A quick update like everyone wanted. Also I want to point out something.
This is my first story so it has lots of error, cliché moments and random events, especially in the early chapters. I will start to rewrite them quite soon. I will work mainly on the dialogue, sentence structure, flow and few other things. Hopefully there will be no dramatic changes. And if I get beta by then, it will be awesome. As for the rewrite of the story, if there are any major changes I will point out in the current chapters. So no need to go all the way back to re-read it.
Disclaimer: Do not own Naruto.
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Haku turned around and looked at her reflection on the mirror. She was wearing a short ice blue color yukata with white flower beautifying her dress. It was a gift from Ibiki but Anko chose it; so it wouldn't come as a surprise that the yukata was showing her curves and skins more than she would like it to.
"Well I can tease him about it if he stares too much." Grinning Haku took one last look at the mirror and went out.
The Senju compound was huge. Well initially it was bigger but Tsunade cut down the size of the place seeing that there weren't many people living here. Still it was enormous for five people. At least they could hog the special training grounds all for themselves.
"Haku-nee, you look really pretty." Naruto beamed.
Haku blinked, she didn't notice that she already reached the backyard.
"Are you going anywhere Haku-nee?" Hearing that voice, Haku's face brightened up.
It was Ranmaru.
After Tsunade came, the first thing she did was to focus on him. According to her, his legs were damaged badly but not beyond saving. It took few surgeries before Ranmaru's condition became stable. Ranmaru wasn't fully discharged from the hospital but Tsunade gave him the permission to go out from time to time under supervision. Although he has to use a wheelchair, as it would take some time before he could fully walk again.
But both Haku and Naruto was glad that it didn't dishearten their youngest member; rather using this chance he started to study on genjutsu and anything that he could get his hands on. After all, in the ninja world, knowledge and information had the same value as raw power, if not maybe more.
"Yes, I have a date."
Naruto's smile dropped where Ranmaru had a puzzling look.
"You are too good for that duckbutt." Naruto grumbled.
"Don't listen to Naruto," Shizune smiled. She was here for Ranmaru, whenever he would go out from the hospital Shizune and Naruto or Haku would be with him. "You look wonderful." She added as she winked at the ice user.
"Thank you, Shizune-san." Haku laughed hearing that and then flicked Naruto's nose, "All girls are too good for you good for nothing boys." She didn't wait for Naruto to burst out so she left with via shunshin.
Naruto blinked as it took few seconds for him to understand what Haku meant, "Hey! Don't lump me with him! I am better than that dickhead!"
But Haku was long gone.
"Let her enjoy the date," Shizune said and then with a stern voice continued, "And you better not do anything to sabotage her date, or I will tell Hinata about it."
It wasn't much of a threat as Hinata never got angry with Naruto but it was her disappointed look that he feared the most. So with a grumble he dropped all his pranking ideas that he just came up with.
"By the way, it's time for us to go." Shizune added as she held Ranmaru's chair.
"So soon?" Naruto asked dejectedly.
"I got a few checkups today, and also Kurenai-sensei said that she will introduce me to someone." Ranmaru gave an apologetic smile.
Naruto smiled sadly but ruffled Ranmaru's hair. He wanted to go all the way to Hospital but Ranmaru strongly rejected his offer. So he saw them off till the compound gate.
"He will be fine."
Hearing that voice, Naruto smiled and looked to his side. There was a large three feet majestic looking white wolf was standing beside him. Raiju now was able to come out of his mindscape and would take this form. All he said about his reason for coming out that it would be easier to teach Naruto like this.
"I know," With a sigh Naruto looked straight at Raiju, "So will we start today?"
"Yes," Raiju started walking toward the Senju training ground. It had a barrier to prevent outsiders from entering; and he also tweaked the seal to make it stronger.
"So what will you teach me?" Naruto couldn't hold back his excitement. After all, from now on Raiju would directly train him whenever he could.
"That depends on you Naruto."
That stopped Naruto on his track, "Wait what?"
"Right now, you are focusing on three areas. Kenjutsu, Senjutsu and Ninjutsu, more towards your bloodline limit techniques. It is good, but I want you to categorize them. Prioritize the one area you want to improve the most and as for the other two, just keep on practicing so that you don't lose your touch." Raiju explained.
