Beta by: RedCommander72, heartfelt thanks to her for the editing and also for her suggestions.
Some mistakes might still be here, we are only humans, I apologise for that in advance. Please notify me if you find any.
Disclaimer(for the whole story): I do not own Naruto or any of the characters.
A/N: Read A Different story before continuing here.
1.1 Welcome home
Two and a half years later...
"IT'S A TEAM KAKASHI AND TEAM ASUMA BRAWL!"
"EVERYONE STAY CLEAR OF FIELD 2, ITS A BRAWL AGAIN!"
"I AM SURE ASUMA'S TEAM WILL WIN!"
''NO WAY TEAM KAKASHI IS WAY BETTER!"
"MY BETS ON TEAM ASUMA! "
"MINE ON KAKASHI'S!"
Since a year back, the word "brawl" was enough to make the whole village perk up with excitement. Desperate the warning, a lot of civilians and Ninjas alike would come to watch the brawl. You could easily spot people taking bets on who would win and vendors selling snacks near the battlegrounds. All in all, a brawl kept everyone in an excited and uplifting mood.
Well, not everyone was excited. The Genin teams were groaning since after the brawl, they were the ones who had to go and clean up whatever unfortunate filed the brawler decided to destroy this time. The academy students were also not happy since they were also assigned to fix the fields as a part of their work-study sessions. But at least they get to watch cool ninjas fight, so there was a silver lining.
So, what was going on in the leaf village and what was this brawl?
According to one Shikamaru Nara, it's troublesome and a huge drag!
It all started last year when Team Gai challenged the newly all made chunin team of Kakashi's students. Lee wasn't made chunin since Sasuke beat him in the last chunin exam. To cheer ups people usually go to pubs or watch clouds or eat ice cream or throw kunai at unsuspecting missing nin's on a mission. But since Lee was...well Lee, the only way to cheer him up was a good battle. Gai indulged his pupil and with a hesitant Tenten, one irritated Neji, a highly amused Kakashi and his totally-not-agreeing-to-this madness team, the first brawl took place. It was a spectacular show with a draw. Thus started the tradition. Once the other sensei's saw the growth the teams had after each brawl, there was no lack of contestants to participate. The brawl of teams was now one of the most famous sports in the Leaf village. The most interesting rule of these brawls was, you have to win as a team. No individual winning was valid. A certain silver-haired Jonin was responsible for this rule.
The Hokage was forced to put forward a fine blueprint of rules so that none of the players gets injured too heavily or dies for that matter.
The most favourite team of the year surprisingly was team Asuma. They had flawless teamwork with Ino-Shika-Cho and with every battle, they just seem to grow better. Asuma was acting like a smug mama, showing off his team's wins. The close second was; team Kakashi. All the shinobis from their age group and team Gai were in the top five, their ranks moving up and down on the list.
In all the chaos two and a half years had passed and it was time for a certain Kunoichi to come home.
Line break...
Team Kakashi and Asuma were having their brawl. Not too far from the field, two hooded people were watching them. One standing up and the other sitting on the branch of a tree, away from everyone's eyes. Their chakra hidden.
"They have grown so much," the one sitting down spoke up with awe in their voice.
"So did you," answers the one standing.
They continued to watch for a few minutes more when the one standing spoke up, "Once they are done pummelling each other, you should go and say hi."
The one sitting down stoop up. ''I will. Before that let's go and meet up with Granny."
"You will get yourself punched if you keep calling her granny brat!"
A laughter was heard and both of them vanished with a poof of smoke.
Line break...
''We win," Sai declared with an easy smile. The pale ninja had grown taller and more skilled in the past two and a half years, with a chunin rank under his belt. His love for wearing black hasn't gone down thus emphasising and complementing his pale looks.
Team Asuma was panting on the ground looked up at Sai with a glare.
"You guys are becoming monsters," accused Ino, trying to fix her messed up hair. The blond beauty who had gotten more serious with her training in the last few years and had gotten past a lot of her weaknesses, was also a chunin. She was wearing a purple crop top and pants, hair tied to a high ponytail.
