A/N: Ok while that last chapter had a few mishaps, I didn't intend for Naruto to be all "I'm a happy bastard and not even the worst can take me out" this and that. I just thought he was trying to look out for his loved ones, while unconsciously bottling up his own emotions to appear strong. Now we will eventually see what's going on inside that little eight-year-old head at some point but yeah. And as for him watching tons and tons of people die including his parents he just didn't have much time to truly understand what he went through at the time. Distractions, good or bad can take your mind off of important things, I'm no psychologist but I would say that for someone going through a traumatic experience, it would take a bit of time to truly understand the position you were put in and how to cope with it.
Back on topic, this chapter is going to be focused on his life as a rookie genin, so on and so forth, swapping between teams, meeting new people. This will take place two days after the end of the last chapter.
PS: I plan on hopefully making this chapter 7-8k words.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
"Normal Talking"
'Normal Thinking'
"Biju/Summon/Jutsu Talking"
'Biju/Summon/Jutsu Thinking'
-Konoha Hospital, 1 am-
Dark, that was the only word that could describe the hospital at the moment. Quiet as well, despite the several hundred patients in there, almost each and every single one slept soundly.
A boy around the age of eight was sleeping in his bed, although sleeping would be a rough term for it. His face was glistened in sweat, his hands clenching the hospital sheets, heavy breathing, and small mumbling.
"n-no, get out...go away…GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" the boy shouted as his upper body flew up from the bed gasping for air.
The boy grasped his head for a second then letting it fall slightly brushing his blonde locks.
"Another nightmare, just why the hell is he still there… It still feels so real…" Naruto muttered with a tired sigh.
He had been getting these dreams of Madara constantly, yet this one was different there were two people fighting both with brown hair and a white cloak, the difference was the eyes, one had a Sharingan. He shook his head in dismissal.
Despite looking calm and somewhat collected during his visits from the Hokage and remaining Uchiha, it was merely a facade just to keep them from needlessly worrying about him.
Truthfully he didn't understand how to handle the situation. Normally he would simply train it off, yet he didn't have the energy at the moment. He had tried to talk to the fox as well yet the ancient being was and had been silent for the past few days.
Getting out of his bed with an audible sigh, he stretched out his limbs and put on his clothes, a plain black long-sleeved shirt, black anbu style pants, boot-like shinobi sandals, and a black face mask that covered his neck up to his nose. He saw a glint of metal on the side of his bed; his shinobi headband.
He picked it up and tied it to his forehead, tilting the side of it over his eye. Looking around one last time he made a half-ram sign he disappeared in sparks of lightning.
Reappearing, he adjusted to the new setting.
The Hokage monument.
It had always been a place for him to sit and relax, wash away the pain and any other negative emotions he was feeling.
Yet this time it brought him nothing, he stared at the moon with an empty gaze.
He stood atop the face of the Yondaime Hokage, grimacing to himself as he sat down with his hands positioned behind him; legs crossed.
'What would you do, tou-san.' He thought with a distant gaze.
Naruto just kept sitting there, he himself hadn't even realized how long he had been sitting there until he watched the sun peer over the horizon.
'Damnit…'
He had wanted to try to go home and sleep but that wasn't an option now. He had to go to the registration office.
Naruto performed a half ram sign and disappeared in yet another burst of sparks, reappearing in front of the Hokage tower.
He opened the door and started to walk down the hall towards the office, not noticing the incredulous looks and whispers directed at him.
"He looks so young…" A random jounin said.
"Ha! He looks like a mini Hatake." Another jounin said laughing.
Still oblivious to the comments he walked up to the Hokage's door and knocked a couple of times.
He heard a faint 'come in' from the other side and Naruto walked in.
"Ah Naruto-kun, I take it you're here for your registration." The Hokage said with a smile.
Naruto just nodded absently, awaiting further instruction; making the Hokage frown slightly.
Hiruzen stood up from his chair and walked to the door and made a small 'follow me' sign with his hand.
Naruto obliged and followed the older man. After a couple of minutes they came upon the academy opening the door they both walked in.
They walked through the halls, and upon coming across Iruka's class, Naruto wasn't really surprised to see Kiba, Choji, and Shikamaru sitting outside of the classroom; seemingly in trouble.
'hmm makes sense.' Naruto thought.
"Something on your mind Naruto-kun?" questioned the Hokage.
Naruto turned to look at Hiruzen and shook his head.
They came across a room, it was nothing special, just a bland room with a few chairs and a camera, etc.
Naruto went in front of the camera and eye smiled with his one visible eye.
