Disclaimer: First Chapter
Story Start!

"I'm so smart."

Saving Zabuza and Haku was SO easy, he just had to make sure that they were never placed into a position where Gato would be able to hire them in the first place. Naruto held the black bag in his hands with a grin on his face, because his answer had been extremely simple.

Sage Mode.

Leave the village for a few minutes, run to Wave country, and kill Gato. It was as simple as that, and he just had to time it so that he killed Gato around the same time that Tazuna would arrive in the Hidden Leaf, which was today. Naruto was going to be a little late to get a mission, and he just had to go find Tazuna before he asked for a mission. He had no doubt he if asked, Kakashi would agree to them going on a higher ranked mission, but he wasn't mentally a Genin anymore. He didn't want to waste the time it took for the Bridge to get finished before coming back to the leaf, where he could continue his job.

There was his target.

"Hey Tazuna!"

An old man.

"Do I know you?"

"You're here to request a mission from the leaf, well, I'm just coming back from a mission, and I heard about you. You're a pretty great bridge builder, so I figured I would give you this." Naruto approached the wary Tazuna, before Naruto just pushed the black bag into his hands. The man was a little surprised at how heavy the bag was, before he peeked into the bag.

Tazuna's eyes widened, and he stared at Naruto with those wide eyes.

There was a severed head in the bag, a severed head that he recognized as one belonging to the man who was forcing his country into poverty.

"Wh-ho-who are you?"

"Naruto Uzumaki, and with that, you can build you bridge in peace. Gato and all of his men are dead, so nobody will bother you guys... now... lets get you back to your home."

-In the Hokage Tower-

"He's late again." Sakura growled as she and everyone else waited for Naruto to show up to get a mission with them, she expected Sasuke to snort or say something, but she sent him a look of concern when he had no reaction to Naruto being late for a mission. The last few days he had been deep in thought, not having said a word to any of them about anything, which wasn't that unusual, but he used to taunt Naruto every now and again.

Now, nothing.

Kakashi looked at Hiruzen, who had a pondering on his aged face.

"So, Naruto has a habit of showing up late now as well?" Hiruzen asked with a smile.

Kakashi had told him.

He was both proud of Naruto and genuinely surprised that the boy had managed to keep his real strength hidden for who knows how long. It was a little hard to believe for him, but the fact he could still track Naruto with his crystal ball was proof that Naruto was still the real Naruto.

Rasengan, completed Rasengan, Sage Mode, full control of the Kyuubi, these things alone put Naruto at a level above any Jonin in the village, maybe Naruto was even stronger than he himself was. It wouldn't be hard to believe that a Perfect Jinchuriki with Senjutsu was far stronger than any living Kage on the continent, even more so since Naruto would be the Perfect Jinchuriki of the Strongest Tailed beast, and had mastered Toad Senjutsu, which was one of the strongest Senjutsu forms there was.

"He seems to be busy-"

"-sorry I'm late, I just had to take care of something. So what is today's mission?"

Naruto opened the window and came through it, instead of the door.

'This boy... he's just like Jiraiya.' Hiruzen thought with his eyes falling into deadpan, knowing full well that familiar way of entering a room. "No mission for you today Naruto, you won't be going on missions with Team 7 anymore."

"Eh?"

"Huh?"

Kakashi just smiled.

"What?" Naruto asked with confusion, looking at Hiruzen with his eyes showing extreme confusion. He blinked a few times, before a small thought came to him. Naruto's jaw dropped when he realized what was happening the second he looked at Kakashi, and when he saw a flask vest was sitting on Hiruzen's desk. "... Kakashi... you actually submitted that I be promoted!?" Naruto asked with a stunned look.

Even in his original timeline he had never become a Chunin, he jumped right from Genin to Kage, never bothering with the steps in between.

"What is going on?" Sakura asked.

She had no clue what was happening.

"Jonin Promotion, Kakashi has informed me that Naruto has all the qualities of a Jonin. You've mastered breaking out of Genjutsu, your Taijutsu is above the level of a Jonin, your Ninjutsu is stronger than my own, and you have the recommendation of Kakashi and myself." Hiruzen took a scroll out and passed it to Naruto.

"Huh!?" Sasuke AND Sakura reacted to that.

"There isn't a Test to become a Jonin, and you don't have to be a Chunin either. The only things that are needed is for your skills to be recognized by enough people, and for the Hokage to agree. Kakashi is a skilled Jonin, so his recommendation would be enough, and HE is the Hokage." Naruto was a little stunned that it was happening so quickly. He would have thought that he would need to gain more support.

Then again, Kakashi was a legendary ninja, so him saying somebody was ready for Jonin was good enough in most cases, and as the Third Hokage Hiruzen would of course approve it. To them, it would seem impossible for him to gain villager support to become a Jonin, so they just bypassed it ahead of time.

"Good for you Naruto, I became Jonin when I was about the same age as you. It's tradition for a Sensei to give his student a gift on promotion, so how about I treat you to as much ramen as you want later?" Kakashi offered, since he didn't feel he knew Naruto well enough to pick out a good gift for him just yet.

