There's no way this could happen.
It was impossible.
Naruto Uzumaki… was losing.
He was putting in his best effort, but his opponent had him beat in almost every category. Speed, endurance, technique. All of it outmatched the Jinchuriki.
"Come on, Naruto. You can't lose here," he heard from inside his stomach. It was Kurama, the Nine-Tailed Fox that was sealed inside of him upon his birth.
'I don't think I can do this, Kurama,' he thought back despairingly.
"Are you really giving up? This isn't the Naruto I know." The Kyubi scoffed.
'You're right. I can't give up! I'm gonna see this through to the end, ya' know!' With that internal roar, Naruto put his all into this fierce battle.
"Time's up!"
…
"Huh?" Just when Naruto started his final push, the competition was called.
"The winner is… Hinata Hyuga!" The announcer called out, pointing right at the woman. "She is now The Ramen Queen, eating a total of forty-six bowls!" Cheers broke out in the audience, meanwhile, the Hyuga blushed.
She looked over to the second-place competitor, her boyfriend, Naruto. "Naruto, are you okay? You didn't get a stomach ache, did you? I noticed at the end there, you stopped eating for a bit."
"I-I'm fine, Hinata..." he said, distracted. The man appeared shell-shocked.
"Wow, you two were made for each other," Kiba said, trying to swipe the bronze medal away from Choji. The thick-boned man shoved his friend's head away and protected it.
"H-huh? Oh, I don't think-" Hinata began, but was cut off by the blond himself.
"Yeah! Hinata's perfect, ya' know!" He said, bouncing right back from his funk, like it was the most obvious thing in the world, which to him it was, which caused the girl to grow even redder.
"O-oh Naruto..." She stood up and began to walk over him to reward him for being so sweet when the door to the expanding ramen shop opened.
"Jonin, Naruto Uzumaki, the Hokage needs to see you," The ANBU member called.
Naruto turned to the elite guard. "Huh? What for?"
"Rokudaime will explain," he said curtly, and then Body Flickered away.
Naruto sighed, and then turned to his friends. "Well, I guess Kakashi-sensei needs me for something. See you guys later!" He began to walk out of the shop but was stopped by Hinata.
"Naruto, wait!" The young man stopped and turned towards her. "I'll see you later," she said, as she placed a kiss on his cheek.
"Heh-heh, see you later, Hinata-chan." Emphasizing the suffix, he left and jumped his way through the village towards the Hokage tower.
"I'm here," Naruto called to his old teacher after entering the office. Then a second later, his voice took on a teasing tone. "Hokage-sama."
Kakashi Hatake sighed through his ever-present mask. "I told you to stop calling me that, Naruto."
A cheeky grin appeared on the blond's face. "I know." He then took a seat in front of Kakashi, noting how unusual it was that there was a chair there. 'It must be something long then...' he thought. After mentally preparing himself, he asked, "So, what do you need, Kakashi-Sensei?"
The man didn't respond, instead opting to turn his chair around and look out the window. 'He looks like an old man like that,' Naruto thought.
Thinking along similar lines, Kakashi then turned around and asked a question. "How old are you again, Naruto?"
"Huh?" That was all that left Naruto's mouth for a solid minute, to stunned to respond. After the minute, Naruto recovered, and the indignant, "you should know already," was all Kakashi got.
"Already twenty, huh?" Kakashi continued as if Naruto had actually answered. "I can't believe it's been almost ten years since I took you, Sakura, and Sasuke as my cute little Genin." His eye smile showed through, clearly attempting to get a rise from the young man in front of him. Of course, he'd been called said young man that for years, so it did little.
"Yeah, it has. Why are you bringing that up, though? What's the point of this meeting anyway?" Frustration began seeping into Naruto's tone. "If you really want to reminisce, do it next time Sasuke comes back."
"Ever the impatient one, aren't you?" Kakashi shook his head, then continued, "Alright, I'll cut to the chase for your sake." The Hokage rummaged through his desk, tossing paperwork everywhere until he finally found what he was looking for.
The Academy class roster.
"Uzumaki Naruto, as Hokage, I request that you become one of our new Jonin Instructors."
Yes, a very short chapter, I know. But I just can't not end it on Kakashi's request, it's so perfect.
Now, the reason for this story is quite interesting. The long and the short of it though is that I've caught the Naruto bug again.
After not watching or paying attention to the series for a very long time, I got bored one day and ran out of My Hero fics to read, so I took a plunge and decided to read Naruto fics again. After that, well, you can blame the story, True Potential, for giving me some ideas.
Like this one, where post-Last Naruto becomes a Jonin Sensei.
Whether this continues or not is anyone guess, but I honestly feel good about this one. Besides, my interest in making fics coincides with my interest in the series as a whole, and since it's going to take a while to get through Naruto again now that I'm introducing it to my friends, I don't think the interest will go away anytime soon.
Now, this brings me to something important.
While I have all of Naruto's students mostly created at the moment, I don't have an entire ninja generation. The next chapter will introduce us to who Naruto's students are, and while I won't need new ninja for then, it would be nice to have them in my back pocket so to speak.
For that, I request you to send me some OCs, that could conceivably exist in the post-Last universe, and that you guys are okay with being somewhat minor characters. Please include appearance, name, clan (if applicable), goals, likes, dislikes, abilities, possible futures, and Chakra Affinity.
Now, what I would like is at least nine extra students, and three teachers (If you want someone else from Naruto's generation or any other canon character for that matter, then please say so in the reviews). I don't need them right away, but I will most likely need them around the time the Chunin exams occur. If you want, you could even send in characters from other villages for the exams, but that's quite a ways off.
And hey, if I like your characters enough, we could very well have an arc barely focusing on Naruto's kids. It's all up in the air at the moment.
Anyway, with that said, see you next time, and happy creating!