Welcome to Naruto month! Now, I am sure you are wondering, what Naruto month is, so let me enlighten all of you. I have purposely been leaving my Naruto stories aside, as well as my followed Naruto fanfictions, waiting for this, a time when I could have some time to sit down and read through my stories again, before writing a new chapter for all of them. It was mostly for this story, since it has been a while since I updated it and needed to refine a few plot points. Rest assured, I won't abandon any of my stories and I appreciate your patience. I will hopefully be able to update all four of my Naruto stories in the next 28 days and will be uploading them to my as soon as they are done. I'm hoping to update them starting with the last updated first, this story, NGOTM and finish up with TTONU.
Enjoy!
SSJ3 Kyuubi Gohan.
Disclaimer – I don't own anything from the Naruto anime/manga. All I own are my original characters and plot twists.
'Talking'
"Thinking"
'Heavily demonic voice'
'Fox talking'
"Fox thinking"
*expression*
Jutsu
FlashbackChapter 9 – Half-dozen
'So, how do you think they will react?' Asked Ameyuri, as she, along with Naruto and Kushimaru, stood just outside of the Village Hidden in the Mist.
'Can't be that bad, right? I mean, on a scale of zero to ten, with ten being the worst pain in my life, what could she do to me?' Asked Naruto.
'Eleven. You've never seen her get mad for real.' Said Ameyuri.
'Well… I guess it helps that I can regenerate from almost anything now then… hehehe, I hope…' Chuckled Naruto, somewhat apprehensive now.
The trio of Mei, Ao and Chojuro, appeared on the horizon, quickly making their way to the newly returned ninjas.
'You three, come with me, now.' Said Mei so quietly, that they almost didn't hear it.
'That's a bad sign.' Said Ameyuri, with a nod, confusing Naruto.
'What do you mean, she looked pretty relaxed to me?' Inquired Naruto.
'Well, you know how a volcano can look totally normal and then suddenly erupt, or how a kettle can have boiling water inside it without making a sound, until it reaches a certain threshold? Well, she is at that point now, so one mistake can make her explode and may very well send lava or boiling water at you.' Said Ameyuri, before following after the trio.
'It can't be that bad.' Muttered Naruto.
'If it helps, you can survive from lava and boiling water anyway.' Said Kushimaru, before following Ameyuri's lead.
'I'm sure they are just exaggerating.' Said Naruto to himself, before walking after them as well.
-line break-
'Now then, I'm sure you must have a good explanation for your absence.' Prompted Mei, once she was seated behind her desk, looking at Naruto, Ameyuri and Kushimaru expectantly.
'I don't answer to you.' Snorted Kushimaru, turning away from the new Kage, causing her smile to thin.
'As long as you wear that mark, you serve your Kage.' Pointed out Mei.
'Yes, my Kage. I serve Yagura, now and always. You are just a figurehead and wouldn't have been able to defeat him anyway.' Retorted Kushimaru, causing Mei's smile to disappear completely.
'In any case, there is a good explanation.' Interjected Ameyuri, before things could turn ugly.
'I'm listening.' Said Mei.
'Yagura was being controlled by a masked man with a Sharingan.' Said Naruto, getting the three who were unaware of this fact, to look at him in shock.
'So it was true? Yagura was under the influence of another man.' Muttered Ao.
'How did you know that?' Asked Naruto curiously.
'That's my personal business.' Said Ao, clamming up.
"True influence? Man business?" Thought Mei.
'Shut up Ao, or I'll kill you.' Said Mei sweetly, causing the older gentleman to sweat.
'In any case, that doesn't explain where the three of you have been for the past few months.' Continued Mei.
'Training obviously. If this guy could control Yagura, who none of us could beat, what chance did we have against him as we were?' Questioned Naruto rhetorically.
'So you didn't manage to beat Yagura? What happened to him then?' Asked Mei sharply.
'Well, I kind of don't know what happened at this point, but from what I've been told, I used Wood Release to beat down Yagura quite a bit and remove his Jinchuuriki prowess. Afterwards, Yagura sacrificed himself to give us all a better chance of surviving. He saved both Ameyuri and myself and if it wasn't for him, we'd be dead right now.' Said Naruto, causing silence to descend amongst those gathered.
'I see. From what I knew of Yagura, he was never a cruel person and with Ao's confirmation and now yours, it seems Yagura indeed was controlled and we were led into war for nothing. What a mess… do we know the identity of the man behind all this?' Asked Mei, after a moment.
'No clue, even Yagura never saw his face. Whoever he is though, he doesn't know about what Yagura did, just before he passed on.' Said Naruto.
'What did Yagura do that could make such a difference?' Asked Chojuro, seeing a confident grin on Naruto's face.
'Well, he gave me some extra company.' Said Naruto, tapping his belly.
