Well, sorry for the long wait. I have other stories out so… Anyways, I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the end days of summer.
It seems that in the manga, Itachi and Naruto had a conversation and Pein's location has now been disclosed. Oh, and Sasuke has found his brother. Wouldn't it be nice if they sat down and talked about their feelings and resolved all of their differences? Where the hell did that come from? Must be all this tea that I'm drinking. I'm going back to Coke.
Now before I begin with the story, I have a question. Why the hell would I send them to chase the Fire Lords cat? Sorry, his ugly wife's cat who has every reason in the world to want to run away. Personally, I would help it get away. But, that's not the point. No cat in this chapter. You are all wrong. Except Unknown-nin345, you get a cookie.
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Naruto was lying on the ground as he watched the clouds roll past him in the sky. He had sent his genins to retrieve the target a little over an hour ago. The mission was simple. The owner lost his pet in the Land of Rivers near the border of the Land of Wind and the Ocean. The owner had thought of using Sand or Leaf nins, but Mist-nins were cheaper. The mission was ranked C due to it being outside of the village in a non-shinobi nation.
Naruto let out a sigh. Part of him felt that he should have gone with his genins. This was their first mission after all. But, the odds that something going wrong was slim to none. They were far from the major roads were bandits like to hang out and the three of them should be able to handle them if the run into them. If they, for some reason, run into other nins they were told not to engage but hide. Also, Naruto was wearing a communicator in case they needed him.
The sounds of people approaching him pulled the blond jonin from his thoughts. Getting up, he saw that it was his team. On Saki's shoulder was a small creature.
"Is that it?" he asked.
"It is just like the client described," said Meiga. "Tanned fur with black feet."
"It was easy," said Raiu. "The stupid thing fell for the oldest trap in the book." Upon being called stupid, the creature began to growl and hiss at Raiu. "What the…" he began but was cut off as the small creature jumped off Saki's shoulder and attacked. It quickly began to bite and claw at Raiu's face and dodged the boy's attempts to get it off of him. Naruto, who had been chuckling at his students' misfortune, in a single motion grabbed the creature by the skin of its neck and pulled it away from Raiu who fell to the ground.
"This is how you deal with a cat," said Naruto. Meiga, Raiu, and Saki sweat dropped.
"Ah sensei, I believe it's called a ferret," corrected Saki. Naruto blinked at this and then turned his attention back to the ferret. The ferret blinked innocently back at Naruto and gave the ferret version of the puppy eyes jutsu. Naruto just gave the ferret a deadpanned look and handed it back to Saki.
"Just put it in its cage so that we can return it," he said as he began to walk away. Saki nodded and took out the cage from her bag and placed the ferret in it. After putting the cage back into her bag she took out some bandages from a side compartment and went over to Raiu. However, when she went to apply them, he pushed her away.
"I don't need any help," he said as he looked away. Saki's look became saddened and she looked down.
"I just wanted to help," she said quietly. Meiga shot Raiu a dirty look and then Raiu let out a sigh. Before he could say anything, however, Naruto called out to his team.
"Let's get moving people!" he yelled. "The sooner we get this mission done the better!" Saki silently got up and began to walk over to her sensei. Meiga shot Raiu another dirty look before he too began to follow Naruto. Soon Raiu was all alone.
"What I'd do?" he asked no one.
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In Sea country, Sasuke opened his eyes for the first time in a long time. Before him were Kabuto and… some dolls? Apparently, the right hand man of the Snake Sennin was having a tea party with the severed head of one Sasuke Uchiha, although Sasuke didn't know he was just a head.
"Oh you're awake," said Kabuto when he noticed Sasuke's eye twitches. In a flash he began to seal away his dolls into a summoning scroll along with the rest of his tea set. "I'll go and tell Lord Orochimaru that you are awake." With that he quickly left the room. Sasuke ordered his body to follow but found that he couldn't. He couldn't even move his head to look down. All he could see was what was in his range of vision.
Scared, Sasuke began to think back to his last memories.
Flashback:
Sasuke stepped out of his hole. However, his skin had turned a dark grayish color and there was a black star shaped mark on the bridge of his nose. The weirdest part was the hand like wings on his back.
"Now it is time to finish this," said Sasuke. He jumped up into the air and began to flap his wings and flew towards Naruto with blackish lightning in his hand. "Habataku Chidori!" Naruto just grabbed the handle of his sword and waited for the right moment. One Sasuke was close enough, he vanished and reappeared behind Sasuke. He then swung the blade and cut off his right wing and arm. How? I'm an Uchiha and he is nothing.
