A/N: Sooo, the last chapter was mainly about Naruto's perspective of everything and whatnot, Karin was a slight bonus to that as well. This chapter is going to be a time skip right before the rookie '9' graduate, only because I'm terrible at writing filler plus I will explain anything necessary.
One thing I failed to mention is that Kakashi still maintains his S-rank status due to him not slacking off for several years. So keep that in mind…
(Started 6-15-2021)
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
"Normal Talking"
'Normal Thinking'
"Biju/Summon/Jutsu Talking"
'Biju/Summon/Jutsu Thinking'
-2 and a Half Years Later-
It had been two and a half years…many things had happened since then.
Standing at a height of 5'6, Naruto sat atop the Hokage Monument, the wind blowing his hair across his face in a wild fashion. He looked out across the village, something akin to sadness etched on his face.
His attire had changed a little bit from his old gear. Opting to wear a dark blue t-shirt with gray lines on the shoulders, a pair of gray arm guards with a blue sleeve under them, and black pants that rolled up to the middle of his shins, white shinobi bandages that covered his shins all the way down to a pair of black shinobi sandals that went past his ankle but right below his shin.
He also wore a thin gray belt across his waist that held up a kunai pouch behind his thigh. Naruto still wore his black facemask, as well as his forehead protector. His eye remained uncovered for the time being, he only covered it during training, for well…training purposes.
"Does it fit alright?" A voice from behind him said.
Naruto's facial expression quickly turned blank as he tilted his head slightly. Looking behind him he saw Kakashi standing there looking at him, or rather what he was wearing.
"Yeah, It fits perfectly," Naruto answered though he was somewhat confused at the knowing gaze the man was giving him.
Kakashi eye-smiled, "You know, that was my outfit when I was around your age."
"Really?" He asked curiously. So he was getting hand-me-downs, Naruto thought blandly.
Kakashi just nodded and looked out towards the village.
After a few moments Kakashi spoke up, "You think she'll pass?"
Naruto nodded, "If she doesn't, I'd be worried."
Kakashi smiled faintly, "What about the other one?"
"She had some difficulty at the start, but she's doing quite well now," Naruto answered briefly, a small smile gracing his features.
Kakashi stood in silence after his answer.
The two stayed there for a few minutes, opting to watch the village go about its business.
After around ten minutes, Naruto stood up. "I have to speak with someone, I'll see you later Kakashi."
He looked at the Kakashi once more and eye-smiled before vanishing in a small yellow flash.
Kakashi sighed to himself, 'I know exactly where you're going, I used to do the same thing…"
-Konoha Memorial Stone
Naruto reappeared in front of the stone giving a silent prayer before looking at it.
"I don't normally wallow around in self-pity, but I think today is an exception. Happy Birthday, Shisui." Naruto spoke quietly to the big stone. It was a few days after his own… his already miserable birthday.
"I've tried my hardest to make sure I used your gift in honor of the leaf, yet I can't help but feel each time I make a step forward something drags me back." He sighed, palming the side of his head in discontent.
"I've completed almost two hundred and fifty missions with Kakashi, thinking that maybe my image would change. I've gained little respect among my peers. Though normally it's just me and Kakashi, the Hokage sees it fit to send us on many covert operations. I think he does it to distract me, I know that geezer a lot better than he thinks I do." Naruto gave a sad smile, one that reflected misery and desperation.
"You were always someone I could depend on, even in death you still manage to help me out. One of the many people who saw me as who I was, not who I was made out to be."
"I do everything in my power to help Konoha, yet most I get in return is scorn and mistrust."
"But then again, it was always your saying, 'Self-sacrifice... A nameless shinobi who protects peace within its shadow. That is a true shinobi.." He recited, gazing at Shisui's name once more.
"Your sacrifice...It gave me meaning, something to cling to, just to avoid getting lost." Naruto mumbled, gently gripping his hand over his face where Shisui's dormant Sharingan lay.
"But now that that is out of the way, I just wanted to say thank you, I hope you're doing well in the afterlife, my friend."
Naruto turned around to leave but as he was walking out he felt a presence, he looked back at it once more but the place was empty. Naruto sighed to himself and continued to walk out.
A small silhouette appeared, smiling brightly at the retreating form of the blonde, disappearing as Naruto left the premises.
