Chapter 4: The Sand Ninja
Present day
Kakashi, Naruto and Temari stand inside of a gray throne room with a slim but long red carpet down the middle. Kakashi stands on Naruto's right with Temari on Naruto's left. Sitting on the throne in front of them is a man of average height with very fancy, short red hair and blue eyes. He wears a dark blue suit with black suit shoes and has a slightly muscular body type under his clothes. He has two ninja standing on each side of his throne. Kakashi speaks to the man on the throne. "Morgan Edge," said Kakashi. Morgan grips the arms on the throne. "Kakashi, what do I owe you for this visit," asked Morgan in a somewhat deep, proper voice. "I understand that you wanted me to bring the Kazekage's sister, but for what purpose," asked Kakashi. Morgan makes a light smile as he looks at Temari. "I have a thing for pretty girls." Temari becomes annoyed. "Cut to the chase," said Temari, "you wanted us here for a reason, and why did you want Naruto here? I thought you wanted jonin level or higher."
Morgan relaxes the grip on his throne, looking at Naruto now. "Which is exactly why I wanted him here. In rank, Naruto is below you, but we all know the truth, don't we?" Morgan presses a button on his throne's right arm. Black metallic shutters cover the sunroof, then the windows. With the press of another button, red lights shine from the shutters. Kakashi, Naruto and Temari are then brought to their knees by some of the rogue ninja with daggers held to their throats. "Hey, what's going on," shouted Naruto. Morgan lifts his right hand and points at Kakashi in a slightly angered voice. "Kakashi, you told me that you would bring the strongest ninja in your village with you today. At first, I thought you meant Tsunade because she is your leader." Morgan now points at Naruto. "But what you didn't tell me is that you have a Kryptonian in your squad, Kakashi! I know about the S-rank missions that you two have been going on, and I know that Naruto has fought his own people! You've been holding out on me, Kakashi!" "And what are you going to do with him," asked an angry Temari. The gang leader chuckles, folding his hands together. "Well, since Naruto is the only one who can fight Zod, I've decided to keep him. Temari, you will become one of my concubines." Kakashi looks at Naruto, then Naruto looks at Temari. Temari looks at her two allies, and the three of them nod at each other. All of a sudden, the three of them use substitution jutsu and knock out their captors. The three then run for the front door. "How are we going to break that seal," asked Temari. Naruto looks determined. "Leave it to me." "STOP THEM!" shouts Morgan.
As if going in slow motion, Naruto rams through the metallic shutters with his arms in front of him in his Nine Tails chakra form. Kakashi lands on a rooftop and shouts to his allies. "We'll split up to weaken their numbers. Temari, look after Naruto." Kakashi takes off as Naruto changes back to normal. Naruto and Temari run through the street of the rogue ninja village. They flash step onto a roof and then continue running. "You back to full strength yet," asked Temari. Naruto looks out the corners of his eyes at Temari. "Not yet."
Naruto and Temari flash step onto a feudal tower. The two of them are now crouched with Temari prepared to jump again. Naruto puts up his hand. "Wait," said Naruto. Temari seems concerned. "Wait? Why, Naruto?" Naruto then makes a giant leap into the nearby woods and makes a giant thud. Temari looks out and smiles. "Oh, right. I forgot." Temari drops her smile, waiting for a response from the woods. "Come on, Naruto," thought Temari. The Sand Ninja finally gets her response when she sees a figure soaring into the air. Naruto now hovers in front of her. "You coming?"
Gaara sits in his office, filling out some paperwork. Kankuro sits nearby, polishing his puppet as Gaara places the papers on top of a pile. "Any idea what is taking those three so long," asked Kankuro. "You know how these missions are, Kankuro." "But Naruto is with them." "Naruto is not perfect, Kankuro." "I know that, Gaara. I just thought they would have been back by now." Gaara seems to be staring off into space. Kankuro stops polishing his puppet, noticing that his younger brother seems to be lost in thought. "Gaara, what is it?" "I was just... thinking. It has been three years now since we met Naruto. During that time, the chunin exam was starting." Kankuro makes a soft laugh. "Yeah, who would have thought that puny Naruto was a lot stronger than he looked, but at that time, we had the same assumptions as the rest of his village."
