The Road Less Taken
Chapter Eleven: The Road Less Taken
AN: Hey folks, sorry for the wait. To Innerstruggle88, this chapters for you. Four more chapters to go until the end of this fic…
I
Temari has always been a misunderstood kunoichi. Her regal beauty hidden well behind a dark veil of violence and wind maelstroms. Due to the fact that she indeed was the daughter of the Kazekage and a female, she trained relentlessly, harnessing her mastery over the wind element with a war fan, promising to become stronger than her father herself one day. Perhaps if her brother wasn't a crazy, homicidal maniac his first fourteen years, everyday wouldn't of been a life and death struggle for her.
But they had been, and Temari was stronger for it.
She truly was a paradox…
She had prided herself for so long in her ability to distance herself emotionally from her targets whenever necessary, yet she was failing herself and her village as she laid in bed with Namikaze Naruto. Perhaps it was because growing up as the daughter of a Kazekage she hadn't had much interaction with boys her age and she was simply new to the process. Perhaps she felt vulnerable because Baki had forced himself inside her, leaving her a virgin where it counted. Naruto had always been the epitome of a gentleman with her, with the exception of their first meeting.
After months of abuse at Baki's hand, Naruto's treatment of her only left her weaker, destroying the possibility of her using apathy for his assassination. How could she kill him and move on like it never happened?
After all that they shared, even if most of it wasn't physical, how would she feel as blood poured out of his slit throat?
Looking over at the cause of her turmoil, she couldn't help but smile as she laid her gaze upon the sleeping Namikaze. Unable to help herself, she leaned over and placed a kiss on his lips, chaste and gentle without waking him up.
Could she even kill him?
Last night he'd been so perfect, despite her feigned sluttiness(much to her disgust), he hadn't really taken advantage of her. He refused to take her virginity until "marriage", hoping to build the moment up. Would he even survive the attack? Knowing how irrevocably turned on she had been, he serviced her gladly, without even asking anything in return.
Not that she would have turned him down if he had…
Snuggling in closer and leaning into the crook of his neck, she breathed in his scent, relishing the feeling of his lean body against hers. Closing her eyes, she smiled gently as Naruto's arm draped over her stomach, and he pulled her against him. Kissing him one last time, the rose from Sunagakure fell asleep.
II
Yukani was an unusually misunderstood woman. As head of the Uchiha Clan, not only did she have time for pleasantries and usually resorted to violence quickly. She honestly couldn't help that she had inherited the legendary Uchiha temper. She liked to think she was a half decent mother, despite the popular beliefs of the village and Hokage-sama himself.
Hmph… like he was anyone to talk.
She was one for two when it came to her children. Kakashi had been a success while Naruto had been a complete failure. Her treatment of him anyway… There was no question that she loved him, despite his flaws. But she thought she had done the best she could, her own childhood had been rough. Tough love was exclusively patented by the Uchiha clan, there were no warm moments excluding the ones that she shared with nii-chan. Perhaps she'd been reliving her nightmare childhood and focused tough love on Naruto, ignoring the pain in his teary blue eyes.
As he grew older, her distaste and disdain for him grew, despite the maternal love she held for him. A lonely puberty had caused him to display more of Kushina's traits, becoming a loud mouthed kid who respected nobody, not even the Hokage. That's when she knew it had been too late to ever reconcile things between them. Her disdain grew and Naruto cared less with each passing year, becoming more disrespectful than ever and further from the Uchiha heir she had stupidly dreamed him to be.
Because she had actual given birth to Kakashi, perhaps it was easier to love him. Maybe it was because he actually displayed traits of the Uchiha. Born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he learned the ways of the Uchiha, learning their taijutsu and ninjutsu and becoming chuunin level by the time he was eight.
She wasn't going to offer an excuse for the preferential treatment, it was too late to change things.
Leaning her nose down to the line of white powder, she snorted hastily, before laying back on the couch.
Letting the drug take effect, she found it funny that no one knew of her addiction. Her aggressive behavior had started after her father's death, she was constantly angry at the world and the cocaine didn't help.