Haku was crouched down next to the Yamanaka, helping her with the task, let out a small chuckle. "But you guys almost had us. If not for Sasuke and his reckless moves we would be the one to lose, you know Ino." Haku also had hit her growth sprout, her pale skinning rivalling Sai. Her facial features had gotten softer over the years, giving her an angelic look. She too had gotten the Chunin rank. While on the mission she preferred standard Shinobi uniform, but while at ease Haku preferred kimonos, thus she had managed to earn herself a lot of heartbroken admirers from both genders.
"Thank you Haku, you are always so kind," Choji spoke up with, a pack of chips already in his hand and he was munching away. A pleasantly plumb guy with his ever-impressive appetite. He preferred his clan's uniform and was also a heavy hitter chunin.
"We still won," Sai sang out. Sasuke who was putting away his katana came to stand beside the happy guy and got Sai in a headlock.
"And you almost had us lose, what were you thinking? Or not thinking for that matter?" The Uchiha asked, irritated. He was the tallest of the group with Choji a close second. Sasuke's features had gotten sharper with his skills. He also ended up taking to sword training, preferably the katana. He preferred his Uchiha style t-shirts and grey pants with ninja vests on occasions, was the second heart breaker of team seven.
"Duck butt, we still won. Let me go please," Sai whined.
"Now, now guys, don't fight. Okay? I know, why don't we go and have some food? Ramen?" Haku tried to calm down her team with a strained smile. She loved her team, but sometimes they were hard to handle. She just wished their other member will come back soon. All three of them missed the softly spoken Naruto very much, although Sai and Sasuke probably will not admit to it aloud. Now that they were older, the boys seemed to think showing sentiment was not macho.
Before anyone can continue, Jugo came in. He was the tallest of their age group and now he towered over almost everyone in the village, even Sasuke. Jugo was under-provision and was more like an errand boy for both Ibiki and Tsunade.
"Hey guys, Lady Tsunade wants to see team Kakashi. Her words were 'Get those crazy students Kakashi trained, I don't want them in another brawl for a month at least.' "
Sasuke let Sai go and asked, "So why does she want us, do you know? We just came back from that A rank. We had the day off."
"You will be surprised," Jugo answered with a pleasant smile and a twinkle in his eyes.
Everyone was still amazed by how much the guy has changed since the time they found him. Jugo was one of the most well-liked people around, a guy who talks to birds and animals is someone you can't help but like and with the help of seals, his chakra was under control, making his life much simpler. He refused the offer to fight and join the ninja ranks when asked. Hurting others was something Jugo hated to do and the Hokage never pushed him.
"Oh, and Shikamaru, the sand Kunoichi was looking for you. Temari, I believe," Jugo added to the Nara who proceeds to groan in protest. Being one of the sharpest minds in Konoha, the Nara was already a Jonin and a great diplomat in the making. He almost religiously liked the standard uniform and refused to wear anything else. Shikamaru also knew Temari meant work and he just had to fight a crazy strong team. The Nara needed his nap damn it!
Line break...
Naruto needed to breathe, but she couldn't. She was being squeezed by Haku and Sai on both sides while Sasuke happily patted her head, looking very pleased. Her face was turning blue with a lack of oxygen but her team refused to let her go. As soon as Sai, Sasuke and Haku arrived in the Hokage's office, they were greeted with the sight of one Naruto Uzumaki. She was shyly smiling at them and soon found herself being tackled by all three.
"You know," Jiraiya calmly observed from the sidelines. "She just got back; we might want her to live for a few more days before killing her."
They let Naruto go. Oh, sweet mother of air. She loved the air, Naruto decided while taking large gulps of breath.
"It's nice to see you guys too. I missed you," she said brightly once she got a hold of her breath and found herself in another human sandwich, this time the hug was less tight and filled with warmth.
Haku had tears in her eyes, Sai was smiling ear to ear, a big and real smile, even Sasuke's lips were tugged upward.
Team seven was back together.
"We missed you too Naruto, welcome back! " The other three exclaimed and Naruto felt her heart sing out in happiness. She was home.