"Uh... Good job Naruto..." Sakura was confused as she said it, and she wasn't enthusiastic.

She didn't know what was going on, one day Naruto was a Genin like her, and not even a few weeks later he was getting promoted to Jonin. It didn't make sense for her for the idiot that she mocked for years to become a Jonin at all, she expected him to stay a Genin forever. That was until he showed off his power against Kakashi.

"I understand if it is a lot to take in-"

"It's not, I guess this should have been expected... if I wanted to stay a Genin, I should have pretended to be weak... this is just what happens when you show off too much." Naruto laughed a little nervously.

Not according to plan.

He wanted to spend more time with Team 7, but you didn't turn down a promotion form the Kage, and what was more was the fact that this would give him more freedom to move about as he wanted to. As much as he loved his team, he could do more for the world at large if he didn't stay with them.

His own desires needed to be put on the back shelf.

Naruto knew this pain very well from when he wanted to spend time with his family, but his duties as the Hokage kept him from them. It sucked, but some things were just too important for him to simply push to the side in favor of doing what he wanted to do.

"You're not happy?"

"I am, I just should have seen this coming." Naruto laughed a little as he accepted the scroll and the vest. "What about Team 7?" Naruto looked at the two remaining Genin.

"A replacement for you have already been suggested."

"... Did Danzo pick out my replacement?" Naruto asked with a furrowed brow, and he looked over at Kakashi, who seemed surprised, and he locked eyes with Hiruzen as well. The man seemed surprised for a moment. "You know... he's the guy who leaked my secret and broke the law you made... and he's been trying to manipulate me with the Sharingan he stole. I've been breaking out of his illusions, but he keeps trying."

Lies.

Lies, but very believable lies, because Hiruzen didn't seem to doubt his words for a second. Naruto pointed to his right eye.

"He's got a Sharingan with an extremely powerful Genjutsu in his right eye, I sensed it with Sage Mode." Naruto explained to Hiruzen, who had a deep frown, before he nodded to Naruto.

"I see... thank you for telling me."

"You believe me?"

"You have no reason to lie."

"Ah..." Naruto realized that he was extremely close to the Third Hokage, so his words had more weight to them than they would with most people. If Naruto said something, then Hiruzen wasn't likely to doubt him instantly. Naruto started to walk out of the room with a nod to Hiruzen, before Sasuke grabbed him.

"Fight me Naruto."

"Become a Jonin first, and awaken your Sharingan." Naruto shot back to Sasuke, who looked dismayed at the casual rejection of his fight demand. He let go of Naruto and scowled at the ground, but Naruto knew what was happening in Sasuke's mind.

Sasuke wanted to see how strong he was, and how weak he was.

Sasuke both had an Inferiority complex AND a Superiority complex, combined with low self-esteem that he hid by trying to display cockiness. He was an introvert at heart, and the news that Itachi didn't slaughter his clan alone had shaken him. At the same time it made Itachi seem weaker to Sasuke for not doing it alone like he thought, but it also meant that Itachi had been lying to him and that there was a plot behind the destruction of the Uchiha. He wished he could tell Sasuke everything, but Sasuke needed to figure himself out before he learned the truth.

If Sasuke knew, he would stop going after Itachi and try to kill Leaf villagers for sure, and Sasuke was not strong enough to even try it. He would get killed by leaf shinobi the second he tried to take revenge.

Sasuke needed to know the truth.

Just not right now.

Kind of like how Hinata needed a confidence boost, but before she could get more confident, Neji needed to stop putting her down constantly.

...

"AAAAAAH!" Naruto screamed out loud and grabbed his head, realizing that he had been thinking so hard of saving so many lives that he had forgotten about Hinata. Naruto rushed towards the wall and started to slam his forehead against it. "I'm fucking stupid, how could I forget about her! Fuck me!... I suck..." Naruto became slightly depressed.

He forgot about his wife!

She wasn't his wife, but this was his chance to get a longer life with her! Hinata was already in love with him, and had been in love with him for years. This was his chance to NOT force her to wait until she was almost 20 before he confessed to her, and he could make her life SO many better sooner than later. He had been so focused on saving lives, he had forgotten about the one life to him that mattered more than nearly anyone else. His wife was more important than even the Third Hokage's life was to him, and without his wife his children would never be born.

They might never be born anyway.

Boruto and Himawari might never happen, even if he had children with Hinata, because there was almost no chance that the SAME Sperm and the SAME Egg that met inside of Hinata's womb would happen. Boruto was named in memory of Neji as well, who was still alive in this timeline, and it would be hard to tell if Himawari would be born. He could still manage to get the names right, but there was a chance he would never see his children's face again.

"DAMNIT!"

"Naruto, are you okay?" Kakashi rushed to Naruto's side.

Naruto just raised a hand.

"... I'm fine... don't worry about me... I just realized that I forgot something super important. I've got a meeting with somebody, and I've been pushing it off." Naruto took his head out of the wall, before he rushed out of the room.

He felt like an idiot.

Chapter End!
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