Disclaimer: This is how I think the movie should have gone, and under copywright law, that makes me entitled to write this. As a piece of Critique, it is, and I am, protected under the Fair Use clause. Suck it!
But in on the off chance that it doesn't and I am the one doing the sucking, I do not own Naruto OR any of the related properties. They are owned by the infamous Masashi Kishimoto.
On with the show
:Line Break:
A troupe of ninja trudged down the long muddy road leading to Konoha's main gates, their heads hanging low and dejected.
The late sun beat down upon the backs of the Rookie 12, with not a word passing between the lips of the beat down ninja. The heat and humidity drained the energy from their muscles and slowed their pace.
Silent shinobi all, the twelve marched to the gate, Shikamaru giving a call out, a raspy voice from a dry throat.
"Shikamaru Nara and team, reporting in from S-rank capture mission."
A bandana clad man stepped out of the shadows made by the guard booth. Examining each of the twelve critically, he gave a sharp incline of his head.
Immediately over three dozen ANBU appeared scattered around the entrance were made visible as they took the occasion to stand, their dark clothes and plain masks appearing stark in the evening sun.
"We were expecting you sooner, for better or worse." The guardsman said, his form temporarily blurring as the genjutsu hiding his true form dropped. "The Hokage has been expecting you to report in for some time now."
A sigh escaped from the Nara's lips, his trademark phrase shortly following. "We'll report in right away, ANBU-san"
The ANBU nodded once, before once again disappearing into the shadows.
"AWWWWW! Do we have to go see Granny?" Whined a very loud, unusually dressed young man, giving the best pout he could, caked as his face was under the pile of muck that dressed it. "I'm STARVING! I haven't had any ramen for over ten hours, and if I don't get some soon I'm probly gonna die!"
"NARUTO!" A voice, that under normal conditions was considered very effeminate, even petite, growled at the orange clad ninja, making him all but quake in fear. "You're going to go up to see Tsunade-sama just like the rest of us! UNDERSTAND!?"
Naruto nodded feebly, trying a placating motion with his hands to stop the twitch above Sakura Haruno eye; the one that always promised him pain and violence.
The antics of the reinstated team 7 were not lost upon the third member of that sub-division. The pale skinned, dark haired teen dutifully jotted down notes upon the interactions of his fellow teammates.
The REST of the Rookie 12, however, merely looked on with varying amounts of annoyance.
Once Naruto had successfully placated Sakura, and took off running towards the Hokage tower, he was shortly joined in the Hokage's office.
The 12 stood at attention before the scrutinizing gaze of Konoha's fifth Hokage. The legendary Slug Sannin's eyes were leveled at them over steepled hands, unknowingly copying the stance her teacher had taken so many times throughout his reign as ninja supreme. Her arms in this stance blocked out any attempt to look at her legendary bust, to the quiet relief of a few of the more animalistic members of the 12, who doubted their ability to look away from such a display.
After taking the moment to look over the 12's disheveled and muck clad state, the Hokage simply said: "So where are the supposedly resurrected members of Akatsuki now?"
"We don't know, Hokage-sama." Shikamaru said.
"You don't know?" Tsunade responded tightly.
Shikamaru shook his head in the negative.
"You don't know the location of the Criminal organization, which thus far has overtaken several governments, two ninja villages, 17 shipping industries, and ENTIRE country, and, not to mention, is made up entirely of S-RANK CRIMINALS, who now have come back from the DEAD?" Tsunade said scathingly. "Is THAT what you are telling ME? That THAT organization could be outside my WALLS right now, and we wouldn't KNOW ABOUT IT?"
"Yes, Hokage-same." The Nara stated simply, struggling to keep his cool in the face of Tsunade's also legendary temper.
The screaming was reduced to a mere glower after the Nara's statement, replaced instead with heaping overtones of sarcasm. "Well, since it is apparent that you didn't track Akatsuki, tell me what you did do?"
Shikamaru immediately jumped on the occasion to save his team from Tsunade.
