It's been 3 weeks since the Invasion, despite surviving many casualties were left behind with the most important being the Sandaime Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi. The Sandaime had lived through two great shinobi wars. He was a man of peace, loved and admired by many for his ways. He was the only Hokage to have served two terms and was the only man to have been Hokage for the longest period. The professor was indeed a great man in the eyes of many.
Amongst his achievements were the three legendary shinobi's, the sannin's. He had been their sensei and groomed them into the powerful shinobi they became. Unfortunately, the student he loved most over his other students was the cause of his death. Orochimaru, the snake sannin had been the reason the Sandaime had left the world of the living.
Konoha was mourning at the death of its Hokage because of Orochimaru, a traitor to the village. He was not branded a traitor because of the invasion but because many years ago the snake sannin had been abducting children and experimenting on them. Many mothers lost their children because of Orochimaru's actions. No one held love for the Sannin after his latest stunt.
Currently Naruto was alone sitting at the cemetery, he had to get going to Hiruzen's funeral, he preferred to grieve alone but the old man would want him there, for the past 3 weeks he had gone over the invasion in his head repeatedly wondering what he could've done differently, he mentally kicked himself that he had never tagged Hiruzen with his jutsu shiki, he could've gotten through the barrier since fire didn't work on him, but the old man had given him an order that he was bound to follow.
Looking up to the cloudy sky Naruto spoke "I was careless, I won't be again."
Thunder cackled and in that split second millions of clones around Naruto in the cemetery "Scatter to the far reaches of the Elemental Nations, I want it so that if I was ever looking down at the planet I could see my jutsu shiki stretched out across the land."
"Hai!" the clones saluted before they vanished
Hokage Tower
Naruto stood in the front beside a sobbing Konohamaru, Kakashi, and a sad Asuma, who tried to console his nephew, Naruto could also feel people glancing at him,
"We are here to pay our respects to not only the Sandaime Hokage, but to all of the Shinobi who gave their lives for the village." Homaru said before the Shinobi began to lay down white roses each remembering moments they shared with the Third Hokage,
Placing his flower down, Naruto looked at Hiruzen's photo "Orochimaru, and all his associates will pay for this." he said as everyone watched him "You gave your life for this village, like my father, the Shodaime, and Nidiame before you. I will honor your sacrifice, and anyone who betrays what you gave your life for will be handled swiftly and mercilessly. I swear it."
Everyone nodded in agreement with the exception of the genin, as Naruto turned and joined his comrades his eyes glowing amber gold, to the surprise of everyone before he paused and looked up to the cracked stone face of Hiruzen and placed his hands together in a tori seal before the crack was fixed and he joined the others
Later
Naruto looked up when it began to rain, "Iruka-sensei why do they do it? Why do people risk there lives for other people?"
Naruto looked to Sakura who stood beside Sasuke, and Iruka who began to explain how when people die all that's left of them is the people that cared for them, which he zoned out
Week Later
Hokage's office
Homura and Koharu, the former teammates of the Sandaime Hokage stood within the office. After the burial of the Sandaime, they had called Jiraiya into the office to make him an offer. Konoha needed a leader, despite the villages not suffering major causalities, there was still some destruction that needed to be corrected. To calm people down after the invasion and the death of Hiruzen they needed to someone strong to be a leader and calm the people's nerves.
''Jiraiya, I am sure you already know why we have called you here,'' Homura said to which Jiraiya nodded, ''So will you Jiraiya take the mantle of Hokage?''
''No'' Jiraiya replied simply
''What do you mean by no,'' Koharu said raising her voice, ''You have to take up this offer. You are the only one who is suitable for this job and the only Sannin who is still loyal to Konoha!''
''Still I cannot be Hokage; I am not cut out for it. I failed to protect sensei and besides if I became Hokage no one would be able to run my spy network and you know how important it is. I also will not be able to do my 'research', which is important to me.'' Jiraiya replied
''Jiraiya, you have to think twice about what you are saying. You are the strongest in the village, we need someone like that to lead the village so that we do not appear weak to other villages with the death of Hiruzen.''
''No, I can't be Hokage.'' Jiraiya said with a thoughtful look, ''I may be the strongest but I'm not the only Sannin who is still loyal to Konoha.'' He said.
The elders were silent for a moment before they finally spoke. ''You don't mean HER, Jiraiya!''
Jiraiya nodded
''But she has not set foot in the village for 20 years and has refused to come back each time she was asked to return.''
