Naruto : Uchiha Chronicles
Konohagakure no sato
(Timeskip 2 years)
Konoha Ninja Academy
"Alright kids, this is the final day for the second semester. The testing done today with all of you will go on your report cards, so please take this seriously…" the teacher spoke, his voice and eyes pointedly glaring at a certain blonde haired kunoichi of his who merely stuck her tongue out at the man for pointing at him specifically.
let out a tired sigh and picked the stack of papers on his desk, starting to distribute them all around the class.
Naruto took the paper from the instructor, putting it down on his desk with the blank side facing him as was instructed to them and waited patiently on his desk, his fingers crossed in front of his mouth with an almost peaceful aura surrounding him.
The instructor stood in front of the class, glancing at the clock to see it was almost time and spoke up as soon as the second hand of the clock hit 12.
"You may begin." his voice rang through the silence of the room. Naruto flipped the test around, his eyes working their way through the questions furiously to see if there was anything that would trouble him. And much to his relief there wasn't anything of that caliber, instead it seemed a little easy to him.
His baby blue eyes glanced to the side, to see Sakumo raring past the test like an enraged bull and he snickered softly at the boy who seemed like he would burn straight through the paper in a few moments. Then he glanced up front into the second row from the front where his blonde friend sat and he let out a soft sigh from his lips.
"I'm doomed, Kaa-san is going to kill me for this!" Tsunade cried in her head, fantasizing what kind of punishments would be levied out on her for failing this stupid test. She hated history with a passion, what were they going to do with knowing who became the Shodaime Tsuchikage after all? That guy was most probably dead for crying out loud.
Now anatomy and biology were cool, she always aced those tests. It just intrigued her so much and she would be able to know more about the workings about the human body with that. Not learn about some stupid guy who has been dead for decades and haunting her right life right now.
She pulled out her hair in frustration, how could she have fallen asleep when she had finally decided to get to studying for this last night? Oh that's right, it was so boring that she had fallen asleep quicker than listening to a lullaby. And she didn't even want to know what her granduncle was going to say when he heard of this, which he most probably would.
"I shouldn't be doing this…" Naruto sighed softly but in the end the temptation to do something for her was too much. Plus, shinobi didn't play fair, that at least put some of his guilt at rest for doing this.
He flicked out a kunai when the instructor was listening to a student's doubts regarding a question, for which he was quite glad right now. He saw the small amount of blank space at the bottom end of the paper and smiled a small smile, brushing his hand through his silky hair coming onto his eyes to seem totally normal to everyone around him.
He channeled some chakra into it while it was right above his lap, the kunai hummed a little making him quite nervous and glance up to see no one had noticed and quickly cut a straight line on the bottom end of the paper. The kunai cut cleanly through it as if a machined cut, leaving no evidences that he had tampered with it and pocketed his kunai again, picking his pencil up to start working on 'two' of his tests.
He ticked all the multiple choice questions one by one with relative ease, whizzing past them and writing down the answers at the bottom of the cleanly cut paper to some of the rest of them. The teacher walked up, looking about the class and stopped by Naruto's side.
His eyes narrowed in on the boy's paper, quite specifically, the bottom half of it. Naruto was barely containing his nervousness and kept going through ticking the questions so as to not rouse any attention from the examiner for their test right now.
"Hey kid…" he called, placing a hand over his shoulder making him stiffen and give the man a nervous smile.
"Hai sensei?" he asked, afraid that the teacher might have caught onto him when the teacher pointed to the small scribbles jotted down on the bottom half of his sheet.
"This is an official Academy test to be graded by the educational authorities, rub off your little notes before you hand the test in or you might get some marks deducted for that." he pointed out and went down the stairs to keep his gaze on all the students. Naruto let out a sigh in relief and continued working on both his tests quickly and efficiently.
The cut was made so clean that the teacher hadn't noticed it and he was glad for that right now. His training was paying off in spades right now.
He put his pencil down as soon as the last question on it was answered and looked up to see Tsunade with with her hands over her head while her chin rested on her desk, no doubt still lost as to what she would do now. He slid the small slip from the bottom of the test out and put it over his lap, held between his index and middle fingers.
His eyes glanced to the instructor to wait for him to get into the perfect position for him to do this. His eyes narrowed calculatingly when the man reached the far end of the other corner and his back turned to him.
"Perfect, he's in a blind spot. There's no way he'll see this…" he thought, a smirk now adorning his lips as the slip in between his fingers hummed and straightened like a slim sheet of metal when chakra coursed through it and he flicked it expertly towards his target with a flick of his wrist.
CLACK…
Tsunade looked up startled when a slip of paper embedded into her desk like a shuriken with it's corner engulfed deep in the wood. A moment later it lost it's sharp edges and fell down like a simple slip of paper that she quickly slid down onto her lap before someone saw it. She looked to her side to see her partner too nervous to notice and turned her honey eyes down to her lap.
Question one - Land of Gold.
Question five - Samurais are only found in the Land of Iron.
Question seven - Fire Daimyo is protected by twelve of his hand picked shinobi called the Twelve Guardian Ninja.
Question ten - The Water Country has an additional branch in their black ops instated by the Shodai Mizukage to hunt down renegade shinobi of their village called the Hunter Ninjas of the Kiri's ANBU Black Ops.
Note : Start studying history, it isn't that boring and I won't always be there to save you…
- Naru
Tsunade crushed the small slip of paper in her palms, pocketing it quickly. She bit her lip and turned her eyes to the back only to see Naruto gazing out the window and seemingly done with the test, no doubt at some bird's nest he had found interesting. She saw his lone eye glance at her for only a moment, his lips adorning a small smirk before he turned his eyes back outside while his chin rested lazily on his palm.
