I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.
Chapter 2 -
A calming wind breezed over Konohagakure as the peaceful city woke up. The sun was waking up from his somber sleep as the moon passed her watch to him. Meanwhile the highest office in the land was knocked upon waking one of the most powerful ninja occupying this magnificent village, The Hokage. The blonde Senju prepared herself as she gave the order of entrance.
"Hokage-sama, one of the Chunin who was sent to the land of Mountains has come back. He's ask to see you immediately." the anbu answered.
"Very well, send him in" he nodded and moved out of the way for the ninja. As he entered you could see his attire. He was very tired and out of breath, he must have hurried back with some very bad news. The young man was a brunette with standard Chunin gear and a bo staff attached to his back. As he walked a few paces he bowed down to his leader and resumed position before Tsunade asked him with curiosity. "Fuma, what are you doing back so early. Did something happened at the mission, and where is the rest of your party? Speak!"
"Hokage-sama, everything went wrong, the whole village is in shambles, all the leaders are dead and we had no choice but to request for backup."
Now Tsunade was getting nervous. "Start from the beginning, and make it fast, Anbu assemble the first team available!" Tsunade ordered the two occupants of the room.
"Well you see Hokage-sama…."
FLASHBACK…. 1 week ago….
Naruto let out a big yawn as he scratched his eye and made his way to the front gates. Spotting Shikamaru, another Chunin and two older guys who were chatting up the guards. Naruto made his way over there as he waved to Shikamaru who was also trying to wake up. It was very early in the morning and the rookie Chunin's were not ready for this yet.
"So you finally made it!" the Chunin yelled.
"Hey, the name's Naruto. I was told to meet here for my first Chunin mission"
"Yeah, I know, my name's Fuma Kotaro, and I'm your Chunin leader, for this mission. Now listen up you two cause I won't repeat myself!" he warned as he got the rookies to get serious "Our mission is to lead the those two bureaucrats to the Takigakure in the Land of Mountains, since this is a simple escort mission, we shouldn't have any big problems along the way. But we should still be on guard since these guys are carrying the Treaty between Takigakure and the Land of Frost. We have to escort them there, guard them while the treaty is signed and make sure that they are safe till the people from Land of Frost retreat. This mission should take no longer then 2 weeks. Maybe 3, if the talks go on for a longer period of time. Any questions?" he asked finishing.
"Yeah, Which route will we be taking. I heard that, the land of Mountains and the Land of Frost our at war right now, and since this is a treaty posed from our side, with the land of Mountains, I was wondering if we'll have any interference." Shikamaru asked.
"Like I said we shouldn't worry because this treaty is settled upon by both sides but be on guard we'll be staying on the eastern trail and then all the way up North from the border point so we don't have to go through Frost, just to be safe." he replied as Naruto took the information in.
A few hours passed by as they made their way through. The journey at first was a bit tense because they were all on their guard. But as they passed the bordered they started to ease up. Land of Mountains was truly a very beautiful place. They found themselves on the scenic route as their journey for the day was coming to an end. They had two more days at their current rate to reach Takigakure. As time went by Naruto and Shikamaru started to realize that their leader was only their leader because he completed some big mission. But he wasn't very skilled at leading, he was an average shinobi who was really in over his head. As they all got to know each other they closed in Takigakure. Everything was going very smoothly. They arrived in the village to find the leaders waiting for them at the main gates. So they can be lead in…
"Ah! Welcome Sesshomaru, Sukesada, you guys finally arrived!"
"Toma!" their escorts greeted the receiving party.
"Come on in Leaf Shinobi's let us give you a tour of our village!" Toma said in a boisterous way.
"Thank you sir!" Fuma replied in a very polite manner.
As they walked through the town something very odd was going on. As the trio chunin made their way to the council hall, led by their host and escort, they found people staring at them in a very odd manner. Shikamaru was the first to notice that these guys looked like this was the first time they saw a proper shinobi. But, the worst part was that this village hidden in the waterfalls was in no way a ninja village. First, the shinobi here looked as if they didn't know what the hell was going on. Second the infrastructure itself didn't look stable. The village's entrance was covered by a waterfall, and right as you enter you have to cross a bridge to over the deadly pass of spike hill. After that it was a long hike up the mountain, where after a while they came to a small clearing that had shops and homes of the people that still lived there. They came across many people who looked disheveled and frightened. The villagers were rebuilding some of the buildings that were affected by the attack that was led by the land of Frost.
"Were you guys attacked recently?" Naruto asked the leader Toma.
