Hello everyone. First off i really want to apologize for the 5 month absence but i had just graduated, so after graduation, i had to move closer to my college, find a new job, and get ready for college to begin then i had to be settled in college, and now i am finally good and now i can write this ch, fortunately it seems college is a little easier then i imagined and so ill be able to continue writing on at least a weekly or bi weekly basis, for those who still read my story thank you, ill try to not be a jackass and leave you in the dust for 5 months again lol
i dont own naruto, masashi kishimoto does
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"So Naruto, you do realize this will be your first mission in years, do you need anything to help you prepare, the fact that im letting you do this alone is a stretch, if it were up to me, youd be with at least one ANBU group." Tsunade scanned Naruto's attire and gear setup, and was extremely disturbed by it. All he had was his sage clothes, his summoning scroll, and his cape, did he really think this would suffice. She took another sip of sake to calm herself down. He was trained by sages, if this is what he thought he needed, then this will suffice for him.
"Trust me Tsunade, i know what im doing, besides, im a pacifist anyway, no weapons, no matter what the cause, and if it comes down to it, i have my fists and jutsu, and who can compete with those, im great, you can't deny that.
Tsunade immediately took another sip of sake, before naruto would be seeing stars. The arrogance of this kid, granted he was far above even her in terms of everythign besides med-jutsu and intelligence, still he needed humility, if he didnt, hed be setting himself up for defeat, just like the Uchiha.
"Naruto, my job is to worry, not just for you, but for everyone who lives in this village, so i have to worry extra for you, acting as a peace emissary for us is suicide naruto, Iwa wont accept it, the old ways of the sage dont apply here, they wont listen to you just because the sage mantle belongs to you, that position holds little or no value these days, and if you cant realize that youll die, please promise me you wont do anything stupid and that youll use force if it comes to it."
Naruto could see her worry and aged face being so serious with this situation, he could see the sake wasn't helping her like it used to war was hell on everybody, not just the soldiers, if he didn't stop this, only more wounds, scars, and feelings of hatred would rise, and dammit he promised that pervy sage hed stop it, and he meant it, it was his nindo and he never goes back on it.
"Alright Tsunade, ill promise, but you also have to realize that this war doesnt need to happen i can fix this, i can help both sides, whatever the reason this war was even thought to begin ill fix, i have to, i promised Jaraiya, and i cant let him down, not now, not ever, its the least i can do."
At the mention of Jaraiya, Tsunade immediately paled. Her dead teammate who gave his life for the future generation of ninjas, all his life he thought he only made failure after failure, he couldnt have been wronger, all he did was make small mistakes, befriending Orochimaru was probably his most costly, as he spent most of his life tracking his friend like a rat, but he trained two amazing ninja, one who became the Game-sennin, and the other, the Yondaime, how that man thought he was a failure astounded Tsunade to this day, if anything she failed, failed to protect Konoha from Pain, failed to help Jaraiya in his final hours, failed to stop Orochimaru from reviving his hands. And yet, she was alive, not him. No...No she cant think like that, Jaraiya might be gone, but his legacy lives on in this boy, and shell help him through to the end, no matter what the cost this time.
"Alright then Naruto, you have my clearance, youre mission is to try to negotitate peace talks with Iwagakure and to set up trading arrangements, do you understand the gravity of the situation Uzumaki?"
"Hai."
"Then go, may the will of fire guide you."
And so, she sent Naruto off, but this time with the full confidence hed be back succesful, alive, and closer to fulfilling Jaraiya's goal.
"Shizune, do you think this was a good idea? If theres any opinion that could make me doubt my judgement its yours, i want your honest opinion."
"Truthfully Tsunade-sama, if it were anyone else, id say you were right, but this is Naruto, when has he let us down, he beat the man who killed Jaraiya-sama, he brought down the man who eluded death itsefl, Uchiha Madara and he brought hope back to both of us in this war time, hes destined to succeed."
"Shizune, if it were up to me, youd be in this chair, you know that?"
"No way, you drink enough as is, if i were sitting there, youd be drunk by sunrise."
Shizune promptly picked up Ton-ton and left Tsunade to her work.
Naruto had one day in konoha and so spent it at his house with Naota and Sakura, who was watching Naota while he was gone and decided to stay for dinner.
"Hey Naruto, how long do you think you will be gone, im not sure my house can accomodate Naota for too long."
