I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR ITS CHARACTERS, I OWN THIS STORY AND ANY CHARACTERS I CREATE.
Thanks to everyone who reviewed, keep them coming
Remember that this is only the third chapter, I won't be revealing everything about the relationship between Naruto and his parents, this is simply a single point of view
Chapter 3: Mission Report
Prove your skill
-_-Flashback
-5 years ago-
"Very good Naruto" Minato says seeing his son someone two clones "With this and the speed you are picking up my teleporting techniques I'll be able to retire and let you be Hokage" he says placing his hand on top of the grinning boys head
"Do you really think I can be strong like you?" the innocent tone of a boy admiring his father was a sight but Minato was sure Naruto would surpass him.
"Of course" he says "Let's see what mom is up to and you can show her how strong you are" he says and Naruto suddenly runs in front of him.
"They were showing us how to determine our Chakra nature today and they said I have two natures, Water and Lightning AND that I have a Kekkei Genkai! You don't have one right?" he asks and it takes Minato a moment to gather all the info he's been dealt before answering.
"Amazing...If I remember those fuse to become Storm Release" Minato says "I'll see if I can find some way to teach you" he says and Naruto nods enthusiastically. Over the next week Naruto began practising tapping into both Chakra natures at once, the only other Kekkei Genkai user in the Village was an ANBU who used the Firsts Wood Release. The only help he had thought was telling him that he needed to be able to get a nature flowing through each hand separately so that when he formed the Hand Signs the chakra would fuse.
Soon enough Naruto had the basic's down, or so they thought, as their simple training routine ended with the screams in horror from Kushina
Naruto's arms where severely burned
Flashback End_-_
"Naruto was in hospital for 8 months recovering" Minato begins "It seems when he tried to fuse the natures together he didn't balance them out and the Jutsu backfired" he thinks back remembering the horror in Kushina's eyes "For a long while the doctors weren't sure if he would have full function in his arms after the accident...if Lady Tsunade hadn't been in the village at the time...Naruto wouldn't be a Shinobi, he be lucky if he could hold a book"
"Then why does he hate you?" Kakashi asks
"The moment he got out he wanted to go back into practising his Kekkei Genkai...rather than try and distract him all I could think about was how it affected Kushina and the thought of it being much worse next time if he failed...so I forbade him from practising it" he says and Kakashi seemed to understand, by outright forbidding Naruto came off the same way as making Naruto think his father did not believe in him. When you believe the person you respect doesn't believe in you it can have a negative effect on a young mind.
"So now Naruto trains alone without asking you for help?" Kakashi asks and Minato nods, if he wasn't Hokage he might try and fix their relationship, but he has missed his chance. "After refusing to help Naruto train in his Kekkei Genkai Naruto would go straight out after school, at first I simply thought he was playing with his friends but soon enough I learned he was training in the forest alone, he stopped asking for my help all together and every report he brought home from school was handed with distain like he didn't want to show me how he was progress" he sighs "And any encouragement I gave seemed like an insult to him" he spins around in his chair to look out the window "And Kushina fell victim by association, Naruto avoids her to prevent interaction with me" he turns back around.
"Children will always rebel, remember how I was? In time Naruto will understands and then you can start to form a connection" Kakashi begins; he hated his younger self for how he handled his father's death. "Now that he is a Shinobi you can show in subtle acts your faith in his abilities, not as only as Hokage but as his father"
"He'll be annoyed with the D Rank Missions but I can't give him preferential treatment" Minato says "We will see what their mind sight is tomorrow" he says putting a few D ranked scrolls on his desk "Maybe I can figure something to benefit their team training" he thinks
_Later on at home_
Unable to ditch dinner again Naruto sat at the opposite side of the table from his parents reading a book on advance Water Style Ninjutsu, "If Sasuke uses Fire and Lightning, then I'll enhance my Water Style to balance it out" he thinks biting down on a leaf of lettuce, "I hate this bonafide grass but I'm eating too much Ramen lately and need to balance my carbs" he glances at his parents who seemed to be talking about their day.