The Hokage took the picture with a smile and nodded to Naruto who in turn, gave a lazy wave and left in a burst of sparks.
Hiruzen let out a small sigh, snapping his fingers a dog masked Anbu appeared next to him.
Without even acknowledging his presence Hiruzen started talking, "Inu, remove your mask."
Removing his mask, it revealed a 22-year-old man, with silver gravity-defying hair, a black face mask covering his neck up to his nose, a single coal-black eye with his other closed. It was Kakashi Hatake.
"May I ask why Hokage-sama?" asked Kakashi
The Hokage sighed and pointed towards the remaining sparks of electricity.
"It's about Naruto… He may think he can hide it from me, but the boy is hurting, he knows it but he doesn't know how to deal with it…" The Hokage trailed off.
Kakashi raised an eyebrow, "So what does this have to do with me?" He asked.
Hiruzen just smirked, "Well due to your being in the black ops for several years, I thought it might be time for you to step in the light once more," Seeing the protesting look, Hiruzen decided to elaborate further.
"Seeing as young Naruto-kun is a rookie genin with no team, you can help him out, besides you two are more alike than you know," Hiruzen said cryptically.
Kakashi just sighed and nodded. "When will I start?" He asked.
"Tomorrow." answered the Hokage.
Kakashi nodded and disappeared in a leaf shunshin.
"I do hope this was for the best…" Hiruzen said out loud.
-With Naruto-
Naruto was currently meditating in his apartment, trying to feel the fox's presence, after 30 minutes of no avail he stopped and sat up.
"Just where the hell did you go…" Naruto muttered.
Getting off the ground he walked over to his desk and started to study fuinjutsu, seeing as he couldn't really train.
He was currently at level eight, studying things about low-level space-time Jutsu. Like for example the summoning jutsu and such, it was just a wild thought that he thought might help him in the long run for the 'Hiraishin'.
After about an hour of just sitting there, he heard a knock on his door. Sighing to himself he got up and opened it, he was quite surprised to see who was there, Kakashi Hatake.
He had heard and read a lot about him. Student of the Yondaime, becoming genin at 5, chunin at 7, jounin at 12. Even his bingo book moniker, Sharingan no Kakashi or Kakashi the Copy Ninja. Quite the powerful shinobi listed as a low S Rank.
"Can I help you Kakashi-san?" Naruto asked politely.
Kakashi almost felt like he was looking in a mirror; minus the blonde hair, but still, he looked like himself right after the war, after he lost them…
"Ah right, I was going to introduce myself but seeing as you already know who I am it's quite pointless, but anyways Hokage-sama has asked me to be your jounin leader for missions from now on," Kakashi informed, not really sure what to say after.
Naruto just nodded and motioned for him to come in, "Well seeing as you're now my captain essentially, it would be nice to know one another." Naruto said.
Kakashi blinked and just nodded before walking in.
Kakashi took his surroundings, noticing everything clean and well organized, well minus the boy's desk. He looked at it and widened his eyes.
He saw several blueprints of tri-pronged kunai and multiple types of different complex sealing kanji.
"I see you recognize that, though do try to keep it to yourself until the time arises," Naruto said, semi-seriously, semi-jokingly.
Kakashi simply nodded, his eyes not leaving the desk.
'To think he would get this far already, Minato-sensei.' Kakashi thought proudly.
"So why don't you introduce yourself Kakashi-san, like your likes, dislikes, hobbies and stuff like that…'' Naruto listed off.
"Hmm, well you obviously know my name, I have many likes and dislikes, my hobbies include reading and some other stuff, that's about it…" Kakashi said.
Naruto just looked at the man in bewilderment, 'He is either a really boring individual or he simply keeps to himself most of the time.' Naruto deducted in thought. 'Probably both.' Naruto thought with a sweatdrop.
"Well, I guess I'll go now, you already know my name so my likes include ramen and training, my dislikes include...Well, I'd rather not say. My hobbies are training and spending time with…' Itachi, Shisui'… the Uchihas and the old man." Naruto said, not mentioning the two for his own reasons.
Kakashi for his part saw the hesitation at the last part but didn't comment on it.
"Well, now that we know each other," Kakashi paused as heard Naruto snort, but continued, "I'd like to test your skill, I've heard rumors myself but I'd like to see if they're true…" Kakashi said in his normally lazy voice, though Naruto could hear slight excitement seeping in.
Naruto scratched the back of his head, "Well I haven't exactly slept in quite a bit but I suppose we could spar."
