutsu, a time warp jutsu, and now the ability to basically call on a god of war to fight for you (that susanoo of Madara's was awesome, I'll admit it. But, seriously, you need that too, dude?). Plus, hinata is going to be a main character in this story, with a few twists and turns to her character here and there, but nothing to drastic.
I know this was a short chapter, but i wanted to test the waters before i jumped in. So whats the verdict: do you guys want me to keep going, or does this sound like a story i should leave in my head? Read and review, please. Thank you.