"It's been awhile but having two boys hasn't slowed Mikoto down at all" Kushina says "Though Itachi really is self sufficient, though he always has been" she says with a smile "And Sasuke has grown up into a fine young man himself, quite the heartbreaker I'd say, just like you right Naruto?" she asks turning to the Genin.
"Sure whatever" Naruto says going back to his book "The hand seals on this one are so complicated...maybe I can work on them tomorrow while my clone does the chores" he thinks knowing full well what lay ahead for his team tomorrow.
"I heard that you were teamed with Sakura as well, the pink haired girl from the ceremony" Kushina begins "She was quite cute" she smirks slyly.
"She is also head over heels for Sasuke" he says suprising her "Guess he is the better lady killer" he says with a tone filled with sarcasm. Once finished he stands up closing the book "I'm heading out, I'll be back before midnight" he says and Kushina sighs slightly.
"Maybe you should take a night off, you will be starting your first mission tomorrow" Minato says and Naruto scoffs.
"Send the drop outs on those glorified chores" he says going to the door only to have Kushina grab his wrist.
"Enough, you will not talk down to your father" she says earning a glare "Go to your room, you are grounded" she says and he drops his book, Minato rose from his chair. The utter hostility oozing from Naruto had him on edge.
"He wouldn't attack her" he thinks however all his muscles where ready to intervene, there was a time Kushina would have handled Naruto just fine...however the complications at Naruto's birth caused a great strain on her body forcing her to retire, added that the majority of her Chakra kept the Nine Tails sealed away meaning if Naruto attacked he could seriously hurt her and worse than that cause the Nine Tails to rampage.
"You really have such a low opinion of me...Lord Hokage" he says with venom when uttering Lord Hokage "I would never attack a defenceless woman" he says turning around "Grounded huh...whatever" he says heading to his room.
Once he was gone Minato approached his wife "Are you ok?" he asks, she doesn't answer right away leaning down to pick up the discarded book, he body was shaking and a few tears fell to the floor
"No...I'm not" where the only words she said with a weak whisper
Two days later
After an entire morning of more terrible D rank Missions, they took a break to train. While Sakura continued to read her Medical books while practising on small animals, Sasuke began training with a sword, it was Itachi's old Sword which had been mended and shaped to work with Sasuke's height, since he was smaller than Itachi. Meanwhile Naruto had begun training with Water Style, Kakashi sparred with Sasuke since like Itachi he also used to wield a sword from his ANBU days.
"This is so boring...I want to train like they do" she sighs looking at the fish atop the scroll under her glowing green palms, suddenly the fish bursts back to life flopping until back into the lake, all three look at her as she hopes to her feet "I DID IT!" she cheers.
"In only one day...impressive" all three think together, however before she has time to truly celebrate Kakashi places a bird on the scroll "huh?" she looks at him.
"Keep going, don't rest with one success, keeping going until it becomes second nature" Kakashi says and she nods beginning to heal the bird.
Ignoring the other Naruto formed the Tiger, Ox, Tiger, and Rat Hand Signs "Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu" Naruto expels a large quantity of water in the form of a powerful torrent towards the lake with a lot of force, he forms the hand signs again and repeats the attack to make sure he didn't lose any power.
"Amazing" Sakura says taken back by Naruto, "He looked angry for the past two days, it seems training like this has cheered him up" she thinks with a hint of relief being that today was their first official day as a team, having one of her comrades upset was affecting her ability to focus...not that she wanted to reflect her failings on to Naruto.