Line break…
"How many times do I have to tell you? Your eyes will get you killed! Stupid Uchiha!" Tenzo was shouting at a very stupid and bedridden Uchiha. ANBU's were supposed to be calm and cool people, not suicidal. One Itachi Uchiha was definitely suicidal or how can you explain the way he pushes himself?
A year ago, it became quite obvious that the Mangekyo Sharingan was a double-edged sword. The more you use it, the more it strains your eyes and there was a possibility of blindness in the future. But that hasn't stopped Itachi. The guy had his agenda and he was sent to a lot more secret S-rank missions than everyone else. Tenzo was his teammate and seen him in action a lot of times. Itachi was excellent at what he did, but he seemed to get more desperate with each passing day. In the last two and half years, Itachi had pushed himself to the point of unconscious regularly. Tenzo had yet to figure out why Itachi seemed to get more desperate and determine by day. The villages were not at war, but Itachi behaved as they would be at any moment.
Before Tenzo could go on scolding the half-dead Uchiha, Bear, another of their squad mates, ran into the hospital room.
"Naruto is back everyone!"
Tenzo knew about the girl, every ANBU did. She had grown up with them after all and they also knew about Itachi's infatuation with the girl. The whole squad was waiting for them to just get together and were placing bets on it.
Bear's words had a magical effect on Itachi. He promptly sat up; eyes wide open.
"What?" He demanded.
"Yes Captain, she is back. I just saw her outside the Hokage tower, she was with her old team. They seem be going out to celebrate, she looked good and happy," the guy had tears in his eyes. Before Bear could continue, Yugao ran in.
"Everyone Naruto is back!" she sang out happily, smiling widely. Before she could continue another two ANBU popped in exclaiming "Naruto is back!"
Before long almost all the ANBU not on duty were inside Itachi's small hospital room. All had the same news to deliver. The room was small and quickly become cramped. The ANBUs hadn't bothered to knock and now suddenly, were in a very awkward position. Everyone had run in to deliver the news, but now they had nothing else to say. They were suddenly very silent and Itachi had yet to utter another word. Everyone just looking at each other when a knock came from the door.
"Yes?" Itachi finally acquired.
Hayate opened the door and opened his mouth, but before he could continue, Tenzo cut in dryly.
"Let me guess; Naruto is back."
Hayate nodded with a cough. An uncomfortable silence fills the room, it was quite a fit given the number of individuals cramped in it.
"Umm, so *cough* I will go now." Coughed out Hayate and high tailed from the room.
As soon Hayate was out, everyone followed his exam and got out as quickly as they could.
Itachi slowly put his face in his hands once everyone went out.
"Am I that transparent?" He sighed.
"When it comes to her, yes captain," Tenzo laughed and he too left the Uchiha to rest.
'So, this is how it looks like when an Uchiha is embarrassed', Tenzo ruminated. He could use some hot pot right about now. Since Naruto is back, she can take care of that suicidal maniac.
Line break...
"He is a slimy weasel. The hell with alive! I will kill that little shit!" Hidan growled.
"Yes, Lord Pain, he is very hard to catch," Kakuzu agreed. Over the years, he and Hidan were put on as partners. Now, both had run-ins with Sora and every time he got out and one time Sora even came close to killing Kakuzu.
"Sasori and Deidara, it is about time you get the one tails," Pain ordered without acknowledging the undead duo.
"Yes, I can blow the sand village up," Deidara sighed happily. "Art is an explosion!"
"No, you fool, art is eternal," growled Sasori from inside his puppet.
Again, the artful duo falls into their usual bickering.
Soon, Pain shut everyone up with a glare. "We cannot delay any longer. We will proceed with the plan and let them come to us. Dismissed." With the order in place, Akatsuki began their mission.
Line break...
"When you met Pain, you never gave him the whole story. Just parts of it, didn't you?" Utakata enquired. Over the years Sora and the six-tail host had come to an unspeakable understanding. They had each other's back and they never asked too many questions. Utakata didn't ask much because he was terrified of the answers. Sometimes not knowing is bliss indeed. He had learnt that the hard way.
"I didn't," Sora answered. They were on the road towards the Sand village.