''I know, but all I need is to convince her to come back to the village. Give me two weeks and I will return with her.'' Jiraiya said.
''Do you even know where she is?''
''No, but I know where to look for her.''
''Fine, we will give you two weeks if you don't come back with her by then you will be the next Hokage,'' Koharu said making Jiraiya nod reluctantly
"Naruto and I will head out immediately then."
"Naruto-san, is not stepping foot outside this village Jiraiya, with Hiruzen dead, we n-"
"Naruto was promoted to Jonin rank, by Sarutobi-sensei, and his mission is to find his successor. So if SHE, is going to be his successor it's Naruto's mission to help me find her." Jiraiya interrupted Koharu
"But he is a-"
"Loyal Konoha shinobi. I'll be leaving in the morning ." Jiraiya said turning to his heel and leaping out of the window
Elsewhere
To say Orochimaru was angry would be understating it, the man was absolutely livid. Not only had his carefully planned invasion failed, but his damned Sensei stole from him his precious Jutsu, with this incessant burning pain in his arms he would never use jutsu required handseals again
But he wasn't going to accept that, he needed to find a medic of extraordinary caliber or switch bodies, the latter of which he was loathed to do until he had the Uchiha brat in his grip leaving just one option.
"Have you found her yet?" snarled the man towards his right hand as he walked into the room.
"Unfortunately we have yet to locate her yet Orochimaru-sama, though we are getting close."
"We'll you had best hurry and locate her then and Kabuto this time your information had better not be faulty or incomplete or its your body I'm taking." Snarled the snake Sannin as his killing intent began to flood the room in waves choking the life out of nearly everyone within the room.
"Hai Orochimaru-sama." said the teen as he faded back into the shadows of the base
Orochimaru glared down at his hands, the invasion was a bad idea, he never thought this would happen, he was so sure he'd kill Hiruzen with his own hands, not forcing the man to commit suicide with a kinjutsu, and barely escape with his life.
Closing his eyes, he gritted his teeth, when the image of Naruto with his back turned to him looking over his shoulder with his true face manifested appeared in his mind, Naruto had been his true target from the start ever since he read the bingo book entry, a body with the Sharingan, and already immortal, but with his failure in marking him with his seal, meant he needed either another chance, get his blood, or just groom Sasuke who was his backup plan
Next Day
Naruto walked alongside Jiraiya who was talking about his research, while he read over his mother's version of the Hundred Strength Seal, they were on a mission to retrieve Tsunade Senju, who he needed to speak with anyway, with him being the last known Uzumaki heir, and she being the last Senju, from his mother's journal Tsunade knew of the circumstances they were in, since it was her grandfather who pitched the idea, he also wanted her to look over Mikoto's chart since the medic nins in the village were so incompetent
Glancing to Jiraiya who was making weird motions with his hands, Naruto sighed this was going to be a long trip
Konohagakure
Sasuke was walking through the village gritting his teeth, he was humiliated by Gaara at the Chunin Exams, to make matters worse Naruto was promoted to Jonin rank and on a SS-rank mission according to some ninja he walked by, everyone was talking about how Naruto was amazing in his fight, and how he protected the village against the sound ninja, and the Snake summons, it shouldn't be that way, Naruto shouldn't be so far ahead of him, he was the Uchiha he was supposed to be the best, not only that he kept having nightmares of the night his clan was massacred, he needed more power visiting his mother, and working in a team has only held him back.
Looking up with his Sharingan activated, he made his way toward the dumpling shop to meet Kakashi for more training
Later
Two figures dressed in black cloaks with red clouds on them walked near the river these figures was Itachi Uchiha son of S-rank kunoichi Mikoto Uchiha, and god son to Kushina Uzumaki along with his partner Kisame Hoshigaki wielder of Samahade
"Remember Kisame, if capturing the Kyuubi's Jinchuriki looks unlikely we'll have to retreat." Itachi reminded
"Yeah, yeah." his blue-skinned partner waved him off. "I don't get why you're so worried. I just need to drain his chakra with Samehada and he's out."
Itachi remained silent just as Kurenai, and Asuma landed in front of him
6 Hours Later
Otataku Town
Naruto was in his hotel room, while Jiraiya chased after some woman in a Genjutsu who winked at him, sitting on his bed drinking a blood bag as he waited for whoever it was that separated him and Jiraiya, sensing two large chakra signatures approaching with one he knew vividly he stood up and walked forward just as the door was knocked on, opening the door he ignored the shark looking guy, and focused on the mature Sharingan of his god-brother Itachi.