Kakashi nodded, "Training ground seven in fifteen minutes." He said and left in the classic leaf shunshin; leaving a mess of leaves.
Naruto let out a groan of annoyance, "He did that on purpose." He facepalmed and then cleaned it up, leaving in a lightning shunshin.
-Training Ground 7-
Kakashi had arrived 15 minutes earlier and had been seemingly staring at a small rock, but if you'd look closer you would see tiny names engraved on it.
Kakashi knelt down and his fingers slowly traced names until he found who he was looking for.'Uchiha Obito, Nohara Rin…'
Kakashi's hand clenched and a bitter smile was etched onto his masked face; not that anyone could see anyway. 'I failed you both, hopefully, with Naruto, I won't make the same mistakes, I'm already a failure, but I will not fail with Naruto. I won't…" Kakashi promised in thought, clenching his fist.
He kept staring at the stone until he heard a shower of sparks hitting the ground, he turned around to see an irate Naruto; eyes twitching and all, with an accusing glare.
"Yo," Kakashi said with a wave and an eye smile.
Naruto simply scoffed in return, "So how are we going to do this?" Naruto asked.
"Hmm, I suppose it will just be a simple spar, although I would like to test you in all fields so I can further understand your abilities," Kakashi responded.
Naruto just 'Hmmd' in acknowledgment.
Kakashi gained a battle stance, his style mixed with the Uchiha Interceptor Fist and Might Gai's own Goken.
Naruto dropped in his own stance that Kakashi immediately recognized; after all the Yondaime Hokage was his sensei.
"Remember if you even want a chance at remotely beating me, come at me with the intent to kill," Kakashi said seriously.
Naruto nodded and simply stood his ground waiting for Kakashi to make his move.
After about five minutes of standing there, Naruto had a slight drop of sweat coming from his eyebrow. 'It's all just mental games at the moment, just by him standing there I can feel his aura, the aura of a cold-hearted killer…' Naruto thought nervously.
Naruto was slowly losing his composure and his hand was slowly reaching for his sword on his back.
Kakashi all the while was staring at Naruto awaiting his next move.
'He's doing much better than I expected, even most chunin would be in a difficult spot from the situation at hand.' Kakashi thought with a small smirk.
After another minute Naruto's patients wore thin and he took his sword out of its sheath and charged at Kakashi, his speed traced quite easily from the elite jounin.
Naruto reached Kakashi and swung his sword in a diagonal slash, his swing blocked by Kakashi's kunai.
Naruto attempted to outpower him by forcing more strength into his blade, Kakashi readjusted his stance and swept his foot at Naruto's in an attempt to throw the boy off balance.
Naruto simply shifted his weight and jumped back while throwing a few shurikens, each charged with lightning chakra.
Kakashi's eye widened at the use of elemental chakra,' Most experienced chunin have a hard time at manipulating lightning chakra like that, for a rookie genin to be able to do that!' He trailed off in thought.
Naruto put his sword back in its sheath, it wasn't going to help him now.
Naruto got in his taijutsu stance again and charged the grey-haired jounin. Naruto threw a punch at the man, it was an overthrown punch that made him look like he lost his balance.
Kakashi was about to catch the boy's fist but at the last second, Naruto made a small pivot with his foot, doing a 180-degree roundhouse kick towards the man's head.
Naruto's kick hit, but before Naruto could continue his attack the man burst into smoke and a log took place in his previous position.
'Kawarimi(Substitution)' Naruto thought, looking around for Kakashi.
"Lesson number one Taijutsu, complete," He heard Kakashi's voice call out.
Naruto turned around to see the man weaving hand signs.
The Jutsu ended in a tiger hand sign.'A fire release.' Naruto thought, weaving his own signs.
"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!(Fire Release: Grand Fireball Jutsu)" Kakashi's voice called out
.
Naruto at the same time finished his hand signs and spit out a wall of water.
"Suiton: Suijinheki(Water Release: Water Formation Wall). Naruto said calmly.
The jutsus collided and before a mass of mist could come in Naruto weaved three hand signs, "Futon: Daitoppa(Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)" Naruto muttered, and blew out a large wave of wind that cleared the area and took down a few trees in the back as well.
Naruto saw Kakashi on the other side looking slightly lazy. Taking his chance Naruto rushed Kakashi with a wind-infused kunai.
Kakashi grabbed the boy's hand and disabled the kunai, but noticing Naruto's smirk set him on guard.
The Naruto he restrained burst in a puff of smoke, and he felt someone touch his back. After the hand came off his body dropped to the ground and he couldn't move.