"Let's try this one next" he says reading the page, Kakashi was amazed at his ability to learn A Jutsu simply by reading it, most people use those books as a guide AFTER seeing how it's done. Naruto walks onto the lake before he creates the Tiger Hand Seal "Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu" as a clone is formed by the water around him. "Using a Shadow Clone and a Water Clone could be useful, but it'll take time to properly gel them into my battle style"
Sasuke sheathes his sword as Kurenai appears "Kakashi it seems Lord forth has a mission for our squads" she says suprising him.
"A joint mission?" he says "Let's go you three" he turns to his team who nod, "So Kurenai how is your team doing?" he asks to make conversation, they were in the academy together however with everything that happened in the war along with his time in ANBU Kakashi grew apart from his friends and was now only reconnecting with them.
"They are doing fine, Yondaime seemed to make my team specialize in tracking, a member of the Aburame Clan, Inuzuka Clan and Hyuga Clan" she states looking over to Kakashi's team "These three all scored top of the class right?" she asks.
"Yeah, Sensei figured Naruto and Sasuke would grow better alongside each other as rivals, while Sakura would learn more about Shinobi life if she worked alongside the two most powerful Genin"
"Most powerful? Sure they scored top of the class but it's early to tell which team will grow stronger, not to boast but Kiba is a formidable fighter and Shino is a brilliant tactician, and Hinata has excellent control over the Gentle fist" she states.
"Sakura has already begun master Medical Ninjutsu after a single day, Sasuke's visual prowess surpasses many of his clan and his Sharingan haven't fully developed yet, Naruto has shown he is every bit as formidable as his father. As it stands I strongly believe they are Chunin material already" he finishes
"I guess we will find out on the mission, Asuma's team is coming too" she says and Kakashi is taken back, he thought it may be a simple escort mission but now he isn't so sure.
_The Hokage tower_
All Genin where standing in a line in front of their Jonin Sensei, Minato was standing up and in front of his desk, he glanced at Kakashi who nodded "I have heard you are all complaining about the lack of a good challenge" he says and Shikamaru raises his hand saying "I wasn't". "Well you're here by association then" he jokes as the young Nara sighs "Here is a C-rank escort mission" he begins "A Bridge Builder named Tazuna has already paid however he assured me the danger would be minimal" he pauses looking at Naruto "He wants to go home to the Land of Waves" he sees it register with Naruto "While the mission is expected to be a simple straight forward mission it is a prime chance to get you all wet behind the ears in regards travelling from the village to the mission location"
"So all 9 of us and three Jonin...for a simple straightforward" Sasuke crosses his arms, he too looked at Naruto figuring the Hokage was having a secret conversation with his son "Wouldn't one team suffice?"
"Maybe, however the three Jonin will only shadowing you from afar and will only intervene if you can't cope" Minato states, "I have faith you will handle yourselves just fine" he smiles "I will be making Naruto and Sasuke team leaders for this Mission, Naruto knows the rout you will be taking and Sasuke will be his backup" he says with a serious tone and they nod "Naruto you wait, everyone else dismissed" he says and waits until he and Naruto are alone "You know why I made you team leader?" he asks and Naruto nods.
"Yeah, if I remember...that country was in the middle of Coup?" he asks and Minato nods "Tazuna...this mission is more dangerous than C isn't it?" he asks and Minato nods.
"When I became a Sensei it was in the middle of a war, every mission was Dangerous" Minato begins "In these times of peace it's good to truly test a Genin, a mission like this is a good opportunity" he states.
"And if it's too hard?" Naruto asks and Minato hands him the missions scroll
"If it's too hard then you have no right to act all mighty, Kakashi was doing missions ten times harder than this solo when he was younger than you" Minato challenges "All you want is to prove your strong...well prove it, or all this training you do is pointless"
Glaring for a moment he looked at the scroll, this was everything he wanted "Dad is giving me a test...I'll ace it" he thinks before looking "I'll need to set up a plan with the others, should I warn them about the Coup?" he asks
"It's your mission Naruto, you decide what details are important" he says and Naruto nods "Be careful, mind your surroundings and never underestimate your enemy...I don't know what obstacles you will be facing so be vigilant" he sees Naruto nod "I'll see you at home, I have one final thing to give you" he says and Naruto turns to leave.