-Konoha Academy-
Naruto arrived to see all the students filtering out of the academy, he narrowed his eyes when he saw the academy teacher, Mizuki, speaking to his cousin. Naruto during his time at the academy, had sensed unnatural hate coming from the man, well more like a rageful excitement, but still, that man was to be taken seriously.
"Karin!" Naruto waved his hand in the air, looking towards the girl.
She turned around and smiled happily upon seeing Naruto, whereas Mizuki glared hatefully at the boy.
Naruto wasn't particularly surprised at seeing the headband with the leaf insignia plated on the front but smiled at her nonetheless. Karin went over and hugged him, making him stiffen slightly. She sighed, it seemed he still wasn't used to personal contact, even after all these years.
"I see you managed to graduate, congratulations." Naruto congratulated idly.
Karin nodded with a happy smile, "Say, since I graduated, how about some ramen?" She said, a small smirk gracing her features. Naruto despite having his face covered, you could still see the smile on it. Nodding, they headed off in the direction of the ramen stand.
Before they exited the premise, Naruto saw Mikoto congratulating Satsuki, who also had a headband tied to her forehead.
He offered a small wave, an easing smile on his face.
The woman saw him and gave a beaming smile and motioned for him to come over. Naruto gave a small shake of the head and pointed towards his redhead companion, the raven-haired woman gave a sad but understanding smile.
Meanwhile, Mizuki was seething, his plan was ruined by that stupid Nine-Tails brat. His ramblings stopped though when he felt a heavy pressure descend on him. He turned around and saw that fox-brat still in his lazy posture, although his eyes told a different story, it was almost like they were speaking to him through the image of death.
The pressure was almost suffocating, he'd have fallen on his knees had it not stopped the moment it started. His body was shaking and he was sweating profusely. How could that brat do something like that, he was just a weak genin!
Mizuki wasn't one to be scared easily but that kid…
"That damn brat! He will pay!" Mizuki thought infuriated.
-Ramen Stand
"Hey, Teuchi-san!" Naruto called out.
"Oh, Naruto, Karin! How is it going?" Teuchi asked exuberantly.
Naruto pointed over to Karin's head, a goofy smile under his mask, "She graduated, and me being the awesome person I am, decided to bring her to your great ramen stand!" Naruto exaggerated, only to receive a small smack across the back of his head.
"Hey what's the big idea…" he pouted with a dark cloud looming over his head.
Karing had a tick mark on the side of her forehead, "You being an overzealous moron is 'the big idea'!" She retorted.
She glared at Naruto for a few more seconds before turning her head to Teuchi, "I'd like a chicken ramen please." The ramen chef merely nodded and went back, already knowing what Naruto wanted.
After waiting for a few minutes Naruto posed a question, "Say, what did Mizuki ask you?"
Karin nodded, "He kept trying to tell me there was a way for me to become rookie of the year by going into the Hokage's office and taking a certain scroll…" She explained but stopped when she felt his chakra spike momentarily.
'What the hell is he thinking!' Naruto thought furiously.
"That stupid traitor." He whispered quietly before vanishing, nothing signifying his leave.
"What…" was all she got out, she shrugged her shoulders and was about to go after him, before seeing the ramen placed in front of her.
-With Naruto-
Naruto reappeared inside the Hokage's personal vault, he had gotten permission to go in once, so while in he placed a small seal under a table near the entry. Normally such an act would simply result in his death, that is if someone found out, Naruto thought cheekily. He looked around and noticed the Scroll of Seals was missing from the room, he activated his Sharingan, hoping to see a trace of any residual chakra.
Unfortunately, there was none, Naruto sighed, it looked like he was going to have to do this the hard way he thought, vanishing in a small yellow flash, leaving behind a silver-haired man, a smirk gracing the latter's features.
'I've been studying you for quite some time now, Naruto-kun. Let's see how well you fare this time…' The silver-haired man thought, vanishing in a shunshin.
-With Naruto
'To escape the village with the scroll of seals is extremely difficult, almost impossible, so how did a chunin of Mizuki's caliber even manage to get in the vault…' Naruto thought curiously.
Reappearing at an outpost close to the village borders, he closed his eyes and placed his middle and index finger on the ground, and pulsed his chakra through them.