She looked down onto her paper and let out a soft smile, he was always looking out for her no matter what just like he always did. Whether she asked her or not she knew he was watching her, like he always said "I've got eyes on you Tsuna" in his soft yet playful voice to her whenever she was hard pressed in some tough situation. And he would give her that Kami annoying poke to her forehead as if she was a spoilt child in his eyes when he would pull through a trick of some kind, which she most probably was in his eyes.
She quickly jotted down the answers he had sent for her seeing how little time she had left. As soon as she had finished the last answer a voice was heard throughout the Academy.
RRRRIIIINNNNGGGG….
The bell rang, marking the end of the test and the instructor stood fast in front of the desk looking at all his students firmly.
"Alright time's up, pencil's down…" he called out, getting all students to obey.
"Now come up one by one and put your tests here on my desk face down and you can go for the accuracy and weapons tests outside." he called out an everyone did so.
Naruto got up, putting his test down on the instructor's desk and walked out, putting his hands in his pockets to look for Sakumo and…
A blonde and white blur whizzed past the students coming out of the class and straight onto the oblivious blue eyes boy's back.
"You're a lifesaver Naru Mwah…" Tsunade chirped up, jumping onto his back with a giggle while her arms were around his neck for support and her knees curled up back and she placed a tight kiss on his cheek.
"Oi! Where's my kiss?" a third voice drawled out from behind them only to see a silver haired boy grinning stupidly at the two. Tsunade stuck her tongue out childishly.
"It's in hell, you'll get it after you die Saku no baka!" Tsunade retorted instantly getting a chuckle out of both the boy's while she hopped down her feet to feel a couple of fingers poke her forehead.
"Start studying history idiot, I won't always be able to bail you out…" Naruto spoke in a half scolding manner before walking out for the training grounds. Tsunade puffed her cheeks and jumped by his side to walk with him.
"Well you could have helped me get more than the passing marks…" Tsunade retorted dryly, rubbing her forehead with her palm.
"There was only enough time for you to jot down what I sent Tsuna…" Naruto replied back with another poke, making her bristle in anger yet she couldn't deny his words. The bell had rung as soon as she had finished writing the answers he had sent for her. It annoyed her to no end that he always seemed to know everything and he was always right no matter what he said when it came to the stuff concerning anything related to shinobi.
"Now stop being such a wise guy and Kami forbid stop poking me!" she shouted rubbing her forehead, her face flushed with anger while he just walked on, completely unfazed by her angry words and quite used to her antics by now.
Sakumo though…
"Guys am I missing something?" he asked in a lost voice, not getting what was going on and fell in step with the two bickering blonde friends of his.
'Nothing for you to worry about…" Naruto answered simply, putting his right fist out only for Sakumo to side bump it with his own left fist.
"Yeah! Now let's ace those damn shuriken and kunai tests…" pumped up Tsunade, happy that it wasn't anything related to history now.
"Weapons and Accuracy tests…" Sakumo corrected wisely making Tsunade frown.
"Smart ass…" she mumbled with a cute pout, making Naruto chuckle and Sakumo to grumble about the stupid nickname she had stuck him with.
The trio stepped out with the rest of their batch mates to see a table lined up with kunais and shurikens as well as several bull's eyes on the opposite wall.
"Alright class, this is the last grading test for this semester. All of you have to throw six kunais and six shurikens to score as many points as you can. Now I'll call two of you in pairs so we can get this over quickly. Now…" the teacher called them out by turns. Tsunade got eleven points out of a possible twelve with Sakumo a close ten behind her by a single point. Everyone got off their turns until it came to the last two with matching surnames on the list.
"Naruto Uchiha and Jin Uchiha…" the teacher called out while the two boy's stepped forward. Jin glared at Naruto with all the hate he could muster. He resented him with his very being ever since the second half of their first year when Naruto and Sakumo had finally started to catch up to his high scores before surpassing him and leaving him in the dust with the blonde at the top and his friend a close second in just about everything they did while Tsunade was the kunoichi to beat in their batch with her topping just about everything….everything except history that is.
Jin picked up his weapons and threw them all by the turns, each hitting a perfect dart in the center making him smirk at seeing the perfect score of twelve. There was no way he could be beaten…
"And Naruto Uchiha scores a perfect twelve with a single point for the extra credit demonstration while throwing all his weapons at once…" the teacher's voice caled out, lacking any hint of pride or warmth and a small scowl on his face at seeing the target's center ladden with kunais with the shurikens forming a small '+' around them.
Everyone let out 'oohs' and 'ah' of shock at seeing his target while the boy calmly stepped by his friends to find Sakumo with a competitive glint in his eyes and trying to burn holes in his target while Tsunade was puffing out her cheeks.
"Show off." she mumbled and Naruto sighed. She was going to burst her cheeks one day if she kept this up and the instructor stood in front of them after rounding up the last of their scores.
"Alright congratulations you all, this marks the end of your second year. Now you all have a month long vacation before we move on to the new year. So go on and enjoy your time with your family." he called out and stepped into the building leaving happily chattering students behind. The trio retrieved their bags from their lockers and slung them on while walking out of the Academy.
"So what are you guys going to do in the vacation? Tou-san is going to finally start training me in kenjutsu this fall…" Sakumo said, working out the kinks in his back with a stretch while they waled through the streets of the village.
"I'm going to study some more anatomy and biology in my free time and gamble some of my money at that Han and Sho game I found last week at a stall in the shopping districts, you know there's a fifty percent chance at my winning which is higher than any other so finally my luck will shine!" Tsunade chirped up, pumped at her idea and Sakumo dropped his head in defeat while Naruto let out a soft sigh of defeat too.
"What about you Naruto?" Sakumo asked to gauge what his friend was going to do in his vacation and Naruto shrugged carelessly making the two of his companions sweat drop.
