Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto universe.
"If you're not prepared to be wrong. You will never come up with anything original."
-Sir Ken Robinson
X
"I am a leader." The Sandaime spoke from behind his glass of alcohol, in front of him sitting in the two ever present chairs were Jiraiya and Kakashi, each with a similar glass in their hands. "I have been a leader for so many years, through wars, through peace, and worst of all through disaster. I have demanded such loyalty from my people that the expectation of them giving their lives for me hasn't weighed on my conscious in decades. And worst of all, I have begun to see each new Genin, as not a person, not a child, but a pawn. A piece of a board game. And yet I am allowed to be a leader."
Jiraiya watched as the elderly man aged a decade in front of his eyes. He hadn't seen his sensie this broken sense the day he had greeted Jiraiya back after the failed rescue attempt of his other student, Jiraiya's best friend.
Kakashi, who'd never seen the Hokage show such emotion and age was stunned into silence. Only but barely listening to what was being said and still only following it slightly. This was not a leader of a great village. This was not the man who the world feared. This was...age. And if he was truthful with himself he would admit that he never wished to be old enough to understand completely what the Hokage was telling him.
"Do you know what I realized today?" The Sandaime asked them, refilling his own glass before filling theirs.
"What Sensie?" Jiraiya asked respectfully, falling back into the role of student, a role he hadn't been in for years.
"I realized that I am no longer fit to be a leader." Jiraiya and Kakashi couldn't say a thing as the man downed the rest of his drink before turning his chair to stare out the window at the very village he now lead. "I don't believe I have been fit to lead in many a year. But I could not step down. I could not allow my village to be lead by a fool that would either take us to a war filled grave, or allow us to fall without a fight to other fools. So I waited, watched, and in the end lost my way."
The elderly man paused in his speech, his eyes locked on a large apartment building only a few blocks away, a building where a good amount of his shinobi slept and recovered from long missions and training sessions. More importantly though it held a small boy who has seen far to much and his younger sister that he had protected from the hell that was this world.
"You wish to retire Sensie?" Jiraiya asked finally, confusion was evident on both his and Kakashi's faces in the sudden turn of their leader.
"What rank would you have given Naruto-kun today?" The Sandaime asked the two men, still not facing them.
Jiraiya and Kakashi looked towards each other for a moment before Jiraiya answered. "Considering that he was able to beat Neji, Mizuki, and Kakashi it would be probable to award him the rank of Jonin."
"It may even be prudent to make him an ANBU for a few months to get used to the style then move him to ANBU Captain." Kakashi added. "His skills would be priceless for almost all their missions and would serve to save a lot of lives that would normally be lost."
"What were you thinking Sensie?" Jiraiya asked once Kakashi had finished.
The Sandaime finally turned back to them, placing his glass to the side. "After the fights I had fully intended to award Naruto-kun the rank of Special Jonin, only his lack of missions holding him back from a full Jonin. But the events that happened after made me pause."
Once more he stopped, his thoughts on the events of today, especially on what happened with Neji and how Naruto had handled the situation. Coupled with the his analysis of Orochimaru had brought the elderly man to a startling conclusion.
"Today I saw a young boy who knew how to lead. I saw a boy that could one day lead this village into an age that has never been seen before, a strong, rich, and most of all peacefully age. Today I saw myself when I was younger."
Kakashi looked to Jiraiya who looked almost pained at his old teachers words. "Are you saying you want to make Naruto-kun the Hokage?" He asked looking towards the old man like he was losing it.
The Sandaime shook his head slowly. "I'm saying that Naruto-kun would be the perfect Kage." He sighed slowly, standing from his chair and moving towards the door to go home and sleep. "Yet I will never be able to allow him to hold that title." He stopped at the door, locking eyes with both men. "For I am a leader of a world that should burn in hell."
A few blocks away in a large apartment building, a boy sat crossed leg in front of a small table, an area of maps and papers strung out in front of him, showing his plans that he had created to increase the security of his village, along with a few tricks for the very building he sat in. With a tired motion he finished his work, leaving it to be put away in the morning and rose to go to bed.
On his way to his room he paused in front of the slightly opened door, pushing it hard enough to allow him to see inside to the young girl who had curled the blanks around herself, a small plush fox in her hands as she slept peacefully. He let a smile grace his face as he shut the door and walked into his room to sleep. His thoughts on the girl in the next room who he did so much for, just for her protection, so that she would never see the world he had seen.
A stray thought crossed his mind, where would he be if he hadn't found her. But just as fast as it came, it was gone. It no longer mattered how it happened, or why. All that mattered was the fact that he would die to protect her innocence. Die to protect his little sister.