"Ah yes, a little over three weeks ago, that attack on our home is what led us to this treaty. Hopefully we can get this all over with now. We have already lost many of our shinobis. Our numbers are down to maybe ten thousand, from twenty-six thousand in the last eight years."
"16,000 shinobi's in eight years?!" Fuma asked.
"Yes, they were some of our best ones too" Toma sighed, as his eyes got a sad look of remembrance.
"Wait a minute, if they had already attacked the village, and knew that Takigakure are at their last bit, why did they set up this treaty. Surely they could have just attacked maybe once or twice more and taken over the village. There is something really wrong about this…." Thought Shikamaru as he gave Naruto a very troublesome glance. Which got him to start a private conversation.
"What's wrong?" he whispered so the people ahead could not hear.
"This situation doesn't feel right, if this village was on its last legs, then why not just attack and get it over with? Why sign up the treaty?" Naruto pondered over his friend's dilemma.
"Because, attacking again at a terrain like this could cause major problems, not to mention the amount of resources. If the terrain is used right this place could become an unbreakable fort."
"Yeah I noticed that too, that's probably why they don't have as much damage as they would if this village were settled on a flat ground" Naruto and Shikamaru followed their group in a sturdy building, The Hall of Council. Everyone remained silent till they reached their destination. Just as they were entering the main room, Toma, turned around and asked them to stay outside, since this didn't concern them.
"Um Toma-san?" Naruto asked, "Can you tell me if the party from the land of Frost coming here or are we meeting at a neutral zone?"
"We're meeting here, why?"
"We think, they might be trying to use these talks as an excuse to attack the village from the inside." Shikamaru replied, with a firm nod from Naruto.
"Um excuse him Toma-san, Naruto here is a new rookie. So he likes to overthink situations, please pardon his blatant disrespect" Fuma said giving a disgusted glare.
"Oh no it's quite alright, we thought that as well, but we're taking every precautions" Toma ensured and went inside, while Fuma turned around and eyed his teammates.
"You two, need to keep your theories to yourself or run them by me, you are fresh rookies, and I am your leader you will answer to me, and follow my command. OR I'll make sure you are written up for insubordination. Especially you" he said giving a death glare to Naruto. After which he turned around and muttered something that caught Shikamaru by surprise. Something which Naruto blatantly ignored.
Naruto turned around headed up the hallway onto the balcony that overviewed the south part of the village from where they came from. Shikamaru knowing something was up made the effort to pull up next to Naruto, noticing his grim expression.
"Yo Naruto, what was that about?" he turned to face him with his usual grin and asked.
"What you talking about Shika?"
"Don't give me that, I know something is up, why the hell did he call you that…" Naruto remembered his voice in his head as he had said the two words that he absolutely hated " Demon Scum…".
"Naruto face quickly turned to a grim one, he knew this moment was coming from a long time. As he took in a deep breath and released it he sighed and gave Shikamaru a serious look. "Remember when we got promoted you asked why the village would have a problem with my promotion?"
"Yea, you said you'd let me know, what's this about Naruto?"
"Have you ever noticed, when we were kids, how everybody's parents would warn their kids to stay away from me?"
"Ya in fact my mother said that too, but my father told me to do whatever I thought was right." Shikamaru replied.
"Well they all did that because they think I am a demon, a reincarnation of their nightmare"
"Why?" he gave him a curious look.
"It's a long story, but I'm sure you'll catch on quick" he said. "When the Shodai, defeated Madara and the Kyubi. He helped seal the Bijuu away in his wife. Mito Uzumaki, when she passed away the demon was transferred over to the last remaining Uzumaki after the massacre of Uzushiogakure. Years went by, and after many years of war, came peace with the leadership of the Yondaime Hokage. Little did people know that the Yondaime's best friend and wife had been pregnant." Shikamaru kept looking at him as he was getting more and more confused. "Now pregnancy is great and all for normal people but for Jinchurikis not so much, especially female Jinchurikis."
"Naruto you're not making any sense!"
"Jinchurikis are the people who have a demon sealed inside them, like Mito Uzumaki, and the Yondaime's wife the last of the Uzumaki's. Kushina, also known as the red hot blooded habanero." Naruto gave a small genuine smile when he said her name. "She was the Yondaime's comrade, best friend, and wife. Not many people knew this because their life would have been in danger if they had. But when she gave birth, the Kyubi escaped, the night of October 10th, the day I WAS BORN."
"You're the Yondaime Hokage's son?!"
"And once the nine-tails escaped, my mother became very weak, she soon died right by my father after he sealed the Kyuubi in me." Shikamaru's eyes widened even more. "That's right Shika, I am the nine-tails Jinchuriki, the last of the Uzumaki, and the son of the Yondaime Hokage"
"So that's why you were always alone, and hated and glared at" Shika muttered.