"Hello Naruto." Itachi greeted
"You should've stayed away from me, because now I have to kill you. I'll have to apologize to Mikoto later." Naruto said activating his own Sharingan as Itachi twitched when Naruto mentioned his mother
"Ohh, so the rumors are true he does have the Sharingan." Kisame said smirking as Naruto glanced at him
"Kisame Hoshigaki huh. You should've brought someone else, not some weak funny looking mediocre swordsman who has no skill and relies on Samehada for even a C-rank Ninjutsu." Naruto said
"What was that!?" Kisame yelled enraged as he slammed Samehada on the ground causing it to crater, while Naruto didn't even pay him attention
"And he's hard of hearing as well." Naruto noted
"We need you to come with us."
"Not happening, instead you can come back to the village and stand trial. I also have questions for you regarding the Uchiha who is claiming to be Madara." Naruto said
"He's a demanding one isn't he." Kisame said although he was curious in what he was talking about
"And you're ugly, shame you'll die a virgin." Naruto said
Kisame froze at that
Flashback
A 14 year old Kisame laid on the ground shivering as a 14 year old Kushina Uzumaki stood over him with Tensa Masamune on her shoulder all around him were his comrades, who the red head had slaughtered who was glaring down at him, so scared the boy pissed his pants which caused the Uzumaki to burst into a fit of laughter "I won't kill you yet, I'll feel guilty if I killed a virgin, no matter how funny looking you are."
Kisame watched as Kushina turned on her heel, and walked away laughing loudly as she left him humiliated.
Following this day Kisame would gain a hatred for anything related to Kushina, he would dedicate his life to getting strong enough to take her on, when he found out she was dead his fixation remained as now he would target the wielder of her prized blade
End Flashback
"What did you just say?!" Kisame spat swinging Samehada with all his strength but the blade was stopped by Naruto who was now wielding Tensa Masamune in a reverse grip causing Kisame's eyes to widen at the blade, and the fact that he couldn't move his sword forward as he tried to overpower Naruto "That blade." he hissed killer intent flooding the hallway, before Naruto twirled his blade till it was pointed at Samehade that was now in front of Kisame
"Uzumaki Hiden Release: Shinso." Naruto said before Tensa Masamune glowed white and extended slamming Kisame out of the hotel and into the street before in a flash it returned to its original size and Naruto blocked a slash of Itachi's tanto, and kicked him in the side which Itachi blocked with his chakra reinforced forearm as he was propelled after Kisame
Walking forward Naruto jumped out of the hole and landed across from the two Nuke-nin, to see Itachi looking at Sasuke who was panting glaring at Itachi while civilians vacated the area
"So he left the village unauthorized, what idiot told him of all people that Itachi was around?" Naruto thought
"Ever since that day you left me alive," Sasuke continued, "I lived by the words you told me to live by in order to kill you."
Sasuke performed a few hand seals before charging his attack, "I hate you. I detest you." he said as he called upon the power of his curse mark which caused Naruto and Itachi's eyes to narrow
Itachi looked over at Sasuke with an ever calm demeanor as he watched his younger brother's attack increasing in power, "Chidori."
"Sasuke," Naruto called out, but his voice fell on deaf ears as Sasuke highly charged his Chidori.
"I'll kill you!," Sasuke yelled as he charged at Itachi with the full blown intent on killing him, "Die!"
As Sasuke thrust his charged left arm forward, Itachi raised his right hand and caught Sasuke's left arm, effectively deflecting the Chidori to the left side of the market, blowing up a hole in the wall
The older Uchiha held onto Sasuke's hand tightly as the electricity gradually died out. It wasn't long until the electricity completely died out. Naruto wasn't at all surprised that Itachi managed to easily deflect Sasuke's Chidori, especially since the attack causes tunnel vision thus making it predictable and easy to evade by an experienced shinobi. Itachi tightened his grip on Sasuke's wrist causing the younger Uchiha to grimace from the pain.
"Idiot." Naruto said
Sasuke reared his free fist back and readied to punch Itachi, "Why you-"
"You're a bother," Itachi said without looking at him before breaking Sasuke's left wrist, causing the younger Uchiha to scream loudly in pain before falling to his knees while holding onto his broken hand.