"We encountered the group known as Akatsuki approximately one hour after departing from Konoha. That group included all shinobi from that organization, both living and dead, with the sole exception of the Orange Masked Man known as Tobi. We saw Kisame, Itachi, Deidara, Sasori, Hidan, Kakuzu, Zetsu, Konan, and Pain in only one body. After a short period of simply staring at each other, Naruto shouted at the Akatsuki members if they 'Wanted to fight or what?' The members, in particular Itachi, found that amusing. The leader, known as Pain, then said to the rest of the organization, 'Well, it's been fun, but I'm the fuck out of here, who's with me?'"
Shikamaru paused to take a breath, giving his Hokage a space to intercede.
"Pain said, 'I'm the fuck out of here?'" She said, a deceptively delicate looking eyebrow raised dubiously. "The man who took ten minutes to explain that he came to Konoha to destroy it and take Naruto? That Pain?"
"Yes, Hokage-sama, it was not what I had imagined him saying to such a challenge." Shikamaru said with a headshake. "But after he said it, he, and the rest of akatsuki, disappeared in a burst of chakra smoke. Having the trackers analyze the area, we came to the conclusion that the smoke was due to a high chakra burst, part of a reverse summoning. Taking that approach due to the lack of physical evidence and trails to and from the spot where Akatsuki had been standing, my team took the liberty of searching around Konoha to a distance of 20 miles, making sure that it wasn't a ploy to lure us away from the village, and destroy it while we weren't there to protect it."
The hidden message was made plain to all those who could listen for it. That is to say, all but the lightly snoring Naruto in the corner, who had taken the occasion of not being directly spoken-to to nod off and regain some of his energy.
Pinching her eyebrows the bridge of her nose at the familiar disrespect of the blond Uzumaki, the Senju motioned for Shikamaru to continue his tail.
"Despite our efforts and various areas of expertise and methods of tracking, we couldn't find the Akatsuki anywhere near the walls of Konoha." Shikamaru said with resignation.
Tsunade sighed, shoulders loosening a little as she did so. "While I am unhappy that you were unable to determine Akatsuki's bearing or present location, I am glad that neither took them anywhere near our village. As it stands, I'll be moving the village down to yellow alert, and sending out regular ANBU patrols to prevent them from getting this close to our village in the future." Getting up from her desk, Tsunade motioned to Sakura, who promptly pummeled Naruto back to consciousness, allowing him to hear the end of the debriefing. "As it stands, all of you can stand down, and resume your ordinary duties during yellow alert." Casting an eye over at the chubby Akimichi, she continued in a softer tone. "I believe you have a party to attend?"
A smile appeared on the faces of the 12, those that were visible anyway. Tsunade dismissed them and they left the tower, each departing for their own abode to get ready for a delayed celebration.
:Line Break:
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" the assembled shouted, presenting a cake that had taken an Akimichi master chef three days to properly bake and decorate, such was it's breadth.
"18!" The ecstatic young clan heir shouted to the roaring voices of his friends and family and his friends families. All had been invited to see the Clan heir reach his age of majority.
"Make a wish, Chouji-kun." Ino said from beside her teammate, before the young Akimichi blew out all of the candles dotting the massive cake, eliciting another cheer from his audience.
The cake had finally been presented after three hours of feasting and dialogue amongst the guests. The Akimichi buffet was staggering in it's complexity and range of dishes, enough to serve all of those invited twice over.
The cake itself was quickly divvied out and devoured by the Akimichi clan, slightly less quickly devoured by everyone else. Then the first call was out from the audience once again.
"Presents!" Someone shouted along the grandiose table that seated 50 guests. The call was met with a cheer as Chouza laughed beside his son and darling wife.
"Presents it is!" Chouji said to cheers, several of his clansmen already going to get the first in the staggering pile of presents gifted to the lucky teen.
The presents were called out over the next 15 minutes, varying greatly in worth and meaning. Several merchants had gifted the Akimichi heir with gold, and exotic gifts from far off lands. Several clansmen had gifted him with free 'All-you-can-eat' certificates to their restaurants (generally to the cries of "I'm ruined!" much to the amusement of all). The the 12 each got him something special. Naruto had gotten him a specialized set of chopsticks, studded with two precious gems, cast in precious metal, and carved with kanji. Ino had gotten him a new breastplate to wear into battle. Shika had gotten him a book of foreign cuisine. And so on and so forth it went until the gifts had dwindled into nothing, at which point the heir stood.