Three Years Ago
Konohamaru is held up by his shirt by a taller Kankuro. Kankuro is bullying a group of kids as Konohamaru looks defiant. Kankuro has a sadistic smile on his face. "I'm sorry, I didn't hear what you said, pipsqueak." Konohamaru struggles with his words. "Leave... my friends alone." Kankuro keeps his sadistic smile as he slams Konohamaru to the ground. Naruto sees this and starts running. "HEY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO THOSE KIDS?!" Kankuro turns his head left, seeing Naruto approaching. Naruto stops a few feet from Kankuro with a look of anger. "You've got some nerve, beating up a bunch of kids! Have you no honor?" Kankuro seems to be annoyed by Naruto's presence. "I'm a ninja, kid! Of course I don't, that's the point of our job!" "It takes a really big man to bully a bunch of kids! Is that part of your job, too?" Kankuro gets upset. "You're starting to annoy me, brat! What are you, some good little humanitarian? Ha! You'll be eaten alive with that attitude!" Konohamaru rises to his feet. "Naruto." Kankuro grabs Konohamaru by the hair, yanking him. "I'm not done with you, yet."
With blinding speed, Naruto grabs Kankuro's hand and applies pressure. Kankuro releases Konohamaru as Kankuro begins to grunt in pain. Naruto adds more pressure, causing Kankuro to scream in pain. "Let go!" Naruto keeps his look of anger, staring at Kankuro with fire in his eyes. Kankuro starts punching Naruto in the face, but his blows have no effect. "LET! GO! OF! ME!" Naruto throws Kankuro into the nearby wall, denting it slightly. Kankuro sits on the ground now, collapsing from the force. "You don't like it, do you? How does it feel to have someone attack you without reason? How does it feel to be bullied?" Naruto steps over to Kankuro and points back at Konohamaru. "This boy you were bullying? His name is Konohamaru Sarutobi, the grandson of Hiruzen Sarutobi, aka the Third Hokage." Kankuro looks up with surprise. "You get it now, don't you? You came here for the chunin exam, so the last thing you want to do is get on the Third's bad side. Now stand up, walk over to Konohamaru, AND APOLOGIZE!"
Kankuro stands up and walks over to Konohamaru. He looks down at the boy, showing no emotion on his face. Kankuro now looks away in embarrassment. "Sorry." Kankuro walks away as Naruto now seems calm. Naruto looks at the tree behind the wall, seeing a boy with spiky red hair, standing upside down on the tree branch with his arms folded.
Present day
"At that time, we both thought it was a fluke that Naruto did what he did to you, Kankuro, not knowing that later, we would discover his true origin." Kankuro looks out the window, seeing the sun shining brightly over the Sand Village.
Meanwhile, back at the rogue ninja village, Naruto flies with Temari in his arms. Naruto flies slow to keep Temari safe. "You could speed up, you know," said Temari. "I'm flying slow to find Kakashi, and to keep you safe from high-speed flying." "I'm a big girl, Naruto. I don't need you to look out for me all the time. How fast can you go before you reach the sound barrier?" Naruto looks at her as she holds on to Naruto's neck. "I can fly at 300 mph, but that is as fast as I can go without hurting you." "Well, we need to find Kakashi. Put me down here." Naruto becomes concerned. "Kakashi also wanted you to stay with me." "You don't need a bodyguard, Naruto, and neither do I. Let's land."
Naruto and Temari are back on the streets. Naruto uses x-ray vision to look through the buildings. "What do you see," asked Temari. "Lots of alien tech, more specifically Brainiac's. I guess Intergang really has a thing for it, but most of it seems to be scrapped and piled into these houses." "I guess they were preparing for when the Kryptonians attacked." Naruto seems unimpressed. "Except the Kryptonians weren't even here yet. They wanted this tech for themselves." Temari places her hand on her hip. "Can't argue with that. Morgan Edge and his Intergang will do anything to increase their power base." Temari and Naruto are suddenly on guard as they feel enemies nearby. Two ninja appear, each one standing in front of Naruto or Temari. The one in front of Naruto has an androgynous appearance with a green kimono with white trimmings, dark gray hakama and clog sandals. He or she has very long, black hair. He or she has dark brown eyes and is shorter than Naruto. Standing in front of Temari is a taller man with short black, spiky hair with the lower half of his face covered in bandages. He has no shirt on and carries a giant sword. He wears gray military pants with bandages wrapped around his hands. Like the androgynous one, he has brown eyes.
"I have a profile on these two," said Temari with Naruto answering, "No need. I met them before, three years ago. My squad went on its first C-rank mission, but it turned out to be a lot more dangerous than that." The androgynous one smiles at Naruto, speaking in a very woman-like voice. "Naruto, we meet again." Naruto looks serious. "Haku. You joined Intergang?" Haku drops his smile. "Where else could we go? After Zabuza killed Gato, mercenary work was all we had left." Zabuza lifts his giant sword and points it at the three teenagers. "You should have let us die, Naruto, because now Morgan Edge wants you as his new weapon and he ordered us to bring you in." Naruto looks at Zabuza. "Where is Kakashi, Zabuza?" "Don't worry about your teacher. He has his hands full with my water clones. Now, are you coming quietly, Naruto, or do we have to play rough?" Naruto knows all too well about Zabuza's mist, but it won't work on Naruto and Zabuza knows this by now. However, Zabuza may have a trick up his non-existent sleeves. Temari looks over at Naruto, thinking about her first meeting with him.
