In a certain office that was occupied by 5 individuals, the atmosphere was extremely tense. For a very big reason, and everyone in there was starting to understand why.
The Raikage had insulted the Kyuubi and forced him to take control and stir the place up a bit. Everyone felt the chakra that he was radiating. It meant that what Naruto had said was true, and they most likely weren't the first ones to know. Konoha most likely wanted him back, which left them at a standstill on what to do.
"Who are you?" The Raikage asked quickly.
He narrowed his eyes, he didn't want to give in that quickly.
"Foolish man, I'm the Kyuubi no Kitsune. Naruto Uzumaki is my jinchuriki, you should know what this means." He snarled.
The Raikage's eyes widened, this was the real deal. His brain went into hyperdrive thinking about what to do.
"So it's true?" The girl asked suddenly.
The Raikage nodded numbly, they were looking at the real deal. The son of the Yondaime Hokage himself, they know understood the gravity of the situation.
"Can you let Naruto back in control?" The Raikage asked respectfully.
He didn't want to make a mistake, this situation was a ticking time bomb. The Kyuubi slowly nodded and the immense pressure disappeared when Naruto regained control.
"Naruto Uzumaki, I hate to admit it, but I'm sorry for what was said earlier." The Raikage said quickly.
Naruto nodded and began to speak up.
"Now that we got that ugly stuff out of the way, let's get down to business." Naruto said quickly.
It was time to get everything settled.
The Raikage nodded.
"I'm sure you could guess my reasons for leaving Konoha. If you want a bit more clarification on the reasons, here's the short story. Me being the container for the Kyuubi and combined with my heritage being unknown to only a few select people, I'm sure you can figure out the people's view on me." He said.
The Raikage's eyes widened, putting the pieces together, it did make sense.
"They despised you, they thought you were a demon. I can see why you left." He said softly.
Naruto nodded numbly. Everyone was starting to understand what he felt. Jinchuriki were most often, if not, outcasts of the village.
"I was tired of being lied to, I didn't even know about my parents until the Kyuubi told me, I couldn't take it and I finally decided to relent and take the Kyuubi's offer." He explained.
The Raikage widened his eyes, believing the same Bijuu you held was very foolish and would most likely end up with you dead, but this boy took a leap of faith and look where it got him.
"What was the Kyuubi's offer?" The Raikage asked.
Naruto chuckled and answered the man.
"He told me that I could stay at the village and watch as no real improvement happened, or I could escape and becoming a missing-nin and start my new life. He also said in exchange for a few favors he would train me how to use his chakra and abilities." Naruto explained.
Everyone eye's widened for the umpteenth time that day, it seemed the shocks just kept coming. This boy was truly something else.
"Hmm, now what have you come here for?" The Raikage asked quickly.
Everyone looked to Naruto as he sighed and began to speak up.
"Truthfully I come with an offer." He said.
The Raikage's interest rose at hearing this, he motioned for him to continue as everyone listened to him.
"As of now I don't have a home, and I'm not saying I want to be tied down to a village. I'm offering my support as a freelance mercenary, in exchange for asylum, if needed and some training to help me out in my travels." He said.
No one was expecting that, he clearly thought this whole meeting out accordingly.
The Raikage was weighing the deal in his mind, if he accepted he would get a very powerful ally that would only grow stronger in the future. A refuge wasn't that hard either, the training though made him think a bit more on it.
"What kind of training?" He asked.
Naruto looked at him and replied.
"Firstly, kenjutsu to help my skill with this sword, and one raiton jutsu." He simply said.
Naruto was trying to keep it as simple as he could to help his situation.
The Raikage looked in thought again, the terms weren't that bad. He could handle them, however there was questions he needed to ask himself.
"Let's put a hypothetical out there and say you do become a freelance mercenary, who all are you going to give your allegiance to?" He asked quickly.
Naruto looked directly at him and replied.
"I would give it to Suna, Konoha if the situation was dire enough for me to help them. However Konoha isn't one of my priorities now, I would stay away from Iwa and Kiri." He said.
The Raikage smiled and knew this could work out, he looked at Naruto and spoke.
"If we are to do this, we must keep it a secret. We need a way to get in contact with each other." He said.
Naruto nodded and thought about it.
"I could give you a summoning contract for foxes, you'd have enough to go back and forth between any village you allied with." The Kyuubi said suddenly.
That's when Naruto eyes widened, he still had the toad contract. They could reverse summon him, he would need to break it firstly.
"The Kyuubi said he could give me a summoning contract for foxes, that way we could send messages back and forth." He said.
The Raikage thought about it for a minute, it was a pretty good idea and it would keep the secret from getting out.
"Okay, then that will work." He said with a smile.
Naruto was about to speak up when he felt something off, with the recent use of the Kyuubi's chakra. It seemed to blend with his, thus granting him stronger control over it and it gave him enhanced senses. One of these was sensing chakra.