"Thank you all for your wonderful gifts, and your wonderful presence." Laughter ensued at the double entendre. "I'll be sure to speak with each of you before you leave, and feel free to stick around, I own the place now!" Laughter came again, even more so when Chouza cried out "Not yet, pint-size!"
"There's one last gift to give!" Chouza said once the laughter had die down a bit.
"You see I have here a letter." He said, hoisting a piece of paper into the air.
"Who's it from?" came a shout from down the table.
"This letter comes from the office of the Hokage!" Chouza said smugly, eliciting 'Ooh's' from the enraptured audience.
"You see three weeks ago, I spoke to the Hokage about my son and the heir of the Akimichi clan. We discussed, how much he has grown, both as a person and as a ninja. We spoke of how the boy that was barely this high only yesteryear now was capable and deserving of the respect of his fellow ninja, of any rank. And we spoke of how Chouji, my son, would one day soon be my successor." He finished looking down at his son lovingly, an embarrassed smile adorning the Akimichi heirs face.
"SO, in response to his actions, both today and in the past on missions, the Hokage has sent me this letter." Chouza said, before peeling open the letter, and reading it aloud. "'By the power vested in me, by the seat of Hokage of Konohagakure, I do hereby promote Chouji Akimichi, son of Chouza Akimichi, to the rank of Jonin, in recognition of his unwavering loyalty, his unflinching duty, and his excellence in action. From this day forth, may he carry his rank well, and serve his village with pride."
Chouji's eyes watered, so overcome with emotion that he barely noticed the hollering guests. He stood and embraced his father and mother, with a great bearhug.
"I love you two!" He said aloud, with a bit of a sob that no one would mention. "I love you so much."
"And we, you, son." Chouji's mother said, hugging her emotional son right back. Many a teary eye looked on with happiness for the young heir, so openly loving of his parents. And one set of teary cerulean eyes looked with a bit of melancholy, and perhaps jealousy.
:Line Break:
The party had been winding down for a few hours; the only people remaining were two clusters sitting on opposite ends of the great table consisting of the Rookie 12 at one end, and their parents at the other, and the servers steadily cleaning up the evenings mess.
"Jonin, man, can you believe it?" said the Inuzuka, before turning to his canine companion. "Guess this means that we are gonna catch all kinds of hell from mom, ehh Akamaru?"
"I-It's not t-that bad, K-Kiba-kun." Hinata said with surprising fluidity.
"It is more appropriate to show happiness for the person who did receive a marvelous gift than to wallow about why one did not receive one oneself." The artist at the table said with sagely insight. "That's what my books all say."
"Don't worry about it Kiba, we'll all get up to jonin soon!" Chouji said in a loud, cheerful tone of voice. "I mean, do you remember when we were all genin? That was so long ago, and look at how far we've all come!"
Unknowingly, the kind words of the Akimichi drove a stake into the dejected heart of one of his closest friends.
Catching the eye of Hinata, herself paying attention to the downtrodden look of the Uzumaki, her genius cousin turned the conversation. "And we all have a great distance yet to go, and many goals to achieve yet."
"I've yet to find a way to get my mother to let me sleep in. And I've been working on that. For years." Shikamaru said, prompting Ino to bop him on the shoulder.
"Why do you have such lazy goals? You should try harder for things! Like my goal is to breed a species of purple roses." Ino said, berating her teammate.
"I want to find the one weapon that I am perfect with." Spoke the voice of the bun-haired resident weapons mistress.
A shaking fist rose into the air "I want to prove that one does not need the power of chakra to become a ninja, but the power of YOUTH!"
"N-Neji-neesan and I have y-yet to break-k the s-s-seal dividing our c-clan." Hinata said modestly, sneaking a look at Naruto to see if the change in conversation was making him feel any better.
Settling into a pattern, the group turned to Shino. "I have yet to improve my Allies, and myself, to a status that I consider satisfactorily productive as my own status as clan heir demands."
Then Kiba. "I wanna get me and Akamaru up to S-rank!"
Sai next. "I wish to fully understand the human condition."
Then Naruto. "You guys all know what I want. To become the greatest Hokage ever!"