"Dunno train in what I find interesting and study some scrolls?" he asked more than stated making Sakumo nod. That was just how his friend was, he knew that much.
"Guys I'll go and see you two tomorrow at our usual place…" Sakumo said hurriedly making Naruto raise an eyebrow at his agitated friend.
"What gotten into you?" he asked with Tsunade nodding in agreement to get a cheeky smile from their friend.
"I'm going to go get myself a nice training katana today for my vacation long training." Sakumo said making Tsunade and Naruto look at him in jealousy while he smiled in victory.
"Lucky…" the two mumbled with a slump in their shoulders. Sakumo laughed and ran off towards his house while waving his hand back at them.
"Alright I'll see you tomorrow, Ja Ne!" he called out and both waved at him. Naruto walked towards the clan districts with Tsunade in tow and rose an eyebrow when she didn't take the turn for her house.
"I'm coming with you, don't wanna go home right now." she said simply making him nod. It wasn't unusual for her to spend her day at his house, no she loved lazing around there and had almost made it her haven away from home.
Uchiha clan compounds…
The duo of friends walked within the fortified clan compounds of the Uchiha, getting several curious glances towards the girl by our hero's side but none were too surprised after seeing it several times already.
Though none did understand why or how Tobirama had allowed his granddaughter to be so close to the Uchiha family's heir he had resented the most in his past, but none were brave enough to question his decisions.
Naruto opened the large gate to his estate and walked in with Tsunade in tow, her hands clasped behind her back with a little smile. He slid the key in his door and turned opened it to step inside his house.
Tsunade slid off her sandals and threw them everywhere before hopping in the house leaving a sighing Naruto behind. He slid off his own footwear and put them neatly, doing the same for his impulsive friend when a small sound rang in the silent hallway.
"Mewww…." a soft mewl reached the ears of both blondes making Tsunade perk up. She saw the glowing slitted eyes and grinned seeing the adorable white cub with her tail wagging happily at seeing her master return home.
"Kiara!" Tsunade chirped in a chipper tone and ran up to coddle the adorable thing in her arms. Kiara ran towards Tsunade herself making her grin and open her arms when she jumped up in pure bliss…
When the white blur went past her side and she landed straight on her face onto the floor. Her body twitched comically, while the cub in question rested in Naruto's arms comfortably with a purr. He brushed her fur and rubbed her head with a finger, kissing her head gently.
"You hungry girl?" he asked the cub who mewled in affirmative making him chuckle and move inside the kitchen while Tsunade sat on the ground with a twitching eyebrow and a tick mark donned on her forehead.
"That traitorous, no good, ball of fur…" she mumbled furiously, watching her friend walk inside and went in only to plop down on the couch tiredly with a sigh of relief. Though she did glare at the cub who hopped onto her couch and was standing in front of her face with a curious glint in her eyes.
"What do you want traitor?" she mumbled in irritation, getting a tilt of the head from the cub in question and her heart melted when she licked her cheek.
"Aww come to mama…" she cooed and scooped her up in her arms, hugging her for dear life which the cub loved if her purrs were any indication.
"Kiara come and have some lunch…" Naruto's voice rang in the kitchen and she slicked her way out of Tsunade's arms expertly who tried to keep her in her arms, but ended up falling off the couch face first...again.
She grumbled incoherent curses at the feline, rubbing her aching nose with an annoyed expression on her face seeing her lap up whatever he gave her to eat quite happily from her bowl.
Half an hour later, Tsunade was lying there lazily hearing the crickets in his large gardens and Naruto sat on the porch with the cub lying on her back and her legs high up in the air.
"Where does it all go you glutton? You don't even grow up neither are you fat or chubby, you're still so small…" Naruto asked the cub while tickling her stomach to get muffled mewls from her. Her paws tried to pry him off but to no avail and Tsunade smiled. Kiara had become a part of their group too over time.
"Oi! Where are you guys?" a familiar voice called out surprising them quite a lot.
"We're in here, come on up back…" Tsunade called out and sure enough both saw Sakumo come around with his hands behind his back and a wide grin on his face. Tsunade laid on her elbow, looking at him with a raised eyebrow.
"I thought you were going to buy your sword smart ass…" she pointed out wisely, getting an eye twitch from the boy at her name calling but he gulped it down for now and grinned. His hands were put out in front to show them a beautifully crafted katana unsheathed with a completely white blade and a black sheathe to go along with it in his other hand.
"Tou-san gave me the family sword when I got home, I ran straight from home knowing you two would be here. Isn't it cool?" he asked with a cheeky smile, getting nods from the other two who were looking marvelously at the beautifully crafted sword.
"It's called the White Light Chakra Sabre by the way, it's been passed down withing my family for generations now." he explained to add a bit more fascination to it and got dumb nods from his star struck friends while Tsunade ran her finger on the blade in amazement.
"Sugoi, you got such a cool sword…" Tsunade whispered making him puff his chest out proudly. "…idiots have all the luck in the world." she continued making him deflate and cry anime tears at her words. Naruto laughed and all three enjoyed their free day happily to enjoy their friend's happiness together, playing around the house some card games, Tsunade's choice by the way, of which she won none of them as always.
A week later, some unknown clearings on the borders of the village…
Naruto walked past the trees covering the forest like clearing, while taking in the beautiful sights to his heart's content. This part of the forest, he had never been in before and he was sure no one else had either, seeing the non trampled grass growing all around the area.
He looked up and smiled at seeing the sun rays coming past the leaves of the trees and illuminating the beautiful clearing with it's sheen.
His feet took small and careful steps, to avoid any dangerous insects or snakes going around on the ground. He loved doing this, to see the places in the village no one else ever ventured into. It was a loss in his mind of their own accord to not explore the place they lived and breathed in down to it's very core.
