Chapter 1 - Abandonment
Team 7 is on its way to train on an island near Wave Country for their second, and hopefully final encounter with Zabuza Momochi and his apprentice, Haku.
Sasuke was angry at how he was outclassed by the fake Hunter-nin for one and secondly that Naruto had managed to come through and distract their adversaries with his Shadow Clones long enough for the five people to escape.
He looked over at Naruto, who was doing the leaf balancing exercise with four leaves now, two under each hand.
The ravenette scowled even more at his blonde teammate, Sakura walked out onto the deck and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Naruto.
"He's actually training and not goofing off or annoying Sasuke-kun."
She then looks over at Sasuke and sees him glaring venomously at the blonde.
(Timeskip- 3 hours later)
The Captain of the ship pulled up to the port side of an island before calling out to his passengers.
"We're here, Leaf Shinobi, welcome to Sphue, I'll be back in four days to pick you all up." he says, Kakashi nods with an eye smile before exiting the boat with his trio of Genin.
This modestly-sized continent stretches across several climate regions, from Temperate in the North, through to Tropical in the South.
sits far from the tectonic boundaries; there are no mountains in the land.
Sphue the continent has no volcanoes, and and never experiences earthquakes.
The winds in this region are always calm, with large storms and extreme weather being rare.
The sea to the North of Sphue is rough, while the seas to the South, West and East are calm.
Sphue is home to a modest amount of unique plants and animals that are found only in this region.
"Alright, let's-." Kakashi says, but is cut off by Naruto creating roughly three dozen shadow clones and orders them to scout the island.
This is done in two hours, once Naruto got all the memories from all of his clones, he went to sleep as the pain his head was in at the moment was too much for him to stay awake.
"We should leave the dobe here." hissed Sasuke, shocking Sakura and Kakashi.
"He's really trying Sasuke, and when he's not being a baka. Naruto is a pretty OK guy to be around." Sakura said, surprising herself a little.
"I have seen a little maturation in Naruto since our fight with Zabuza and his Hunter-nin partner, Naruto, after seeing and feeling what it's like to go up a pair of real Shinobi like Zabuza and his partner he's opening his eyes to what the Ninja world is really about." the lazy Jounin says in a serious tone.
Unbeknownst to Team 7, they're not alone on this island...
High up on a ridge, a pair of umber eyes stare down at the trio.
Four days later, Team 7 was preparing to leave the island and return to the mainland, except Naruto wasn't with the group, he was exploring a cave two and a half miles away from Sasuke, Kakashi, and Sakura.
Inside the cave, Naruto was looking around at the ornate hieroglyphics that lined the walls. They depicted a large dragon fighting other equally large creatures and driving them away from the island and protecting the people that were living here, but that was until the people betrayed the great and powerful beast, called a Kaiju and tried to subjugate it, but the beast fought back, killing all of the inhabitants on this island.
"Wow, this is amazing." Naruto said quietly, knowing that the slightest noise could cause a cave-in and trap him in here for who knows how long.
(At the Port)
"Sasuke-kun, have you seen Naruto?" Sakura asked.
"No, and I don't care where he is as long as he's nowhere around me." the Last Uchiha snaps in reply.
Sakura flinches at Sasuke's harsh tone.
"Sasuke, Naruto is your teammate and he's your responsibility to look after, just like Sakura. So, go and find Naruto and bring him back here so that we can get back to Wave on time before Zabuza and Gato can make their move.
"Hn...Whatever." the black-haired boy grumbles before turning and heading west.
Naruto heads deeper into the Illuminated Cave, he walks down the path, which is brilliantly lit by the torches that line the cave wall.
Naruto enters a room and sees a stone statue of the dragon from the hieroglyphics in the center of the room, the blonde Jinchuriki eyes something beneath the statue so he jogs over to it and looks at what it is.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Sasuke found the cave, having sensed Naruto's chakra inside, he smiled evilly, remembering he was truly here to do: Take care of the Demon brat.