In Sora's universe, Sasori and Deidara had attacked and almost destroyed the Sand village and taken his life. This time around, things will be different. He had left out quite a bit of information when he explained certain things to the Rinnegan wielder. Sora had only mentioned Madara manipulating them all, who in turn is being manipulated by someone else. Sora never gave up the information that he knew about black Zetsu or Kaguya. Sora wanted to let the black bastard wonder a little longer about what Sora knew. Sora had searched high and low for the black bastard and came up empty. He needed three things to set everything right; Seal away Black Zetsu, stop the ten tails from being revived and keep Naruto from dying. Stopping Pein can stop the ten tails revival and he will die before anyone touches Naruto. But the main problem is the Zetsu bastard.
Gaara of this world hadn't disappointed either, he was back to being the Kazekage. The youngest Kage of all times. Sora had been corresponding to Jiraiya, Itachi, Tsunade and Gaara with the plan. They had gone on many missions to take out Zetsu and seal him away. So far, the results have been null. With every failed mission, Sora could feel his desperation increase, but he needed to stay calm. His whole world was burnt down once already, he can't let that happen again.
Suddenly Sora felt the presence of a foul chakra and his body automatically dropped into a defensive position. Utakata had also felt the presence and also stopped, their back again each other, guard up, kunai out.
"I know you have been searching for me, Sora or whoever you are."
The voice sent a chill down Utakata's spine and he looked frantically to pinpoint the location of its owner.
"Don't bother to move Utakata," Sora whispered his sea-green eyes narrowing. "And who might you be?" he asked aloud.
No body spoke or move for a moment, to Utakata the silence felt like an eternity. The forest had gone quiet all of a sudden. Not a single animal or even insect were making any sound. Sweat started to form on Utakata's forehead as the tension continued to get thicker. With a sudden swirl of wind, a black figure appeared in front of the six tails and Utakata found himself air born. He was not prepared for the kick he received to his gut.
Sora was onto his rescue promptly and Utakata found himself lending on a bed of sand. With astonishment, Utakata watched Sora both defend and attack a ninja wearing an orange mask an Akatsuki cloak.
"Very good, you are better than I thought you would be," the masked ninja said after the first round of their exchange. Both him and Sora had stopped their attacks and now we're standing opposite to each other.
"You aren't alone. Are you? Tobi? Or do you go by Madara now?" Sora asked sarcastically. Utakata could detect the sharp edge of anger in his voice.
"I am not alone," the masked ninja answered. "I am with Zetsu and its Tobi for now."
A black and white figure with a plant-like growth around the neck sprout out of the ground slowly. Utakata could immediately guess this new addition as the infamous Zetsu.
"Surprise, we came to you Sora. Can we play? " The inhuman Zetsu seemed cheerful on their account. Utakata only felt disturbed by its presence and judging by the stiffness of Sora's back, the sentiment was mutual.
"We are not here to play," the thing continued in a completely different voice, the same tone they had heard earlier. Utakata had heard a lot from Sora about the creature, but looking at it was another story. It was ugly and full of rotten chakra. It makes one feel sick to the stomach, especially if one is a sensory type.
"Tobi, what do you want?" Sora ignored Zetsu.
"I am here to talk," Tobi said.
"And if I don't want to talk?" Sora asked mildly.
Tobi let out a humourless chuckle. "You see," Tobi said softly, his tone made Utakata's whole body shiver. "You are already under my control, Sora."
Utakata eyes widened as he reacted as soon as the words were out of Tobi's mouth, but he found himself unable to move, an invisible bind was woven across his body restricting him completely. He watched helplessly and with anguish that Sora's body was being sucked inside a void. Soon Utakata felt his eyes closing down as a numbing effect took root over his consciousness.
The last thing he remembered were Sora's anguished filled cry, Zetsu's evil laughter and a seal being activated around his back.
Utakata had unleashed the Six Tails.
Line break...
