I saw the ending scene to Naruto Shippuuden: The Movie. I had to write this.
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Tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap
Footsteps echoed through the dark hallways.
Ta-thump ta-thump ta-thump ta-thump
The young man's heart was pounding in his head.
He turned into a room, bursting through the grand double doors, the size of the building they were housed in.
"SHION!" the man called out. Short and spikey yellow hair was covered in sweat. He had looked over the entire area, looking for Shion. Not one to give up, he ran through the room. It was obviously the throne room for the enemy who had done this...
Sure enough, she was on the throne, tied up and gagged. A relieved smile was on his face, but it was short lived as he ran to her. He pulled the gag down, and before he could speak...
"BEHIND YOU!" was all he heard, before he turned to see a kunai headed for his face.
The man caught it easily, throwing it back in zero time. He charged behind it, aiming a punch at the attacker. As the man raised his fist back, he then caught a look of his assailant.
"You're..."
A sickening ripping sound echoed through the room, before the captive screamed.
"NARUTOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"
--
A roaring yawn sounded through the Hokage Mansion, as one Uzumaki Naruto looked up. He had fallen asleep at the desk again. At the age of twenty, Naruto had been selected as a candidate for Hokage and elected to the position, but only if he learned the job better under an apprenticeship under Tsunade.
The number one most suprising ninja took to the Hokage-in-Training job like a fish did to water, like Kakashi and Jiraiya to porn, or like Rock Lee to sake. Wait, bad example. Anyways, Naruto has come a long way from the headstrong genin. Shortly after Sasuke was reinstated, Naruto and he took the chunin exam with a kunoichi that had failed previously, due to a broken foot leaving her unable to fight in the finals.
Needless to say, Naruto's team passed with flying colors. Team Seven was whole, again. And even Sai made new friends to have a regular team with. After all, Danzo's treachery had been exposed by the emotionless youth "accidentally".
So everything seemed to be working out for Naruto.
Well, except for the whole "can't get a girlfriend" thing. You see, dear reader, Uzumaki Naruto has a slight girl problem. Sure, they all think he's funny, sweet, and charming...
But all the girls he has ever been interested in? Well, they're all either taken or they think of him as a brother. A kid brother, even, which did nothing to help the Hokage-to-be's self-esteem.
But besides that, Naruto's life had been going perfectly. Akatsuki was dead, Jiraiya was resting peacefully, Sasuke was back... the list went on and on. The villagers loved him, the shinobi corps revered him.
And he was going to be an uncle.
Sasuke had adopted Naruto into the Uchiha clan as his brother, and had wasted no time in reviving the Uchiha clan with Sakura. Naruto had been hurt for a while when Sakura went to the last of the Sharingan wielders, but he got over it, following the example of his dead Godfather.
Speaking of parents, Naruto had found out, and released to the public, his lineage, which boosted his look to the village. Nothing like having the greatest ninja ever as your father... it gave you some status. Of course, Naruto would argue that the greatest one was the son, not the father, but that is a moot point.
The trainee stood up, stretching his back. He had been working on some paperwork when he fell asleep, mission requests, if he remembered correctly.
He'd get back to that later. He was hungry, he wanted to bathe, and he needed to stretch.
After fixing himself food, showering, and a lot of stretching and joint-popping, Naruto sat back down at the desk.
He rubbed his temples, feeling the oncoming of a headache as he looked at a bit of drool on a scroll... and it was an A-rank mission scroll, too.
"Ugh... oh!" Naruto's discontent ended when he read over the paper.
It was a mission to Demon Country.
Naruto sat back in his chair, contemplating. He hadn't been on a field mission in months. An A-rank mission might be enough to break up the monotony!
Grinning a true prankster grin, the blonde ninja stamped an approval after scrawling his name on the mission scroll. He grabbed the rest of them and teleported to Tsunade's office. Not surprised to see Shizune, he waved at his older sister.
"Hey, Shizune-nee-chan. Sorry to do this, but I found a mission that looks good to me. Tell Tsunade I'm taking Lee and we're going to Demon Country. There's another guard mission there at a temple." Naruto said, before placing the paper work on the desk of the Gondaime.