"So I have to decide which one will be my primary style and which one would be my secondary? Why though?" Naruto replied back, confusion was still written on his face though.
"Yes and as for the reason …" Raiju paused for a second before continuing, "How about this? Remember the fight with that shark guy? What is your opinion about that fight?"
Naruto became quiet after hearing the question. He wouldn't brag but he fought quite a lot of people and most of them were very strong. But never, in any fight, he felt so helpless. Even fighting against Gaara when he was going to his Biju mode was nothing compared to that time. Kisame just toyed with him and Naruto was sure Kisame didn't even bring out one tenth of his maximum power.
"There will be people like him coming at you, if not stronger than him. I want you to be ready for them or at least strong enough to run away." With a sigh Raiju looked at the dejected Naruto, "This world is harsh Naruto, I don't have to tell you that. Even I can't tell who will live or who will die tomorrow. If you want to protect your precious people and to follow through your nindo, you have to become strong, very strong. The faster the better. And I think you can accomplish that by specializing one area first rather than trying to master so many areas all at once."
Naruto took a deep breath, it was the harsh truth but that wouldn't stop him.
"Thank you Raiju-san." Raiju didn't know what Naruto thanked him for but it made him smile. That was why he got attached to Naruto because no matter what, it was hard to keep his spirit down. He just hoped that it stayed that way.
"I think I will go with the Senjutsu as my primary fighting style." Now this startled Raiju.
"Why Senjutsu?"
"Because you said it takes time to master but if I can master Senjutsu I can counter other styles of jutsu easily." Naruto beamed at the sacred wolf.
"Most of other styles of jutsu," Raiju corrected him with a smile.
"Pssh, small details." Naruto waved his hand, "So are you ok with my choice?"
Raiju laughed, "The question should be, 'Are you ok with your choice'?"
Naruto tilted his head to the side and answered with a blank face, "If I wasn't ok with it than I wouldn't have made the choice, now would I?"
"You really are different." Raiju just shook his head and looked around. They finally reached the training ground.
"So are you ready?"
"Of course I am ready, believe it!"
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With Tsunade
"Fire Daimyo send his sincere apology for not being able to come today."
"I understand that he is a busy man. But the fact that he has sent his personal advisor in such a short notice means that he took this more seriously than I thought." Tsunade smiled at the person sitting in front of her.
"Of course, and trust me, he will be visiting you soon regarding that child. After all, he always admired the Fourth."
"Thank you for coming here all the way, Zenko-san." Tsunade got up and both shook their hands.
"My pleasure." There was a pause, "And I was hoping if I could see him myself. Not now, maybe when we are having our dinner perhaps?" The person called Zenko asked with a sheepish smile, "If that is ok with the Fifth."
"Of course, I will ask someone to fetch him at that time." Now it was Tsunade's turn to give a sheepish smile, "But just a warning, he is known as 'The most unpredictable ninja' and 'Prankster of the Leaf' for a reason."
"Then I guess I will enjoy our meeting more than I thought." Zenko laughed. With that an Anbu showed the person out.
Tsunade didn't even have the time to take her sake out when Shizune came in, she looked slightly panicked. With a sigh, Tsunade put the cup and bottle back in the drawer.
"Tsunade-sama, an ambassador from Kumo came. He said that it is urgent and he needs to talk to you immediately." Shizune blurted out everything in a single breath.
"Slow down, I got it." Tsunade sighed, "Sent him in I suppose."
Shizune bowed and left. Tsunade immediately started to think back exactly why Kumo would sent an ambassador instead of a regular messenger. She had a bad feeling about this, because last time an ambassador came from Kumo, things didn't turn out well.
The door opened and Shizune showed the way, the person that entered immediately earned the irk of Tsunade. He had the typical tanned skin and light colored hair but what pissed her off was the arrogance rolling off from the said person.
With a poker face Tsunade motioned, "Have a seat."
The person bowed and took the seat, "Greeting Tsunade-sama, first I would like say that Raikage-sama has send his regards on taking the mantle. I hope we would be able to keep the relationships between our villages as peaceful as it is right now."
For some reason, Tsunade felt that his last words had some mockery to it. But for now, she would just see where this was going. "Thank you. But can I ask the reason for your visit?"