"Kakashi-senpai, it's futile. I just applied a level 10 resistance seal to you. Right now you're experiencing the same gravitational pull of the moon!" Naruto said smirking, but that smirk dropped once the man disappeared in a similar cloud of smoke.
Naruto felt two hands grab his feet and he was pulled underground, only his head was visible.
"While I admit that the application of fuinjutsu threw me off, I'm not an elite jounin for nothing," Kakashi said, appearing in front of Naruto from the ground.
Naruto eye smiled before dissolving into water.
'Water clone, how does he know that?' Kakashi thought.
Meanwhile, Naruto was sitting at a vantage point in the tree observing the battle and reviewing his clones' memories.
'Despite his lazy demeanor, Kakashi is always on guard, no matter what I throw at him, he counters it almost immediately!' Naruto thought.
Naruto put his hand on his headband and was about to lift it but stopped after a second,' No, not yet.' He thought.
Naruto observed a bit more before holding a half-ram sign and disappearing in a small blur.
Naruto reappeared in the middle of the clearing, Kakashi on the opposite side of him.
'Operation Brute Strength is ago.' Naruto thought with a smirk and summoned a few shadow clones.
The original Naruto stayed back while the clones started rushing Kakashi.
Kakashi dispatched the clones relatively easily and when he looked back towards the original his eyes widened, Naruto was manipulating his lightning elemental to create two giant lightning dragons, both around 40 feet off the ground.
Naruto was extremely proud of his creation, it took quite a bit of chakra as well as extremely precise control, but the result was worth it.
The twin lightning dragon roared loudly as their bodies lit up in an extreme show of sparks and light.
"Raiton: Tsuin Rairyudan no Jutsu!(Lightning Release: Twin Lightning Dragon Jutsu)" Naruto shouted while commanding the dragons toward Kakashi, who was freaking out slightly.
'No genin, no matter how good, can not have that sort of control over an element! Even I would have a hard time accomplishing something like that. How can I counter it?!' Kakashi thought.
The lightning dragons were only getting closer and closer. Kakashi felt like slapping himself in the forehead, he literally created a Jutsu called 'Lightning Cutter' or the 'Raikiri', but Naruto's chakra was rather dense and it would be a lot different than actually 'cutting lightning'.
Doing three hand signs he clutched his forearm and a blade of condensed lightning formed around his hand, screeching like 1000 birds had just entered the training ground.
Kakashi charged towards the lightning dragons at a high enough speed that Naruto could not track.
Kakashi's hand flew into the center of the lightning dragon's face, a huge explosion occurred, with a shower of massive sparks and an explosion to back it up, Naruto was almost thrown back.
Kakashi on the other hand had completely obliterated the dragons, but his hand was showing signs of chakra burns and his glove was torn to shreds.
'Damnit! I didn't think that would hurt so much! How can an eight-year-olds chakra be so dense, it's almost as dense as the Kyuubi's!' Kakashi thought, panting.
He looked over to see Naruto on his knees huffing, due to the chakra output of the dragons, Naruto was about to get up but Kakashi's voice rang out.
"Alright, that's enough showing, Naruto. I can see why Sandaime-sama saw fit for you to be promoted to genin already, heck with that kind of skill you could take out some seasoned chunin." Kakashi lightly praised.
Naruto just nodded in appreciation.
"So when will we start missions, Kakashi-senpai?" Naruto asked.
Kakashi went into a thinking position, "I'd say in a day or two seeing as I evaluated your skill, you are definitely fit to go on missions of higher rank…" Kakashi answered.
Naruto nodded again, this time not saying anything after.
Kakashi got out a small medkit and started wrapping his hand in bandages, despite the glove on it, that Jutsu Naruto used packed quite the punch.
After Kakashi finished, he motioned for Naruto to follow him. Naruto obliged and trailed the cyclops jounin.
After around thirty seconds they came across a familiar stone, Naruto saw Kakashi looking at it when he had first arrived. After about a minute of silence, Kakashi spoke up.
"This stone is filled with the names of hero's Konoha has produced at the time of its creation," Kakashi started, gaining Naruto's attention.
"Is your name on there, senpai?" Naruto asked, having heard of the man's exploits himself.
Kakashi gave a hollow chuckle in response, "No, this stone contains the names of shinobi KIA, plus I'm no hero, not even close…" Kakashi said, making the blonde widened his eyes.
Naruto went over to the stone and found three certain names that stood out the most.
