What Could've Been

by Concentrated Awesomeness

Naruto gets pushed to his limit early on in life. The same could be said for Sasuke. Follow along as both go through hardships that test their sanity. The two have to rely on each other to prevent the darkness that could have been. More mature, God-like Naruto. Good Sasuke, probably also God-like or close to it. May have some pairing(s) later on in the story, but no yaoi.

10. Chapter 10

Welcome back once again. Here's another filler/training chapter before I dive back into the good stuff.

I'm sure no one forgot my Narutoownerlessness disorder.

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Naruto awoke to a familiar sensation of chakra tingling from the ANBU tattoo on his left shoulder. He rolled over and looked at his alarm clock and let out a groan. "Ugh. What could be happening at 3 in the morning?" He muttered to himself, though he knew after his few months in ANBU that a lot happened at weird hours.

He quickly slid out of bed and channeled some chakra to the seal tattoo that was on his forearm, making his ANBU uniform and mask appear in a poof of smoke. In just a few minutes he was dressed and walked out the door of his house to appear in the Hokage's office.

In short order the rest of his team was standing beside him before Hiruzen spoke. "I have called you here tonight because the Yamanaka clan heiress has been kidnapped. We are unsure of who the assailants are at the moment, but Delta Squad is our best team, so I trust you to complete the job."

"Hai, Hokage-sama, it shall be done." Itachi said before him and his team shunshinned away. They reappeared at the Yamanaka compound where they were directed north by the ANBU patrol that was investigating the scene. Once more they were gone in a blur. After just a few minutes they picked up on the trail of the group. Shortly after, Itachi signaled for the group to stop. They all noticed that there was a group of 6 people in the clearing in front of them with Ino bound by wire, and they could sense 2 more further ahead.

"Neko take the 2 furthest north. I'll get the 3 furthest west. Taka take the 2 in the center. Kitsune take out the 1 by the girl and get her out." Itachi said to them in sign language. They all nodded, and then with a flick of the wrist by Itachi, they were gone.

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Yugao landed down behind the 2 men who had broke apart from group with her katana drawn and in a battle stance. The men sensed her land and instantly turned and dropped into their own stanc before one of them spoke up. "To what do we owe the pleasure, Konoha-san?" the man said sarcastically. Yugao responded by dashing towards them in a blur. The second man jumped back out of the way while the first pulled a kunai and went to deflect her strike. She swung down and the sound of metal hitting metal was heard only briefly before the man fell to the ground dead and she said "Mikazuki no Mai."

She then stuck her sword in the ground and did a set of handseals before leaping towards the second man. He dropped to a defensive stance with a kunai, but was shocked when she seemingly disappeared. He went to make a ram seal to dispel a genjutsu, but found that he couldn't move his hands. "What the hell is this?" He said outloud as he noticed that he was trapped to a tree.

"Magen: Jubaku Satsu" (Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death) Yugao said as she slid her upper body out of the trunk of tree and slit the man's throat with her katana.

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Itachi leapt down into the clearing right between the 3 men that were clustered around their campfire. Before they even knew he was there one of them slumped to the ground dead, with a kunai sticking out of the base of his skull. The other 2 quickly flung several shuriken and kunai at him, but as soon as they hit he dissolved in a flock of ravens and reformed right behind them. Itachi quickly buried another kunai into one of the men before the other turned around and swung at him with a kunai of his own. Once again Itachi disappeared in a flock of ravens, and reappeared behind the man, with a kunai buried in his brain.

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Sasuke appeared between the 2 men that were standing and talking away from the main group, and went to stab one of them with a kunai, but was blocked. The man who blocked his kunai threw a punch at Sasuke's face while the other man tried to sweep his feet. In a show of athleticism Sasuke jumped and rolled his body to the side, avoiding both attacks, before he launched his elbow up and into the jaw of the man who punched at him. The force of the blow made the man's head snap back and he stuttered backwards just a bit, but it was all Sasuke needed as he grabbed the man and twisted his body around, putting it in the path of a kunai in the other man's hands. The kunai buried itself to the hilt in the man's chest as Sasuke pushed him off and appeared beside the second man and ended his life with a kunai to the throat.

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Naruto dropped from the trees beside the man who was holding Ino. "Don't worry honey, I won't be too rough as long as you help me out." He heard the man say. It made his blood boil that the man was thinking of raping a 10 year old girl.

"Let her go you bastard." Naruto growled out to the man.