"You sense it right?" He asked the Kyuubi.
Everyone saw his silence and wondered what was up.
"Yes a gigantic amount of it, most likely those two teams together. Their chakra is on the outskirts of Kumo." He heard.
"Excuse me Raikage, but it seems there is a problem." Naruto said suddenly.
The Raikage's eyebrows raised as he heard him.
"What do you mean?" He asked cautiously.
Naruto sighed and explained.
"It seems Konoha isn't letting up on retrieving me. Thanks to the Kyuubi's influence I have gained heightened senses. I can feel a large mass of chakra outside Kumo. It's two teams together that were sent for me. I have to deal with them." He explained.
The man, Darui spoke up.
"How do you plan to deal with two genin teams?" He asked.
Naruto smirked, he had already anticipated this situation and planned accordingly.
"If it is the teams I think they are. I have a plan to deal with them, knowing it would damage the relationship between Konoha and Kumo if I were to be seen fighting in the village I already came up with it before hand. I'm going to deal with them outside the village, so Konoha doesn't suspect Kumo's involvement." He said.
Everyone was shocked, the Raikage was impressed too, the kid was seriously something else.
The Raikage nodded.
"Very well, we will continue this meeting after you have dealt with them." He said.
Naruto thanked him and left the tower to put his plan into motion, back inside of the office were everyone else who was present for the first part of the meeting.
"So what do you guys think of him?" The Raikage asked.
The girl was the first to speak up.
"He is obviously not to be underestimated, just by the way he spoke shows he can handle himself and can adapt to a situation if the need arose." She said.
Darui nodded and spoke up.
"He clearly wasn't lying about being the Yellow Flash's son, Yugito is right. He will be a force to reckon with if he has the right tutelage. Add that to the Kyuubi and it only adds more to it. His offer wasn't that bad either." He added.
The Raikage nodded and turned to the other man in the room.
"What do you think about him B?" He asked curiously.
B looked in thought for a moment.
"He is very powerful indeed, those who cross him will bleed." He said softly.
Yugito wondered what was going to happen to the two teams that were sent for him, if she did know it would only concrete the fact that he was someone not to take lightly.
"I wonder what those teams will face?" She asked aloud.
They all were wondering what would happen, they would just have to ask him when he got back.
{Scene Break} {Outside Kumo}
As team 8 and 10 were walking along the road to Kumo they suddenly stopped when they heard something, it sounded like a person and it was behind them. They turned to see a little girl about 7 years old, her shirt was stained with tears.
They were shocked at seeing someone like this.
"Your ninjas right? You have to help me!" She screeched.
They weren't expecting that.
Kurenai was the one who spoke up.
"What's wrong?" She asked softly.
The girl sniffed and replied.
"My big brother is being held hostage by someone." She said.
They widened their eyes and then narrowed them. Naruto wouldn't do that? Would he? That's what they all thought.
Being the kind souls they were they knew they had to help.
"Lead the way little one." Ino smiled.
The girl nodded and turned around and started to run into the forest with everyone following her. If they were to see her face they would see her with a devious smirk.
(Warning: A bit graphic.)
Soon after five minutes of running they came across a thick part of the forest, tree dotted everywhere they could see. However something caught Ino's eye.
Tied against a tree was what seemed to be a boy with dark hair and torn clothes, he couldn't be more than 10 years old. He was covered in dirt and his eyes showed he was tired.
Ino didn't even think about it and ran forwards ignoring the cries of everyone else, and that is what started it all.
"Ino wait up!" Shikamaru yelled.
They quickly followed her to find the boy tied, they were all shocked and angry.
"Who did this to you?" Asuma asked seriously.
The boy looked up with defeated eyes and replied in a emotionless tone.
"A boy with spiky black hair, he said I was needed for something." He said softly.
Ino almost cried and looked at Asuma with a glare as he took his knuckle blades out and went to cut the ropes holding the boy.
When the boy was finally free, they realized what had happened. It transformed into a clone, of Naruto.
It was a henge all along.
"Shit." Shikamaru cursed.
He looked to see a line of explosion tags set up purposefully exactly where they were, it was too late though.
A gigantic explosion rocked the forest as trees started to fall haphazardly, it was obvious that Naruto was using the situation to his advantage.
The explosions kicked up a ton of dust, creating a window for Naruto move into action.
Kurenai suddenly screamed out as she felt something stab her in the back.
"Kurenai!?" Asuma screeched out.
There was only a little bit of visibility, quickly Asuma used a wind jutsu to clear the area.
They all looked to Kurenai to see a senbon sticking in her. They looked to see Ino down unconscious.
Naruto had already proven he had what it took to take them out.
Asuma quickly pulled the senbon out to see a green liquid on the tip.
"A poison?" Asuma said aloud.