'Uchiha Shisui, Namikaze Minato, Uzumaki Kushina' Naruto's finger trailed these names on the stone, bowing his head ever so slightly.
Kakashi saw which names he trailed and was extremely surprised that Naruto knew of his lineage, he'd have to talk to the Sandaime about it.
He was surprised though when the boy's hand trailed over Shisui's name. What connection did he have to him? Kakashi thought.
"Why did you show me this?" Naruto asked politely.
Kakashi sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Because, sooner or later you will have to join teams or even lead one, and with that you will have comrades to look out for. I myself have lost several, but those losses made me understand the responsibility placed on my shoulders the moment I got my headband. I want you to take this to heart Naruto, those who break the rules are scum, that's true, however, those who would abandon even one of their friends are worse than scum." Kakashi said as he lifted up his headband, showing a red-eye with three black tomoe in it, the Sharingan.
"That was what my friend once told me before he passed away and entrusted me with this eye," Kakashi said, Naruto had his visible eye wide open.
'Just like me.' Naruto thought.
"I see, then maybe you can help me with my problem," Naruto said as he lifted his headband up revealing a different colored eye, looking at Kakashi he channeled chakra into his eye and the same pattern appeared.
To say Kakashi was surprised was an understatement, he was shocked to his core.
"Where did you get that!" Kakashi demanded.
Naruto just looked into his eye and his Sharingan pulsed, showing him the events of receiving it.
By the end, Kakashi was almost certain that he was looking into a mirror, although Naruto was a lot younger than he was, and didn't fully grasp what happened, his goal was the same nonetheless. Kakashi did note; something that the boy tried to hide, albeit poorly. He saw a pool of sadness in his eyes at the end of the Genjutsu.
'I think Sandaime-sama did this on purpose.' Kakashi thought with a small smile.
"Meet me here tomorrow, we might have a mission to go on," Kakashi said.
Naruto nodded with a small smile, "Hai, but I have one last question, what is your goal?" Naruto asked, making Kakashi stiffen slightly.
"My goal… Hmm...My goal is to protect my comrades till my last breath." Kakashi said with a fire burning in his eyes that Naruto had never seen inside anyone.
"I see... I have much to think about." Naruto said and his body burst in a shower of sparks, making Kakashi's eye smile and look toward the sky.
"That boy… I will not fail you Minato-sensei." Kakashi declared.
-The Next Day, Hokage Office-
"...And that's what happened," Kakashi reported.
"He is more than ready it seems, keeping him in the village would only burden him," Hiruzen said.
Kakashi nodded, "I think we should start him out with a C-rank mission, maybe something to help hone his skill in other aspects," Kakashi said.
Hiruzen nodded and started looking through the mission scrolls," Ah, here is a Search and Destroy mission, it's only a bandit camp near the border of Mizu no Kuni and Hi no Kuni, though it would be in your best ability to look out for Kiri Nuke-nin, the mist has been in a civil war for quite some time, do be careful." The Hokage said with a sincere voice.
Kakashi nodded and left in a shunshin.
The Sandaime Hokage let out a sigh,' Hopefully, I made the right decision."
-Training Ground 7-
Naruto had only been waiting there for fifteen minutes, waiting for Kakashi to arrive.
POOF
A burst of smoke popped in out of nowhere and out of it came Kakashi Hatake.
"Well, it seems we're in luck. The Hokage had a C-rank mission for us, I'll give the details before we leave. Meet me at the main gate in 1 hour." Kakashi said before disappearing.
Naruto didn't get a chance to speak but would ask questions later. For now, he decided he would go visit the last two Uchiha. Naruto merely disappeared and reappeared at the compound.
Something that always confused him was when he used the lightning shunshin he would always travel significantly faster as opposed to the normal one. He would need to figure that out later.
Arriving at the door of the Clan Heads house, he knocked a few times.
He heard footsteps coming towards the door and it opened, out came Mikoto Uchiha.
"Oh it's just you Naruto-kun, come in maybe you can help out." She offered, gaining a confused look from Naruto.
"Help with what exactly?" He asked.
Mikoto let out a sad sigh, "It's Satsuki, she is still in denial about Itachi's…" She tried to find a fitting word but nothing availed.
"I'll try to help the best I can though I have a mission in an hour with Kakashi-senpai," Naruto said with a smile.
Mikoto raised an eyebrow, "Kakashi? What are you doing with that closet perv?" She asked
'Closet perv? Whatever...' Naruto thought.
"I don't really know, he's my jounin superior and senior officer helping me start out my missions, the Hokage saw fit for me to immediately take higher rank missions, so I guess him assigning Kakashi was merely helping me in the end, plus Kakashi is like me," Naruto informed, the last part went unheard to Mikoto.
