Before saying anything related to the story, I wanted to say THANK YOU to all the people that has commented or followed the story, the first chapter was well accepted, so here is the next one, if you have any kind of criticism please be honest and say it, this is a work in progress
I'm working on the third chapter right now, but I have many things to do, so I can't make any promises, but I'll publish it as soon as I can
Chapter 2
Naruto was watching his team training, today they were fighting one his shadow clones, this had exactly one tenth of his real strength but…even with that handicap, the jounin's construct was a better fighter than the genin, but it gave them some real experience against a stronger (not THAT strong) enemy
Hinata stopped when a bird was in his byakugan's range, said hawk landed on Naruto's shoulder letting him get a scroll "Well it seems we're required for a special mission" said the blond, getting his students's attention "Go to your homes, take a shower and pack to cold weather for a few days…be at the north gates in two hours" ordered Naruto to his genin, said kids nodded and hasted to their homes
'Something must have happened for Jiraiya to call me' thought Naruto remembering the mission note that said Jiraiya asked for a meeting with you in the lands of iron, so you and your team are going there for a trading treaty…the information given to the genin is up to you I hope it's about Akatsuki…I would really like to measure myself against one of them
-Two hours later-
"Today we're going to the iron country" stated Naruto before starting jumping to the nearest tree; with his team following behind "This is a special place because they have no ninja at all…yet they've stayed neutral in all previous ninja wars with the power to back up this neutrality" told the Jounin to his surprised team
"How can they fight against ninjas without ninjas of his own?" asked an incredulous Kiba, while Hinata and Shino were thinking in the same line
"Because they have samurais" answered Naruto surprising them "and despite not being as famous as some legendary ninjas…they are quite capable…I don't know their ranks…but it's said that the country's leader is as powerful as a Kage" added Naruto who had never fought a samurai, but heard some lectures from Sarutobi and Jiraiya about their speed and brutal attacks
"If there was some conflict…I think we'd be on a poor position…none of us uses weapons able to parry theirs swords" concluded Shino after thinking about it
"You may have a point Shino" begun Naruto with a reflection "but Ninjas are not always frontal warriors, as a ninja you have to choose in your career, you can be a man with many abilities or talents like Sandaime-sensei who's proficient in almost all ninja arts or you and aim to specialize in one or two areas, take me for example I'm a ninjutsu specialist with a great ability for hand to hand combat so if I were to fight a samurai, I would have to stop their wrists or block their arms to avoid their weapon" explained Naruto taking a breath before adding something "In a fight, all our abilities and talents are weapons, just like their swords, my ninjutsu is a weapon or hinata's Byakugan is a weapon too and at the end of the day the winner is not the one wielding the biggest or strongest weapon, the winner is the one who uses the weapons he has with most proficiency"
After that long speech Naruto kept silent letting his students to think about that in order to assimilate the need of a keen mind in the battle field, you may have some disadvantage, but if you're able to find your opponent weakness, that turns into your favor
After six hours of tree-traveling they stopped to have lunch, the Jounin got some cold rations packs with real food instead of pills and the four of them ate in silence, before resuming a two days journey into the land of iron
After showing the official documents, they were allowed in the land of iron, while two samurais escorted Konoha's team to Mifune's office, the kids were very cold, but tried to act as if they were able to fight at the minimal threat
They arrived to a big complex with a wide open door with two samurai on each side, the warriors kept stoic and inexpressive to the people, the group walked inside the building and went in some offices before standing in front of an old armor wielding samurai "Greetings my guests, my name is Mifune, I was informed you came from Konoha for negotiations…but let me warn you, Iron country is neutral to ninja affairs" stated Mifune with a cold voice
"For a neutral country your attitude is quite hostile" said Naruto looking to the man's eyes "whatever…if you read this document you will realize Konoha's not trying anything weird, it's just steel per lumber" answered Naruto making some of the other samurai gasp at the blond attitude, Mifune was a hard man very wary of ninjas, but usually they didn't speak back or complain about the treatment they got
After that Mifune accepted the scroll sent by the Hokage and said they we going to discuss the terms and asked them to wait a couple of days for the answer, Naruto nodded and left the room with his genin team "Sensei, Won't you get in trouble for speaking to him like that?" asked a worried Hinata, getting a smile from Naruto
"You don't have to worry…my sensei has trained me in politics so I know what I am doing" said first to assure her "There's a big possibility of me being the next Hokage in some years so I have to make other leaders to respect me from now…usually powerful people doesn't make wars from some trash talking and even if they got angry, I can protect myself quite well" confessed Naruto, making Kiba and Hinata look at him in awe
'Did Jiraiya-sama and Tsunade-sama feel this way while training under Sandaime-sama's guidance?' asked Hinata to herself, she always thought Naruto was practically a legend in process and she was happy to be a small part of that legend, it was something to say with pride I was the Hokage's student
Naruto left his team to rest in a spa, while he went to check the place, so the genin stayed in the rooms, Hinata went to the hot springs while Kiba, Akamaru and Shino slept for a while.