"Shouldn't be longer then a week, 3 days to and back with some time for talking and stuff, so yeah give or take a week."
"Alright then Naota i hope you enjoy vegetables, because thats all we eat in the Haruno household."
"Waahhh, no, baka-sennin, stop her, keep a shadow clone here to sneak me ramen, i cant live on green, its too icky."
While Naota's face was a tough one to say no to, Sakura had a point, he wasn't a jinchuriki, his metabolism was human he'd be dead by his early 20's if thats all he had, his body couldn't possibly break down all the ramen he could.
"No Naota, youre only 7, too much ramen is bad for you, Sakura's a doctor, she knows the right stuff for you to eat, dont argue with her while im gone, if she gives me a bad report about you, i wont give you any either alright?"
"Hmm, alright then, starting now im on strike, no food unless its ramen, well see who can hold out longest, then well see who gets ramen and who doesnt."
Naota pouted and turned the other way, with his arms crossed, he seemed adamant in keeping his hunger srtrike promise, but unfortunately fot him, 8:00 make bedtime.
"Okay Naota, i guess no dinner before bed its 8:00, time for bed, sure you dont wanna eat anything before you sleep on an empty stomach?"
"Nuh uh, when im serious, theres no room for giving up."
Sakura and Naruto immediately were reminded of the old Naruto and how alike that sounded to his logic.
A few hours later
With Naota tucked in and asleep, Sakura and Naruto decided to just watch T.V until sleep took them over, though Naruto left her in bed alone around 3 to get an early leg on his journey.
In the middel of the mountains of Iwa
Nartuto had been walking through a small trench when he heard laughing.
"Whos there, answer me, i can hear you."
He looked around but found nothing, but he heard it again, it was male, adult, and sounded familiar. It was echoing through the trench, magnifying it. It was taunting him, making him feel like the guy was right there next to him
'Whos there i cant see him.'
"Youre not supposed to see me baka, i am you remember."
'That voice, no no no no no.'
"Yes yes yes yes yes, im back bitch, you didn' think i was gone for good i got a taste of the outside and now i want the whole world, so im not going anywhere."
'Dammit, stay out of my head, go away, i dont want to see you, hear you, or sense you at all, just go away.'
"Impossible you made me, remember, i did what you wanted, i took in your pain and now i feed off of it, i need it, oh how youre childhood was like a buffet, so much spite, malice, and rage, it was delicious, but recently youve grown soft, im hungry for rage, and i plan to feed myself, so you may block me out for now, but im here, always here, and i plan to keep it that way, ahahahahahahahahahahahahaha."
Naruto just stopped, concentrated and waited for the natural energy to calm him down, if he let himself get riled up, hed lose this battle, he cant afford to let himself be taken over by this 'thing'. Soon Naruto felt the voice die down until he felt calm and relaxed. Naruto still sat and simply breathed, caution only saves, never hurts.
Naruto still was sitting for at least 20 minutes and then continued with his trek to Iwa, and soon by the second day of traversing the beautiful but dangerous mountains was nearing Iwa's gate. He sped down to a walk and when he approached the gate, he was accosted by two guards.
"Halt, what business do you bring to Iwagakure, state them now!"
Naruto composed himself and stated he was here from Konoha to talk peace and to stop the war before it escalated any higher.
The guards were obviously hostile to him, but he said he was the toad sage, and like he thought they immediaely bowed to him.
"We apologize Sennin-sama, please follow us to the Tsuchikage."
Naruto looked at the state of the village and was surpised at how prosperous it was, the village seemed almost as bustling as konoha, and the people actually seemed happy and not like the blood hungry villians his history lessons taught him.
'Heh, i guess even konoha needs propoganda sometimes, its sad really, riling up kids to be afraid and then later angry at an enemy whos just as alike as they are.'
As he wen through the vllage he acended several flights of stone steps and went into a large dome shaped hollow mountain, where he found what he assumed the kage's building.
As he neared the gate, he was amazed to see two nin clad in boulders and steel plating, his guess being camo and protection.
'Resourceful and ingenious, a frontal assault would be suicide for anyone.'
As he entered the building he was greeted with the sight of a feeble old man and a young assistant being dictated the will of the kage on what he heard as 'pesky bandits'.
As Naruto made his presence known, he awaited the kages response on his appearance.