Flashback
Naruto has left from the balcony of the chunin exam arena, walking down a long corridor. Directly in front of him, he sees a girl with a giant fan on her back. She has fuzzy, dirty blonde hair with four pigtails and blue eyes. She wears a white jacket and a dark blue skirt with fish net leg braces and dark blue sandals. Naruto is about to pass her up when she grabs his left arm. Naruto looks at her with the utmost curiosity. "Can I help you?" "You're Naruto Uzumaki, part of Kakashi's squad, right?" "Speaking." "I'm Temari. Kankuro is my brother." Naruto only looks stoic, analyzing her. "Is this about earlier? Your brother needs better manners." Temari squints in suspicion. "I find it rather puzzling that you are even in Kakashi's squad, considering that you were banned from the academy years ago. So how did you do it, Naruto? Did you use your father's Hokage rank?" Naruto maintains silence. "No, it was something else, wasn't it? It had to be a bribe." Naruto takes her hand off of his arm.
"It was none of those things, Temari. I'm in Kakashi sensei's squad because he trusts me." Temari now feels compelled to reject that answer. "Trust you? You're an academy reject! If he trusts you, then the Hokage needs to seriously re-evaluate his job performance!" Temari unfolds her giant fan, pointing it at Naruto. "I will ask you again. How did you join Kakashi's squad?" "Threatening me won't make me talk, and picking a fight with me in this corridor during the chunin exam is a good way to get reprimanded. Besides, even if I told you the answer, what will you accomplish?" Temari folds up her fan and puts it on her back again. She now begins to walk away from Naruto as he makes one last statement. "Some things are best kept secret, Temari. That's why we are ninja." Temari pauses for a moment to look back, but Naruto has already vanished. Temari now ponders on his words. "That's why we're ninja."
End of flashback
Temari and Naruto have both made short work of their opponents. With Zabuza knocked out, the water clones have stopped attacking Kakashi. Naruto takes to the sky and uses his vision to pinpoint Kakashi's location. "There you are."
Tsunade stands outside by the gate, waiting for Kakashi and Naruto to return from their mission. Ever since she discovered Naruto's origin three years ago, she hasn't been sure how to handle Naruto's seemingly godlike powers. Though his abilities frighten her, she has come to know him and that fear has become trust, but the council and Danzo want to keep Naruto on a leash to keep him from losing control. "Hokage," shouts Naruto, slowly landing from above with Kakashi holding on from behind. Kakashi releases his hold and steps over to Tsunade. "I take it that the mission went well," questioned Tsunade. Kakashi seems let down by her comment. "Not quite. Intergang tried to capture Naruto to use as their personal weapon, but then that was to be expected." Tsunade now turns her head to Naruto. "So you dropped off Temari, then?" "Yes, but I needed to ask you something, Lady Hokage." "Okay. What is it, Naruto?" Naruto now looks a bit concerned. "Is Sasuke at home?"
Sasuke stands inside of his old house, perfectly still as always. He now wears a white kimono with dark blue pants and clog sandals. A wind blows past him, but Sasuke seems to know what it is. "So, back from your mission with Kakashi," asked Sasuke. Sasuke looks out the corner of his eye, seeing Naruto standing behind him. "I keep telling you, Sasuke, you don't have to keep coming back here. This place even makes me gloomy." "I'm not gloomy," replied an annoyed Sasuke, "I'm just... thinking. That's why I keep coming back here, Naruto, to think. This is my sanctuary. Besides, shouldn't you be headed back underground before the elders get pissed at you again?" "I still have some time left, so I came to see you." Sasuke turns around to face his teammate. Sasuke keeps an emotionless look on his face.
"Worry about yourself, Naruto. I don't need a Superman watching over my shoulder all the time." Naruto pauses for a few seconds, then approaches Sasuke. The two of them then bump fists before Naruto takes off as an orange blur. Sasuke smirks. "See you, Naruto."
Next Chapter: In the present day, Orochimaru is a prisoner in the village of his birth. Orochimaru has his own tale of his first meeting with Naruto, and is disgusted by the presence of an all-powerful Sun God.