Slumping against the couch, she giggled…
Naruto's parents are a nicotine addicted Hokage and a coke junkie Clan leader…
Cocaine's a hell of a drug…
III
The explosion rocked the building…
That was the last thing Anko remembered. Opening up her eyes she stared into the honey brown eyes of someone familiar. "You're going to be groggy for a bit, the explosion fucked with you pretty bad due to your proximity to the initial blast." A soft voice spoke gently.
"Where am I at?" Anko asked, struggling to form the words through her lips.
"Don't talk to much, you're exhausted enough as it is." The woman spoke again. "By the way, we're in Nami no Kuni. Once you're healed we're headed back to Konoha, and incase you don't know who I am, I'm Tsunade of the Sannin, wife to Jiraiya of the Sannin."
Mitarashi Anko passed out in blissful unconsciousness.
…
She awoke several hours later, standing up briskly despite the pain, the rumbling in her stomach letting her know she needed some sustenance as soon as possible. She wished Naruto was here, he'd hold her and tell her he loved her with soft fingers trailing her face and other areas. Tsunade-sama, a well known gambler, did not have soft hands, Anko remembered that much.
"What are you doing up?" Tsunade asked sharply. The busty blonde strode over to the Snake Sannin's apprentice and glared at her. "You haven't recovered completely yet, you should rest." Tsunade pointed out.
"I will, but first off, I'm hungry and need to eat. The next is that I need to know what the hell's going on. Last time I checked Tsunade-sama, you were killed in action and the old coot's been grieving and always getting drunk back in Konoha." Anko said flippantly, not caring that the Slug Sannin had arched her eyebrow when Anko called Jiraiya an old coot.
"As you know after me and Jiraiya's marriage, we had gone to Amegakure to check on the possible leader of Akatsuki. Turns out this guy Pain had killed Hattori Hanzou, a shinobi that the Sannin themselves couldn't beat together. We fought Pain after being discovered, and Jiraiya had been about to die when I used the last of my chakra to heal him. Pain took advantage of it and impaled me, tossing my body into the lake. Jiraiya and Pain both thought I died and Jiraiya barely escaped."
"How'd you survive?" Anko asked, tilting her head to look at the Sannin.
"As I was dying, nearly a hundred feet underwater, I utilized a kinjutsu that I've never used before. It's called Mitosis Regeneration." She explained, pointing at the purple diamond on her forehead. "Mitosis Regeneration is a technique that can regenerate fatal injuries by using chakra to speed up the process of cell division, which triggers the whole regenerating bit.
"I escaped the lake but I couldn't get to Jiraiya in time because Pain found me out. It took some time but finally I made it out of Amegakure. I remembered a conversation with Pain during our fight and decided to head to Kirigakure to spy on the Mizukage. And to my surprise, who do I catch in Kirigakure? So I followed you and hid a bit during your fight. I heard the explosion and headed in to find you bleeding, and nearly dead." Tsunade explained, turning to the side to grab a small saucer to pour her sake in.
"How bad was it?" Anko asked.
"I guess you distanced yourself away from him for it to be non-fatal, but even then you had third degree burns and had a few kunai buried into you. Probably from a trap set up during your fight. I showed up, dragged your sorry carcass out of there and summoned up a few slugs to get us out of there and into Nami." Tsunade finished, her tone a tad bit sardonic.
"Well thanks, Tsunade-sama." Anko bit out.
"If you wanna do me a favor, just heal up. The Chuunin finals are in three days and I'd like to make it back for that."
"Hai!"
IV
Naruto opened his groggy eyes and realized that Temari was gone, the lack of warmth where warmth had occupied it earlier gave it away. Smiling to himself, he sat upright in his bed, before leaping off and landed stealthily on the wooden floor. The house was eerily quiet, meaning that there was no way in hell his brother Kakashi was here. The raven haired prankster was notoriously a loud mouth at his house. Slipping himself into a pair of jeans and a button up black shirt with black getas, he headed downstairs to see what awaited him.