Finally, he walked into a small clearing in between the thick forestry of the seemingly lost to time area of the village. He looked on amazed at the large and thick tree in the middle of said clearing as if it were the whole nerve center of the village.
He walked closer to the tree, which was of the size of a small house in itself and touched it's large bark with his small hand. He could feel the synergy of life it breathed and the small pulses the tree was letting out each passing second as if it were alive and breathing.
He walked around it, looking up and down the tree and wondering whether to climb said tree or not when he stopped abruptly as his eyes caught on to something strange.
His baby blue eyes narrowed on a particular part of the tree covered with wild vines and he flicked out a kunai from his holster, carving the weeds out and brushing it clean with his palm to read a small thing inscribed onto it by human hands.
Konohagakure no sato
It read and he started hacking away the vines cleanly by channeling wind chakra through it and finally cleared away the small portion of the bark he wanted to see so much right now.
Today we stand here, asking ourselves the same question every shinobi has probably asked himself at one point in his life.
What is a shinobi? Why do we kill others as a way of living, mindlessly staining the ground scarlet?
My friend asked me this today too, after our small truce of peace marking the stop of centuries of conflict between our clans. So I answered him today, and we decided to carve this out for life here as a sign for the future generations to remember the horrors we went through and the time when we stopped to think of the past that lay behind us.
A shinobi is one who endures no matter the obstacles, that is what we could say in a sentence.
Why do we kill then? Why destroy life?
To protect life, life must be taken. That is the very law of nature. The cycle goes on and on, but what differentiates us from animals is that we have the sense, the sense to feel others pain and bask in it to share his sufferings.
That is what me and my friend dreamed of years ago, a place where everyone will understand each others sufferings and pain, and grieve together. A place where children will grow up peacefully, shielded from the violence outside the confines of that peaceful wall covering them.
We dreamed of a village. A village where children, adults and the elderly would come together and form bonds. Where children won't be thrust out to kill before they knew how to hold a brush and could enjoy the taste of sake before they died.
And today the two of us are content that this dream has come true. For today, this place marks the beginning of the peace we dreamed of achieving one day and shake hands to form a village where everyone can be happy.
Today, here with a shake of our hands we unite the two great clans of the Senju and of the Uchiha to form Konohagakure no sato.
-Hashirama Senju & Madara Uchiha, Year 1197 Warring Clans Era.
Naruto's eyes widened and he re-read the whole thing again before brushing the inscription with his palm.
"Jiji…" he whispered to himself, realizing what the Shodai Hokage and his grandfather had went out to achieve together. No one had come to this place since then if he could guess right, and it was seemingly forgotten.
He read the thing again and again, not getting enough of the beautiful words inscribed on the tree. The handwriting was mixed of two people, one of Hashirama Senju and the other of Madara Uchiha.
The year was the last year of the warring clans before shinobi villages rose up from everywhere to achieve what the two formidable clan leaders had once sought to achieve and had it in their palms at that time, seemingly bringing an end to the clan wars and halting the mindless bloodshed then and there.
His senses tingled suddenly, his eyes snapping back and glancing dangerously to the side. He flicked his kunai into a tree, making the birds fly up from it and he stood up, looking around the clearing furiously.
"Who's there?" he called out, getting nothing but silence in return and clenched his fist tightly.
"I know you're there, so no point hiding yourself anymore…" he called out yet again and this time a reply did come back.
"You're good for a child your age, to be able to sense my presence at so young an age you are the grandson of that man. Basking in the writings of his lost dreams…." the childish voice cackled a blood chilling laugh, making him flick out kunais in each of his palms and stand in his defensive kata, crossing the kunais in front of him defensively.
"What do you want?" he asked in a guarded tone, knowing he was all on his own in this abandoned part of the forest.
"Nothing…" the voice echoed from everywhere and his eyes roamed around to gauge his opponent's location. His untrained senses not quite able to pinpoint whoever it was that was hiding here. "…but everything…" the voice said in a cold voice making him stiffen when he saw a strange hooded figure with a straw cloak sitting on a tree and launched his kunai at it. The figure caught it in his finger by it's hole and shook his finger in a 'not so good' fashion.
"Your potential lays hidden…" he whispered suggestively, confusing the blonde boy with his words. Naruto could feel a foreboding feeling in the back of his mind at seeing the figure who was hiding his appearance expertly in the shadow of the tree so he could not see him.
"What do you mean? Who are you?" he asked him, taking out a round of shurikens in his free hand to be ready for anything and the figure cackled.
"Who I am is not important, but your hidden potential needs coming out now. But certain conditions must be met to do so…" he spoke in his same childish tone once more throwing him in for a loop.
"What conditions? What potential are you going on about?" he asked him to milk everything he could from the man who laughed evilly.
"The potential that can only be found when you would lose someone you love right in front of your very eyes…" he whispered, leaning forward with a waving finger to make his point. Naruto couldn't help but shudder at whatever psychopath he had come across.
"Today you'll achieve it…" he whispered suggestively, once more baffling out the blonde boy.
"Your friend, that girl…" he whispered and Naruto's eyes widened in horror. He only had one female friend. He looked at the man with such hateful eyes, it almost made him shudder and lick his lips at the same time.
"What have you done to Tsunade? I swear if you have done anything to her…" he threatened the figure on instinct getting yet another childish laugh from him while he waved his hands up in defense.
"No need to get all riled up on poor old me, I come in peace…" he spoke childishly, making Naruto snort inwardly though he tried to gauge what the man wanted right now. He was much more than what he seemed to the naked eye.
"Then why mention her when you come in peace?" he asked him seriously, to know what he was talking about.
"Well anyone would mention a person who was abducted by some shinobi of a rival village ne?" he asked curiously and Naruto's kunai dropped in shock.