With a wicked grin the person slowly put the files he was holding onto the table and pushed them to Tsunade's side. This form of act could be considered rude but Tsunade knew that something was wrong here. With a stern face, she took the files and opened them.
As the time went by, the temperature of the room started to drop. By the time Tsunade finished reading all the files, her face lost all emotion but any veteran shinobi could see that she was anything but calm.
"May I know your name?"
That question startled the ambassador but he quickly regained his composure, "My name is Seo."
"So Seo, are you sure that Raikage-sama has sent this documents? Because I find it hard to believe that a Kage could write such bullshits."
Seo visibly shuddered at the tone but immediately smiled back, "I can assure you that these documents are legit and was given to me directly by Raikage-sama. Please do not slender him or his work." His voice was small as if he was reprimanding a child.
Tsunade took a deep breath, "So let me summarize all of these. Because this person called Shinji Yotsuki died in our land, who surprisingly was the nephew of the clan head, we are supposed to hand over our storm release user in return, who had no had in this matter whatsoever." Tsunade gave a wry smile, "How did Raikage put it here, ahh, he suspects some underhanded method regarding his origin. If we do not comply there is a risk or resuming open warfare again?"
"Tsunade-sama," Seo smiled and spoke softly again, "I know you are angry but let's be honest here, only Kumo have storm release users. We don't know how Konoha got hold of a storm release user but Raikage-sama will not ponder over it." Seeing that Tsunade wasn't speaking he brightened his smile and continued, "If Tsunade-sama needs some time it is perfectly fine. But I think you should consider this very carefully."
With that Seo got up and immediately stopped when he saw the look on Tsunade, it was that of a predator locking on her prey.
"That won't be necessary," Tsunade smiled, "After all, I am not the Third." And with that she snapped her fingers.
One second Seo was standing and next he was on the ground while his arms tightly bound behind his back. Then two Anbu forced him to sit on his knees. Tsunade got up from her chair and lazily went around the table. Enjoying the horrified look on Seo's face, she sat on top of her desk.
"Tsunade-sama! What is the meaning of this?!"
"Who are you?"
The question stopped Seo from struggling, he just blinked at the woman in front of him. Seeing his confused state Tsunade asked again, "Who are you?"
"What is that got to …" He couldn't finish as he felt the immense killing aura coming from the person in front of him. It was so suffocating to the point that he could literally feel his life slowly being sipped away.
"Who are you?"
"I am Seo, an ambassador from Kumo." The reply came immediately.
"And who am I?"
Then it hit him. He wasn't talking to a woman or a sanin, he was talking to a Kage, leader of one of the great five village. How could he have messed up so badly? The answer came immediately to him, because he thought Tsunade was like the Third.
"After all, I am not the Third."
Fear started to creep onto his heart and he completely lost his voice.
"I thought that an ambassador should know basic courtesy but guess not all the villages are like us." Tsunade just chuckled as he looked at dumbfounded Leo, "Learn to respect your superior, kid." Her voice was soft, completely mimicking his tone from before.
"Now onto the matter at hand," Tsunade took one of the papers and just glanced over it, "Let' break it down slowly, shall we? This, Shinji Yotsuki, died in our land. My condolences; I am not going to use the excuse that we were under attack and that he died by our attackers. What I want to ask is that can you tell me why we found his body right in the middle of a battle zone?"
Silence lingered throughout the room before Tsunade frowned, "I asked you a question."
As if cold water was dropped on his head, Seo immediately stuttered, "Be-Because they were running away to get to safety. A-After all, the stadium was compromised."
"So instead of going to the safe zone that our shinobi created which was clearly visible, they ran straight into the warzone?" Tsunade put a finger up when she saw Seo was going to protest, "Here let me show you something very interesting," She took a map and held it in front of her, "This is the stadium, this is where we found Shinji's body. And this is where our storm release user was fighting alongside with a Hyuuga." And when she connected the dots with her finger; it made a straight line, "I don't know about anyone else but to me it doesn't look like they were trying to find a safe location."