"Yea, I found out about the Kyubi from Mizuki, who betrayed the leaf on the night of our graduation. But I found about the rest when I had dinner with Baa-chan, and pervy sage the night before we left. They said they hid this from me for my own good. And I understand, I understand everything. The duty, the belief, the legacy my father left for me. So what will you do now Shika, will you hate me?" he asked.
"Naruto you're….. So troublesome! Can't you keep anything simple" he said as he sighed. "No Naruto I don't hate you, I respect you for the pain you suffer for fools and cowards like him" he said as he nodded towards their leader.
"But why didn't you tell us this before, us the rookie nine, we're your friends. I'm sure everyone would understand"
"I wish that was true Shika, but even you know it's not plus Jiji made it a law that the younger generation doesn't find out so I can have a peaceful life. By the way that law is still in effect, so you can't tell anyone about any of it. Not even Choji got it?"
"The way I see it, it's not my secret to tell" he replied. "Let's go, they are getting out now".
As they got back they found their leader talking to their escort, and diplomat. After they were done Fuma returned to them.
"We're done for the day. We're staying at the Black Rose inn, you guys are free to do what you want but make sure you're back by nightfall and report here tomorrow at noon. We will be escorting the the diplomats to their talks and then standing guard ill they are done. After which we'll see where the talks go, hopefully we'll be out of this dump by weeks end" with that he turned around ignoring them completely and heading out.
"We should explore the village before we leave, and get to know the layout. I have a feeling these talks are not gonna go as straight as that idiot is thinking" Shikamaru said in all seriousness.
"Yeah, we're gonna need to be ready for anything" Naruto replied with a nod.
As they explored the village they found the place to be very beautiful. The village was settled on the side of a mountain. They came in through the waterfall that led to a bridge, which they crossed, to a upward hill with shops on each side. They led all the way straight to a small tower from which they just came from. Behind the tower you could see a run down castle all the way at the summit. Which overlooked the entire village. On the east side you could see another giant waterfall. Another bridge that connected to a mountain where the village grew its crops. You could see the wheat growing through. You could also notice the small training area where a few ninja's were training with dull weapons. On the west side was also a same type of area but it was covered with the Sakura trees, and houses occupied by the remaining occupants of the village. All in all the small village was beautiful.
"This place is pretty nice, if you can look past the poverty and war that looms over this city" Shika remarked.
"Sure, especially those Sakura trees, they look so peaceful" Naruto replied as he glanced over, the living district.
"Talking about Sakura, how did she and Sasuke take it when you got promoted?"
"I don't know, Sasuke was brooding, I had to challenge him, I used a few tricks to make sure I win, I kept him disoriented and not focused, he could've beat me if he was focused. But a dobe out classing the rookie of the year hurt his pride. I'm sure once we return and get a chance to properly fill our roles they will probably be more vocal about their thoughts" Naruto replied looking a little glum.
"Sasuke's pride will always be his greatest weakness" Shika said.
"I know, but Sasuke's actions influence Sakura's. Her love for him is still a bit… well let's just say she's still a fan girl. Hopefully she'll snap out if it soon, especially after seeing how much Ino has progressed" Naruto replied.
"Nah she's still a fan girl, but she hides it underneath her bossy loudmouth" Shika said nonchalantly.
Naruto gave a slight chuckle as he followed after him towards the abandoned castle. "Yeah, well at least Hinata and Tenten aren't like that".
"Yeah about Hinata, haven't you noticed yet?" Shika asked.
Naruto gave a small smile and replied "Yeah I know, I'm not as dumb as you guys think, I just ignore it because I don't want to make the situation worse".
"What do you mean by that?" he asked again.
"Come on you didn't notice after all this time?"
"If you're talking about Kiba I have, but how can you make the situation worse?"
"It's not just Kiba, it's also Shino, and not to mention her father. Kiba and Shino have a crush on her but they ignore it, Hinata has a crush on me but I ignore it. And if her father found out about any of us he will not ignore it. That's for damn sure"
Shikamaru sighed "Troublesome"
"To be honest Shika, I don't think I know what love is? What Hinata has for me can be compared to what I had for Sakura, but to be honest I just don't know. I never had anyone who'd explain it to me. I also have my trials to being Hokage and all this recent events with the Akatsuki and…"
"Akatsuki?" Shika cut in.
"That's a story for another time, anyways looks like we are here" Naruto said as he motioned to the big castle ahead of them.