The blond Jounin from Konoha was looking for Jiraiya, the Iron country was cold, but that wasn't the biggest problem, for some reason the people had some hostility towards ninjas so most of the people on the streets tried to avoid him 'Kurama, I need your help' asked Naruto with a thought
"That old man is behind the mountain you see ahead" answered the Kyubi, after finding the pervert, 'thanks'
….
..
Naruto jumped from the tree to face Jiraiya, while the man was drinking some hot tea "How have you been?" asked the blond greeting his godfather and sensei
"Very busy…but that is normal for me" answered Jiraiya with a grin on his face
"Get serious please…it's too cold to waste time here" said Naruto, he realized this was a safe place to speak, there were no people near and they would be able to detect any foreign energy so it was proper place to speak freely
"Ok, don't get to old" joked Jiraiya as usual when he felt Naruto was being serious "I found about your friend Itachi, he joined Akatsuki" said Jiraiya, making Naruto open his eyes in surprise
Then the Jounin thought it was time to tell Jiraiya the truth, so he told him about the Uchiha Massacre and Danzou's plot…to say the sanin was stunned was little "Why wasn't I told before?" asked a confused sage
"I don't know…I only deduced the whole thing after waking up in the hospital, I was talking with Itachi, then he knocked me and the next thing I hear is this…so I demanded the truth to the old man and later I killed Danzou to find he had taken Shisui's sensei Sharingan" added the blond "let me tell you, It was a hell of a week"
Jiraiya wasn't sure what to think now, in that moment he lost a great deal of respect to his sensei, as a spy he had to know things like that to avoid wrong decisions, what if he would have killed Itachi the first time they met to learn afterwards they were in the same side? On the other side his trust in Naruto raised, the blond shared this with him and took actions against Danzo, something he had advised Sarutobi a long time ago
"I need to find itachi, there is something else I don't know and I must find it" said a frustrated Naruto, he suspected all of this was around the masked man Kurama spoke of, a powerful Sharingan wielder calling himself Uchiha Madara and fighting his father on his birth wasn't something to dismiss
"There's another new I picked on the way…there seems to be a new ninja village in the Rice field country, it's called the Hidden Sound" told Jiraiya to his godson who looked surprised
"Do we have to worry about them?" asked a concerned blond with this new development
"I don't know for certain…" said Jiraiya getting a tell me what's on your mind look from Naruto "I don't have any proof, but I've seen some sound's ninjas and they remind me of Orochimaru" confessed the toad sage
"I think you are one of the people that knows him the best so I'm trusting your judgment" answered Naruto, getting a smile from Jiraiya "Try to focus on this new hidden village, I can deal when Itachi when I find him, but Orochimaru should be our main concern" asked the blond
'You are going to be a good Hokage' thought Jiraiya looking at his godson "will do kiddo" said the sanin before standing up and leaving the forest
After Jiraiya's leave the blond realized there was a lot of time since he was in a weather this cold, so he went a little further away the city to get a feel of nature on top of a mountain, sitting on the snow he channeled some chakra and suddenly the snow stopped in midair, Naruto stood up and started to move his hands to control the water around him with his elemental chakra control
He was a very talented elemental ninjutsu user, Sarutobi thought that trough the Uzumaki blood line he could have gotten some kind of elemental ability like Tobirama…with the difference it worked with all the elements
After manipulating the water in the air, Naruto gathered a big snow sphere over him, before release it to melt it with a giant exhaled fireball, Sarutobi was quite surprised when Naruto started to manipulate the elements just with chakra control and focus, he was able to make a lot of elemental ninjutsu without handseals and thanks to the power and density of his chakra, his attacks were far more powerful than most of his enemies's
By the end of the week team 8 was back in town, Naruto didn't say anything about Jiraiya or Itachi to his team, those were secrets too big to share, first he needed to contact Itachi and then he would make some solid plan, for now all he could do was prepare his genins to the next exams and train himself to face these "Akatsuki" guys
….