"You never were anything special," said Naruto as he began to walk away. At that moment Kakashi appeared at the scene. Shit, thought Naruto. I missed my chance. Not noticing Kakashi, Sasuke activated his Chidori without any seals and charged one last time. Naruto simply snapped his finger and Sasuke Uchiha exploded.
End Flashback
Now Sasuke was confused. He remembered being blown up, the pain had been intense even if it had only been for a few moments. So, how did he get to Orochimaru? Hell, he wanted to know how he was still alive. Soon, Orochimaru walked into the room.
"So Sasuke, how are you feeling?" asked Orochimaru with a grin.
"Why can't I feel my toes?" asked Sasuke slowly. "Hell, why can't I feel any part of my body?" Orochimaru sighed and pulled out a mirror out of no where and showed Sasuke the truth. He took it pretty well, all things considered.
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!" he screamed. He was a head with tubes sticking out of the base. The tubes went into a machine behind him that pumped blood into his brain and allowed him to speak and other things that are far too numerous to mention. "That magic eight ball lied to me! I'm slightly worse off than I was in that stupid village. Now I'll never be able to kill Itachi."
Kabuto sweat dropped slightly. 'Slightly? Is he kidding me?'
"Are you done yet?" asked Orochimaru as he cut into Sasuke pity party. "Now, I got good news for you. We are right now in the process of cloning you a new body. We would have done something like this earlier, but we didn't have the genetic samples back then. Also, there is a slight chance something might go wrong. But, if it works then your new body will be superior in every way. My leading geneticist tells me that he might be able to give you my bloodlines and more power than you ever dreamed."
"Good," said Sasuke as he regained his composer. "Then I can kill that dobe as well as my brother." At this, Orochimaru's eye's narrowed slightly.
"I think you should stop calling my son that," said the snake man. "After all, it appears that he inherited my brains."
"WHAT?" shouted Sasuke. "HE'S YOUR SON? BUT YOU TWO LOOK NOTHING ALIKE!"
"I'll give you the simplified version," said Orochimaru. "I got wasted and woke up the next morning to the boy's mother. Apparently, he inherited her looks." With that he clapped his hands. "So, while we wait lets play Mr. Potato Head with Sasuke."
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Back with our hero, Naruto was leading his genins to the town where they were to drop off the ferret. Saki was carrying the ferret in her backpack. Meiga was staying into space as he walked. Raiu was wondering what the hell he did wrong. Suddenly, Naruto spoke up.
"So Raiu," he began, "I have been meaning to ask you something."
"What is it Naruto-sensei?" asked Raiu.
"Do you have any clues about the person who killed your father?" asked Naruto. Raiu and the others stopped walking and just stared at the back of his sensei. Naruto turned his head around and spoke again. "Do you think you are the only person who has lost a loved one and held a grudge? I have seen that look in your eyes for far too many people. For the longest time, I held that same look."
"Are you trying to say do as I say not as I do," growled Raiu. Naruto now stopped walking.
"I don't believe in that hypocrisy," he said. "It's your life, do what you want with it. Just don't ignore the people around you or betray those you call comrade. That isn't the path to strength." With that Naruto began to walk again. "Hurry up you three, I want to get this mission done before night fall." The three genins quickly gathered their thoughts and followed him. A couple of minutes later they were walking over a bridge. This was when Raiu decided to answer.
"Only one sensei," he said quietly. "The man who killed my father took his heart out while it was still beating. That is all I know."
"I see," replied Naruto as they got off the bridge. Suddenly, he stopped and looked over to the horizon. In the distance, there were large black pillars of smoke. Naruto got a really bad feeling about them since they were coming from the direction that they were supposed to be going to. He then turned to his students. "You three stay here. I'll be back in a moment." Before the genins could say anything, Naruto had vanished from sight.
"How the hell does he move that fast with that big ass sword on his back?" asked Raiu to no one in particular.
Naruto jumped from tree to tree until he reached his destination and his fears were confirmed. The smoke had indeed come from the village, or what was left of it. Homes were destroyed and several of them were on fire. Naruto began to make some quick observations. 'This is too organized to have been done by bandits. And shinobi would never leave footprints for others to trace. So, who could have done…' Naruto was then cut off as he heard Saki scream over the communicator.
A few minutes ago…
"I can't believe we traveled all this way just to find someone's lost pet," whined Raiu. "What kind of C-Ranked mission is this?"
"The lowest," replied Meiga. "As Naruto-sensei explained earlier, D-Ranked missions stay within the village where the odds of us getting hurt are almost nonexistent and the mission are more like chores. A C-Ranked mission involves leaving the village and the most danger we will face are low level shinobi or bandits. Most likely the second of those choices."