"Thanks for the opportunity...Dad"
Team 7 Training Ground
"A Coup?" Shikamaru asks for confirmation and Naruto nods, while it might have been smarter to wait and see however telling them now would mean they could better prepare for it "Then why is it a C-Rank?" he asks.
"The Coup has been going on for at least a year by now, it's likely the country is on the verge of poverty...if it isn't already, this was probably all they could afford" Naruto says "Chances are this guy will also be a high value target" he states "The Land of waves is cut off from the main land so you need a boat to do trade, however the guy trying to seize power controls the main docks which means he controls the trade and thus the country is broke, however the bridge builder we will be guarding is likely building a bridge which means" he pauses...
"The guy in charge of the Coup will want him dead which means we should be expecting Shinobi to be among his ranks" Shikamaru sighs "What a drag"
"Then this mission is way too dangerous" Ino says in an attempt to be the voice against taking this mission on "I mean we've barely been Genin for a couple days" she states.
"It doesn't matter" Sasuke says stepping forward "If we don't seize this opportunity, who knows when it'll come back around" he clenches his fist "I did not spend all that time training to pick weeds in gardens, catch run away pets and carrying groceries" he glares "By this time my brother was ANBU, if I can't complete an escort mission then I might as well quit being a Shinobi right now"
"This is a test, our chance to prove we aren't kids playing Shinobi" Naruto says looking at them all "If you are in the stand up with me" he decrees and Sasuke and Sakura stand, surprisingly Hinata stands up fast too.
"I want...to prove myself too Naruto" she says and he smiles nodding, Kiba and Shino stand in solidarity for Hinata.
"Well Team 10, what about you guys?" Sakura asks and Ino sighs as she and her team stand, "So Naruto what's the plan?" she asks
"Listen close"
_The following morning_
"I expected real Shinobi but instead I get a gang of children?" Tazuna scoffs, his comment annoyed some of the Genin but Naruto was focused on the mission.
"Alright, Team 8 take your positions" The Blonde says, Kiba takes his position up front while Shino takes Rear guard, with Hinata in the middle.
"So Naruto is using Team 8 to their strength, tracking enemies is their speciality" Kurenai thinks watching the group take off. The three Jonin had hidden them well, only a sensor would be liable to find them.
Sasuke and Sakura walked either side of Tazuna while Team ten walked as a group behind them while Naruto stood in front close to Hinata. "So Blonde boy, I take it you have some relation to the Yondaime?" he asks.
"Yeah, I'm his son" Naruto says making sure to be on alert; he knew a sneak attack would be coming soon but where would be the question. "Anything?" he asks and she shakes her head. She knew her Byakugan wasn't the strongest, but having Naruto near her helped motivate her.
"I've heard Lord Minato is perhaps the Greatest Shinobi to hold the position of Hokage since Hashirama Senju of the Elder Days" Tazuna says and Naruto scoffs slightly.
"Comparing one to a man long dead is pointless, besides it's hard to believe anyone will ever be as strong as a man considered "God of Shinobi" throughout the world" Naruto says seeing a white rabbit suddenly enter their path, as well as a puddle.
"Yeah it is Naruto" Sasuke says with his Sharingan activated, "The Byakugan can allow the user to see at a near 360 degrees and allows the user to see through objects and even the Chakra Network however it doesn't look like Hinata has trained hers very well" Sasuke thinks "Fortunately my Sharingan can see Chakra as colours" he thinks so he knew they were heading for a trap.
Soon they reach a bend, Naruto grabs Tazuna suddenly as two shadows appear and encircle the two with a chain "Together" one says to the other as they begin to pull the chain in an attempt to rip both Naruto and Tazuna to shreds. However Naruto foreseeing this teleports them out using a Kunai he gave to Shino, this way Tazuna would be at the back and the attackers would be surrounded "we are The Demon Brothers, Gōzu and Meizu" one of the Chunin level Shinobi says.