It was beautiful, and large, though covered with some melting snow and dead trees. You could see it's former glory. Right beyond the walls that perimetered the castle, was a big fountain, that wasn't working anymore, behind it was a big wooden door, sealed off. The tower on the right side had a rope attached with a weird contraption that led back to the tower they came from. Some kind of old communicating mechanism. But the rest was pretty hidden. They didn't investigate it further so they went of to a clearing by a part of the wall that was broken through and had a small clearing that overlooked the entire village till the waterfall entrance.
"Nice view, this should work" Shika said.
"Yeah, reminds me of the view from the Hokage monument."
"How exactly did you get away with painting it again, and how did you do it, again?"
"What can I say, I got mad skills!" he replied.
"Which is why Iruka sensei caught you?" Shika retorted.
"Come on, it was my last day as an academy student, I wanted to go out with a bang!"
"Whatever, look they can hide their supplies there and stash some people there. I think that area would be most likely be blown apart just for the sakes of a distraction" Shika said as he pointed out a few weak spots in the village security.
"If they think about attacking from the inside. They would need a bigger force then they are bringing in" Naruto replied.
"Yeah but they will be talking for a while, they can easily sneak people in through that bridge even if it looks run down it can probably complement to their skills"
"Well that area that they could use for a distraction is where I would station a few people because more likely then not it will probably a signal for them to attack. And on top of that there is an orphanage there. And with the recent war, it's definitely occupied"
"Yeah, I don't like the layout of this village it is so vulnerable. Maybe we can have a word with that Toma guy after this treaty is taken care of" Shika said.
"Or maybe we should just tell Baa-chan, if it comes from her they will take it seriously" Naruto replied, as he looked back at Shika.
"Yea, I can see that, they probably look at us as mere kids. And after what our oh so great leader said about us they'll probably think even less of us, how troublesome"
"Hmm, well for now I'll make a shadow clone and let him stand guard with you while I keep an eye on their guards. I'll stick with them the moment they cross that bridge. Also as soon as I find something wrong going on I'll have a clone dispel so it gets his memory"
"Okay, and I'll go warn the people nearby those vulnerable spots, and if possible have some of their shinobi on alert. I'll also make sure they are ready to evacuate or fall back on the mere sound of something going wrong"
"Let Fuma focus on protecting our charge while we protect the village. Sounds good to me, man if something does go wrong I can't wait to rub it in Fuma's face"
"Yeah he sounds like a major dick, and coward from what I've seen and heard about him" Shikamaru turned around and started walking downhill with Naruto on his six.
During the Five days….
Preparations for an incoming attack were going smoothly for the two rookie chunin's. They found each other's company sometimes troublesome, but since they had been friends since the academy it wasn't tough. Shikamaru, once found Naruto annoying and just blame troublesome, like all blonde's according to him, but now Naruto was as close to him as Choji, and no doubt will be his best friend. He often thought that Naruto's true self isn't the one everyone thinks it is. He is not just a loudmouth, brash, and the most hyperactive ninja. He's a sincere, hard working, loyal shinobi who hides the truth about himself so the other people around him don't see the sadness in his eyes.
For Naruto, Shikamaru was an enigma, he was smart and protective of the people he cared about but extremely lazy, and everything else truly troublesome. But he didn't mind, because Shikamaru accepted him as himself, and he stayed. To him that's all that matters.
Naruto and Shikamaru warned many people and Shinobi to be ready and on guard from the moment their enemy enter their village till they leave. And always an escape route in sight. They also laid deadly, destructive, and alerting traps in every blind spot they could find. But the party was to arrive soon, and things were getting seriously tense, not just between the villagers but between Fuma and Naruto too. Fuma was too lax in doing his job. Many times Naruto and Shikamaru would have to do his shift simply because he didn't want to and ordered them to so they could gain more experience.
D-Day….
Naruto and Shikamaru were standing side by side looking over the bridge from a building to the east, while Fuma was with Toma's company at the entrance of the bridge. Land of Frost's representative came on horseback. Their company was three time the size of Toma's. Apparently they wanted to have proper back up. As Shikamaru and Naruto keep an eye on the guests the leaders went to the central tower. The incoming party went into three direction North, East, and West. Naruto kept company to West, while a clone went North, and Shikamaru ended up in east. Hours went by and nothing happened, soon the sun was going to set and Naruto and Shikamaru were doubting their predictions. They had almost decided to return for the day when suddenly the Central tower went up in flames. Suddenly the parties they were following got the signal and now they were spreading out killing civilians and shinobi. Shikamaru provided back up for them so they could retreat. Most of them followed the village contingency program. But it was falling apart, since they were already inside. Naruto was creating hundreds and hundreds of clones to provide back up and keep them occupied as he made his way towards the tower. Everybody was confused as to what was going on, in the utter chaos that was sprung in the past few minutes. Nobody saw a pair of black cloaked strangers with straw hats. The designer red clouds made them identifiable to the organization Akatsuki. Out of the two that were standing one had long blonde hair and the other was a weird scarab like person.