"And if I don't? Like a kid like you could hurt me." The man replied with a smirk. It was then that the rest of Naruto's team dropped from the trees and killed his men. His eyes went wide briefly as he realized that he was going to die. He quickly grabbed Ino and held a kunai to her throat. "Move and I kill the girl!" He said in a last ditched effort to live.

Naruto smirked behind his mask a bit before there was a poof of smoke and the man was now holding a clone while Naruto held the bound Ino. Naruto's eyes then changed to the form of his Mangekyo as he made eye contact with the man. 2 seconds later the man fell to the ground with his eyes glazed over, after being skinned alive for 3 days straight in the Tsukiyomi world. Naruto then proceeded to seal the man into a scroll and free Ino, before he picked her up bridal style and the group departed from the clearing.

A few minutes after they left out, Ino started to stir. "What happ- AHHHH! LET ME DOWN YOU JERK!" she yelled as she started to beat Naruto.

"Ino-san-" Said Naruto before the screams drowned it out.

"AHHHH!"

"Ino-san would you-"

"AHHHH!"

"INO! Calm down!"

"You kidnapped me and you expect me to calm down?!"

"Actually, he rescued you." Sasuke added.

"Is that…" "Sasuke-kun?"

"Shit." Sasuke thought as he looked to Itachi for help. Itachi simply nodded his head and turned his eyes to Naruto too.

"Yea it's me. Naruto is the one who saved you though." Sasuke said as he removed his mask.

"Naruto? The dead last Naruto?"

Naruto then pulled his mask off and let Ino see him while she was still in his arms.

"No it's the sexy Naruto!" Ino thought with a small blush.

"No, Kitsune Naruto, ANBU operative, though no one else is to know that." Naruto said while she made googly eyes back and forth between him and Sasuke.

"Y-You guys are in ANBU? Wow we are the same age and…" Ino said

"Yes, but like I said, that is a secret." Naruto said.

"We only revealed ourselves because you recognized my voice." Sasuke added.

"Oh I'm sorry about that."

"No worries. Just don't tell anyone, and I mean ANYONE, else. Not even Sakura."

"How did-"

"We have to know all the shinobi and shinobi-to-be in this village." Naruto said.

Ino picked this random moment to notice that she was still being carried by Naruto, and blushed rather heavily.

"Umm Naruto-kun, could you put me down?" "Damn did I just call him Naruto-kun?"

"Sure thing." Said Naruto as he lowered her to her feet. "She just called me Naruto-kun… just great." He thought with a mental scowl.

Things went pretty silent after that, Naruto and Sasuke put their masks back on and dropped Ino off at her father's house, before going to the Hokage's office to report.

"Hello Hokage-sama." Said Itachi as he and his team appeared in front of Hiruzen's desk.

"Delta Squad, I'm sure you have a good report yes?"

"Yes. The threat has been eliminated. They appeared to be just a group of missing nin. We brought back the leader for interrogation."

"And the girl?"

"She has been returned, and possibly betrothed." Said Itachi with a chuckle.

"How so?"

"She figured out the identity of 2 of our operatives, and I think the fell for Kitsune."

At that, the aged Hokage couldn't help but laugh. "Naruto-kun sure does have a way with people."

Naruto couldn't help but blush a bit, which was seen by everyone since they had removed their masks to report.

"It's okay Naruto-kun, you are a nice young man, it will happen. Your father had this problem too." Hiruzen said.

"Hmph." Naruto pouted.

"Anyways, thank you all for resolving this issue so quickly, you may be dismissed." Hiruzen said as everyone but Naruto left via shunshin.

"Goodnight loverboy." Hiruzen said with a chuckle.

Naruto released a low growl, making Hiruzen break into full blown laughter. After just a second, Naruto actually let out a little smile himself.

"Don't worry Naruto-kun, all good shinobi have to deal with it."

"Yea I guess, but I already kinda like Hinata-chan, so the others are wasting their time." Naruto declared

"Actually, since you are the last of both the Uzumaki and Namikaze, you fall under the clan restoration act." Hiruzen said in a teasing tone.

"Clan restoration act?"

"It means that if a man is the last of his clan, then he may take more than 1 wife." Hiruzen replied, still teasing.

"B-But I-I uhhh." Naruto started before losing consciousness because of the blood shooting from his nose.

"Well well Naruto-kun is a closet perv. Who woulda thought." Hiruzen said to himself as he picked Naruto up and took him home to bed.