"Naru-chan!" a male voice called out.
Blue orbs swiveled to the source of the sound. He hadn't been called Naru-chan in years and he wasn't going to let it start up again now. Cerulean eyes landed on gray, spiked hair, and a mischievous eye smile of one Hatake Kakashi. Hitai-ate still sideways as usual to cover up his Sharingan eye and scar, Kakashi looked pretty different in civilian clothes. He had on a set of black cargo pants and a dark blue thermal.
"You really shouldn't call me that, Hatake-san." Naruto informed him pointedly, before attending to his houseguest. "Would you like something to drink while I get Kashi-kun?" Naruto offered, giving the jounin a sideways glance.
"I'm not here for that baka. I'm actually here for you Naruto." Kakashi said, shocking the jinchiruuki of the Kyuubi.
"What do you want with me?" Naruto demanded stoutly, his ire rising. It was common knowledge that Naruto did not get along with the perverted jounin. Kakashi had always had a place in Minato's heart, while Naruto did not, leaving Naruto bitter against the jounin in his childhood.
"Calm down, Naruto… Your father Minato asked me to tell you to come with me and meet him out at Crazy Horse to catch a couple of drinks. We're going to celebrate you making Chuunin a little early." Kakashi replied levelly, giving Naruto another one of his patented eye winks.
"Gomen nasai." Naruto offered apologetically. "It's just its weird, seeing you here in your civilian clothes and stuff." Naruto continued, before extending his hand to Kakashi.
Kakashi smirked underneath his mask and shook the teen's hand. "Let's go… before your brother catches us and wants to tag along." Kakashi said, and the two shinobi headed off towards Downtown Konoha. As they walked, the two exchanged stories of the last few months like they'd been friends all their life. Naruto looked up at Kakashi in awe as Kakashi told him about the back to back SS-ranked missions he'd been on.
Akatsuki, the group that apparently was after Naruto because he was a jinchiruuki had set up some training camps in Kusagakure and had been training some of the nin their in an attempt to build a small army of destructive fodder. Foot soldiers that were strong enough to weaken the enemy but never actually make it out of the battle. Kakashi had raided the camps and burned the camps to the ground, killing a majority of the Kusa nin that were hiding there, all without implicating Konoha in the attack.
After walking about a mile, they finally reached their destination for the night, the Crazy Horse. The place held deep memories for Naruto, it had been the place where he would come to escape his father, even if only for a while. It's the place where the father and son started bonding even more, despite their constant bickering.
It was where Naruto admitted that he was crushing on Mitarashi-sensei to his father.
It was outside the seedy bar where Anko kissed him…
Soft, gentle lips pliant against his, her tongue invasive, his lips bruising from her need. Thin yet strong hands gripping his forearms as she took what she needed, his evident arousal grinding against her pelvis. Her smell, unchanging, tainting him with the scent of lilacs, his fantasy complete as she had given him what he wanted for months.
Eyes stinging harshly from the memory, Naruto clenched his eyes shut tightly and stepped into the bar after Kakashi, giving the bartender a small wave. The short, pudgy man had gotten to see Naruto a lot over the last couple weeks, the subsequent repercussion of Anko's dismissal of his love.
Over to the left was his tou-san Minato and his best friend Sasuke. Kakashi and Naruto walked over to them and sat down at the table with them. "Ne, Kaka-sensei, I thought you said not to bring any girls, yet Sasuke's here." Naruto said jokingly, receiving a penetrating glare from the Uchiha.
Minato and Kakashi shared a laugh at the Uchiha's expense. "Shut it dobe…" Sasuke shot back at him, before bringing up the small saucer of sake to his lips. "Shouldn't you be out training to fight me dobe, I'm not going to hold back at the Chuunin Finals you know…'
"I don't need you to hold back, Sasuke-chan. I've been training with the Yondaime while you got stuck with Kakashi-sensei." Naruto bragged, sticking his tongue out. The Yondaime slapped his son upside the head, before ruffling his hair, much to the boy's annoyance.
