Jonin Hatake Kakashi thought himself a reasonably sane person.
Considering the fact that he had lost his father to suicide on his graduation day, his friend/rival during his first mission as team leader due to his stupid arrogance and his other teammate as she impaled herself on his Chidori and his parent figures to the Kyūbi attack within a eight year period.
He then was taken in by the Shinobi no Yami himself, Shimura Danzō as part of his personal black ops division as he went hunting the most dangerous people on the face of the planet, the fact that his only vice was (apparently) porn and a tendency to be late for almost all appointments instead of alcoholism, suicidal tendencies or even drug abuse, should be considered a victory, both to his resilience and the inhuman determination of his best friend Maito Gai.
Everyone else thinks of him as a worn out has-been.
If only they could see him now as he ducked under the high kick of his sensei's son as the boy flicked shuriken at him, causing him to shunshin above the boy, aiming a drop kick, which was redirected by a palm strike and a punch was aimed at his solar plexus.
Grabbing his wrist, he tossed the boy into a nearby tree, which the boy retaliates with a thrown kunai. He deflected it with a kunai of his own, when the exploding tag wrapped around its handle detonated with a blinding flash and disorienting bang. And was that... chilli powder?
Blinded and deafened, with no sense of smell, he kawarimied with a shadow clone as he reoriented himself. As the tinnitus and flashes receded, he saw his clone disarm Naruto of his tanto and pin him to the ground with a kunai at his throat.
"Ok" his clone said and the boy went slack. All his teachers' learnt the hard way that the boy was relentless. He would do everything in his power to win and if he was going to lose, he would make the victory a pyrrhic one.
That had been a scare and a half, especially for Yuugao, who hadn't expected the bo... Naruto to let himself be impaled by her so that he could mark her once. After the panic attack that caused, and his subsequent hospitalisation and recovery, the... Naruto was sat down by the Sandaime and Danzō-san along with all of his instructors.
Sitting in a seiza, the b... Naruto had been made to explain himself. And t... Naruto's answer chilled them to the bone.
"I am a jinchuriki. A weapon. I needed to be sure that I had what it would take to win. At all costs." he said, his face placid, voice emotionless. And for a second, they all saw another young ninja in his place.
"Naruto..." began the Sandaime, but Naruto cut him off.
"No Sensei, I needed to know. I am a weapon just by what I am. I may have to put my life on the line for my home. I will do everything in my power to keep it safe. Even if it costs my life. So I needed to know that I can do it. After all, victory costs. And if my own parents' could do it, why can't I?" he said, a mirthless smile crossing his lips, all cynical sardonicism at everyone's look of shock.
"Didn't think I wouldn't figure out who my father was? Or I wouldn't find records of my mother? I may not be a genius prodigy" he spat out, his disgust apparent at the label, "but I am not an idiot. I just dropped the pretense that I was one"
"Something against prodigies?" Kakashi asked him, his tone deceptively mild. Cold blue eyes bored into him with the intensity of a raiton attack.
"Unrealistic expectations" he replied laconically, which caused everyone to blush or choke. Except for two.
The Sandaime Hokage and Danzō-san were looking at the boy with concern and sadness. Then, their faces tightened up, the concern locked behind iron walls.
"Uzumaki Naruto. You will participate in mandatory counseling sessions with Yamanaka Inoichi once every three days if you wish to continue the training you are receiving. Otherwise all support will be withdrawn for you. Am I clear?" came the voice of the Hokage, his words laced with the power he held within himself as the Shinobi No Kami. Naruto made to protest, then closed his mouth, took a breath to centre himself and then bowed.
"Yes, Hokage-sama" he replied, his voice bland.
"Dismissed" the Hokage ordered, and the boy got up, bowed to the room, then pivoted around to leave. As he was about to exit, the Hokage called out to him.
"And Naruto?" he stopped and turned to look at the Hokage with an unreadable gaze.
