I do not own Naruto or any crossover elements.
Chapter 6: Revelations
Seriously, was it too much to ask for a humble Uchiha? Clearly it was, as Sasuke looked at Naruto with a smirk. Naruto narrowed his eyes. If Sasuke honestly thought he would be allowed to fight Gaara, he was in for a rude awakening. Heck, he had already lost his chance at promotion when he attacked Naruto during the preliminaries. He did not have the right to stand on this stage.
Despite Naruto's increasingly strong killing intent, Kakashi managed to regain his composure. "Now, now, what's with the hostility?" he asked nervously. Damn, the kids killing intent was something else. He would swear up and down that the temperature dropped twenty degrees from it!
Naruto was seething. That one-eyed bastard had the gall to act like nothing was wrong! Was he that stupid?! Taking a few deep breaths he walked over to Kakashi. "You don't deserve this." Naruto growled. The man never saw it coming. Coating his left hand with chakra, mimicking his Yin half's claws, Naruto slashed upwards...straight through his sensei's left eye.
Kakashi fell to his knees, clutching his face as he screamed in agony. He never expected Naruto to attack him. The chakra had incinerated the optic nerve, preventing the eye from ever being replaced again.
Naruto glared at his sensei with enough malice to make Madara Uchiha flinch. "If you ever embarrass the Leaf by being so disrespectful ever again, I'll take away more than your Sharingan!" He scolded, "Now get lost! You're a disgrace!"
Kakashi fled, hoping to get to the hospital in time to save his eyesight.
Sasuke fumed. Naruto had destroyed his clans bloodline right in front of him! He would not stand for this! Going through hand signs, he gathered his chakra into his left hand. The sound of birds chirping filled the air as he charged at his teammate.
Naruto scoffed at Sasuke. The runt was using the Chidori like swinging a sword. What an idiot. Grabbing the Uchiha's wrist, he looked Sasuke in the eyes. "The Chidori is supposed to be a stab, not a slash. You aren't worth my time if you can't even properly use a jutsu you've learned. Makes me wonder who the real dead-last is." Naruto said as he once again knocked him out.
Up in the stands, Sakura was screeching at Naruto to let Sasuke go. The others just shook their heads at her. Sasuke was intent on injuring a comrade for no reason. Many who showed up for the exams after hearing of the boy realized that he wasn't as good as the rumors said. He was definitely unstable, so why praise him when it was clear he was a flight risk. At least the Uzumaki was smart enough to call him out on his disrespect. It's clear that the Hokage was not in on the favoritism. He did disqualify the Uchiha, after all.
Back in the arena, Naruto had just arrived in the contestants' box. Deciding to start the next match, Genma called out, "Will Shikamaru Nara and Kankuro please come down to the field."
Kankuro was sweating. If he fought now...no. He needed to save his strength. "Proctor, I forfeit!" he shouted.
The crowd loudly voiced their displeasure, while Shikamaru narrowed his eyes.
"So you noticed it too."
Shikamaru turned to see Naruto walking towards him. "Yeah. He is in perfect fighting shape, so there is no reason to give up yet. It just doesn't add up. Something's going to happen." he replied.
Naruto nodded, "I've got a bad feeling about this."
In the Kage box, the Hokage had similar thoughts. Was the Sand going to try something? He shook his head. They didn't have the military power to do so. Turning his head to Naruto, he recalled his conversation with his student Jiraiya.
(Flashback Start)
The Third Hokage was livid. Here was one of the people who had abandoned Naruto. His student Jiraiya.
"Hey sensei!" Jiraiya said completely oblivious to his teacher's killing intent.
"And pray tell, when you were going to inform me of Minato's survival?" Hiruzen asked, "Along with the fact that he and Kushina had TWO children, not ONE!" Jiraiya paled. His sensei was not supposed to know that! How did he find out?! "Judging by your expression," Hiruzen continued, "I wasn't supposed to find out. Well, it was Naruto who discovered it!"
Jiraiya paled further. This was really bad. "Sensei, I can explain-" he started.
"Oh I know why you did it." Hiruzen interrupted, furious at his student's attempts at justification, "It was that damn prophecy. Well you should know that Naruto saw right through all of you. He knows about his sibling and the marrige contract with her. Naruto hates incest. He knows of Kushina's awareness of a demon host's treatment. He knows that his parents abandoned him for his sibling. He knows of your's and Tsunade's part in the abandonment. He hates all of you. He also refuses to forgive the villagers for the hell they put him through." At this he sighed, "More than that though, Naruto will never forgive his so called family. The boy wants nothing less than to torture them worse than Anko on a bad day with Orochimaru's right hand man."