Shizune only nodded, knowing that Naruto's mind had been made up and that Tsunade's wrath would come on to him later. It was something she had grown used to in eight years.
Naruto wouldn't be Naruto without impulsiveness.
She smiled at the boy, and nodded.
"I'll be sure to tell her, Naruto-kun. Be safe!" With that, the dark-haired woman shook her head, and went back to her task of preparing everything for Tsunade.
Naruto had had little trouble finding Lee. It was still rather early in the day, which meant that the green-clad ninja was exercising. Surely enough, Naruto found his jumpsuit-wearing fellow ninja with relative ease. He was kicking a post. With weights on his ankles... and he was standing on his feet. Naruto's head shook.
"You're rather early today, Naruto-kun."
The orange ninja smiled, nodding.
"We've got a mission. A-Rank to mission country. Taking out the copy he had made of the scroll as he had approved the mission, he read all of the details given to him.
"Ah! So we're going back to see Shion-sama!" Lee said, nodding.
Naruto shook his head.
"We have no way of knowing if we're guarding her or not. She can't be the only priestess they have. Demon Country is rather big for a minor country, but I do think that paying her a visit after the mission wouldn't hurt. Tsunade says I should take a break more often. I've already set up the mission for the two of us, but I'm more than willing to go by myself." Naruto said, knowing that little persuasion was needed with Lee. Sure enough, the green ninja had stopped listening and jumped into the air with his hands, flipping onto his feet, and standing upright.
Naruto grinned, handing the scroll to Lee.
"Yeah! I'm in, Naruto-kun!" Lee said, grinning at his friend.
Naruto nodded, and gave a thumbs up.
"Meet you in an hour, at the west gate." Naruto said, before poofing away in true ninja style.
An hour later, Naruto and Lee met at the west gate. They both had everything they would need. A week's worth of rations each, clothes, extra jumpsuits, tents... it looked, to one inexperienced with shinobi, as if the two young men were going on a camping trip.
With a grin, and a thumbs up between the two of them, the two ninja nodded and suddenly blurred away,running at insane speeds.
Naruto and Lee had become rather close over the years. Lee was as much of a brother to him as Sasuke was. . The green jumpsuit-clad ninja had taught Naruto the Iron Fist, trained with him on a nearly day-to-day basis, and Naruto helped Lee learn how to fight against overwhelming numbers, a tricky opponent, and they both admired the other for their ninja paths.
And besides: They had the best fashion sense in all of Konoha. Everyone would laugh in agreement with the two whenever they said it, so they knew it to be true. After all, nothing could beat orange and green or jumpsuits of any color.
But over the years, Lee and Naruto have quickly become known as the Sonic Boom Duo of Konoha. The Handsome Blue Beast, and the Raging Crimson Fox. And occasionally, Sasuke would be part of the group, as the Mysterious Black Hawk.
Sasuke would sigh, a small twitch of anger and embarrassment in his eyes whenever that name would come up. Naruto would never understand why.
It sounded cool to him.
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After nearly a day of high speed endurance traveling, Naruto and Lee both found a nice clearing. The sun was setting, and the day was quickly becoming night. The two ninjas set up camp. Naruto made a Shadow clone to watch, and the two real ninja went to sleep, their race having tired them slightly.
They were halfway there.
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Many miles away, a lone cloak-covered man kneeled in front of a shadowed person sitting on a throne.
"My lord. The Priestess has requested assistance from Konoha. My most loyal spies tell me that the eventual Rokudaime and one of his partners, Rock Lee, are headed there personally. What should we do, sire?"
The man, covered by shadows, smiled.
"If they get in the way, kill them both. I doubt two little ninja, S-Ranked or not, can stop the full force of our power. Just make sure to capture the wench of a Priestess when the time is right. Until then... do not fail me, Kabuto. Or you will die."
Kabuto looked up, and nodded his head.
"Yes, my master."
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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor do I own any other book, anime, or series of anything mentioned in this fiction. I profit from this only in the satisfaction of knowing that I'm adding to the fandom with something new. Thank you. Come again.