It took a moment for the three who were unaware of Yagura's deed, to realise what Naruto meant, but once they did, they exploded into shock.
'How on earth can you have two tailed beasts inside you?' Asked Mei.
'Both of our seals build on the base of a four-trigram seal, so we were able to transfer them. It isn't an ideal situation though, as I need to constantly maintain the four-trigram seal, since it is less stable but nothing too difficult. The real tricky part, was making it so both of their respective chakras managed to flow in harmony with mine, in addition to a few others. Now that was a challenge.' Answered Naruto, before going off on a tangent, causing Mei to clear her throat.
'Back to the detail of you possessing two tailed beasts, how exactly are you alive right now?' Asked Mei.
'Well, it probably helps that I've been a Jinchuuriki, pretty much since I was born, so my body is a lot more accommodating to tailed beast chakra, it also helps that I'm an Uzumaki too and have a stronger life force than most.' Said Naruto.
'I was not aware that you were a Jinchuuriki for so long.' Commented Mei.
'Yeah, it's been part of my life since I could remember… for both good and bad reasons.' Said Naruto.
'What happened to you though… you're a lot bigger?' Chipped in Chojuro.
'Oh that, well, since I'm keeping six different chakra signatures within my body, including my own, it puts a lot more strain on the body.' Said Naruto, before he seemed to shrink in muscle bulk slightly and his hair became more blonde than green again, although his height remained unchanged.
'This is my form when I'm only keeping three separate chakras flowing through me. It is less stressful, but I don't think it would make me immune to powerful Genjutsu, like I am in my other form. I can shrug off most Genjutsu like this, but I don't think I could deal with a Sharingan based Genjutsu, or worse, a Mangekyo Sharingan based Genjutsu. That's why, when I knew we were going to be facing this masked man and that Itachi would probably be after me as well at some point, I learned to switch between the two forms, as that one is really demanding.' Said Naruto, giving a deep sigh of relief.
'I-impossible.' Muttered Ao quietly, causing Naruto to focus on him.
'What is?' Asked Naruto, getting Ao to quickly school his features.
'The idea of having multiple chakra within you not belonging to you. Your body should be at war with the foreign chakras.' Said Ao.
'Normally you'd be right, but in the case of the tailed beasts, my body is practically made to hold them. As for the other signatures, they are from my summons. Every summoner forms a blood contract with their summons, I just have a chakra link too, letting me summon them more easily and allowing me to retain a portion of their chakra within myself.' Explained Naruto.
'What type of summons do you have?' Asked Mei.
'Well, since you all know about the Uzumaki, it shouldn't be that hard to figure out, but if you need a hint, these tattoos aren't exactly decorative.' Said Naruto, gesturing to his chest.
'You actually have the ability to summon dragons?' Asked Mei, narrowing her eyes.
'Yep, three in total as of now.' Confirmed Naruto proudly, causing Mei to further narrow her gaze.
'Were you able to do this back during the war?' Asked Mei.
'Not all three, I could only summon one at the time.' Explained Naruto.
'I see… then why did you not use them? They could have ended the war and possibly even defeated Yagura?' Questioned Mei.
'Well that is because… huh… I really should've… huh… well, in my defence, I was not exactly in the best mental state at the time and got a little bit too arrogant, thinking I could beat Yagura, like I beat Gaara. Turns out, three tails are better than one.' Said Naruto thoughtfully, getting Ao and Chojuro to look at him in disbelief, while Mei merely smiled.
'I think I need to train you in things other than your bloodlines.' Commented Mei, snapping Naruto out of his thoughts.
'Oh yeah, that reminds me, can we enter the Chunin exams?' Asked Naruto.
'We? You mean you three? Why?' Asked Mei.
'Well, I never really got the chance to try and become a Chunin, especially considering that my last exam kind of got crashed by Sand and Sound invading. Other than that, I wouldn't mind having a crack at some of the other competitors, especially since it seems some of my old friends are going to be competing.' Said Naruto.
'Considering that you are at the very least a Jounin-level ninja, if not on the level of a Kage, also considering you fought Yagura and lived, why on earth would I let you compete in the Chunin exams, along with two other Jounin level ninja?' Asked Mei.
'Oh come on, other people have done it. Besides, we are ninja, isn't that meant to deal with espionage and deceit? Not to mention, Zabuza told me you guys had to kill each other to become Genin, how could your Chunin exams be easier than that?' Protested Naruto.
'Zabuza? How do you know about Zabuza?' Asked Ao.
'Our team came across him on our first mission outside of the village. He was hired to kill the client we were escorting. He also had someone with him who could use Ice Release and I've based a lot of my attacks on theirs.' Said Naruto.
'What happened to them?' Asked Chojuro hopefully, only to frown when Naruto looked away.
'They both died in the final battle where their client tried to backstab them. Zabuza didn't let that slide though and killed them… but they both died.' Said Naruto solemnly, looking down at the ground and clenching his fist slightly.