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Naruto awoke to the smell of breakfast cooking and turned to his alarm clock to see that it was 8:00.

"Hmm. Glad I don't have anything to do today." Said Naruto to himself as he rolled out of bed and headed downstairs in nothing but his sleeping shorts.

"Good morning Hinata-chan." He said with a smile once he got downstairs.

"Morning N-" Hinata started but feinted when she saw that Naruto was shirtless.

"Hinata-chan! Are you okay?!"

"I-I'm f-fine, Naruto-kun." She said once she regained consciousness. "I just… I uhh… remembered something Nai-chan told me."

"Oh okay then." Naruto said with an oblivious smile as he helped her up.

"So what are you doing today Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked as they sat down for breakfast.

"I'm off today so I think I'm gonna try to finish the Rasengan today. What are you doing after school?"

"I'm going to train with Nai-chan and Ko-chan for a while."

"That's good" Naruto said with a genuine smile. "You're gonna be good by the time you graduate."

"Yea, I'm gonna show my clan that they were wrong for kicking me out!" Hinata declared as she walked out the door.

"You really wi- wait clan… ahh! Clan restoration act! JIJI!" Naruto shouted as the nosebleed set in once more.

After the nosebleed stopped Naruto cleaned himself up he went out to Hiruzen's office.

"Hello Naruto-kun, good morning." Hiruzen said as Naruto walked in.

"I hate you Jiji." Naruto replied with a mocking tone.

"And why is that?"

"Did you mean what you said about the clan restoration act?"

"Oh ho ho has Naruto-kun decided to have several wives?" Hiruzen said with a lecherous grin.

"NO! God this village was made by perverts!" Naruto replied with a blush on his face.

"It's okay Naruto-kun, we all have a little pervert in us. And the CRA is legitimate; it is made to be sure that our powerful clans and kekkai genkai don't die out."

"But I don't have a kekkai genkai Jiji."

"Well you do have the Sharingan, we don't know if the implanted eye spliced into your DNA enough to reproduce or not. You also have the Rasengan and the Hiraishin, 2 of the most powerful techniques in Konoha."

"Well… Well!... Hmph."

"Don't worry, no one will force you into anything, you should only marry out of love. The CRA just means you CAN love more than 1 girl, not that you have too."

"Oh okay then that'll be fine. I don't think I'll be able to love but 1 girl though."

"We'll see in time." Hiruzen replied, still with his lecherous grin.

"I'm going to the store to get some rubber balls to practice my rasengan, do you need anything Jiji?"

"No but thank you Naruto-kun." Hiruzen said as Naruto left through the door.

As soon as Naruto was out the door a new voice came through the window "Hey old man how's it goin?"

"Hello Jiraiya-kun, what brings you around?"

"Just dropping in. I see that the gaki is doing well for himself."

"Yes he is, he's already in ANBU and quite skilled, though it wouldn't hurt for you to stick around for a while and help him out. He just went into town to buy supplies to learn the Rasengan."

"I may can swing that, it would be almost impossible to learn the Rasengan on his own."

"Actually, he is already on the final step now. He is quite the shinobi, and a fast learner too. I'm glad Itachi took him in and trained him a couple of years ago."

"Itachi Uchiha?"

"Yes, Itachi trained Naruto-kun and Sasuke for the last 2 years."

"I see. I suppose I can stick around and help the gaki a bit."

Jiraiya and Hiruzen sat there catching up for a while before Naruto came back in the door with a sealing scroll in hand and an unlit cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

"Hey Jiji. Who's your guest?" Naruto said as he used a low power fire jutsu to light his cigarette.

"When did you start smoking Naruto-kun?" Hiruzen asked.

"I figured 'hey why not, since I can't get cancer because of the fox'."

"Ah good point I suppose. Anyways, this is Jiraiya, my old student."

"Nice to meet you Jiraiya-sama." Naruto said with a small bow.

"Nice to meet you too gaki. I'm glad at least one person shows me a bit of respect.

"Just because he doesn't know you yet." Hiruzen muttered under his breath, though Jiraiya and Naruto both heard it.

"I hate you sensei." Jiraiya said with a sweatdrop. "Anyways gaki, how would you like some help with the Rasengan?"

"It would be an honor to learn under one of the Sannin." Naruto said as he dropped his cigarette in Hiruzen's ashtray.

"I could get used to this kind of respect!" Jiraiya said with a large smile.

"I wouldn't if I were you." Hiruzen muttered again, causing Jiraiya to facefault.