"Stop being a braggart, Naruto. Those that brag are the first to lose you know." The Yondaime stated, "Even though I am Hokage, I'm still humble and never underestimate the enemy. It's probably why I never lost a single battle." Minato said sagely.
"Neither have I." Naruto shot back, before signaling the waitress to come over to their table so they could order more drinks.
"Plus Naruto, while I imagine you got a lot stronger by training with your father, I on the other hand have a lazy sensei… I trained all month long, pushing myself until I was just a broken heap because I have to win… I will stop at nothing to beat you, so prepare yourself and bring the same, otherwise you shouldn't even fight me at all." Sasuke replied softly, his voice barely above a whisper.
"Nani? Stop being all avengerish Sasuke, it's not becoming of a Yaoikage. We're here to get fucked up and your talking about the Chuunin exams, that's not for another two days." Naruto replied, before accepting the small jug of sake that the waitress brought for him.
Sasuke shook his head in disbelief, he should have figured that Naruto wouldn't take the Chuunin Finals seriously. But Sasuke had too, until Naruto, he had to prove himself to become chuunin. Naruto was guaranteed to make chuunin, simply because his father was the Hokage, but even if Sasuke was guaranteed to make it as well, he needed to fight with everything he had. He had to give it all, to test his capacity against the other challengers because if he didn't, he'd never know how to measure his growth in his attempts to kill his brother, just as Itachi had tested his capacity against their father.
Staring back at his best friend, he saw the boy had a faraway look, as if staring into space, his thousand yard stare unnerving him. "Naruto!" Sasuke nearly shouted, waving his hand frantically in front of the blonde's face. Naruto's eyes lost their glaze and focused in on Sasuke. "What is it?"
"Nothing, you were all spaced out… I thought we were here to get wasted." Sasuke goaded.
"Yosh…let's drink."
Minato bowed his head for a second. He knew damn well Naruto was thinking of Anko again… It had been so painful to watch as a father as Naruto had shut off for a bit, silently pining for the lilac haired Special Jounin. The thirty eight year old Hokage looked over at his student, giving him a warm smile, before opening up his mouth. "Ne, Kakashi, you haven't joined Sasuke in the man on man action have you? I haven't seen you with a female since the day Naruto used his 'Sexy' Jutsu to knock you out." Minato said and laughed as he watched what little was visible of Kakashi's face blush.
"Sensei, that was not youthful." Kakashi shot back….
Minato shivered, "God that'd be a horror if Gai and his little clone showed up here." Minato responded to Kakashi's flippant response. Despite being the strongest shinobi in the village, dubbed Kiiroi Senko by his adversaries, something about the spandex clad duo made his skin crawl.
"Hokage-sama! Let us join together and let us burn with the springtime of youth!" A voice called out from the background. Minato didn't even bother to look, instead he face faulted.
"Son of a bitch… screw you Kakashi-kun."
"My rival is here, tonight will be a great night!" Gai replied loudly, taking seat to Kakashi. "Kakashi-kun, I challenge you to a drinking game… if I cannot drink as many shots of sake as you can consecutively, then in my drunken stupor I will run five hundred laps around the village on my hands… and if I cannot do that I will do five thousand pushups… and if I cannot do…"
"Shut up already…" Minato interjected.
"Hai… that's not too youthful Hokage-sama." Gai responded, bowing his head in shame.
"Fuck youth… it's nothing but pain anyway." Naruto mumbled, thinking of his time with Anko.
"Naruto-kun… you do not understand because you are still young. Let the wounds heal and set yourself a light with the blazing fires that burn in the springtime of youth." Gai replied, causing Naruto to arch an eyebrow.
"Is it just me or did any of you get what the fuck he said?" Naruto asked.
"It's not you… we never do." Sasuke replied laughing.
The drinking continued, as well as Naruto's smile… for once he felt at ease with his father and Kakashi.
He was truly happy…
… but that would soon change.