"Lady Hokage!" Shizune was yelling in a panic-filled voice. She rushed to the Hokage's office where Tsunade had already stood up and was looking over the horizon with a frown. The angry red and yellow hue could be seen clearly over the twilight sky. The black smoke from the blast was evaporating up in the sky. The whole village had immediately gone into alert mode with troops of ninjas running over the roof. Different ninja squads were already securing the village perimeter and many more were patrolling the civilian areas. The foul chakra emitting from the blast was unmistakable. A tailed beast was unleashed not far from the village and many haven't forgotten the terror filled night almost 16 years ago when the beloved Fourth Hokage was lost to the village with many more. Many troops had gathered at the front of the tower for instructions.
"The blast, it came from northwest, almost a day run away from the village my lady," Shizune said trying to catch her breath.
Tsunade didn't answer, she was already running through the hand signs for summoning. Katsuyu appeared with a poof of smoke.
"Katsuyu, multiple and look for anyone who is injured," Katsuyu got to work immediately. She then yelled out rapid instructions to all the troops gathered who immediately run to their task.
A task force lead by Ibiki, a team of front liners lead by Asuma, a team of strategy makers who stayed back at the tower lead by Shikaku, one medical back up team lead by Shizune was quickly established. This all happened within a span of twenty minutes after the blast was heard. Tsunade than turned to Tenzo, who was waiting beside his Hokage with patience. He had rushed in to the tower as soon as he felt the tailed beast's chakra "Where is Naruto?"
Before Tenzo could answer Naruto appeared at the office, Sai and Sasuke both hot on her heels, Haku had already left with the task force team. Her face was washed with worry and with good reason. Tenzo gave Naruto a nod of acknowledgement. Naruto was glad to see the wood user again after so long, she only wished the reunion was in a better circumstance. Her own beast was resonating with the chakra emitting from the blast. There was no doubt about the presence of another tailed beast near the vicinity.
"Granny...the chakra..." Naruto managed to say. Tsunade stopped Naruto and handed her a Katsuyu clone.
"Take Sasuke, Sai and Tenzo and go to the spot. I will send two troops of back up with you. I will follow soon with Jiraiya, first we need to make sure the village is unharmed. Itachi is in hospital or I would have sent hi-"
"I am here Lady Hokage. I can go," a determined Itachi came in with a blur of moment. Somehow the Uchiha not only had sneaked out of the hospital, but was also in his full uniform. Tsunade frowned at him.
"No, we need you here. In case that tailed beast tries to attack here we will be defence less. I am already sending Tenzo out, besides Kakashi is not in the village. He is in the Hidden Sand right now and you know the reason why. We need a Sharingan user at hand in case of an attack. Besides you aren't healed yet," she said annoyed at the Uchiha.
"But-" Itachi seemed to be in a mood to argue when he felt a light touch in his right hand. Itachi, on his war alert state hadn't noticed all the occupants of the office just yet. His mind and body were already thinking of the time when nine tails was unleashed inside the village and again when Shukaku did. Both times a lot of people died and in both the times they had lost their Hokage. Not one Shinobi who had felt the chakra of a tailed beast would ever forget the trauma, let alone a Sharingan wilder.
Itachi's body reacted even before his mind could. He grabbed hold of the hand touching his in a tight grip and swiftly brought the person in front of his stormy calm face. Black met the colour of sky blue. His grip loosened immediately, again before his mind could conjure any thought.
Of course, Itachi thought, as he took in the person in front of him. Only one person would be stupid enough or brave enough to touch an enraged Uchiha. His Naruto was indeed back and it seems she had gotten blazingly beautiful and hell of a stupid over the years.
"Hey 'Tachi, long time no see," the girl had the audacity to say, a bit shyly, Itachi noted. When did she started to get shy? It suited her none the less, he decided.
Itachi felt the two and half years of desperation, frustration and longing all left him. It felt like he hadn't breathed properly for a long time and now suddenly his lungs were overfilled with air. The wild scent which seemed to cling to her was still there and it overwhelmed his senses. She was familiar, yet different at the same time.
"Welcome home," he said softly, his hand gently holding hers. A smile graced her face and Itachi felt not just her, but that he was home at last as well.
A/N: Read and review, pretty please? *Puppy eyes* Also I am graduating soon. Yay for me!