"For fuck sakes do they give these kinds of titles to anyone nowadays? First that Gaara brat becomes a kage and now another brat becomes the toad sage, well listen up brat, you could be my fucking damiyo and i still wouldnt care, in this world, a man is defined by his words or his fists, and seeing as how my age makes the latter impossible, either start telling me why i shouldn't have my assistant kill you, or go die outside by my men, but either way, hurry up, im busy."
The assistant gave a femme fatale wink and sat near Naruto showing off her legs and a set of knives.
"Alright then im here for many reasons, but the most prudent one is to ask you to stop this war and side with Konoha, make a pact for trade agreements, and help defeat mizu, oto, and kumo."
Immediately the room filled with laughter and howls of painful joy as the kage's old body seemed to become rubber, jumping on his chair, while his assistant simply giggled and composed herself. The tsuchikage took another minute to sti back down and continue breathing again.
"Well, if that was an assasination attempt, congrats, youve gotten farther then anyone else has."
"No, im serious, if youll just listen to me, i know i can explain this so that youll understand why this needs to be done."
"Boy, idealists like you have no place in the world of ninja, we were born of hatred, we die of hatred, we are the cursed ones, but its our choice, trying to change, is like trying to change us into peaceful beings, we are animals, we move constantly, kill constantly, and feed off of death constantly."
"NO, thats not how it has to be, yes we are animals, horrible bloodthirsty animals, but we aren't born like that we simply get pulled into it because its so simple to fall into that void, but if we try, we can escape it, we can make peace, we can stop the petty arguments, we can stop the hatred from spreading, but it needs the leaders of the villages to cut that chain of hatred. The void will spread throughout generations, children will grow up, not with toys, but with death, blood, and weapons for enjoyment, women will love and have children simply to see their name on an old marble stone, forgotten and as disposable as the next one, this hatred will consume us and eat us, but i wont let it, even it means you sick your nin on me right now, i will figh them, you, and whoever wishes to spread this chain to others because of some pessimistic view of life, do you understande me old man, or do you want to try to slit my throat, cuz thats the only way to shut me up."
Both stood in silence. The assistant's legs kept replacing who was on top, she was obviously aroused by such a man who would stand up to a kage which such reckless bravado.
'To think a man like that still existed in this world of pansy asses, so masculine, im going crazy.'
The kage on the other hand was simply stunned, though being a figure head for so long, gave him one hell of a poker face.
"Boy, not even two people have spoken to me like that, the only other person was my father, to say such insolence to me is punishable by death, and yet you show no fear no regret in your words, what you said is not idealism to you, but realism. Very few people can live like that with the world they've seen, fewer can handle it without becoming monsters."
"Look i can prove it to you, humans can be one with nature, we can be peaceful beings, please just stop this fighting, stop this genocide, and join konoha, i beg you, life is precious not somethign mass produced like kunai or shuriken, it needs to ba valued above all else."
The kage showed a thinking pose he had seen similar to Tsunade's, this was going to work, he knew, it had to, this war will not spread any further, he'd make sure of it.
"Boy......no, whats your name?"
"Uzumaki Naruto, gama-sennin."
"Naruto huh?
"Hisame, bring him to our fanciest hotel and give him access to whatever he wants, this boy will be staying with us for the forseeable future, Naruto, youre ideaology is something only a true genius can think of, i want to see you tomorrow here at 10 a.m sharp, well talk more and if you get my attention, you have yourself an alliance."
Naruto elatedly shook the man's hand while bowing his head, crushing it but showing no signs of pain.
"Thank you so much, you wont regret it, i swear."
As they both left the building, the Tsuchikage thought to himself.
'Maybe, juts maybe this bloodied earth can planted and be reborn with the sprouts of the future instead of the bloof of battle, but still, its just a maybe.'
As the the kage went back to work, Hisame brought Naruto to the most expensive hotel Iwa had for lodging.
As they were brought up to the floor, she went in with him, locking themselves in.
"Wow, you guys got great taste here, even konoha cant compare to this kind of luxury."
"Well we aim to please, iwa gets few visitors, so the ones we have, need to be taken care of as best we can so as to get the most profit, now then Naruto-sama, i have a personal request that i hope you can fulfill."
"Hey, its just Narutom, and sure what is it?"
Hisame came up to him seductively and whispered.
"Make love to me."
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i know, i shouldnt give a cliffhanger like that, but dont worry, im gonna have the next ch up in no time, so the wait shouldnt be 2-4 days, and i know i made that promise before, but now that ive gotten into my niche here at college, its easier to keep up with this stuff.