..
"Shouldn't you spend some time with other people? Hopefully your age?" asked Sarutobi to Naruto while he was training in the hokage's private training field, an isolated place with strong suppression seals
"Itachi was my only friend…call him and I'll spend some time with him" answered Naruto reminding the old man of his last mistake, let Itachi deal with all the Uchiha trouble
"That was mean" added the Sandaime Hokage "How are your students?" asked the old kage taking away his formal robes, showing a battle armor
"They've been ready since a while….and so you it seems" said Naruto before getting his guard up, this would be another of the student-teacher sparrings, both were quite powerful and while Sarutobi had more variety, Naruto had more power, raw power not just from the Kyubi, his own power
…
..
"So this mission is to contact with Kirigakure's teams at the frontier and protect them until they get inside Konoha, Any question?" asked Sarutobi to team 8
"Hokage-sama Why are we here?" asked Kiba, because the mission was just Naruto's, with the exams so close they couldn't risk their participation
"Because I wanted for Naruto to go very quickly and for you to know why he's not going to be training you" answered the old kage, getting a nod from the three genin of Naruto's squad
"Well at this point you should just train lightly with your families and rest" said Naruto with a very bright smile "I know you will do great" added giving a tap on their shoulders before leaving through the window
"Hokage-sama…With you being our sensei's sensei, do you know how strong is he?" asked a curious Hinata getting a chuckle from the old man "Honestly…I don't know, while we spar none of us goes all-out because of special techniques are deadly, but some time ago Jiraiya said he fought with him, full power and the result was a tie…that was a really eye-opener, I think Naruto's surpassed me, but he's not showing off to not hurt my feelings, which tells me he's a really good man" told the third Hokage to the shocked boys, the third Hokage admitting someone else was stronger than him
After that, Hinata thanked the Hokage and the whole team left the office, Sarutobi thought about Naruto, maybe now he was ready to take the hat, probable a strong new leader would take Konoha to a new golden era, so he took a special stamp reserved for the messages with the fire daimiyo
…
When Kiri's group arrived to the land of fire, they saw Naruto waiting for them "Are you all the protection they sent?" asked an irked Zabuza
"I don't know what your problem with me is, but we're in our country, there are periodical patrols around and if your country pays for an ANBU team, then they'll get one" replied Naruto very coldly, he didn't knew this guy in person, but he was an ass in his eyes already
"Please ignore Zabuza Uzumaki-kun" asked one of the Jounin sensei, and someone Naruto knew, she was Mei Terumi, one of the main rebel leaders, that join Yagura after the truth was told to avoid more bloodshed "We're happy to have you with us, so please show the way" added with a very captivating smile
Then a little crowd traveled to Konoha jumping through the tree branches for some hours before taking a break "What have you been up to Uzumaki-kun?" asked Mei to the blond, who blushed a little before looking at other way for a seconds as if he was thinking about his answer
"I've been training my own genin team" said Naruto, getting a surprised look from the woman
"You are one of the most powerful ninja in Konoha…and they put you in a genin team?" asked again Mei, her head was messed up; things were different in Kiri, a lot harsher, so in her mind this was a waste of resources
"Well, you see" started Naruto to distract her a little from those thoughts "My sensei had a team knows as the legendary three" said the blond knowing that his relationship with the third Hokage was common knowledge "So he thinks very strongly that when you teach something, it's not only the students who learns something…and now I agree with him" ended Naruto with a smile
To Mei, Naruto was odd, the guy was insanely powerful, she saw him fighting Yagura like three years ago while one of the sanin, Jiraiya, took care of the masked-man influence on him, and Naruto wasn't running around to avoid the attacks, he fought on even terms to buy time and that he did, in the end the fight lasted around one hour and he wasn't even wounded…and with all of that, he was wasting his time with kids
"Mei, we're not at war out here" said a reassuring jinchuuriki "Konoha doesn't need me killing enemy ninjas 24/7" added him "We have team capable of dealing with S rank missions, and if my abilities were needed, then I leave my kids with some training to do and do the damn mission" explained Naruto without getting in to the will of fire thing, there was too many people around
After a couple of days they reached Konohagakure's gates, from Kiri came four teams, Zabuza's, Mei's, Raiga's and Kimimaro's
…