After a minute or two of silence, Mikoto spoke up,
"Well, Satsuki has essentially blocked herself in her room and won't come out…" She said.
Naruto just nodded and went up the stairs towards Satukis's room, intent on helping his friend.
What he didn't expect was to hear crying on the other side of the door.
He knocked gently on the door and attempted to open it; the door was locked and he heard a faint 'Go away.'
Sighing to himself he knocked again, "Hey Satsuki it's me Naruto." He said softly.
"Naruto?" He heard Satsuki's voice call out.
"Yep!" He chirped softly.
He heard slight shuffling and the door unlocked, he opened the door to see a disheveled Satsuki with red puffy eyes; undoubtedly from crying. He went up to her and grabbed her shoulder softly, she lifted her head up to see him smiling softly, whatever steel or resolve she had, died the moment she saw his smile.
She immediately broke down and hugged him crying loudly to the heavens, asking why Itachi had done it.
Naruto didn't necessarily know what to do in this situation, so he just played it by ear, hugging her back and whispering comforting words in her ear.
After about 5 minutes of her crying she passed out from exhaustion, Naruto sighed and took Satsuki placed her in bed, though not before noticing the smile of content on her face.
Smiling to himself he left her room closing the door behind him.
He walked down the stairs to see Mikoto sitting at the table, seemingly spaced out. He knocked on the wall to gain her attention, she snapped out of her thoughts to the blonde boy smiling softly.
"I'm pretty sure she got whatever she needed out," He said in a happy tone.
Mikoto smiled, grinning from ear to ear, a truly happy smile. She got up and hugged the boy.
"Thank you." Was all she said after hugging the boy.
Naruto nodded in acknowledgment."Well, I'm off, I don't want to keep Kakashi-senpai waiting," He said.
Mikoto nodded with a smile and wished him good luck, though internally she was laughing, 'Keep Kakashi waiting, that's gold! It seems Naruto has yet to figure that lazy bastard out yet.' she thought
-Main Gate-
Naruto had been waiting for the last 30 minutes for Kakashi, Naruto had, of course, come early by 30 minutes, after a while, he got bored and started spinning a kunai in his hand. Naruto had just been thinking about future projects while gazing at the sky. Out of nowhere, he threw his kunai at a falling leaf as it tore straight through the leaf, cutting it directly in half, while falling the leaf mended itself back together slightly; the kunai was still flying.
Naruto widened his eyes,' That's it! That's the theory behind the 'Hiraishin', to create a tear in space and make the jump through it via chakra. It instantly teleports you despite the distance. The only use of the tri-pronged kunai tou-san used was to make it battle applicable…' Naruto surmised.
Though he still had to understand the inner workings of the seal, knowing how space-time seal worked, was a huge bonus for him.
Finally, after what seemed like ages, Kakashi arrived.
"You ready?" Kakashi questioned.
Naruto nodded and unsealed a backpack from a storage seal from his hand.
"Alright, this mission is only an elimination one, we are to go to the borders of Hi no Kuni and Mizu no Kuni and destroy a bandit camp that has been terrorizing merchants and preventing trade from getting in Hi no Kuni, any questions?" Kakashi asked after giving the mission info.
Naruto shook his head in the negative.
"Have you had your first kill yet?" Kakashi asked.
Naruto nodded; though with a frown of anger etched on his face, "I have killed yes, but they were Danzo's men, I have no issue killing drones that don't act human." He said harshly,
Kakashi merely nodded.
And so they set off.
After several hours of high-speed traveling, they came across the camp. Kakashi and Naruto both nodded to each other and left in a blur. Kakashi went to scout the north and west side of the camp, while Naruto did the same; south and east.
After about thirty minutes they came back, "On the south side there are about 50-60 bandits, none look to have any shinobi practice," Naruto whispered.
Kakashi nodded, "It's about the same on my end, we will strike at night. Prepare yourself for the bloodshed." Kakashi said.
After their discussion, they laid out a small plan to rid of the bandits and their base. Naruto would launch a high-level water Jutsu and Kakashi would compliment his attack by electrifying the water via his Chidori.
After the first initial attack, they would simply use the panic to wipe out the remaining bandits.
-Nightfall-
The lights at the camp went out and only a few remained awake.
Naruto took a deep breath and steeled his gaze, he looked towards Kakashi and the latter nodded.
Making a shadow clone, they both started going through lots of hand signs.