V
2 days later…
Eight shinobi stood next to each other, awaiting the beginning of the Chuunin Finals. Each had worked hard to get to this point . Eight shinobi who were damn near all qualified to become chuunin. "Sabaku no Gaara, Kankuro, Temari, Namikaze Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, Rock Lee, Haruno Sakura, Nara Shikamaru, you are all here to represent your respective villages here in this exams, fight with everything you have and make your villages proud in your attempt to become chuunin." The final proctor Umino Iruka spoke. Giving Naruto a sad smile, Iruka thought of how fast his students had grown in six month's time.
"The first fight will be Gaara versus Rock Lee. The rest of you, go back to the stands until your name is called upon." Iruka ordered and the other six genin disappeared via shunshin. Temari and Kankuro headed back to their jounin-sensei Baki while Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura hung out, letting the lazy Shikamaru nap.
Gaara peered at his opponent evilly, letting a cruel smirk bestow upon his pace. True, thanks to the Nibi no Nekomata jinchiruuki he understood that human life was precious and that only by loving others and protecting them did one get stronger, but that didn't mean he didn't love a spot of violence when the opportunity arose. His opponent was clad in an outfit that mimicked that of his sensei Gai. Big, furry eyebrows, black liquid eyes and a shiny bowl cut defined his face sharply. A tight, spandex suit in the color of green left little to the imagination to what hid under it, with orange leg warmers covered up to his knee.
Eccentric the seventeen year old might be, but weak he was not. Due to his chakra coils being so damaged during birth, the genin had to rely solely on taijutsu to fight, but it did not deter his determination, instead it motivated him into become a master of the Goken style taijutsu where he inflicted punishing, bruising blows to his opponent.
"Are you just going to stand there?" Gaara asked, forming a ram hand seal and flaring up a spiral of blue chakra around his body, before reaching behind him and pulling off the cork to his gourd. Sand slid out and surrounded his body.
"No, I am not… prepare yourself for Konoha's handsome devil, Rock Lee." Lee cried out ecstatically, before pushing off the ground and sprinting towards Gaara hastily. Crossing the distance between them in seconds, Lee leaped in the air, twisting his body to land a harsh kick to Gaara's face when the sand surrounding him formed a shield and repelled Lee's attack.
The force of the sand sent Lee stumbling backwards. Gaara couldn't help but laugh at the boy's attempt. "Rock Lee, there's only been one person to get into my sand's defense and harm me, and it will not happen again. Perhaps you should just stop while you are ahead." Gaara offered, his voice full of mirth.
"I cannot Gaara-san, for it is my nindo to prove to the elemental nations that I Rock Lee can be a great ninja using only Taijutsu." Rock Lee replied, standing up to his feet before sprinting at the green eyed redhead. He launched another kick at him, not bothering to stop his movement, before leaping in the air and trying to bring his foot down on the top of Gaara's head. The sand blocked the blow again and Lee jumped back before beginning to run a circle around the red head, leaving a trail of dust kicking up after him.
"Quit your foolishness… it is a fool's dream at the most to honestly believe they can be a great ninja without ninjutsu or genjutsu." Gaara said sneering, until Lee moved sideways, crossing the space between them and bringing his fist up in an uppercut, sending the sand shinobi flying upwards.
"Then I shall be a fool for life, because I will not stop." Lee responded furiously, jumping up after the sand nin. The sand couldn't catch up to them in time and Gaara landed a bruising kick to Gaara's kidneys, sending him up even higher.
Instead of stopping there, Lee began to rabidly punch Gaara in the back, bruising his kidneys with each blow as the two of them began their slow descent back to the dirt. Lee landed on his feet while the sand formed a cushion for Gaara to land on painlessly.
Before Lee could move though, Gaara already sent a mass amount of sand hurtling his way before crashing into Lee sending him flying, crashing cruelly against the stadium wall. Lee picked himself of the ground and evaluated the damage the blow had done…
His kidneys were bruised as well as several of the lower discs in his spine, but otherwise he was fine. Nothing he'd never get over. Leaping backwards onto the top of the stadium wall, he contemplated what angle of attack to do next. He had to be faster than the sand, but outrunning entirely wasn't possible with the weights he was carrying in his leg bracers.