At last, the circle came to Sakura who merely shook her head. "I don't know about you guys, but I just want to make it up to Jonin for now. I mean, I'm the student of a sannin. If I stick around at chunin any longer it's just going to seem pathetic."
That was the final straw for Naruto, his eyes falling down to his own chest, devoid of a chunin vest. Looking up he shook his head and put on a smile.
"Yeah guys, I'm gonna go ahead and turn in!" He said, getting up from the table, offering an explanation for his sudden desire to leave. "That mission today sure took it outta me!"
Naruto glanced around the table, pointedly ignoring Sakura. "Happy birthday, Chouji! I'll see all you guys tomorrow."
Turning around without another word, Naruto left the restaurant, shoving his hands into his pockets to keep cool in the cool night.
When Naruto had gone far enough away, Neji turned around to Sakura to begin ridiculing her on her words. Unfortunately, any pearls of wisdom that he could have bestowed were interrupted and summarily derailed by the voice of a loud woman echoing down from the other end of the table.
"I remember when she was only this big, and she had the strangest looking belly button. Her father and I kept on consulting the doctor about it because of how unusual it was, we kept thinking something was wrong with her. Oh when did she get so big?" She said with an emotional sob spilling a bit of the sake in her saucer. The woman sitting beside her pink haired husband was none other than the mother of one Sakura Haruno.
"All children have to grow up at some point." The Akimichi matron said with a smile, leaning into her husband. "We are just lucky that our son grew into such a fine young man."
"I remember," said the Haruno matron, voice slurred by the sake, the same beverage forbidden to any and all ninja while the village was on yellow alert. "When she was only three years old and I took her to the market with me to get some groceries. She was getting so hungry because I was talking to one of the vendors about the radishes. She went by the side of the road, and started eating some wild berries. When I found her, I didn't know what she had done, and with my shopping done I went home. Well, later on that night, after dinner, Sakura comes running into my room and jumping up into my bed, saying that there was something making scary noises in her room and asking if she could sleep with us for the night."
Sniggering into her glass, the mother of the increasingly frantic chunin continued her narrative. " well, wouldn't you know it, those berries were actually a mild poison, used as a weak laxative. So when I woke up two hours after my chibi-Sakura had climbed up into my bed, I found something wet on my leg. I woke up my husband, thinking that we'd only have to change the sheets at that point. Sakura at the time was such a terrible bed wetter. It seemed every one or two days I'd have to do more laundry just for all the urinated sheets. And so that's what I'm expecting, just something small like that. So I wake up my husband and that's when the smell hits me."
Sakura stares down at her mother, who continues to embarrass her in front of all of her friends and colleagues, with hands clenched in rage. She is so furious with her mom that she wants to get up and just punch her until she stopped, but she is too embarrassed to even move.
"It's like," Haruno pauses for a moment, searching for the proper terminology, or reference. "Like all of the diapers, that I threw out when she was smaller all came back to haunt me, all at once. And I threw off the sheets, and I knew we were going to have to get a new mattress."
Mebuki Haruno sniggered a bit, accompanied by the knowing looks of the other parents. "Oh kami," She said after calming down a bit, in a voice to quiet to be followed by the eavesdropping teenagers at the other end of the table. "Why couldn't it always be stories like that?"
Oblivious to her mothers matronly worries, Sakura chose that moment to stalk out of the restaurant, not waiting even to say goodbye to her friends to spare herself further indignity.
Shino turned away from the swiftly departing chunin, towards the friends rapidly dwindling in number still seated around the table.
"That escalated quickly."
:Line Break:
It was close to midnight as Sakura stalked down the deserted path that led to the Shinobi Academy. Still fuming silently about her mother being completely embarrassing; almost to the point that she thought that she would never be able to face her friends or her superiors again.
'Sometimes, she just makes me so mad.' Sakura fumed, lashing out and obliterating a nearby tree with her enhanced strength.
'No, I need to stop lashing out. I need to cool down, and think about everything rationally.' Sakura berated herself mentally. 'Everything is going to be fine. Everything will be fine. It's not like virtually every single person in charge of every single shinobi division with the sole exception of my immediate boss was there to hear the single most embarrassing story of my ENTIRE life, and giggled along with it, because why wouldn't they?'