X
The next day saw Naruto and Isaribi up early and making their way towards an out of the way training area that was numbered Eighteen. A small pond of water was to the side of the clearing, trees filling the rest of there view, but the water was evident enough as to why Jiraiya had told them to meet him here.
"Not supposed to be here for an'ther two hours." Isaribi whined lowly, Naruto had woken her up when the sun first cracked the horizon and demanded that she come with him to train, while they waited to meet Jiraiya who wouldn't even show up for another two hours or so.
"You're meeting your team today." Naruto told her with a smile as she fell back onto her back and acted like she was asleep. "You need to be ready for whatever test the Dog gives you and show your team that your worthy to cover their backs in a fight even, though you're a few years younger then them."
"So you want me to be tired by the time I meet them?" She asked, glaring at her older brother who only laughed.
"Start your warm ups then come to me when your done." The girl glared at him until he raised an eyebrow at her, spurring her to get up and start jogging, though the glare never left.
"I don't see you warming up." She whispered as she passed, not expecting him to hear it.
"I woke up an hour ago to warm up. If you want to join me your more then welcome." Her eyes widened as he spoke before she quickened her pace.
"No this works!" She yelled over her shoulder, missing his chuckle at her expense as he moved to the small pond.
Kneeling down to get closer to the water he frowned in thought. The water here was dirty and tainted with years of chakra taint. To anyone else it would have been fine, a little dirty maybe but still clean and useable, the taint of old chakra completely missed. But to him in was unacceptable. Water was not meant to be soiled by the chakra of others who had over powered the jutsu they used, resulting in the attack to be hard to control and temperamental.
Water like this was the reason that he hated when someone would dare to use water jutsu against him. They didn't' understand what they were doing, all they cared about was the result. They pushed chakra into the water, demanding it to change and move to their bidding. It's because of this that he could turn their own attacks against them without trouble. Water jutsu were not meant to be pushed or demanded of, water was meant to be asked and guided. You put enough chakra into the water for it to understand what it was that was being asked of it, then once it understood you helped guide it in the right direction, allowing the water to run its course.
In all his days, as low as they may be, he had only met a single women who understood his concepts. Understood how to truly use water. She understood much like he does that water is and always will be the most powerful of the elements that no one will ever use.
"It is time to heal you." Naruto spoke to the water before taking off his vest and placing it onto the ground with the bota bags facing up before slipping off his shoes and socks and in a steady and smooth pace stepped onto the pond and walked to the center where he sat crossed legged. Closing his eyes he focused on the water below him, reaching out with his soul to touch every drop of water, every inch. He felt the taint that riddled the water and with a calming sigh, pulled the water to form around him in a solid dome and began the slow but forever steady process of removing the taint form the water.
Isaribi walked up to her older brother, watching as the water swirled around him, she knew that if it was night she would be able to see the dull glow of power radiating from him. But it was not to be and all she could do was feel the foreign chakra being expelled into the air where it would later dissipate.
She waited for a few minutes before moving on to do her own things. Her brother had started training her in the art of Lightning manipulation, it had been a big surprise for the both of them that her primary element was in fact lightning as they had always assumed due to her back ground that she would hold a strong water affinity. She had feared that her brother would discard her once he found out that she didn't hold the same affinity as him but he had reassured her almost instantly that he was proud of her. The next day he had begun to research the finer workings of Lightning manipulation, all of his own jutsu coming from his Trident.
They had begun training her in Lightning manipulation almost a month ago and she had already begun to see the signs of her work. Taking two senbon needles from her pouch she held them at arms length and began to focus on manipulating her chakra into the needles and converting it to be electrical enough for an arch to connect between the two pieces of metal without shocking herself. She had just began to create sparks the other day and was hopeful to make a connection in the next week or so.
From his own sphere of water Naruto smiled at the girl, she was doing wonders in her manipulations and combined with the water scrolls she held, he had little doubt that she would be taken or killed without one hell of a fight. He just had to figure out a way to tell her that he had switched all of her senbon when she was sleeping to a special senbon that had a rubber core, effectively isolating all electricity. She was literally fighting to over whelm the very nature of rubber while learning how to conduct and control her affinity.
When the time came that she could conduct an arch between the rubber cored senbon he would switch them all back to copper based senbon and watch the fireworks when she overloads the metal and creates a lightning bolt on accident.
She would probably be upset at him for tricking her, but she was going to be so much stronger for it.