"I'm very proud of you guys, do your best" said Naruto to his team in the front of the real door, he was waiting to give them the last encouraging words before their test, he had a lot of faith in them, in the six months they have been a team, they got stronger and smarter, both of them, abilities a Chunin needed and the judges needed to see in then in order to promote them
…
Kiba face showed a cocky grin, there was a lot of people from everywhere, he saw some headbands from Suna, Kiri, Kusa, Ame and a weird one with a musical note on it, Sasuke came in the room calling the attention of Ino, who got into a silly argument with Sakura
"Were all of us like that?" asked a very embarrassed Kiba, while Akamaru looked around
"You were closer to that than any of us" said Shino, making Kiba feel even more embarrassment, while Hinata let out a little chuckle
Without care about girls problems, Shikamaru came to greet team 8 and wish them all good luck, Chouji did the same little after and finally it was Sasuke turn to came up to act tough in front of the rest of the people
"Alright maggots, this is Ibiki Morino and the chunin's selection exams begins…NOW!" shouted the first examiner, making all of the genin shake a little, many of them could be used to killing right now, but this man was scary
…
..
After an information gathering test, Anko jumped into the room and shake the genin a little, there were around twelve teams in the second phase, Konoha's teams were talking a little before taking different ways
At the signal the doors were opened and the teams rushed inside the forest, team 8 had a little advantage over other teams, all their members were good sensors and Naruto shaped them into good fighters too. Hinata led them with her Byakugan to ambush a team from the rain village
When they found themselves surrounded by the Konoha's ninjas, they used some mist clones, but Kiba stated they were simple illusions and had no scent or physical form, so he used his "Four Legs Technique" and quickly knocked all three of them with a great speed
"After fighting Naruto-sensei's clones these fools were nothing" said Shino seeing the little effort Kiba had to do, meanwhile the Aburame checked their things and found the same scroll they had
"Man, this sucks" replied Kiba, before Hinata said to keep the extra scroll just in case
When Hinata tensed, Kiba and Shino looked everywhere, there was a faint sound in the area "Get down!" exclaimed Hinata, before an umbrella appeared out of nowhere and started throwing senbos needles "Water Release: Water Encampment Wall" said Hinata, before making some sort of water dome around his teammates
After the opening attack was done, three rain ninja appeared around team 8, when the umbrella returned to his owner, they saw the same umbrella in all the team members, "Hinata, cover us" asked Kiba, before standing up "Beast Human Clone" cried Kiba before akamaru's transformation. Both Inuzuka charged at the closest enemy who opened his umbrella to attack again, but Hinata somehow moved quick enough to hold his hand and take the umbrella from him "Fang Passing Fang" cried Kiba attacking the owner of the first umbrella, surprising him
Meanwhile, Shino engaged the third member of rain team in combat, keeping him avoiding if kikaichu bugs with little success, so when Kiba knocked his enemy down, both he and Hinata were done fighting. The Hyuga heiress took one of the beaten genin and showed the needed scroll
"Team 8 rules!" said Kiba very loudly before Shino warned about the possibility of an enemy team finding them, so after that display, the three kids went straight to the tower
….
..
While the genin teams were on the second phase of the exams, Sarutobi and Naruto were discussing some things about politics when a Chunin opened the door very abruptly "What is the meaning of this?" asked a serious Hokage
"Hokage-sama something happened in the Chunin exams" said the Chunin before catching his breath "After the start of the second phase, we found a Kusa team dead outside the forest, at a closer inspection we found their faces removed…as if they were stolen-" explained the ninja, before Sarutobi interruption
"-Orochimaru…that is his trademark" stated Sarutobi who knew the sanin very well "If he did this, he must want us to know about his presence" added Sarutobi thinking that his old student used precisely a technique he knew very well
"Anko-sempai said the same and went into the forest to-" was trying to explain the Chunin, but was almost blown out of the office by a strong wind "-What was that?" asked the same ninja
"Naruto realized Anko is trying to fight Orochimaru, but in this village there is just two people able to deal with him and Anko is not one of them, so that was Naruto being serious" told Sarutobi to a stunned Chunin "ANBU" cried the Sandaime, before four masked ninjas kneeled in front of him "I want for you to ensure nobody interferes with Naruto's fight" ordered the old kage before those ninjas disappeared
..