"Sasuke," Naruto called out about to rush in to help his fellow leaf Shinobi
"Not so fast," Kisame cut in as he took a swift swing with his Samehada at Naruto who leaned back, and slammed the chain link hilt of his blade into Kisame's side, causing the man to slide back
"I'm going to enjoy shaving you to death," Kisame snarled as he stood up straight
"Kisame," Itachi said, "We're here to bring Naruto-kun back with us, so don't get sidetracked. We didn't come here to do combat."
"In that case." Naruto said dismissing his blade and pulling out one of his tri-pronged kunais, causing Kisame and Itachi visibly tense and their eyes to widen slightly as Naruto camped out "Who dies first?" Naruto asked
Before either ninjas could do anything however…
"NO!," Sasuke yelled, grabbing everyone's attention gradually standing back up "This is my fight!"
Itachi looked to Sasuke and spat coldly, "Get lost. You do not interest me."
"Well get interested!" Sasuke yelled as he clenched his right fist and charged at Itachi, only for the older Uchiha to kick and send Sasuke flying backwards off the ground and into a tree before falling on his butt to the ground.
Itachi remained reserved and calm as Sasuke got back up and charged at him again while yelling out in rage. The older Uchiha simply smacked away Sasuke's right fist as he delivered a backhand to Sasuke's right cheek, causing him to cough up blood while flying and spiraling backwards into the same tree, colliding hard into it as before. Sasuke coughed up more blood that now seeped down his mouth.
"He can't even form seals anymore." Itachi and Naruto noted mentally
"This isn't over," Sasuke said weakly, "I'm not finished yet."
"Very well," Itachi consented as he walked over to Sasuke in a normal pace and stood in front of Sasuke. Sasuke looked up at him momentarily before he speedily got up off the ground and charged at him again.
"Bring it!," Sasuke yelled before Itachi effortlessly brought his left kneecap into Sasuke's torso, thoroughly knocking the breath out of him as he coughed up some blood.
"Why, Sasuke wonder as Itachi wasted no time in beating Sasuke down while Kisame, and Naruto watched from a distance.
"You're not going easy on him at all," Kisame smiled sinisterly hoping to provoke Naruto to act in saving who he believed to be his friend
"The gap between us hasn't shrunk at all," Sasuke thought as he fell to the ground with his right cheek in the dirt, looking at Naruto
"Naruto has been advancing and getting stronger with every passing day and I haven't improved at all." Sasuke thought before turning his face to the ground "What have I been doing up to now? What have I…"
Itachi looked down on Sasuke coldly before kneeling down and grabbed his younger brother by the collar. He slammed and held Sasuke off the ground to a tree while looking at him hard.
"You're weak," Itachi remarked harshly, "Why are you so weak? I'll tell you…(whispered in Sasuke's right ear) you lack, hatred."
Itachi then activated his Mangekyo Sharingan and looked into Sasuke's eyes. "Tsukiyomi." he whispered causing Sasuke to relive the massacre over and over, which made Sasuke scream in horror
"Being cruel as usual," Kisame smirked, staring at Naruto "He even used Tsukiyomi on his own little brother."
Sasuke continued screaming until he gradually lost consciousness though his eyes were still left open
"Are you done?" Naruto asked Itachi, who turned to him as Naruto called back his blade and aimed at Itachi
"Yes." Itachi said his tanto in hand
"Good. If you want me, come get me." Naruto said and that was all Kisame needed to hear, as he rushed forward, with Itachi grunting as he went to back up his partner
Kisame swung at Naruto who held his blade in a reverse grip blocked Samehada, and swung Tensa Masamune seding Kisame away, just as Itachi came in and he parried his slash before he blocked Itachi's second slash after the man came out of his spin
Naruto surged his Chakra sending Itachi away as he tried to decapitate Kisame, who blocked and tried to slash Kisame's throat but the man blocked again the two slashed simultaneously causing their swords to clash a few times before Naruto tilted his body back when Kisame over reached and parried Itachi's thrust and kicked him in the back of his knee before he jumped back when Itachi exploded
"Exploding Shadow Clone." Naruto said to himself before he looked to the side when he heard
"Water Release: Water Shark Bomb!" Kisame sent a water shark at Naruto who placed his hands together causing the shark to explode into a stream of water and curve around his body before it headed back to Kisame
"Water Release: Water Dragon Jutsu." Naruto said as the stream of water turned into a large water dragon causing Kisame's eyes to widen before he jumped back, while Naruto ducked when Itachi tried to kick him in the jaw, and grunted when his tanto drew blood from his cheek, causing him to quickly punch Itachi back toward Kisame,
Naruto raised a hand to his cheek as the wound healed while Itachi looked down and his eyes widened when he saw his tanto melting thanks to Naruto's blood
Charging in Naruto swiped at Itachi who tossed his tanto away and leaned back, Naruto's eyes widened when the tip of his blade didn't cut Itachi, but he continued his slash and blocked Samehada, and continued his spin while releasing Tensa Masamune and grabbed it with his other hand and slamming a Rasengan into Kisame's gut causing the man to scream in pain
Naruto then began to exchange blows with Itachi after he sealed away his sword, blocking a kick from Itachi Naruto tossed him back causing the man to flip and land by Kisame who had been healed by Samehade
"Hn." Naruto said his Sharingan twirling before he blazed through handseals "Blaze Release:"
Itachi's eyes widened hearing that as well as sensing a large spike in Naruto's Chakra "Dragon's Roar!"