"What?" he asked in a whisper but the figure heard him and grinned seeing his horrified eyes.
"That girl, I saw a man take her from a clearing. All tied up and gagged, slung over his shoulder like a sack…" he trailed off feeling a cold metal on his neck. He glanced back to meet the cold eyes of the blonde and saw the boy he was talking to right now disappear in a puff of smoke, making his eyes widen momentarily.
"Shadow clone?" he thought and heard a small whisper in his ear that made his grin widen to ever epic proportions.
"Where is she?" Naruto asked coldly, and the man couldn't help but feel glee on his insides.
"The southern edges of the village, he must have crossed them by now and moving on towards the borders of the country. I would hurry it up if I were you…" he whispered before Naruto saw him disappearing right in front of his eyes as if he wasn't ever there in the first place.
"Who was he? Was he telling the truth? What should I do?" he thought, his mind jumbled up with a million doubts and questions right now while his hands shook in fear of what might happen to her.
"Should I go back to the village for help… no would take too much time and the man would escape cleanly without a trace seeing how far I am. There's only one way then…" he thought before blurring from the branch he was on a moment later and rushed past branches, blasting several off on his way with huge bursts of chakra from his feet.
He saw the trees coming to an end and jumped down on the ground, running at blazing fast speeds, as fast as his legs would go while pumping them with chakra to keep his muscles going without tiring even a little.
"You're going the wrong way gaki…" a voice spoke from his side only to see him the strange figure hiding in that cloak of straws from before.
"You won't be able to catch up with that man no matter how you see it…" he spoke wisely making Naruto glance at him dangerously.
"Watch me." he spoke calmly, before the figure saw that the blonde was running for a huge cliff. Naruto increased his speed twofold and jumped down with a start, opening his arms to twirl himself in mid air while the figure stood on the edge, completely dumbfounded at the actions of a certain Uchiha.
Though when he looked down, he saw Naruto taking out a kunai in his hand and embedding it in the rocky surface to slow down his fall and grinned.
"Interesting, most interesting…" he cackled and disappeared into thin air yet again.
Naruto's hair flailed around with the air passing through them when his kunai snapped in half from the force it was experiencing. He took out another in both of his hands and embedded them in the rock at the same time with all the force he could muster.
It worked. His speed slowed down and he buried them into the rock right to the hilt to get blocked by a small boulder in there and halt his motion momentarily, and he placed his soles on the rocky surface only to let out a burst of chakra to kick himself back and back flipped to land on the ground while skidding backwards and stopping himself by burying his kunai which were chipped off to the point of no return now.
His arms ached with the huge strain he had put them through but he paid it no heed and started running again. He jumped from boulder to boulder to pass the small stream quickly and just as he did, he was out of the village's borders.
He ran up to see the start of the forest and hopped up on a branch to begin his chase yet again. He smiled a small smile of relief when he saw a small patch of a footstep on a branch and knew he was now right on tail of whoever the abductor was. The man must be in a hurry if he hadn't cleared off his tail and confident that no one would follow him. But his mind was completely jumbled up by the figure from before.
"Why is he helping me? What the hell does he want?" he thought, but shook the thought off. He would have time for that later, right now he had a man to stop.
A man with a face mask covering his face along with full black clothes for stealth hopped from branch to branch straight towards the Rain country's borders. He smiled behind his mask, the information about the small slips in security of the Leaf had been spot on and now he had the Senju heiress on his shoulder. Then they could rebuild the Senju clan in Kumo and use her offspring or even the girl herself for making perfect jinchurikis. The Raikage was going to be smiling in glee at having her in their midst with the Leaf unknown about her loss until it was too late.
SWISH…
He jumped sideways, but howled in pain when three shurikens got embedded in the back of his left thigh. Tsunade wriggled in her bonds and her screams were muffled by the gag tied over her mouth. He looked back to see the forest completely empty and growled behind his mask.
"You have some nerve Leaf scum, I am a sensor myself. You cannot hide from me…" he shouted in the seemingly empty clearing but got no response in return.
SWISH…
His ears caught the sound of another sound of metal whizzing in the air and he ducked when a lone kunai went past where he stood a moment ago, only to growl in annoyance and look around furiously.
Finally, his senses tingled and he grinned. He turned around to see Naruto falling down from a branch over him, a kunai in his hands to embed it straight in his skull. He launched a volley of shurikens himself while mentally sighing in relief that he was only dealing with a little child so he could get this over with quickly.
Naruto's arms and legs curled up to cover his front while the metallic stars got embedded in each of his limbs. Tsunade shouted in her gags and wriggled wildly at seeing what had happened only for her eyes to widen when Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke and a small log fell in place of where he was a moment earlier.
"A substitution?" the masked man growled, once more looking around when he turned around and blocked a kunai ladden hand with his forearm, only to meet the cold blue eyes of his attacker.
Naruto slashed at the man's waist who jumped back quickly to dodge it and the blonde followed him just as quickly, not letting up his charge and give the man any time to reprieve.
The jounin took out a sword and parried his twin kunai strikes expertly with small glancing blocks as if they were mere annoyances. But he had to admit the boy was fierce and relentless in his slashes, that were being executed with perfection laced in them.
"You damned brat, leave while you still can before I put you into an untimely grave…" the man growled, having to fight with one hand while the other had supported his captive on his shoulder.
The jounin finally had enough and pushed back, slashing at Naruto a vertical strike who blocked it with a cross guard over his head with his twin kunais. The blonde winced at the brute force behind it and was forced to one knee, skidding back when he saw the man letting out a kick with his right leg and blocked it by crossing his arms in a cross guard.
Naruto cursed inwardly, the man was too strong and experienced with the only disadvantage that Tsunade was on his shoulder. While he on the other hand, could not use his arsenal of ninjutsu comprising mostly of Fire jutsus and Shadow clones that would only drain him quickly and leave him open for the kill from how exhausted he already was after the long chase to catch up to the man for three hours now.