He allowed his focus to go back to the water, trusting his sister to not try anything to dangerous.
Almost a full hour passed, both of them doing what their own task though Naruto had finished his long ago he still kept himself encased in the water, the peace it brought to him was so great he often found it hard to let it go when not extremely necessary.
"Yo!" Naruto suppressed the urge to flinch away from the voice, only barely keeping his cool do to the fact that he recognized the voice with out fail. Finally allowing the water to fall back into it's hold, while keeping his footing at the top of it, he turned behind him where his old sensie stood with that damn goofy smile on his face.
"Your early?" Naruto asked, speaking loud enough to alert his sister of the Toad's presence. She kept her focus on the senbon, much to his pride.
"Is it so wrong of me to want to check up on my favorite pupil and his lovely new sister?" Jiraiya asked while moving to his side, clasping his hand on his pupil's shoulder only to pull it back and wipe the water on his hand off on his pants. "Must you always do that?"
"Yes." Naruto smiled as the man pouted to himself. "Would you like to meet her?" He asked quietly, he scowled at the volume of his own voice, upset that this was effecting him so much but still nerves at his Sensie's reaction.
"Of course." Jiraiya smiled a small, sincere, smile as they moved to the young girl who was still focusing on her senbon, a spark on each senbon momentarily connecting only to fall away from lack of power. "Why'd it fall?" Jiraiya asked, his age allowing him to realize that if it was actually metal it wouldn't have fallen out unless she took the power away from it.
"Rubber core." Naruto whispered to him, electing a knowing smile from the man, as they came to a stop in front of the girl. "Catfish do you want to meet your grandfather?" Isaribi's eye's snapped open, loosing all concentration on her senbon as she stood with a large smile.
"Jiraiya I would like you to meet Isaribi Uzumaki. Isaribi I would like you to meet your Ojisan Jiraiya." His sister suddenly looked nervous as she took a step forward to be closer to his Sensie while holding out a small slightly shacking hand.
"Hello." Her voice was small as she greeted him, and for a moment Naruto would swear he saw a tear in the man's eyes as he dropped to his knees and pulled the girl into a tight hug, kissing the top of her head when her arms flew around his neck.
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you Isari-chan." He whispered to the now extremely enthusiastic girl who hugged him as tight as she could. She was so happy to have a brother and now she had a grandpa to!
"Enough of the mushy stuff!" Naruto yelled causing his sister to giggle at him as Jiraiya let her go. "Unless you have figured out how to make the arch?" She shook her head. "Then get back to work!" He yelled in mock anger causing the girl to role her eyes before she sat back down and began to work again on creating the arch.
Naruto winked at the girl before motioning for Jiraiya to follow him back towards the small pond. The man followed close behind, both falling into a comfortable silence as Naruto began to manipulate some of the water into a herd of horses that grazed the surface of the lake like real horses.
"You seem troubled Naruto-kun?" Jiraiya asked after a moment. Naruto had to nod, not finding a reason to lie to his Sensie.
"I fear." He said, changing the horses into a replica of himself and Orochimaru. They began to fight each other, water flying in the air and mocking the different jutsu they used. Jiraiya watched in a slight daze as the water Naruto began to push Orochimaru back only for the man to allow a small snake to fall from his sleeve and slither by the distracted Naruto.
Slowly another figure rose from the water to form Isaribi who was all smiles and cheers for her brother, only for the snake to sink its fangs into her neck just as Naruto killed Orochimaru. Naruto rushed to her side and held her in his arms as she slowly began to drip away until finally nothing was left in his arms and he was alone on the surface, only to fall in a moment later.
"You once told me." Naruto started to say slowly when the show was over. "That..my drive for vengeance would hold a hand in my destruction. Of course, I never believed you. But now." He motioned to the prone girl who was shacking in concentration. "now I can't stop myself from thinking that I should no longer go after the Pedo. There is far to much to lose, not only for me, but for her to."
Jiraiya starred at the girl instead of his still very young apprentice. He had worked so hard to convince the boy off of his path of revenge only for this girl to do it without even planning to.
"What of Orochimaru-teme? He still needs to be stopped, and I doubt that he had forgotten about you." Naruto shrugged.
"Like I said last night. I will get a summoning contract and continue training just like always. But I don't think that I can risk chasing after the man, especially if it means leaving Catfish to the darkness of this world." Naruto paused to glance at the girl, smiling as more and more sparks appeared on the senbon. She was close. He thought to himself before turning back to his Sensie. "I will do what is necessary to protect her.. if that means that I must protect this village then so be it. But if there is ever a time where this village is no longer safe for her then I will no longer reside here, and I hope that I will not be alone in leaving?"