Seo was sweating bullets. It wasn't supposed to go like this. The idea was simple and foolproof; Raikage made fake documents indicating that No. 3 was an important member of Yotsuki, one of their noble clan. Although his death wasn't directly related to Konoha, but it would open up the opportunity to bring out the question regarding the origin of their storm release user. Because clearly, except for Kumo, there were never any report of other villages having storm release user. So it would be easy to accuse them of kidnapping one of their core bloodline limit user. Then from there they would slowly start to put pressure on Konoha. There was also a major fact that they just faced an invasion, and so Raikage thought that the fifth, like third, would do anything to avoid doing anything that may spark a war between them.
It seemed that he was wrong.
"And," Seo shivered as the room temperature dropped few degrees more, "You people had the guts to accuse us for kidnapping? Are you for real?"
Seeing that Seo was unable to talk properly Tsunade continued, "I am pretty sure you are gonna bring out your already scripted long list of excuses about how the two foiled kidnappings before had nothing to do with Kumo." Tsunade took a deep breath, and dropped her killing intent; because anymore and she might have to send another body to Raikage. She motioned for the Anbu to release their holds, which they did immediately.
"I will send the papers that will explain the origin of our storm release users," Tsunade got up from the table and headed to her chair, but before sitting she gave a side glance at the ambassador who got the message as he immediately knelt down, "Of course, Hokage-sama! I will deliver the message to Raikage-sama!"
And with that he bolted out of the room.
Tsunade narrowed her eyes and gave a meaningful look at one of the Anbu, who immediately disappeared. Almost at the same time Shizune appeared in a hurry. Without looking at her Tsunade cut her off before she could speak, "Arrange a meeting with the Daimyo, it is urgent."
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Somewhere Else
Sasuke didn't know whether his current situation was a curse or a blessing. On one hand, he was wearing this weird formal getup that didn't sit well with him; but on the other hand he was having quite the nice view.
"Enjoying the view?"
He snapped his head faster than a shunshin and looked away, "I got no idea what you are talking about?"
Haku grinned, "I meant the weather, or you were watching something else?"
Sasuke's eyebrow twitched, she got him! And it wasn't the first time; since the start of their so called date, they kept trying to outsmart one another. Needless to say, Sasuke was far behind. But he enjoyed this kind of banter. Unlike the ones he used to have in the academy, especially with Naruto, where the arguments only lied on who had the meanest punch or who looked the coolest. These ones were more refreshing.
Corner of his lips twitched upward when he saw most of the boys, even some adults, stopped to give Haku a second look. He wouldn't deny, she was beautiful to begin with but today she looked exceptionally pretty; but he ain't saying it out loud. His grin would widen whenever he would see the males looking at her with admiration and then look at him with envy. It made him to feel somewhat superior.
He blamed it on his Uchiha gene.
The date went well, despite all the teasing and friendly arguments. It wasn't a planned date, and both of them liked it this way, because…
"I hope you are not thinking this of a date, Sasuke-san."
Sasuke blinked, he looked to see Haku giving him a coy smile as her eyes darted from his face to his hands.
"Because you are here as my escort and to carry my stuffs; as promised."
If Sasuke was Naruto, he would have dropped all the shopping bags and would start lashing out saying that he didn't lose the match. If Sasuke was Naruto he would have also pointed out, rather loudly, that both of them were getting what they want because the match was a draw. If Sasuke was Naruto, he would have made a shadow clone and let him carry the bags, saving him some dignity.
But Sasuke was not Naruto.
So all he did was to scowl and gritted his teeth.
"Now now, act a bit more refined, if you can?"
"I will let you know that out of all the males around my age, I can be considered as one with the most refine attitude."
Haku blinked and then started to think back, "Guess you are right."
"Are we done? Because it is almost evening." Sasuke pointed out.
Haku looked at the sunset and smiled, "Yes it seemed so,"
With a sigh, Sasuke went to the nearest bench and put all the bags there. He looked back at Haku and opened his mouth; he had so many things to say but the words got stuck in his throat.
It was her turn to say, to tell her why she was against him getting his revenge. Why she looked so sad every time he talked about killing his brother.
But no matter what the words wouldn't come out. Because he was afraid, afraid that Haku might say something that would make his will to waver.
And he just couldn't do that. Because …
"It's ok to hate him."
Sasuke looked at Haku with wide eyes.
"It's ok to fight him for revenge, not for justice."
She wasn't looking at him, but her voice was soft.