'What happened to his sword?' Asked Mei.
'We used it as his grave marker.' Said Naruto.
'What? You left one of the Seven Legendary Swords in the middle of nowhere!' Exclaimed Ao in outrage.
'Yeah… although, now that you mention it, I'm pretty sure I saw one of Sasuke's teammates wielding it… makes sense, since only our team knew where his grave was.' Muttered Naruto thoughtfully.
'In that case, your request to enter the Chunin exams is approved, however, the three of you had better hold back, at least until the finals. I don't need the other Kage complaining to me about bias and cheating.' Said Mei.
'I mean we are ninja… but okay.' Said Naruto.
'I'm curious though, have you been the one sniffing out our spies and killing them?' Asked Mei.
'Yeah. At first it was just to make sure that no one from Akatsuki was around, but then I kind of just decided to make it a principle. Mist has suffered enough, without opportunists trying to capitalise on a civil war.' Said Naruto.
'I see. In any case, I will see to it that the three of you have a place to stay until the exams start tomorrow. I suggest the two of you wear disguises and transform yourselves. Using your swords is allowed though, as the world thinks Ameyuri Ringo and Kushimaru Kuriarare are dead. If anything, you two can pretend to be relatives or trainees of yourselves as well, just as long as you don't reveal who you truly are during these exams, even in the final round.' Said Mei.
'Well, that shouldn't be too hard I guess. Easier for you, considering you're always wearing a mask.' Said Ameyuri.
'You as well, with your height, you could easily pass for a pre-pubescent child.' Quipped Kushimaru, causing Ameyuri to growl.
'Do those two normally act like that?' Asked Chojuro.
'All the time. You learn to ignore it after a while.' Said Naruto.
'I'll see to it that arrangements are made for you promptly, but, if you are going to be entering the Chunin exams, you'll need this.' Said Mei, before opening her drawer and throwing a headband at Naruto.
'This isn't a new headband, is it?' Asked Naruto pensively, looking at it thoughtfully.
'No, it is mine. I no longer need it for obvious reasons.' Said Mei.
Naruto looked at Mei for a moment, before giving a small nod and looking back to the headband. Naruto gripped the cool metal and felt a familiar warmth spread through his being.
"First Iruka-sensei, then Granny Tsunade… Yagura, now Mei as well… people keep believing in me and I won't let them down. Believe it." Thought Naruto, before tying the headband around his head.
'Thank you, Lady Mizukage.' Said Naruto, causing Mei's eye to twitch.
'Don't call me that again… ever.' Said Mei, causing Naruto to laugh.
'Don't worry, I hate formalities, I just figured this one time, since you are giving me this headband, I'd show your title at least a little respect. I always wanted to be Hokage after all… but then again, I called the old man, old man and granny Tsunade, granny, so I don't really make a habit of it.' Commented Naruto in amusement.
'Amusing. Win the Chunin exams for now and then you can think about becoming Mizukage if you like.' Said Mei.
'Nah, I'd rather you stay Mizukage, besides, I can have more fun this way, while you get stuck behind a desk… but I suppose that can be fun too in the right circumstances… enjoy the paperwork.' Said Naruto, before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
Ao, Chojuro, Ameyuri and Kushimaru, quickly followed suit, leaving the frozen Kage, not wanting to stick around for her reaction.
"Well, Naruto, I would say it is on, but it was never off to begin with. You may be a little older now, but you are still too young to handle me… but I wouldn't mind seeing you try." Thought Mei, her thoughts drifting towards the blond, who managed to both frustrate and intrigue her with utmost ease.
-line break-
Sakura, Hinata, Lee, Tenten, Kiba and Ino, along with Guy and Kurenai were all gathered in their hotel room, looking at Kakashi expectantly.
'What is it?' Asked Kakashi.
'Kakashi, why did you call that man Naruto?' Asked Guy, with a stern gaze.
'Oh… because that was Naruto.' Said Kakashi.
'You mean to tell us that freaky steroid junkie was Naruto?' Exclaimed Kiba in shock.
'I wouldn't say freaky… besides, you clan is the one who takes those pills to power yourselves up.' Said Naruto, appearing by the window of their room.
The group tensed up, with the Jounin preparing to intervene should Naruto attack, but Kakashi didn't bother.
'New headband? You didn't have that before.' Pointed out Kakashi.
'You noticed? Yeah, I suppose I'm now officially a Genin of the Hidden Mist. Not for long hopefully.' Said Naruto.
'What makes you say that?' Asked Ino.
'Well, I hope to become a Chunin this time around.' Said Naruto, with a sly grin.
'Yosh! I will get the chance to face Naruto in combat at last. The power of youth will guide me to victory!' Exclaimed Lee, causing Tenten to sigh.