He ducked under a horizontal slash and rolled away from a vertical one that followed it, while the sword was embedded in the ground with a small cloud of dust to show the force behind it would cleave him straight through if it made direct contact. The jounin had to give some points to the brat, no matter how annoying the pest was in his eyes.
"You're good brat, but how long can you keep this up. Better give up and I'll make it painless…" the man taunted while Naruto paid no heed to the man, but he was right in his assumptions. He was tiring himself out quickly and at a severe disadvantage on his hands. Ninjutsu was no where near sights for this fight lest he burn Tsunade along with the man when he caught the man in a trap with his clones, for which he had no where near enough chakra to pull off the numbers that would need. He was at a severe disadvantage at taijutsu since the man was a jounin, having the experience and advantage of strength over him.
The only thing keeping him alive was his agility and speed and that too was failing quickly as he was forced to dodge another swing of his dodge and the man was adapting to his style slowly yet surely.
That left only one choice.
He threw one of his kunais at the man who flicked it away with his sword and charged at him. Naruto's back met the bark of the tree making the man grin and bring his sword down in a vertical slash to cleave him in half. Naruto twisted himself around the tree and dodged it at the very last moment.
He hopped back a couple of steps with the jounin following him and now his sword had lightning coursing through it's blade to be done with the blonde even with a merely small glancing blow.
"If only I could make hand seals right now, this brat would be dead…" he thought and gave a round house kick for the blonde's arms who twirled around a tree and dodged it at the very last moment yet again.
This went on for four times until Naruto fell on one knee, sweat dripping from his face like rain drops while he panted for dear life. The man chuckled a humorous laugh seeing the downed boy in front of him.
"I must say boy, you were good to be able to hold yourself against a jounin for so long and still breath. But now…" he walked closer to the boy, bringing his sword up to end his life when the blonde let out a swipe to take his legs off from under him.
The jounin hopped over it and let it pass underneath him harmlessly, putting forth a kick in mid air that met the boy's chest and threw him back into a tree's bark with a crash. Naruto coughed violently and slid down, panting and wiping his lips of the blood from his busted lip.
The jounin shook his head with a laugh when Naruto started going through hand seals.
"You won't be able to do any ninjutsu that would be able to take me down with the chakra levels you have right now kid. This fight is…" he trailed off when he saw the blonde's shadowed eyes glance up, now seemingly crimson with a single tomoe in each of them and ended the sequence on Tiger making his eyes widen in realization and horror.
"Fire Style : Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" he exclaimed, pumping out a volley of small fireballs that made the jounin hop back a couple of steps, right into the middle of the clearing.
"Just my luck, I get an Uchiha along with a Senju, you're going to be my compensation for wasting my time brat. But at least you will be a worthwhile present back home." the jounin chuckled, letting the boy make another sequence of hand seals to pump out whatever last ninjutsu he wanted to before he fell over unconscious due to chakra exhaustion himself.
Fire jutsus took a hell lot of chakra and it was only a matter of time before a little child like him…
"Uzumaki Sealing Style!-" Naruto's voice rang in the clearing and the man stopped laughing and looked around at the six tags slapped over the trees all around him glow in unison while the blonde went through strange hand seals he had never seen before. But he had heard of the reputation that the Uzumaki sealing skills held in the world.
His mind went back to the six last moment counters that brat had done just now and only now did he realize what he was doing. But still…
"Impossible, there's just no way an Uchiha like you could know seals…" he shouted and raised his sword to charge at the blonde when Naruto made the final seal with a tired smirk.
"Six Point Paralysis Seal : Fuin!"he shouted when his remaining chakra reserves started getting depleted drastically and kanji sprout out from all over the tags and covered the man and Tsunade all over their bodies and halted his charge mid way while Naruto's eyes watched in slow motion as the tip of the blade came towards his right shoulder and stopped just a hair's length away from making contact with his body.
Naruto kept his palms on the ground, keeping the seals around him pumped up, and the man paralyzed with a smirk while a bead of sweat rolled down his forehead.
"You damned brat, how long do you think the seal will hold up? I can feel it wavering due to your depleted reserves right now. What do you think you'll achieve by stopping me for a little while before I cleave you?" he sneered at Naruto who shook his head in humor, further confusing the jounin.
"I'm not stupid enough to try and stop you…" he panted with half lidded eyes, making the man look at him dumbfounded and he merely continued, completely ignoring the man no. "…I'm merely stalling you." he completed with a deep breath and his Sharingan wavered for a moment making the man smirk that the seal was about to fall along with the boy.
"For what?" he asked curiously before he slay down the boy and took him with himself and the boy's smirk widened ever so slightly, confusing him yet again.
"For them-" Naruto said before he fell down to the side and the seal disappeared to give him free movement. The man was confused when he felt a hand clasp the back of his neck in an iron grip while Tsunade was slid off his shoulders roughly. His head was twisted around forcefully and his eyes widened in horror when he saw the two pairs of glaring eyes in front of him.
"You have some nerve to try and abduct my granddaughter in broad daylight…" Tobirama's cold voice rang through the clearing while Sasuke Sarutobi stood by his side and untied the little bonded girl from her bonds, his signature cigar donned on his lips as usual letting out small wisps of smoke in the air.
"Jiji how did you know I was here?" Tsunade asked in confusion, making Tobirama answer her without taking his eyes off the man who was struggling in his grip for air and squirming like a headless chicken.
"Because of Naruto…" he explained and the jounin's eyes widened at his words.
"H-How?" he rasped out, not being able to get how he was able to get a message to the Hokage so quickly. It just wasn't possible for him to do so.