"I do not need to stress on the importance of your honesty during the session, do I?" he asked. Naruto nodded curtly with a quiet "Yes Sensei" and departed from the room. Once the door was sealed shut did the Hokage let out a deep sigh, looking every day of his age.
"We failed him Danzō" he said, and the man shared a grim look with his old friend.
"That was what I would have been for..." he trailed off, his gaze distant. Danzō snapped out of his reverie and turned to the Hokage.
"I think we should go with Plan C, Hiruzen" he said, his voice was deceptively calm. Kakashi could literally taste the fear rolling off of the man.
"If I may ask, what is Plan C?" asked Nara Shikaku, the Jonin Commander, his tone and eyes giving away his thoughts, which basically said 'and why was I not informed?'.
"It's a list of my possible successors. Naruto is one of the candidates" he forestalled the protests with a raised hand and continued "not now. Nor for some years to come. But, he has that spark in him, that little something extra which will set him apart from all others. And it needs to be nurtured"
On seeing Danzō's nod, the other jonins acquisised to the decision, though internally wondered what he meant and what both men, hardened Shinobi and war veterans saw.
And Naruto was watched closely.
They saw the hatred and apathy directed his way. They saw how hard he worked while waiting for them and after a training session, working himself to the point of exhaustion.
They saw how, when ambushed by The Honorable Grandson, he took Konohomaru under his wing, carefully crafting a regimen that would tire the young boy out, yet would not hamper his growth. He taught the boy all tricks and traps, regailing him with all of his pratfalls and pranks.
They also saw how he was being subtly sabotaged.
Umino Iruka, on hearing stories of how much Naruto had improved, decided to test him against Uchiha Sasuke, everyone's blue eyed boy.
And it started off well, with Naruto dominating the fight with his unorthodox style of fighting, which was designed to beat an opponent fast. To the Uchiha's credit, he was able to keep up, albeit barely.
And that's when everything went to hell.
Naruto's punches and kicks were a hair off, his blocks suddenly became sloppy and uncoordinated. Kakashi raised his hitai-ate to reveal his sharing an. He saw the overlay of a foreign chakra and just managed to trace it back to the source as Naruto was KO'ed and the genjutsu was dispelled.
Su Mizuki, you are going to have a lot to answer for thought Kakashi grimly as he shunshined away to report to the Hokage.
-PRJT:CRBN-
Uchiha Sasuke was pissed.
For the first time in ages someone his own age was giving him a challenge in a taijutsu bout. Surprisingly, it was the supposed dobe, Uzumaki Naruto who was putting him through his paces, even dominating the fight.That was until someone cast a genjutsu on the dobe. It was a subtle thing, barely discernible, but somehow Sasuke saw it.
Which led him to now standing in front of the mirror as he looked at his red eyes, the left one with one tomoe and the right with two tomoes.
A slender pair of arms wrapped around his waist as jade green eyes, framed by pink hair, stared back at him.
"You're going to be ok" his best friend and betrothed assured him. And for the nth time he thanked his lucky stars that his ancestors had set up a longstanding pact with the Masamune samurai clan, where the eldest female child would marry the second eldest son of the Uchiha clan head. Funnily enough, the pact came into being around the time of Uchiha Madara.
Sasuke counted himself lucky that it was Sakura who was the eldest, even if her mother had met and married a civilian chūnin by the name of Haruno Kizashi. Like her mother, Haruno Mebuki, Sakura had a core of steel as strong as any sword forged by her clan's swordsmiths. Deceptively gentle looking, but hiding immense strength and fortitude.
Sakura and her family had been a stabilising influence on Sasuke after the Massacre. Without them, he would have lost himself to vengeance.
Seeming to read his mind, his brilliant, beautiful and brave girl shot him a warm smile, causing him to smile back. Pecking him on the cheek, she let go off him while pulling him along by his hand, his fingers intertwined with hers.
"Come on. Everyone is waiting for you" she said, her voice light and playful as she led him. He smiled and let her lead him, his earlier anger compartmentalized for now.
-PRJT:CRBN-