"Suiton: Bakusai Shōha(Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave)" Naruto whispered. and a mass of water spat out of Naruto's mouth, towering twenty feet in the air before raging towards the camp.
This Jutsu took a heavy toll on his chakra leaving only about half left, the results he could not argue with, after Kakashi charged up a Chidori the water was electrified and all that remained of the camp was a muddy mess filled with bodies.
Kakashi and Naruto both went down there and found that there were no survivors. Sighing to himself he went to lie down on a tree branch, while Kakashi cleared the bodies.
He truly did not like killing, though it was a necessity. He had once heard somewhere "If you lack the will to kill, you lack the will to protect" and him being a shinobi automatically forfeited his life to the village; the village he swore to protect.
Kakashi arrived about 20 minutes later with a scroll which Naruto could assume was either money or bodies.
Naruto got up to stretch and use the bathroom, on his way there he heard small whispers. He wanted to hear better so he ran closer.
At a vantage point in the tree, he could hear clearly.
"...They have the copy ninja with them, and that blonde brat didn't look too bad either. A nice sum of money indeed," A voice said in a hushed whisper.
"I'm not taking my chance at Hatake, we can find another way to get money!" Another voice barked.
"No matter which way you look at it, we will either die by the hands of Yagura or Kakashi due to the fact that we are missing-nin." Another voice said calmly, making Naruto stiffen.
"We have company, " The first man said gleefully.
Naruto's breath hitched and he made a sign to shunshin out.
Though before he could the man caught his wrist. Naruto looked up and his eyes widened in horror.
Standing right in front of him was a man he saw in the bingo books, Jūzo Biwa. One of the former seven ninja swordsmen, wielder of the Kūbikiribocho.
"Interesting brat." He commented,
Naruto flared his chakra making the ground beneath them crack slightly. Jūzo was slightly impressed, enough to snap the boy's wrist immediately.
"We'll be having none of that." He sneered, as Naruto cried out in agony.
Jūzo kicked the boy's legs out, making Naruto kneel on the ground.
He then kicked the boy across the face making him fly into a tree; coughing up blood.
Kakashi had noticed Naruto taking too long and decided to investigate.
After about a minute he felt Naruto's chakra flare tremendously.
He rushed to the spot to see a man he recognized as Jūzo Biwa ruthlessly beating Naruto.
Kakashi's hand clenched in anger, he lifted his hitai-ate and revealed his Sharingan.
He charged forward with a kunai towards the rogue nin; intent on ending the man.
Jūzo turned around and watched as Kakashi Hatake charged him at low Kage level speeds. The man watched helplessly as a kunai plunged directly into his heart, the man then grinned and his body exploded in water.
"Kakashi of the Sharingan, what an honor to meet you," Juzo said sarcastically.
Kakashi didn't respond but narrowed his eyes.
"Not talkative today eh? Well, how about I make you speak!" Juzo said charging at the copy nin.
Kakashi merely raised a kunai and charged as well.
They met in the middle with a resonating clang and started swiping at each other with calculated and precise swings, each meant for the kill.
Kakashi, although knew he outpowered the man wanted to escape, he was more skilled than this Juzo but still, this was the man's domain and there could be more hostiles, not to mention Naruto was pretty injured.
Kakashi weaved hand signs and spat forth a large ball of fire, secretly forming a Kage Bushin he went to go pick up Naruto; his clone fighting in his place.
He got to Naruto and winced, the blonde's face was bruised and there was blood leaking from his head, mouth, and nose. His wrist was broken and he all in all looked terrible.
'Damnit! Why of all times did we have to encounter such a nuisance on a C-rank mission!?' Kakashi fumed in his head.
Kakashi grabbed Naruto and built up his chakra and performed a mass set of shunshins to make it back to Konoha quickly.
It took him about two hours but Kakashi had spent most of his chakra but made it about 3 fourths of the way back.
He grimaced to himself as he took a soldier pill and felt his reserves peak, performing the mass shunshins yet again. He made it to the gates after around two and a half hours of travel.
Kakashi brought Naruto to the hospital; being exhausted himself but still got to the front desk.
"Need...Help...Now." Kakashi panted out.
The lady at the front desks' eyes went wide and quickly called nurses over to assist the two.
Sighing to himself Kakashi passed out, knowing everything was fine.
-Next Day-
Naruto had awoken to the sound of birds chirping in the morning, groaning to himself he heard a voice call out to him.
"How are you feeling?" Kakashi asked
Naruto snorted, "The best I can after getting utterly beat by an A-rank Nuke-nin."