"The boy took a shortcut by the cliff behind our village to follow you which was the only possible way for anyone to chase you on foot with the distance you had covered beforehand, just as he crossed the river where our village's borders end, he let out a huge pulse of chakra on purpose to alert our barrier team." Sasuke spoke and the jounin glanced at the unconscious boy with incredulous eyes before his eyes rolled due to lack of oxygen and he fell unconscious when Tobirama hit his pressure point on his neck and let the body fall down like a sack of potatoes.
"To think Mito even taught him about the intricacies of our village's barrier defense system. She isn't letting up on training him eh Tobirama?" Sasuke spoke up, making him turn his glance to him and nod. It was ingenious of the boy, to chase as well as alert him of danger at the same time. Only when he contacted the barrier team that he came to know that his granddaughter had left the village too, had he known what was up and used the Hiraishin marker placed on Tsunade's necklace to track her down.
The man had planned it through by placing a suppressing marker on the girl but the Hiraishin was still acting like a tracking beacon for him even if he could not flash to her. The man was much too confident in his plans to be cautious of him.
"Naru?" their thoughts were broken by the soft and concerned voice of Tsunade who had his head clasped in her arms for dear life. Her hazelnut eyes looked at him with all the concern in the world.
"Hey wake up…" she whispered, patting his cheek when his eyes blinked unfocused for a moment. His blurry eyes focused for a moment to see Tobirama's wide eyes along with some strange brown haired man's cigar dropping from his mouth in shock. The last thing he heard was the soft voice of his friend before he blacked out completely.
"Naru, your eyes…" he heard and Tsunade saw him fall limp and tears welled up in the corner of her eyes while she hugged him to death. She felt a hand clasp her shoulder and looked back to see her granduncle's stoic face holding a small smile on his lips for reassurance.
"He's fine…" he spoke to calm the girl down and got on one knee when a tear rolled down her puffy cheek.
"But-" she retorted with a soft sniffle when he placed his fingers of her lips to shush up her mumbles.
"He's just exhausted, the boy ran three hours straight and jumped off a cliff to chase after you besides taking a jounin head on. He'll be out like a light for a week before he's up and about again…" he explained the girl who started wailing for her life while clutching her friend for dear life.
"That idiot… what the hell was he thinking… jumping off a cliff? I'll send him straight into a coma when he wakes up…" she sobbed out making Sasuke chuckle and Tobirama slapped his palm over his face with a soft chuckle, maybe he shouldn't have mentioned that.
Even he couldn't stop from laughing now that the rush was finally over and his granddaughter was fine and dandy thanks to a certain Uchiha. But he did remember those crimson eyes he saw before the boy had fallen unconscious and glanced at Sasuke seriously who nodded and disappeared with the now prisoner jounin slung over his shoulder like a rag doll and disappeared in a swirl of flames.
Tobirama himself flashed back into the village to get the boy some medical aid and get him checked up for all possible injuries along with his crying granddaughter.
A week later...
Konoha Hospital
In a seemingly simple room, slept Naruto with a whole lot of flowers and gifts stacked around him. His eyes finally flickered open and he came to, his vision blurring before it focused completely to stare straight into a pare of hazelnut eyes.
He blinked and the eyes blinked back at him.
He caught the girl in a bear hug a moment later and buried his face in her neck with soft sigh of relief passing his lips.
"I'm glad you're okay…" he whispered and Tsunade smiled, hugging him back equally tightly. He broke off the hug to check for her injuries while he had cupped her cheeks when she stopped him with a giggle.
"I'm 'kay baka. You're the one who was out like a light for a week…" she said and Naruto rubbed his neck sheepishly with a nod. Though he was surprised when her arms wrapped around his chest again and she placed her head on his shoulder.
"You scared me Naru…" she whispered and Naruto smiled and hugged her tightly.
"You scared me too Tsuna…" he whispered back and she nodded, saying nothing else.
Both taking a moment to let it absorb that the other was alright.
Meanwhile Outside the room…
Mito looked on through the small glass window on the door with her hands clasped over her heart and a fond smile on her face.
"Aww they are so adorable hugging like that…" she cooed softly, getting smiles from the two men sitting by her side. Sasuke's fingers twitched due to not being able to smoke in here and it annoyed him to no end while Tobirama had a can of coffee which he sipped on calmly.
Sasuke popped a chewing gum in his mouth to take his mind off getting a smoke while they waited until Mito had given the Hokage permission to disturb the moment between the children inside. It was really unbecoming of their legendary status to get scolded by a women, but still…
"I'm so getting them married when they grow up…" she whispered with an aww and the reactions were instant.
POOF…
Tobirama sprayed a nurse completely brown by spewing off coffee onto her and Sasuke had choked on his chewing gum and was patting his chest to get it to go either way and was rolling on the ground in agony.
"Men…" Mito pouted and watched the scene inside with sparkling eyes.
Inside…
"Jiji told me you jumped off a cliff…" she said sternly making him gulp seeing her angry eyes and looked around for an escape.
"Well, it wasn't a jump. It was merely falling expertly… and safely with a lot of speed behind it…" he explained lamely making her narrow her eyes and bonk his head softly while she caught his collar in her hand.
"Baka don't you dare do anything so reckless again, you get me?" she asked him and he said nothing this time, staying silent for a moment.
"Won't you do the same for me?" he asked her calmly, and she fell silent with all her anger washing away. She looked down and played with her bed-sheet, a small dust of pink on her cheeks from his words. She had no answer to that, she would do it in a heartbeat too.
"Whatever, don't take this on me. You're the one who's stupid…" she mumbled lamely and just sat there on his lap with a small bout of silence falling between them.
Naruto's eyes widened when she pressed her lips on his cheeks and quickly retreated back as if he were poisoned. He rubbed his cheek where he had felt the kiss and looked at the girl who had turned around with her arms crossed, her back facing him so he couldn't see her embarrassed face right now.