"I know that," snapped Raiu. "But sensei could have taken us with him. I mean, we are here to learn how to be real shinobi. So, how are we supposed to learn when he leaves us out of important stuff?"
"Well he probably," began Saki but was cut off from continuing as Raiu held up his hand to silence her. He was looking around with an intense look on his face. Soon, Meiga was following his lead.
"We're being watched," said Raiu. "Saki, put on the communicator in case we need sensei's help." Sweat fell of his cheek and he gritted his teeth. "I don't think we can handle all of them." Saki nodded and quickly pulled out the device. As soon as she put the earpiece on and turned on the device, a large man in armor jumped out and caused the girl to scream.
"Saki," came Naruto's voice from the head piece. "Hang on, I'm coming back!" Saki, meanwhile, was trying to think of what she should do next. But, she was afraid. This was the real thing. This wasn't her sensei she was fighting, but an enemy that would not lose a moment of sleep after killing her. As the enemy moved toward her, Saki did the only thing that her mind was telling her to do: defend yourself. She raised her arms and braced herself for the blow. But, Raiu intercepted the enemy with a flying kick and knocked him out of the way.
"What's wrong with you?!" shouted Raiu. Then, several more soldiers jumped out of the woods and into the open. "Shit. Water Blade!" When the sword finished forming, Raiu drove it into the first enemy and then kick him down.
Meiga was also dealing with the enemy. Three of them surrounded him. One in front and the others at his side. They then charge at him all at once by jumping into the air with maces in hand. "Bug Wall!" said Meiga as his dragonflies came out of his jacket and surrounded him in a green and blue dome. The attack was easily deflected by the power of this jutsu.
Raiu continued to slash at his opponents one after another. However, no matter how many times he did this they would just get back up. Meiga was in the same situation.
"What are these guys?" asked Raiu as he hacked off an enemies arm. The armors arm fell off, but there was no arm inside it. It was as if the suits were alive. "This can't be good," said Raiu as he began to fear for his life. The enemy, he realized, couldn't be killed because they weren't alive in the first place.
Saki, meanwhile, was still paralyzed with fear. And seeing one of her teammates slash off a guys arm didn't help much. Some of the enemy noticed this and charged at her. Saki covered her eyes and prepared for the worst. However, it never came. Naruto had jumped down from a tree, with sword in hand, and cut one of the enemies in half. The others jumped back as Naruto then swung his sword onto his shoulder.
"So, why are you attacking my genins?" he asked as he stared past the soldiers. Meiga, Raiu, and Saki turned their attention to where Naruto was looking and saw a new figure. He was dressed in silver armor and was wearing a helmet. The teen made no reply as he drew out a dagger and pointed it at Naruto. Following the unspoken command, the soldiers charged at the Mist jonin. They jumped into the air so they could crush him in a dog pile, but Naruto had other plan. Once they were in his range, Naruto began to slash at them at an incredible speed. It was so fast that all anybody saw was a flash right before the soldier became mulch. Now there was only one enemy left. The lone knight that stood before Naruto tightened his grip on his dagger.
"What do you expect to do with that butter knife?" asked an amused Naruto. The difference between their weapons size and power was clear. The knight, in answer to the question, waved his weapon across his chest and it lengthened.
"Raging Thunder!" shouted the knight as a wave of emerald green energy erupted from his sword in a slashing motion.
"I don't think so! Weapon Upgrade: Wind!" countered Naruto as he unleashed his own attack. Their attacks connected and the result was a large explosion that sent everyone flying and destroying several nearby trees.
Naruto and the knight were the first to get back up. Naruto had landed on a pile of fallen trees while the knight was next to a cliff. Naruto charged at the knight and missed his target after the knight ducked. In his crouching position, the knight lunged upward into Naruto's exposed chest. He smirked as he saw the blade entered the younger teen's chest. The smirk faded as Naruto turned into water. What the… he thought.
"Weapon Upgrade: Wind!" he heard Naruto yell from above him. The knight looked up and saw Naruto falling down toward him with his wind modified sword ready to cut him down. There was only one thing to do. "Raging Thunder!" he shouted. Once again, there was an explosion. Only this time, it took out the cliff.
"SENSEI!" screamed Saki as she ran out of her hiding spot and rushed over to the new edge of the cliff. She quickly pulled out a party streamer and, grabbing one end, threw the other end down. "Paper Binding Jutsu!" The paper warped around Naruto and Saki braced herself. This would have been a good idea if she was stronger or if Naruto wasn't still holding onto his sword. As soon as paper tightened, Saki was pulled down along with her sensei.
Sorry for the shortness. Please review!