Jiraiya raised a single brow at the boy but nodded non the less. Naruto and now Isaribi were his family, the only family he had left. If a time came where the village was a danger to either of them and they choose to leave for a safer place then he to would leave with them. He loved Konoha, loved his home, but he'd be damned if he allowed his family to be driven away from him.
"And as far as I'm concerned with the Pedo? I will deal with him on my on terms, when I can be sure of the safety of Catfish-chan without a doubt."
"And your own safety?" Jiraiya added with a smirk.
Naruto nodded, mimicking his Sensie's smirk. "And my own safety."
"You never did answer as to why you came early?" Naruto asked.
"Sarutobi-Sensie wanted me to bring you to his office after you dropped off Isari-chan with Kakashi-kun. Apparently he wants to send your team on a 'training' mission of sorts to the Land of Water." Naruto smirked at the man.
"Shouldn't we meet a few times to create some strategies or something?"
Jiraiya waved the question off. "That's the point of the mission. You'll be sent into the Land of Water for a two weeks to learn about and adjust to each other without the interference of the village."
"Why the Land of Water?" Jiraiya chuckled at the boy with a raised eyebrow causing Naruto to glare at him. "Besides the obvious."
"At the end of the two weeks your team will be tasked with escorting the Konoha Emissary back to Konoha. The two weeks in between is for your team to get to know the route you will be taking." Naruto shook his head at the plan, smiling at the blatant lie but then again it would give him the time he needed to find the contract. Maybe he would have enough time to speak with a few old friends, some of which might even be tasked with escorting his team.
"So your saying we're being sent for the contract but in order to get it done without anyone questioning it the Monkey is saying that we're going to protect an Emissary, plotting out our return route for two weeks." Jiraiya nodded with a large grin on his face. "Fair enough."
"Kakashi-kun should be here soon to pick up Isari-chan to take her to meet her team." Jiraiya informed him. "Once he does you should head straight to Sarutobi-sensie's office. Don't bother saying goodbye to Isari-chan sense you wont be leaving for a few days at the earliest."
"Thanks Pervy-Toad."
"Sure thing kid." Jiraiya patted his shoulder again, scowling at the water on his hand. "By the way I ran out of your scrolls about a month ago and I don't want to go back out with out a few."
"How many will you need?" Naruto asked.
"I'll be gone for about a four days or so, but I'll be traveling into the Land of Stone so I was thinking ten, maybe fifteen to be safe."
"Do you want a mix of dragons, waves, and foxes?"
Jiraiya shook his head. "Just waves for now. I'd be looking to run, not fight, so waves would be the best."
"That works." Naruto agreed though when Jiraiya turned to leave he found Naruto's hand held out in front of him. With a heavy sigh he reached back into his pocket and pulled out a piece of taffy which he dropped in his apprentice's hand. He raised an eyebrow at the boy when he didn't retract his hand.
"Really?" He asked.
Naruto glared at the man. "It'll take me about thirty minutes to create the scrolls and another ten to fill them. One piece ain't gonna cut it."
Jiraiya rolled his eyes at the boy before reaching into his pocket and pulling out the rest of the small bag of taffy he had. The boy smiled as he snatched it before turning his back to the man, looking towards the pond once more while pocketing the candy for later.
Jiraiya shook his head with a smile before he turned to leave once more. "I've got some research to do! I'll see ya later tonight."
Naruto scowled at the man's back, his 'research' was a waist of time for the most part. Though he had to admit to himself that the man sure did know how to make money without working hard.
"Are you okay Nichan?" Isaribi called from her spot in the middle of the field.
"Stop stalling Brat!" Naruto yelled. "The Dog'll be here soon and I want to see at least the start of an arch by that time." The girl huffed, her purple hair flipping in the air as she focused on the senbon again, her anger giving her enough drive to create a small arch that actually lasted for a few moments before falling.
"Just trying to be nice." She mumbled loud enough for him to hear, though her eyes didn't hold any real anger as she started to make the light arch over and over again, her lips twitching as she tried to fight down a smile.
"That's my girl." Naruto whispered to himself with a smile. He knew without a doubt that she was going to be a strong Kunoichi one day. And he would be damned if he wasn't there to see it happen.
The next chapter will include the meeting between Naruto's team and the Hokage along with the Kakashi's test of Isaribi. Naruto may also be meeting a special someone, though I doubt many of you will notice.
Hope you all enjoyed this chapter and those to come.