Ceasing her mental ramblings, Sakura lashed out again, eviscerating another tree with a wild punch and a shout of "SHANNARO!"
Arriving at the Shinobi Academy that she had attended so long ago, not the same building of course, that one was destroyed, but the new one.
Set up in the shade of the Hokage monument, this Academy was actually slightly smaller than the original, as there were plans to build a more permanent facility once the threat of war passed. But in the meantime, the facility was perfectly able to handle the present level of students, even coming complete with a playground where those students could either frolic, or practice their own jutsu and skills.
It was into that fenced in playground that Sakura stalked, unobserving of the person who already occupied it.
"Hey, Sakura-chan," Came the faux cheerful voice. "I didn't expect to see you here."
"And why wouldn't I be here?" Sakura snapped.
"Well uhh," Naruto said, stumbling over his words in the face of her sudden assault. "I'm not saying you shouldn't be here, just I wasn't expecting you to be here."
"Maybe I come here every night?" The kunoichi challenged. "What is it to you?"
"You don't come here every night, Sakura-chan." Naruto said confidently. "I'm here every night, and I don't see you."
"Why are you here every night? Why don't you go to bed like a normal person?" Sakura said scathingly, angry that he had called her out on her bluff.
"…Because I'm not normal." The blond said in a quiet voice. "I only need two or three hours a night to sleep. Any more than that is just because I'm bored and there's nothing else to do."
"Oh right, of course." Sakura said, mentally supplying 'Kyuubi.'
"So, what's the matter?" Naruto asked from his seat on the swing.
"UGH, it's my parents." Sakura said with a grown, taking a seat beside him. "Sometimes I envy you. Not having to deal with them or their embarrassing stories would be such a gift. You're lucky."
Naruto almost choked on his tongue at that. "Lucky?"
"Yeah." Sakura said wistfully, ignorant or uncaring of her teammate's emotions. "So, what do you think about Chouji? Crazy, huh?"
"I kinda wish it was me getting the promotion. But I am happy for him." Naruto said with not often seen maturity. "He does deserve it."
"I wish it was me, too. Staying at such a low rank is starting to seem insulting." Sakura said idly, repeating her earlier point.
Ignoring the fresh barb, Naruto stayed optimistic. "You're lucky that you got up to chunin level at least. Here I am, only heading out on big missions because I'm the only person that can deal with enemy heavy hitters like that stupid resurrected Pein, and I'm still a genin! The rest of my missions are all about trying to recapture Tora!"
Sakura bobbed here head, in acknowledgement of his point. "Well you've gotta grow up Naruto. Otherwise Lady Tsunade is going to keep passing you over for promotion."
The genin ninja scowled at the oft brought up point. "I have grown up, but it seems like sometimes there's no one there to see it."
Adopting a questioning look Sakura asked, "Then why did you say something stupid to the Akatsuki today, like 'Wanna Fight?"
"It's because he broke his promise!" Naruto said with a snarl. "When he died so that Konoha could live again, he made a sacrifice, to honor the dead, to restore the balance, and to put the fate of the world into my hands. When he died, it was up to me, the student of prophecy, to lead the world into an era of peace. And now he's back. Did I do something wrong? Have the gods themselves decided that I shouldn't be the one to change the world? Or, more likely, was he just another one of Orochimaru's or Tobi's perverted tricks made to make me doubt myself, and that were only here to bring more death and destruction."
Finishing, Sakura was silent in the wake of Naruto's pent up speech.
"I'm glad to see that you have such a high opinion of me." A deep voice echoed around the playground.
Eyes went wide as both Konohagakure ninja flashed to their feet to face off against the most mysterious member of the infamous Akatsuki.
"I heard you were looking for me earlier?" The man known as Tobi asked, tilting his orange mask adorned face in the way reminiscent of a child asking 'why?'.
A great roaring came from around him as several of Naruto's shadow clones popped into existence and immediately created several Rasengan.
Charging forward in sequence, the clones passed through the masked man one by one. Each was summarily dispelled as the Akatsuki nin lashed out at the back of each clones head.
Midway through dispelling the last clone, a heel caught him on the shoulder knocking him flat into a crater made by the force of the kick.