In the forest, Anko was in pain, she didn't think Orochimaru could still inflict her pain trough the cursed seal, but he just did, so now she was totally beaten and her old sensei was running to finish her off, but suddenly a new person got between both of them and a great wind sent him away "Naruto?" said a confused Anko "What are you doing here?" asked
"You are not ready to fight Orochimaru, As a Konoha ninja you should know that hate doesn't make you strong" scolded Naruto to the weakened Jounin "Now leave this to me" said with a smile on his face
When Anko was trying to leave, a bunch of snakes tried to get her "Who said I would allow this?" asked an angry Orochimaru. "Me" answered the blond, before shredding the snakes with pure wind manipulation
Orochimaru stared Naruto with a surprised look, he knew the blond was a Jounin and everybody spoke wonders about him, but between a Jounin and a sanin there was a big difference and the sanin completely underestimated the jinchuuriki "What a surprise…" said the snake sanin
"That red clouded black robe…tell me everything about Akatsuki" ordered Naruto, before Orochimaru charged toward him, the sanin drew his sword and tried to attack him, but the blond just lifted a hand and Orochimaru was thrown away for a powerful wind, while he was flying towards some trees, Naruto assaulted his opponent with a strong taijutsu
Orochimaru was able to replace himself with an earth clone, but he still took some hits, and they were quite hard "I thought you'd be more powerful by now Orochimaru-sempai" said Naruto in a mocking tone, the sanin was furious, he knew Sarutobi and Jiraiya were this boy's masters, but his power was unbelievable
The sanin quickly made some handseals before a lot of snakes came out of nowhere to bite Naruto, but the blond made a single tiger seal and exhaled a big fire breath turning the animals to ashes, Orochimaru made use of the distraction the snakes provided to stab his rival, but when the sword pierced his back, the whole body exploded in flames, taking him unaware and forcing him to use his special kawarimi, despite the great chakra cost, it was better to lose some chakra than lose the fight altogether
Orochimaru searched Naruto in the surrounding, he couldn't even feel his chakra, being as vast as it was, so when the blond came from the ground under his feet, he tried to slash him with the Kusanagi, but a black rod prevented it 'Does he also uses a bo staff?' asked to himself the treacherous sanin
The sanin jumped away to avoid a kick from Naruto, then tried to elaborate a new plan, so he summoned a big boa to get a few seconds, and when he saw the snake eating his opponent he believed he got some time, but when said snake exploded and he heard a known sound coming from chakra rotation, he realized he was screwed
"Fuuton Rasengan" yelled Naruto before pushing the chakra sphere in Orochimaru's back
The technique wasn't flashy or too destructive, because he didn't add a lot of futon chakra, but he used the needed amount to destroy the target chakra network, so Orochimaru now on the floor, without the ability to mold chakra at all, permanently "What did you do?" yelled an angry and afraid Orochimaru, the man was desperate in this moments
"I messed your chakra network for good" answered Naruto looking to the snake sanin "You underestimated me, and that was fatal, I'm able to fight on equal terms with Jiraiya and Sarutobi so with the level you were showing you had no chance against me…and now you are going to tell us everything you know about Akatsuki" stated Naruto before taking Orochimaru to the ANBU that were around the forest
….