"Okay gaki, meet me at training ground 1 in 15 minutes!" Said Jiraiya after he got up.

"How about we just go to my house and use the training field there?"

"No can do. I gotta be close to the hotsprings so I can do research for my books."

"Books?"

"Icha Icha, the best book in the elemental nations!"

Naruto just sweatdropped and walked out the door on his way to the training ground.

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"So Gaki, how good are you?" Jiraiya asked as he stood across from Naruto.

"Well I guess you know I'm ANBU so that says a lot doesn't it?"

"It means that you are good, but not Sannin good. Spar with me so that I know your abilities."

Naruto dropped to his battle stance and activated his Sharingan as Jiraiya stood still.

"Aren't you going to get in a stance?" Naruto asked.

"Nah, you won't touch me anyways, there's no need."

"I'll make you regret that!"

"Gaki you're a hundred years too young to lay a finger on me. Go whenever you're ready."

As soon as he said go Naruto blurred from existence and reappeared with his foot against Jiraiya's forearm, inches from his head.

"Gotta do better than that Gaki." Jiraiya said as he yawned.

"Damn he's good. I guess he's not a Sannin for nothing." Naruto thought as he tried to form a plan in his head while Jiriaya just stood there.

Naruto then pulled out several shuriken and threw them towards Jiraiya, who dodged them without effort. Naruto then let out a growl and went through a set of hand seals and yelled out "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" as he blew out a large ball of fire towards Jiraiya. Jiraiya simply smirked a bit and stomped his foot to the ground, making a large wall of earth shoot up and block the attack.

"Damn you!" Naruto said as he launched another flurry of shuriken at Jiraiya. Jiraiya dodged these as well, before having to jump back quickly to avoid a kick from Naruto. Naruto then went through some handseals and called out "Futon: Renkudan!" before he started firing several air bullets at Jiraiya.

Jiraiya dodged the attacks before going through a set of handseals and called out "Katon: Endan!" as a large stream of fire left his mouth. Unknown to him though, Naruto copied the seals and used the jutsu at the same time. The 2 massive fireballs collided and the resulting explosion threw Naruto back several feet while Jiraiya stood firm.

Naruto jumped up and sped back towards Jiraiya in a blur before launching a kick at Jiraiya's head, which he just ducked under. He followed the kick with a backwards elbow that Jiraiya blocked with ease, before punching Naruto in the ribs with an audible crack and shooting him away.

"Okay Gaki, like I said, you're good, but not Sannin good. You're learning the Rasengan right?"

"Yea, my dad left me a scroll with it, I'm on the 3rd step already."

"Okay show me." Jiraiya said as Naruto pulled out his sealing scroll and unsealed a rubber ball. He started spinning his chakra inside the ball and after a second the ball deformed and then went flat.

"Not bad for learning on your own, you've almost got it, but let me give you a tip." Jiraiya said as he pulled a marker from ... somewhere and drew a Konoha symbol on Naruto's palm.

"What's that for?" Naruto asked.

"A focus point. The point of the Rasengan is to focus and compress a massive amount of chakra into a small point. Concentrate on the swirl, and it'll help. I'm going to research, find me if you finish that." Jiraiya said before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

Naruto then tried once again, focusing on the leaf this time, and made it a lot longer before the ball popped.

"Hey it actually worked!" Naruto said with a smile as 100 shadow clones appeared in the clearing around him and started practicing.

It only took an hour with the clones before Naruto had it figured out, so he set off to find Jiraiya, which didn't take long. He found him sitting on a tree branch overlooking the female section of the hotsprings scribbling in a notebook and giggling.

"Perv." Naruto thought as he leapt up to the tree beside Jiraiya. Jiraiya was so preoccupied with his research that he didn't even notice Naruto was there.

"Hey Ero-sensei, I'm done."

"SHHH you'll let em know we're here!" Jiraiya whispered.

"My bad. I'm done with the third step, what now?"

"Give me a minute here, sit back and enjoy the sights."

"You've got 5 minutes." Naruto said as he looked out at the ladies. "Hmm this ain't so bad." Naruto thought as as his face turned red. "Damn he's rubbing off on me!"

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Hope you all enjoyed.

ZyiareHellsing: I may do that, but I can't really see Hinata using the summons; except the Hidden shadow snakes.

Theonedevin: I have plans for Danzo soon. And as of now, he won't have the Rinnegan, but I may have a change of heart and work it in there.