It took a moment for the dust to settle as Sakura prepared to look down at a mortally wounded nin in smug satisfaction.
"SAKURA!" Shouted Naruto, still standing back by the swing set with his eyes closed.
The warning came too late, as a black fist rose from the dust and smote her across the cheek, sending her rocketing back towards the swing set, and Naruto.
Reaching out an empty hand towards the flying form of his friend, Naruto pushed the chakra out of his hand, extending it and using it to slow, and then stop the momentum of Sakura.
Looking back towards Tobi, the missing nin could make out the orange eyelids, and yellow bar pupils staring back at him.
"Ahh, so this is the legendary Sage Mode that you used to defeat Pein. I'd be interested in hearing how you did that one day." Tobi said, paying apparently no attention to the nin he had been fighting. "But today is special! Today I've come to give you a gift!"
"Bastard!" Naruto ground out between clenched teeth. "I don't want anything from you!"
"Fine then, if you want to be spoiled," Tobi said in a mocking tone, befitting more of a lecturing teacher than a genocidal mass murderer. "I shall have to give it to the lady."
Sakura stumbled to her feet. "What?" She asked through her daze, still a bit fuzzy after taking a monstrous hit from the shrouded ninja. "What are you talking about?"
"To be the first of many to experience my own brand of perfection," He said grandly throwing his arms out to the side. "To have every wish come true, to live in a world without war, that is my gift."
"What?" Sakura said, the formation of a concussion beginning to be fought as Sakura brought a green glowing hand to her head.
"I'll give you a world, where you are known for your strength, and ferocity in battle. A place where there are hallmarks to your ideals in almost every country. I'll grant you a place where you are strong enough to keep the young Uchiha by your side. I will bequeath to you, a place where your parents will never embarrass you ever again.
Sakura knew it was a bad idea. She knew deep down that trusting a man like him would only lead her to bad decisions. She knew that she should say something to refute him, or his offer. But he made it sound so good.
She didn't say a word.
She didn't move.
Tobi knew he had her.
'Damn concussion!' She cursed to herself.
"I do hope you enjoy your new residence to your fullest. Remember to tip your reality warper on the way out!" Tobi said before throwing an orb into the air.
Despite it being such a rookie mistake, both Sakura's and Naruto's eyes followed its path, the crimson hue of it standing out even in the darkness.
Reaching its zenith, the crimson orb framed the moon. The moonlight brought out the finer details that even shinobi eyes couldn't see at this time of night. Smooth groove marks where an artist's touch had detailed it, the true color of the orb aligning more with that of blood than an ordinary red, and most importantly, the three Uchiha-like tomoe that now stared down at Naruto and Sakura.
"Limited Tsukyomi!" The grand and dark voice of the masked man rang out echoing around the park.
In a flash of red light, Naruto and Sakura disappeared from the world.
Where they had stood though, was far from empty
The crimson orb clattered to the ground in between the two people who had taken the young ninja's places.
Where Sakura had stood now stood another woman with pink hair. The hair had been cut short, bare inches from the scalp. Where once had been a pretty but function red vest and skirt now were a plain white undershirt, with long, plain black pants. Over both stood a dark red leather duster, the bottom catching in the night breeze.
To the left of the woman who had replaced Tsunade's apprentice, stood the man who had replaced Naruto. Where once a crime to all fashion orange jumpsuit resided, now existed a dark grey blue robe, complete a pure white fur collar. Over the robe was a similarly fur lined grey-blue cape. Obscuring his face, but not the yellow-blond hair that stuck up behind it, was a white and red kitsune mask. On his feet and hands stood a matching set of brown leather gloves, bracers, shin guards, and sandals.
Tobi looked from right to left, left to right, and uttered a single phrase that would come back to haunt him over the next month.
"Huh…that was unexpected."
:Line Break:
AN
Sorry about not updating my main stories. Everythings been kinda hectic for me, and I'm really trying to pump them out and get a job at the same time, so I can keep writing.
I have this and a million other little stories and one shots that are cooking but not quite ready, as I am constantly on and then immediately off for when my muse comes to visit and then gets shut up by a phone ringing and telling me I am not good enough for janitorial work.
Anyway, hope you enjoy this, How the Road should have gone.