In the tower, the genin weren't able to see the battle, but they still felt some of it "Did you feel that?" asked an amazed Kiba who couldn't believe what his senses were telling him
"I'm quite sure that was Naruto-sensei" stated Shino just as impressed as Kiba
Hinata was speechless, the battle was too far for her Byakugan, but she could see some traces of the chakra used in the fight and it was an insane amount 'Who fought against our sensei to make him use all this power?' wondered Hinata, a little worried about Naruto
…
Anko never thought she would be alive to see this, Orochimaru being carried to the Hokage tower by a group of ANBU, Naruto was following them, the blonde's clothes were some messy, but he was practically unharmed after beating the disloyal sanin
"Well, we met again Orochimaru" said Sarutobi, while Orochimaru kept his eyes on the ground, he was too prideful to admit he was beaten and now he was at the old man's mercy "I must say, congratulations are in order Naruto, it seems you took away his ability to mold chakra" stated the third getting a nod from the blond "Now I have to decide what to do with you" said Hiruzen to himself, twenty years ago he wasn't strong enough to kill him and that made him guilty for all the transgressions he did from that moment "Any word my old and ungrateful pupil?" asked the Sandaime to the sanin, who said nothing, his pride wouldn't let him ask for mercy
Sarutobi Hiruzen gathered his resolve, and decided death penalty for all his crimes, but he couldn't have someone else do the killing, Orochimaru was his mistake to fix, so he asked one of the ANBU for his sword and before striking, he drew a seal on Orochimaru's forehead, it was a typical ANBU seal to destroy the body after the ninja died, so when Sarubobi beheaded Orochimaru, his body started to glow, before evaporating and with an ANBU team, Naruto and Anko as witnesses of the sanin's death
Anko ran out of the room, while the Sandaime looked at Naruto and ordered the ANBU to leave "I'm ready to step down, so by the end of the Chunin exams, you will be known as the Godaime Hokage" stated the old man, who was in a weird mood, despite Orochimaru's treason he still had some fond memory of the student he had
"I know this must be hard for you, so I'll leave you alone and discus this later" said Naruto politely before giving his sensei an apologetic nod and get out of the room
Naruto got to the central tower in forest of death, Hayate was giving a speech about the true meaning of the chunin's exams, the blond saw there were just nine genin on the exams, his own team, a team from Sunagakure and another from Kirigakure
The third phase will take place thirty days from now, and Naruto was biting his tongue to not scream his promotion to everyone, he was quite happy now that he finally got what he wanted, but he had an image to keep
All the genin were led out of the forest for the proctors and their teachers meanwhile the ANBU teams got into the forest to rescue any other ninja, dead or alive, they could find. When team 8 got out of training field number 44, Naruto called them, so the three kids followed him
…
Naruto led them to his own house, the Yondaime's house, one of the safest places in the whole village, with thousands of seals and barriers to ensure the privacy and safety of the people on the inside "well guys, first of all, congratulations are in order, you were the only team from Konoha able to make it this far so I'm quite proud of all of you" said Naruto with a happy face, giving a hug to each one of his students
"Thanks for your words, we're also grateful to you, our success wouldn't be possible without your help" said Shino in one of the longest speech they ever heard coming from him
"Yeah Naruto-sensei you're awesome and we're just following your steps" added Kiba, with a bark from Akamaru who was probably supporting Kiba's sayings
"I really appreciate your words sensei…but I'm a little worried, what happened in the forest of death? We felt your chakra all over the place…and I've never seen that much chakra in a battlefield" asked Hinata with a concerned voice
"That a sensitive topic, so anything I say about it cannot leave this room" warned Naruto, getting affirmative nods from the genins "We don't know the reason yet, but Orochimaru appeared in the forest of death" said Naruto making the kids worry about the presence of an enemy that powerful "I was at Sarutobi-sensei's office when a Chunin came into the office saying Anko was facing Orochimaru, so I rushed into the forest because Anko never stood a chance against her master, when I found them, I saved Anko from an attack, we engaged in combat and Orochimaru underestimated me so I destroyed his chakra network for good" added Naruto leaving his students in awe "Finally the Sandaime sentenced him to death and killed Orochimaru right there" ended his tale letting his students to think about the whole thing
"What is the plan for this month?" asked Shino who was the most logical of the three, so even if he was impressed by Naruto's power, he could keep that thought in mind and speak about something else
"I have some options, but the final decision is up to you" started Naruto getting the attention of his students "We can train as usual, we can mix team training and individual training, or you can ask some family member for training in your respective clan's techniques and styles" offered the Jounin
The clan heirs talked to each other, but in the end the three of them picked the option number two, Naruto was their sensei so they were counting on him to show all the village their might
Don't forget to give me your opinion about the story
See you guys in the third chapter