"Sasuke lets go with that attack" Naruto says and Sasuke nods pulling out a Raijin Kunai and throwing it into the air before forming the hand Signs to use his Jutsu after Naruto. The other teams were still reeling by the sudden appearance of the enemy.
"Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu" Naruto uses his new Jutsu and completely soaks the Demon brothers leaving a path of water from them to Sasuke.
"Chidori" Sasuke presses his lightning based attack into the path sending the current straight to the Chunin shocking them before they have a chance to gather their counter attack. "Chunin from The Mist Village...no, these guys are Rouge" he comments.
Naruto lands in front of them "Tie them up, let the tracking Unit deal with them" he says turning to the group which had gathered "Looks like we will be setting up camp, I need to contact the Hokage" he says and all their eyes widen.
"You little shit, don't mock me" one of the brother says, with his armed claw bringing it down on Naruto who had become paralyzed with fear and shock and for the first time couldn't act...luckily for him...
"Hakke Kūshō" Hinata raises her palm pushing forward which fires a blast of air at the man sending him flying into the tree.
Naruto falls back "H-He almost got me...if Hinata hadn't acted fast...I'd be dead" his eyes where widened, this was what Minato warned him about and their first enemies almost got him.
_Camp_
Sasuke found himself pinned between Ino and Sakura...much to his annoyance, Shikamaru was already out for the night while Choji was munching away like normal, Kiba went to mark areas for safety while Shino was studying the local insects, and their builder was drunk and unconscious. Naruto was writing a report to send back to his father; The Demon Brothers had been tied up and likely found by their Sensei's. However he was hoping to get some Intel that might link the Chunin with known associates and help prepare for the next attackers.
"N-Naruto" he hears the timid voice of Hinata call to him, she hands him a cup, and pours some soup into it for him "Hopefully this will keep you warm" she says, too shy to say she made it herself but Naruto already knew.
"Thanks" he says taking a sip "Hopefully I'll get a reply before we leave tomorrow" he says biting his thumb to draw some blood" forming the Boar, Dog, Bird, Monkey, and Ram Hand Signs "Kuchiyose no Jutsu" he says summoning a red toad "Cute" he hears Hinata mumble and smiles. "Kōsuke can you get this to my day along with a fast reply?" he asks and the toad salutes.
"Of course Lord Naruto" he says before hopping away and towards the Hidden Leaf, once gone Naruto returns to drinking his soup, he had to admit it was refreshing, he brought some food pills, however his mother also packed him food into some scrolls, the Uzumaki clan was renowned for its sealing...not that he was any good at it.
"You were amazing today...I see why Lord Fourth made you leader" Hinata comments, she was really happy to be on a joint mission with Naruto. Ever since he helped her with some bullies she has had a crush on him but now she felt even if it was a little she was seeing Naruto more as a person and less as a boy she liked.
"I'm glad you're on this mission, if you weren't then I would be dead" he says looking at his mugs, "I owe you" he says and she shakes her head.
"We're comrades right?" she asks and he smiles a little and nods "You just keep being you, and I'll help you...even if it's only a little" she thinks standing up "I'm going to go and find Kiba...goodnight Naruto" she says and he nods.
"Hinata" she pauses hearing him call her name, she freezes without turning around and feels his hand on her shoulder.
"Thank you"
The End
Hope you like this chapter, writing fights seems to be my weakness. I modified the Land of Wave Arc so I could begin building the relationships between Naruto and Hinata along with Sasuke and Sakura.
Also Naruto's relationship towards his parent's changes depending on their interaction, and Minato only knows his own side of the story so look forward to Naruto filling in the blanks in later chapters
In the Next Chapter we will see all the teams flush slightly
Till Next Time
~DoTheBartMan