"Ah… What an art! I need to express my feelings Sasori, Why don't you head towards the library Leader-sama asked us to look after while I help out our friends with my art!"
"Fine just don't get carried away, we still don't know where it is yet!" the gruff voice replied.
Deidara flew out on his clay bird over the city where Naruto's clones who were getting the others to a secure location caught a glimpse of it and instantly knew what they were dealing with. One of his clones dispelled and the original one quickly spotted him. He tugged on his radio and screamed in the microphone.
"Shika we've got a big problem!"
"What?!" came the reply.
"Remember Akatsuki?"
"Story for another time…?"
"Yea they're here!"
"Who are they?"
"A bunch of S-Class nuke-nins hell bent on world domination by gathering the nine biju's splattered across the world!"
"Well shit…."
"Yeah, we need to get together and focus our attacks on him!"
Naruto ran over to Fuma who was guarding the village elders. "Fuma! Get the elders and everyone to safety. Let the soldiers here take charge against the foot soldiers Shika and I will deal with the guy in the sky. He is an S-class nuke-nin, probably a merc!" OR THEY CAME FOR ME!
Naruto ran away to find Shika while Fuma watched his back with his mouth open when he turned around to see the elders and Toma.
"I thought you said they were rookies, just who the hell are they?"
"They are rookies and they should be following my orders not ordering me around, we don't have time for this right now but I will make damn sure they get punished for this!"
"Well they seem to have a better handle on this then yo-" Toma was cut off as the village began to blow up. "Let's get to the safe zone.
Naruto ran over to Shika who was staring at the nin dropping bombs on the houses and shops, where everything was on fire, getting obliterated. A beautiful village turned into a burning nirvana, this was worse then Orochimaru's attack on Konohagakure.
"This guy is way out of our league!" Shika said.
"I know, Shika, but we're all that's got between death and enslavement"
""No shit Naruto, were gonna need to give all we've got and even that won't be enough…"
"Ne Shika…" Shikamaru turned towards Naruto who had a genuine smile on his face as he looked at him "If I die here… If we die here I'm glad it's…. It's with a friend"
Shikamaru looked in his eyes with sincerity "No… you're not my friend Naruto" Naruto frowned and looked as if his world was trembling down, "You're my brother… and I'm glad that I'm fighting to protect innocent people and while watching your back!"
As if the world had just turned 180 Naruto found his heart flutter as he realised Shika was right he was his brother, and Naruto was his, he finally has what he always longed for a family.
"Let's go out with a bang eh?" Naruto replied with a big smile as he bit his finger and did the hand signs for his summoning jutsu on which Gamabunta appeared ready with his sword.
"Eh Gaki, you're really putting me to work summoning me so soon after Shukaku, I will need a lot more sake after this!"
"You got it boss toad!" Naruto said standing next to Shika on Bunta's head. Alright first of all we need to take charge and secondly we need to distract him before he destroys anything more!"
"Yeah how do you suppose we do that?" Shika asked.
Naruto looked as if he was thinking really hard when he remembered something very important. It was what Haku had said to him in the forest that day. "Warriors of Takigakure!" He yelled in his loudest and heaviest voice ever, "THIS IS YOUR HOME DON'T LET THE ENEMY DESTROY IT REMEMBER YOU'RE NOT FIGHTING FOR YOURSELF OR SOME BUILDINGS BUT YOU'RE FIGHTING FOR YOUR PEOPLE! FOR YOUR LIFE!" he yelled getting some acknowledgement but not what he needed so he continued. FIGHT TO PROTECT YOUR PEOPLE DIE FOR YOUR COUNTRY LIVE LIKE LEGENDS!"
You sound interesting, perhaps this will be more fun then I thought UNH!" the bombardier yelled "Who is this kid? With just a few words he has these cunts fighting back hard unh.
HEY GUYS SORRY FOR STALLING FOR SOOO LONG I GOT SO BUSY WITH WORK THAT I COMPLETELY FORGOT ABOUT THE UPDATE NOT TO MENTION SCHOOL! ANYWAYS I'M BACK NOW SO LET"E CONTINUE EH AND AS ALWAYS DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!