Homura, Danzo, and Koharu have all authorized Sasuke to "eliminate" Naruto by any means necessary and he will be given his pick of any woman he desires in Konoha if this is successful.
(With Naruto)
Naruto reads the inscription beneath the statue.
"By the Goddess of the Kaiju, Hynja. The Kaiju known as Varan, Flame Mistress Of The Sky shall remain imprisoned here until a noble soul comes to release her from this prison."
Just then, Naruto is pulled into his mindscape by Kyuubi.
"Kit, I have heard of this Varan from the Sage Of Six Paths, he said that she is apart of a race of creatures that pre-date even us Biju, called Kaiju and just like us, you pitiful humans sought them out for the power that they possess, but the Kaiju cannot be controlled if they do not wish to be, so if you release Varan, be prepared for anything."
"H-how strong is she then?" Naruto asks fearfully.
Before his tenant can explain further, a pair of kunai with an explosive tags attached to them exploded somewhere close by, causing a cave-in, trapping Naruto under a large amount of rocks and debris.
Outside the cave, Sasuke smirks as he turns and walks away casually, thinking that he had just finished Naruto off for good.
"Kit, are you OK? That Uchiha brat teammate of yours just trapped us in here." Kurama says as Naruto digs himself out of the rubble.
"Probably orders from the Civilian Council to get rid of us no doubt." Naruto says dryly.
Suddenly Naruto freezes when he feels hot air blowing on the back of his neck, followed by a deep, guttural growl.
Turning around, Naruto was met with a sight that he would not soon forget.
XXXXXXXXXXX
"What do you mean Naruto is trapped in a cave and was buried alive by a cave-in?" Kakashi asked, anger clearly in his tone.
"Just what I said, Hatake, the dobe ran off to probably explore a cave and it collapsed down on him, he's more than likely dead." Sasuke said coldly.
"This just made this mission that much harder." Kakashi said.
"N-Naruto." Sakura said, now sad at the fact that the blonde was gone.
"I should have at least gone out with him at least once, despite everything Naruto had inspired her.
"K-Kakashi-Sensei, I want to honor Naruto and I will by becoming the best Kunoichi I can, believe it!" Sakura said, taking one of Naruto's catchphrases and pumping her right fist in the air.
Savage crimson eyes sit tightly within the creature's scaled, angular skull, which gives the creature a very ominous looking appearance.
Two enormous horns sit atop its head, just above its thick, cat-like ears. Several large fan-like skin and bone structures runs down the sides of each of its jaw lines.
Its nose is small and has two large, curved nostrils and there are tendrils on its chin. Several sharp teeth poke out from the side of its mouth and give a preview of the terror hiding inside.
A short neck runs down from its head and into a massive body. The top is covered in coarse skin and a row of armor plating runs down its spine.
Its bottom is covered in thick scales and is colored much darker than the rest of its body. Four thick limbs carry its body and allow the creature to stand dignified and graceful. Each limb has 5 digits, each of which end in barbed talons seemingly made of onyx.
Slender wings grow starting from its shoulders and end just passed its shoulder blades. The wings are almost angel-like, the skin of the wings seems to glow as if made from fire itself and long tendril-like growths grow from many parts of the bottom sides of each wing.
Its spiky tail ends in a curved talon and is covered in the same coarse skin as its body.
Naruto stood slack-jawed as he eyed the majestic creature.
"Human, why have you here?" the dragon bellowed before expelling smoke from both of his nostrils.
"I was only exploring this cave when I saw the hieroglyphics on the cave wall and read them."
"And now you seek our power for yourself, right?" the dragon asked.
"No, I only wanted to see what the hieroglyphics said about your kind so when I got home I could look into your kind's history some more, that's all. Dragon-sama."
Grynot, the dragon searched Naruto's eyes for any sign of treachery, but found none.
"I find no deceit or ill will in you, Human, and thus so, I, Grynot will give you one chance to prove yourself."
"What do I...have to do, Grynot-san?"
"Free my Sister, Varan." the mighty dragon replied.