A humongous blast of black fire burst from Naruto's mouth
Quickly Itachi's Sharingan morphed into his Mangekyo and blood leaked from both of his eyes
Naruto's blast reduced sped forward and reduced the trees around to ash, while the water nearby evaporated before he cut the technique
Naruto stood up straight glancing behind him to see his clone with Sasuke on a roof, while Jiraiya landed behind him with a serious expression on his face, facing forward Naruto said "About time you returned."
"Had to get the civilians to safety." Jiraiya said as the cloud that overtook the two nuke-nin dispersed to show them behind a large orange shield with Itachi panting as he and Kisame were caked in sweat
"So he used that did he." Naruto noted as he watched Itachi clutch his forehead as his Sharingan deactivated before he took Kisame and they vanished in a swirl of black feathers
"Seems, you rank in the Bingo Book is justified if you can fight 2 S-rank nins, and force them to retreat. Your parents would be proud." Jiraiya said causing Naruto to Crack a smile
"Well when your given a rank based on your parentage alone, you have to step it up, so that you can protect yourselves against their enemies, including the one who facilitated their deaths." Naruto said frowning at the end which Jiraiya mirrored but before he could say anything Gai landed behind them
"Your late Gai-nii." Naruto said looking st his old taijutsu teacher
"I'm sorry Naruto-kun, we tried to keep Itachi's appearance away from Sasuke but Aoba spilled the beans."
"What happened?" Jiraiya asked
"Itachi used a genjutsu against Kakashi who is unconscious we don't know when he'll wake up." Gai reported causing Naruto to frown
"Maybe this will get him remotivated to train." Naruto thought as his clone dropped Sasuke and dispersed "He should be reprimanded and held accountable for leaving the village without permission."
"And he will be." Gai said picking up Sasuke
"We'll see you later Gai, we need to get back to our mission, and find Tsunade." Jiraiya said looking to Naruto who nodded
"Okay! I'll shall take Sasuke-kun, back to the village in 20 minutes, I'll let the Power of Youth EXPLODE!" Gai yelled causing Naruto and Jiraiya to sweat drop before he took off
"Let's go." Jiraiya said causing Naruto to nod before they both walked away, with Naruto stopping for a moment and looking to the side before he threw a hand forward and a bone stabbed into a wall before the wall was reduced to ash
"I don't like being spied on, I now have a lock on your chakra, and scent, if I ever feel it again, you'll die." Naruto said dissappearing in a swirl of black fire
Zetsu the spy of Akatsuki surfaced from the ground having just barely escaped the bone with a frown "How did he sense us?" the white half asked
"I don't know, but how did he use Kaa-san's Ash Killing Bones?" the black half asked
"Should we report this to Obito?"
"Of course not, it just means we have to be more careful with the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. We will revive mother and no one will stop us."
Zetsu merged back underground not seeing the fly on the wall dispersed
With Naruto
Naruto walked beside Jiraiya frowning, "What the hell was that thing? Why did the black half seem so old, and whose this mother it spoke of?" he thought looking up to the sky his gaze on the full moon, which always filled him with a calm feeling for some reason, maybe it was the fact that he was born under a full moon, or it could be the fact that Niklaus was half werewolf, who knows but he had more questions then answers and the unknown was dangerous
Finished