Kakashi sighed to himself, "Truthfully, I was expecting missing-nin to come, yet not one of his caliber… I could have taken him on, but it was either the cost of your life or a high payment." Kakashi said with a clenched fist, not liking that Naruto nearly died his first time out of the village.
Naruto shrugged, "I just don't get why he was there in the first place, they said they wanted money, yet I can't help but feel there was more to it…" Naruto said, remembering their conversation.
Kakashi just settled for a nod.
"Well was the mission a success at least?" Naruto asked hopefully.
"Yes, though I would like to know just how you can pull off an A-rank water jutsu like that?" Kakashi replied.
Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Well you see about that…I snuck into the jounin section of the library…" He muttered, no lies behind it, he truly snaked his way into that part of the library.
Kakashi face-palmed but didn't comment further.
"Well at some point we have to report to the Hokage, so are you feeling well enough to do so?" Kakashi asked.
Nodding, Naruto got up in his usual gear and stretched a bit before looking at Kakahi; who nodded, and they both Shunshind (Body Flickered) out of the room.
-Hokage Office-
Arriving at the door of the Hokage's office, Kakashi knocked a couple of times.
Both Naruto and Kakashi heard a 'come in' and walked in.
"Ah Kakashi, Naruto-kun. I presume the mission was a success." Hiruzen said.
They both nodded though Kakashi decided to speak, "Well the mission was a success, though we ran into A-ranked Nuke-nin, Jūzō Biwā and had to high tail it back here due to Naruto's injuries." Kakashi reported.
The Hokage nodded with a frown, "I hope you're doing well Naruto-kun."
"Eh, as well as I can. Getting jumped by a missing-nin while trying to use the bathroom wasn't on my list of things I wanted to happen." Naruto said with wave annoyance.
The Hokages frown turned into a small smile seeing the boy so nonchalantly wave off nearly getting killed by a nuke-nin.
"Well, now that that's aside, Kakashi I expect a report by tomorrow. You both will get your pay afterward." Hiruzen informed, making both shinobi in front of him nod in affirmation.
"Very well dismissed." The Hokage said, leaving Naruto and Kakashi to disappear in shunshins (Body Flickers)
The paperwork around his desk somehow got bigger throughout the time Kakashi and Naruto were in there making the Hokage sigh in annoyance.
"Just how the hell did you do it Minato." Hiruzen angrily spoke, glaring at the sheets of paper.
-With Naruto-
After he left Naruto immediately went home to study Hiraishin again.
After his little discovery, he decided to test it out.
Arriving at his apartment he took off his shoes and went to his desk.
Picking up the scrolls for the Flying Thunder God he re-read everything.
'Nidaime-sama and tou-san had different seals for the Hiraishin, so my attempts at it were useless?'
Naruto was noting off-key differences between his failed attempts and the comparisons to the Second and Fourth Hokage's seal.
'Each Kanji has a meaning on tou-sans kunai; Sword of Love and Endurance. Each Kanji though does something different than the other while simultaneously working together to complete the Jutsu. The first kanji being speed, the second being space, the third being time, the fourth being tear.' Naruto said in thought.
'To pack all of those seals in one small phase of kanji like that, using only his chakra, tou-san truly was one of the smartest people on the planet.'
Naruto continued to study and before he knew it, he fell asleep face first on his desk…
Little did Naruto know, there was a certain fox watching his every move carefully.
'That brat, he truly does remind me of both of them. Asura I pray that your will overpowers his, It irks me to no end that some of Indra's chakra manifested into him, Indra I pray your curse does not ruin him as well…' Kurama said in thought while watching the boy sleep.
A/N: And that's a finish! this chapter was quite the length, I was hoping to get to eight thousand words but I had nothing left to write for this chapter. Anyway a little summary, Naruto is mentally stressed as time goes on. He registers as an official genin and Kakashi retires Anbu to become his jounin leader, not sensei but his captain and senior officer. Kakashi evaluates Naruto for obvious reasons, takes him to the stone to tell him of his beliefs and a little bit of his past to instill a level of helps Satsuki a bit with mental troubles, despite his own. Naruto and Kakashi take a mission, it all goes well, but Naruto decides to eavesdrop on a conversation and gets obliterated by a missing-nin. they come back and boom, everything is fine.
Any questions or things you guys want to say, leave them in the reviews. I was also wondering if you want me to respond to the reviews personally or put them in the A/N.
Oh, and I decided to make the Jutsu Japanese with English subtitles, hehe…
Anyways, thanks for reading!