'Really Lee? Read the room.' Mumbled Tenten.
'Naruto… how can you be a Mist ninja? I thought your dream was to become Hokage?' Asked Sakura.
Naruto frowned at this, losing his grin, as he looked up to the roof.
'Yeah, I know, but I don't think that's possible anymore.' Sighed Naruto.
'W-what makes you say that, Naruto?' Asked Hinata.
'Well, in case you guys forgot, I kind of got banished and as far as I'm aware, I'm still banished. That aside though, I have a new goal, one that is arguably more important than becoming Hokage. I wanted to become Hokage to get people to acknowledge me… but even without being Hokage, at least a few people acknowledge me now. It isn't a lot, but since I can't just take missions with you guys like I could before, I've learned to make do with what I can.' Said Naruto sadly, causing Kakashi to frown under his mask.
'What is your new goal, Naruto?' Asked Kakashi.
'To bring about the destruction of Akatsuki. Not just because they are after me, but also because I have a personal grudge to settle with one of them.' Said Naruto.
'It isn't Itachi, is it?' Asked Kurenai.
'No.' Said Naruto.
'It wouldn't happen to be that strikingly blue man, who felt familiar to me for some reason, even though I can't quite remember how I know him?' Questioned Guy.
'No. The man I am after; is the one who instigated the attack on the village just under two decades ago. The reason I am what I am today and why the Third had to take the hat up again, is also because of this person.' Revealed Naruto, shocking the three Jounin.
There was silence among the group at this, with the Genin being puzzled, while the Jounin and Naruto were contemplative.
'I have to ask though, why isn't Sasuke with you guys?' Asked Naruto, breaking the silence.
'Sasuke defected from the village a few months after you were banished, to go and join Orochimaru. Our attempts to retrieve him have been so far unsuccessful.' Explained Kakashi, causing Naruto to narrow his eyes.
'So you're saying Sasuke deserted the Leaf and the Leaf is still trying to get him back?' Asked Naruto.
'He didn't defect, he was tricked. Orochimaru brainwashed him.' Protested Sakura.
Lee and Kiba both frowned at this, taking issue with Sakura's statement.
'Kiba, what happened, tell me?' Demanded Naruto.
Kiba bristled at Naruto ordering him around and was about to let him have it, only for Akamaru, who was lying beside him, to nudge him slightly and give a small whine. Kiba huffed at this, before obliging Naruto's demand.
'Sasuke said he was leaving the Leaf for power. He said he didn't care about his friends and only about getting his revenge. A group of us went after him to stop him and had to fight off a bunch of Sound ninja in the process. We got pretty badly roughed up from our fights, but all of us survived, which is more than I can say for those Sound ninja.' Said Kiba.
Naruto had a stony expression on his face as he absorbed this, before exploding in a puff of smoke.
'Tch, he could have at least said something before disappearing.' Grunted Kiba.
-line break-Naruto blinked as his memories returned to him, before continuing on his original path.
'So you came after all, Naruto.' Said Sasuke, with his eyes closed, alarming his two teammates.
'I see you've got some new friends there with you.' Said Naruto, before looking them over.
'You even gave one of them Zabuza's sword.' Added Naruto.
'It was his condition for joining.' Stated Sasuke simply.
'I see you've changed your headband.' Commented Sasuke, after finally opening his eyes and staring Naruto down, with his coal black pupils.
'Why did you leave?' Asked Naruto.
'I wasn't getting any stronger in that village. Without anyone to challenge me, I did what I had to in order to get my revenge.' Said Sasuke.
'Yet you're still not strong enough.' Said Naruto, causing Sasuke to hum in amusement.
'You left for power, but couldn't even get it? That's not the Sasuke I remember.' Commented Naruto.
'Well, you left some time ago, people change after all.' Said Sasuke.
'I'm only telling you this once Sasuke. I'm after someone in Akatsuki and I won't let anyone get in my way. Not even Itachi. If he gets in my way, I'll kill him too. If you really want your revenge, then you better get it soon, especially since Itachi knows the person I am after.' Said Naruto.
'You make it sound like you can kill Itachi.' Stated Sasuke.
'Unlike you, I can.' Said Naruto.
'Whatever you say loser. If you really want to prove it, why don't you beat me in a fight?' Challenged Sasuke.
'Make to the finals of the Chunin exam and we'll see.' Said Naruto, before disappearing in a bust of smoke.
Sasuke smirked at the challenge of his former friend.
"We'll see just which one of us is stronger, Naruto." Thought Sasuke.
Hope you enjoyed it! In other news, the next two chapters of Shatter, Naruto Uzumaki are already up on my pat reon for your reading pleasure. Until next time!
Consider this my birthday present from me to all of you. I know that isn't how this normally works, but I have left you all waiting for a while, so consider this a gift, for sticking with the story.
SSJ3 Kyuubi Gohan.