"But it is not ok to let the rage consume you."
She turned, her eyes were soft and full of melancholy. Then she gave him a smile,
"Because then, you would turn into the very person that you hate so much."
Sasuke blinked, if felt like her words were echoing throughout his whole being. He finally understood one question he kept asking him since past few months.
Why did her opinion mattered?
Because she understood him.
After that nightmare, there were lot of people who came to console him and some even wanted to adopt him. But he rejected everyone. Because to him, no one understood his pain. No one knew how it felt like to live in a huge compound of a proud and a noble clan all alone. No one knew how it felt like watching the kitchen for hours, replaying his mother cooking there on his mind; or what it was to be like to sit on an empty family table and kept glancing at the front chair, hoping his father's stern voice to come and say to eat his untouched food.
No one knew what it was like to listen to the silence of his house and compound, day after day.
He knew quite a lot of people were honest and sincerely care about his wellbeing, but to him it felt like they pitied him. And it angered him. Even the classmates who wanted to befriend him, he shunned them. He knew something was wrong with him because he wasn't like this before. It didn't take long for him to figure out that what was wrong with him; he was broken. Because he noticed that no laughter or tears would come out from him no matter how hard he tried. He could feel most of his emotions started dying. He was slowly becoming an empty shell that kept replaying the memories from the past. The only way he was able to hold onto his sanity was his rage toward the person who made him like this, who took everything from him.
"Does it get better?" Sasuke asked softly.
"Not completely but it will; if you let other people in." Haku answered just as softly, "Because after you kill him, there is nothing to stop you from turning back to the hollow shell you once were."
Sasuke grinned, she did understand him, too well. Also, no matter how much he hated to admit it but Naruto also understood him to some extent. He knew the feelings of loneliness, much like him; but Naruto didn't know the feeling of true loss or betrayal. Maybe if they were on the same team, they could've started to see each other eye to eye, who knows?
"So what do you suggest?"
Haku was going to answer but stopped when she saw the grin. It made her smile, "Be like Naruto."
The grin disappeared and the usual scowl made the entrance.
"I like being myself."
"Being a brooding emo-brat?"
Haku started to understand why Zabuza always had that superior grin when he made fun of, more like trash-talk, others. She took a good look at the increasing scowl on Sasuke and her smile widened.
Yes, it was quite amusing.
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With Naruto
"This is harder than I thought." Naruto sighed. He wasn't frustrated, well maybe a bit.
"You don't learn senjutsu by popping balloons."
Naruto gave a deadpan look at Raiju who started to chuckle, "So what's wrong?"
"Meditation is hard." Naruto's shoulder slumped, "It may sounds I am complaining but it looks like it will take ages before I can use Senjutsu properly.
Raiju smiled and lay down beside Naruto, "Meditation is the first step; and then comes concentration, chakra synergy and lastly balance."
"That's quite a lot of things." Naruto said a bit dejectedly.
"Naruto," He looked at the majestic beast who was looking back at him calmly, "As far as my memory serves, the youngest person who completed Sage training was in his early twenties. Even sages from this era and previous ones started their training at early teens, at max. Compare to them, you started a lot early and if everything goes smoothly, I am sure you will be the youngest Sage ever."
Naruto beamed hearing that.
"By the way, it will take minimum two years before you can completely use Senjutsu. And I am not even talking about mastery of the art."
And boom, with that goes his happy mood. He looked at a grinning Raiju blankly. It took few seconds before he composed himself, and
"Two years?! Pfft! Dream on! I will finish my training in one year, believe it!"
Raiju's smirk widened. Because he knew Naruto could finish the training in one year but just for safety and to make sure that Naruto wouldn't push himself in dangerous level, he told that lie. He closed his eyes and replied, "Then you better resume your training."
Naruto growled and sat down to start mediating. But before beginning, he blinked and looked at Raiju, "Ah, one more thing."
Raiju opened one eye lazily.
"I will make super awesome jutsu from popping balloons, just you wait!"
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Done.
A side note, Kumo and Konoha will have a strained relationship but with time it will get better. But I just wanted to show that Kumo will not get what they want all the time, they are not on top of the world like they believe themselves to be.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter.
Do leave a review, it helps to motivate a lot.
So till next time.