"Arigato…" she whispered and he nodded dumbly, not that she could see him.
"And don't tell this to anyone or I'll kill you…" she threatened quickly and he smiled, poking her forehead like usual much to her annoyance. He was glad she was still the same impulsive idiot like always.
"Hai!" he said before he saw her sparkling eyes looking at him in wonder and he let a soft sigh escape his lips.
"When did you learn those new jutsu? You never showed them to me, I'm so seeing them later on…" she started her barrage of questions and answers by herself while he listened on patiently to the obliviously blabbering girl.
Outside…
"Aww she kissed him, they're so cute…" Mito cooed barely containing herself from going in and scooping those two in her arms.
THUMP…THUMP…
She sweat dropped seeing the two unconscious men by her side and her eye twitched dangerously.
"Perverts, it was an innocent kiss on the cheek…" she grumbled and waited for them to come to consciousness before she sent them back into it. Though she was startled when Kagami came in and looked on confused at their unconscious Hokage and his trusted friend unconscious on the ground.
A few moments later Tobirama straightened out his clothes and looked at his ex-subordinate with a curious look.
"How goes the interrogation?" he asked the Uchiha seriously, who smirked knowingly at his sensei making him smirk back. Tobirama had assigned him in charge of cracking the abductor up, and Uchiha's were viciously known for breaking their captive's mind during interrogations when they were done due in prompt to the severity of the mind tricks they used and Tobirama had told him to go all out, just that he got the information from him before the man was turned into a vegetable.
"He cracked this morning sensei, your hunch was right. It was Kumo." he answered his unasked question, making his eyes turn cold in the empty hallway of the hospital and he leaned back while rubbing his temples. That Sandaime Raikage's coveting for their Kekkei genkai's and hidden techniques wasn't lost to him. But for him to go this far…
"Why Tsunade then? She doesn't even have a bloodline?" he asked stoically and Kagami looked around.
"We should talk in private." he answered making Tobirama nod at his need for privacy, the matter must be urgent then. The three men disappeared and Mito said nothing but knew what it meant and what fate her granddaughter had just been saved from. She moved in to meet the children while the men went to go and talk about serious matters regarding international affairs while she had a couple of blondes to coddle and hug them to death.
In the Hokage Office…
Tobirama sealed the room up, with Sasuke falling down on the couch by the side and finally lighting up his much needed cigar while Kagami took a chair in front of Tobirama. The Hokage sealed up the room for privacy and nodded for him to go on.
"They wanted to use her to be turned into a jinchuriki seeing how compatible a Senju's body is with a bijuu since Uzushiogakure is fortified beyond belief for them to infiltrate. They want a weaponized and perfect jinchuriki for use as a deterrent." he spoke seriously, making Tobirama cross his fingers in front of his mouth. His mind racking it's gears and all came down to only one simple possibility.
"You know what this means Tobirama, no point in going about it. A stable jinchuriki is only needed so badly under one condition…" Sasuke spoke from the side with a puff of smoke and Tobirama said nothing. Kagami too knew where this was headed.
"Today was much too close for comfort…" he finally broke the silence and the other two nodded. "…if Tsunade had been taken or even Naruto for that matter, we would have had a precarious situation on our hands with one or even both our clan's heirs in the palm of Kumo for a factory to be made into a new clan in their village." he drawled out making the two nod at his words.
"Naruto needs to be questioned as well Tobirama, he was no where near where Tsunade was taken from. Far from it. Yet he got her location even before we realized she had been abducted in the first place, something doesn't add up." Sasuke spoke his mind and Tobirama nodded, Kagami added his two cents too.
"That is besides the point that the jounin knew of our internal security's working as if he were one of our own. We have an internal leak on our hands too." he spoke and Tobirama knew it couldn't get any worse than this.
"What do we do sensei?" Kagami finally asked and he let out a sigh.
"Nothing…" he spoke finally while laying back in his chair and got a raised eyebrow from Sarutobi.
"Nothing?" he asked incredulously and got a nod from Tobirama.
"We have no evidence he was on direct orders from his village other than his own statement. He didn't even have a piece of identification on him, Kumo can deny he was even one of their own right at this moment and we have no evidence other than the interrogation reports to say otherwise." he spoke, his years as a leader kicking in and both men by his side fell silent, knowing he was right.
"But…" he finally spoke the word they were rearing to hear. "…it is a big step from Kumo, no doubt for the start of something much bigger than just a kidnapping. Sasuke take charge of our spy network for now and keep an eye on them and Iwa. I have a hunch that mummy Mu must have had a hand in this too. Kagami, draw out the leaks in our forces, we have spies ladden in every branch if we were infiltrated so cleanly in broad daylight while the infiltrator left without a trace. I'll take care of questioning Naruto myself and get to the bottom of this." he spoke and the two nodded, agreeing with his words but Tobirama knew what this was and what it marked.
It was the calm before the storm.
Author's notes : There is the next chapter. Hope this fight was up to par as well and Naruto's growth is good enough. Well it is for me, but next time we skip onto graduations and the first missions as well as the teams that would be drawn out. So Sharingan awakens in Naruto and as for those who say Naruto isn't dark and crazy enough as an Uchiha, well Shisui wasn't like that too and he was an Uchiha. Well, I'll see you next time with a new chapter soon, and Jiraiya and Orochimaru will be shown up too so until next time keep reading and reviewing Ja Ne ;)
PS : I cried and sulked when almost every one of you realized it was Sasuke in the previous chapter just so you know. And I am trying to keep the plot as original as possible while moving it at as fluent a pace as I can and remove as many mistakes as I possibly can. And I'm sure he's plenty strong for an eight year old right? Dunno 'bout you guys ;)