Jiraiya had practically lost all color by the end of his sensei's speech. This wasn't supposed to happen. "How did he find out?" Jiraiya asked.
"When he read his parents'(Jiraiya flinched at the venomous tone.) letters, he decided to analyze their bodies for any clues to the masked man's powers." Hiruzen began, "Unfortunately, when he went to exhume the bodies, he found that the coffins were empty. He theorized that Minato and Kushina were alive. He then entered the Uzumaki Mask Temple outside the village. Utilizing the Shadow Clone Jutsu, he summoned the Shinigami for confirmation. The Death God not only confirmed his suspicions, but also informed him of EVERYTHING. There was no masked man! The Shinigami also informed Naruto that HE was the child of prophecy! Not his sister. Needless to say, Naruto was enraged by the revelations and asked the Death God to inform Kami that if the world were to be destroyed, then he wouldn't lift a finger to stop it."
Jiraiya was horrified by that last part. Not only was he wrong about who the child of prophecy was, but the real child of prophecy was going to let the world burn! How did it come to this?! "Is there any way to change his mind?" he asked, grasping for straws at this point.
"No. He has made it clear that he wants nothing to do with you or your prophecy. I am forbidding you from interacting with Naruto Uzumaki! You have done enough damage and you're lucky that I don't label Minato and Kushina as rouge shinobi!" the Third shouted, completely fed up with his student's refusal to accept that he messed up.
Jiraiya left with his head down. He knew that he had essentially been told that if it wasn't for the fact that he would follow Minato, his student would have been labeled a criminal.
As the man left the room, Hiruzen sighed, wondering just where he went wrong with his students.
(Flashback End)
He was severely disappointed with his students. Jiraiya and Tsunade abandoned Naruto. They had lost their will of fire long ago. Speaking of Naruto, he remembered his conversation with the boy yesterday. It was quite a shock.
(Flashback Start)
Hiruzen Sarutobi was giggling. Why? It's just that for all his anger at his students, he is still a pervert who reads 'Make Out Paradise'. He was just getting to the good part when the door to his office opened. Quickly putting the book away, he noticed it was Naruto who walked in. He began to sweat when he noticed the boy's left eye twitching. It only did that when he was about to punish a pervert! Deciding self preservation was more important than his pride, he asked Naruto why he was there.
Naruto activated a silencing seal and explained. "I got a visit from Kami." he started, "Apparently, because of my statement, she decided to give me a choice."
"What was the choice?" Hiruzen asked.
"The choice was to either accept my role in the prophecy, or become a deity so that I would, by divine law, be unable to be a part of it. I would have to choose a new child of prophecy to replace me though." Naruto replied.
Sarutobi was stunned. His surrogate grandson was given the choice of godhood! "What were the details?" he asked, knowing that there was more to the choice than at first glance.
Naruto sighed, looking older than he actually was. "If I were to accept becoming a god, I would be forced to put my deity responsibilities above my obligations as a shinobi. This means that if a meeting of the divine council is called, even if I am in the middle of a fight, I am forced to attend it. If something is against a divine law of my jurisdiction, I am to deal with it regardless of whether or not it involves harming my friends. Those are just examples of the seriousness of this choice." Naruto explained.
Hiruzen realized the gravity of Naruto's situation. On one hand, If he accepts godhood, it means he might have to harm or even kill his friends if it corrects an imbalance. On the other hand, declining would mean accepting his biological family regardless of their sins.
Mulling it over, he came to a conclusion. "Tell me Naruto," he began, "What choice is a shinobi forced to make if his team is outnumbered and the only way to survive is to leave a member behind to stall?"
Realizing what his surrogate grandfather was saying, Naruto answered, "He would be forced to leave a member behind. The needs of the many outweighing the needs of the few. This could also mean that the team member could defect out of self-preservation, forcing the team to fight and/or kill him or her. Even if they were friends."
"Indeed." Hiruzen smiled.
"Thank you, Grandpa Saru."
(Flashback End)
Hearing his old nickname warmed his heart.
Naruto told him that he would contact Kami after the exams. He didn't want to potentially be interrupted in the middle of his match.
Looking back at the arena, he wondered what the future would bring.