Even then, did he have the strength to put down the red head for good?
Apparently he'd find out his mettle, his capabilities as a shinobi against his worthy adversary…
Reaching down, he pulled out both sets of weights and held them up for the crowd to see. "Do you believe that losing a few pounds is enough to beat me?" Gaara growled out.
"No, losing a few pounds won't do the trick… but the springtime of youth can overcome anything!" Lee shouted back, dropping the weights to the stadium floor where they crashed with a sickening boom as hundreds of pounds crashed into the dirt, cracking the earth underneath its weight, causing dirt to spray all over the place.
"He's good." Naruto muttered to Sasuke who nodded fervently.
Suddenly Lee vanished form sight, causing the crowd to gasp. He reappeared in front of Gaara and landed a hook to his jaw, snapping the boy's neck back, before ramming his knee into his stomach, then moving swiftly to avoid the mass of sand that threatened to crush him. Leaping in the air, he caught Gaara with a spinning heel kick that sent him flying backwards, sending him crashing into the opposite wall where Lee was slammed into.
Gaara stumbled back to his feet, leaking a little bit of killer intent. Green eyes bored into Lee's as his thin lips opened up to let out a guttural roar. "You're going to regret that."
"No I'm not…" Lee replied, before running sideways against the stadium wall. Because Lee couldn't properly mold chakra, he had to rely on speed alone, moving with such velocity that he reappeared in front of Gaara, leg cocked back.
Gaara's eyes widened, then Lee's foot connected, kicking Gaara across the face, sending his hurtling sideways before crashing into a tree, bowling it right over. "One must live life without regrets in order to fully understand the power of youth…" Lee replied.
Gaara stood up, blood dribbling out of his lips. "You've forced my hand." Gaara spoke, emotionless.
Lee did not reply…
The lotus blooms twice a year, it is time… Lee thought.
Lee made a beeline towards Gaara, ducking low to kick him in the chest sending flying up again. Lee followed after him, loosening his bandages as he wrapped his bandages around Gaara, tightening them and keeping Gaara tight against him as they flipped upside down and Lee readied himself.
They began to spin crazily like a top, and Lee nearly cried out from the pain as his muscles began to tighten up on him. "Let me go." Gaara ordered, his eyes closed to not reveal exactly how frightened he was.
"I will prove I can be a great ninja, it is my nindo. You said I couldn't hit you, yet I did… I told you I will not STOP!!!" Lee screamed out, sending them spinning towards the ground.
"PRIMARY LOTUS!"
Right before they crashed into the ground, Lee came to a disastrous realization… He was holding on to a log, which meant that Gaara could use the Kawarimi without using hand seals. He had underestimated the sand nin, and now it was too late…
Lee crashed into the ground, screaming, blood spilling past his lips as his muscles groaned in protests, leaving Lee a broken, bloody heap…
"You underestimated me… it will be your last mistake." Gaara spoke, walking casually towards Lee.
Tears stung Lee's eyes. He had failed to show the Hokage and Konohagakure no Sato that he too could be a great ninja. After so many years of enduring jeers and laughter, too have come this close to fail….
"GET UP LEE!" Gai yelled out to his student.
Even if I fail everyone, even myself, I can never fail Gai-sensei, he is the only one who believed, Lee thought…
Pulling himself out of the dirt, he glared at Gaara. "Prepare yourself for the power of youth." Lee warned holding his arm out, fist clenched.
"You can barely stand, do not make me laugh." Gaara spoke evenly… "This path you take is futile, you shouldn't even be a genin, let alone a chuunin. Stop now and I will spare you an unnecessary death."
"This path I take, I take it because no one else would… This is my path… the road less taken." Lee bellowed, before flaring his chakra, as he opened the first gate.
A/N: Sorry for the wait, but duty calls I guess.