Suddenly Kurenai felt her eyelids get heavy and she collapsed on the ground knocked out.
"Quickly back to back!" Shikamaru shouted.
There was 6 left. Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba, Hinata, Shino and Asuma.
"We fell into his trap, we should of known he would do something like this to get us." Asuma said aloud.
Suddenly a insane laugh pierced their ears, it sounded like it was coming from everywhere. They couldn't pinpoint the source.
Hinata started to get a bit creeped out and scared.
"Where are you at dobe!?" Kiba shouted angrily.
Hinata was too scared and started to run away, that's when a clone jumped down and grabbed her.
"Sorry for this Hinata." He said.
With one quick chop to her neck, he laid her down unconscious. The group didn't seem to notice the fact he was missing Samehada and that he was a clone.
"You bastard! Why are you being like this!" Kiba roared.
The clone smirked and looked at Kiba.
"Hey Kiba I got a question for you?" The clone said suddenly.
Everyone looked at him while he continued.
"Do you and Akamaru sniff each other's butts? I mean you are a flee ridden mutt after all?" He mocked.
Kiba started to growl as the clone was speaking.
"What? Does the mongrel have something to say? Go on mutt say something." He said quickly.
Kiba stepped forward as the clone smirked, Shikamaru went to speak, however the clone already did what it needed to do. It gave Kiba the finger and dashed in the opposite direction.
"GET BACK HERE YOU BASTARD!" Kiba roared.
Kiba then chased after him, however he should of known he was walking right into another trap.
A few moments later more explosions were heard, soon after the clone came back with Kiba's unconscious body. They were glaring at him as he dropped the body by Hinata's.
"Why are you doing this Naruto?" Shikamaru asked through gritted teeth.
No one tried anything, they knew if they did try anything, something would go wrong and they would be down another member. They had no doubt that Naruto had more up his sleeves.
"That's very easy to answer Shikamaru, I'm a missing-nin with no reason to return to that hellhole. Yet the same village demands that they want me back just because I'm Minato Namikaze's son. They really think that all those years of be being outcasted as the demon fox wouldn't affect my decisions?" The clone answered.
Asuma finally noticed something was off.
"Your a clone right? There's no Samehada on your back." He said aloud.
The clone chuckled and nodded.
"Your right, I am just a clone. That doesn't mean I'm going to tell you where the real one is." The clone smirked.
Everyone was silent as the clone continued.
"I'm here to relay a message, give up and don't try again. If you don't heed my warning, I'll be forced to use more effective methods." The clone said.
Suddenly everyone tensed as the clone walked towards them, suddenly it poofed into smoke and disappeared.
"I think we should take the kid's offer and leave while we still can." Choji said aloud.
Shikamaru grunted, but nonetheless couldn't agree more. They had failed, horribly. He had lured them straight into a trap.
"I agree, if he was able to fool us this much, imagine what he could do if we pissed him off." Shikamaru added.
Asuma nodded and looked around the area, Naruto really did have them against the wall. If they didn't leave as he told them too, he would most likely unleash more and they wouldn't stand a chance.
Naruto's skill set was too unorthodox and combined with his knowledge of pranks, it only made it stack in his favor.
"Ok, everyone pick up someone and let's head back." Asuma said aloud.
Everyone nodded and picked someone and hoisted them on their shoulders, soon they all arrived back on the road, however they stopped and turned around when they heard someone drop behind them.
It was Naruto, and it was not a clone.
The 4 of them were shocked to see his new appearance, it made him look intimidating. Pitch black spiky hair, he was wearing a dark leather combat jacket with matching baggy shorts. It was obvious to them he was definitely ready to strike at a moments notice. The jacket most likely held all his ninja tools.
The sword Samehada was strapped to his back, they could see the tip of it exposed and it didn't have bandages covering it. Yep he was truly ready to strike if the need arose.
"What do you want?" Shikamaru asked.
Naruto sighed and placed his hands in a surrender motion to placate them.
"Deliver a message to Baa-chan for me, also that pervert Jiraiya. Tell them this, I won't be coming back yet, eventually though. I have stuff that needs to be taken care of. Also tell Kakashi and Sakura to stuff it, along with those snot nosed elders on the council." He smirked.
They were flabbergasted. Part of them knew he would still protect his precious people if the situation called for his intervention, however part of them knew, he was never going to be the same.
They nodded numbly and watched as he turned around and walked towards Kumo again.
"Well that was surprising." Choji said dryly.
Shikamaru chuckled and spoke up.
"What do you expect? Naruto was always that type to never abandon his friends, and by the looks of it, that hasn't changed. He just got his life together and his priorities straight." He said aloud.
Asuma definitely agreed with Shikamaru, it was obvious to them that Naruto was going to grow stronger than anyone could imagine. He also wouldn't forget his roots.
This was his chance for a new, better life.
One that would shake the world.