'My range is only so far, but I can still sense the entirety of Konoha with a single pulse of my chakra in any direction.' Naruto thought, pulsing his chakra again
A small but noticeable chakra source temporarily stopped his pulse, his eyes scrunched in concentration.
It wasn't an animal, because it didn't have the same chakra structure nor chakra capacity as one. He vanished in a Shunpo.
'A Chunin yet he has the mind of an academy student, to try and escape towards Ta no Kuni is a shitty mistake Mizuki.'
Reappearing, Naruto looked from behind the tree he was perched at, he saw Mizuki crouched in front of an abandoned building…With the Scroll of Seals strapped to his back.
Naruto saw him get up and decided to intervene. Leaping out from behind the tree, Naruto spoke.
"You know, stealing the Scroll of Seals is punishable by death right?" Naruto spoke, not even looking at the man.
Mizuki snarled at the blonde in front of him. Twice now, Naruto had ruined his plans to deliver the scroll to Orochimaru-sama. 'No matter, with the power Orochimaru-sama gifted me, this should be no problem.' Mizuki thought viciously.
Mizuki reached behind his back and gripped the Fuma shuriken, before throwing it at the blonde.
"Die you worthless brat!" Mizuki shouted.
Naruto stood there and watched as it spun towards him before he vanished in a small crackle of lightning chakra.
Mizuki didn't have time to react as a fist implanted itself into his solar plexus, sending him flying towards a tree trunk. Coughing up blood as he got back up, Mizuki jumped backward to gain distance and weaved through hand signs, "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu," (Fire Release: Grand Fireball Technique)
Naruto smirked, he held his right hand in front of him and snapped his fingers just before the fireball came in contact with him. The fireball simply dispersed, nothing remained of the vicious attack.
'How could he possibly do that?!' Mizuki raged inwardly.
Little did Mizuki know, Naruto could do some pretty nasty things with his wind element. Including sucking out the oxygen of objects in motion.
Naruto's feet sparkled with lightning before he suddenly vanished, Mizuki's eyes widened, he didn't even have time to defend himself and received a brutal kick to his side, sending him flying into a tree; smashing it upon impact.
Naruto didn't waste time trying to incapacitate him. Unsealing his sword, he sped in front of Mizuki, before thrusting it through his right shoulder, making the chunin scream out in pain.
Naruto punched the man in the mouth, "Shut the hell up, I didn't give you permission to open your mouth." Naruto spat at the man in front of him.
Naruto gazed into the man's eyes and activated his Sharingan, "Tell me everything you know." He said calmly, placing several layers of genjutsu over the man.
Fifteen Minutes Later
Naruto had gotten basically nothing out of the man, every time he placed a genjutsu on him, some separate chakra would interfere and break it.
Mizuki was worth nothing at this point, holding two fingers to his heart, Naruto was about to send lightning chakra through them when a whisper came from Mizuki.
"It seems I've failed Orochimaru-sama."
Naruto's eyes widened slightly, he switched his hand position from his heart to the back of his neck and placed a chakra restriction seal as well as a binding seal to make sure he wouldn't move.
He could never be too careful though, so he placed a third seal. The Kanji read, '起死回生' or 'Wake from Death and return to life' it was his own personal seal, he made from scratch, although it was based upon another design…
Chopping Mizuki in the back of the neck, he took the Scroll of Sealing, though it was partially opened and he saw a single technique, 'Genjutsu: Kokuangyo no Jutsu' the more he read on the technique the further he was engrossed in it.
'A Jutsu that even the Uchiha couldn't see through, Nidaime-sama was definitely worthy of his title…' Naruto thought.
He picked the scroll back up and strapped it to his back and stored Mizuki in a prisoner scroll, and promptly vanished in a small tear in space.
-Hokage Office-
Naruto reappeared inside the office and wasn't surprised to see several swords pointed at his neck.
"Stand down, it's just Naruto-kun," Hiruzen spoke from in front of Naruto.
The Anbu each nodded and disappeared back into their positions.
Hiruzen, upon seeing Naruto with the Scroll of Seals attached to his back, narrowed his eyes.
"Tell me, what are you doing with that scroll Naruto," No longer was his voice that of a kind old man, but a Hokage that had been through three great wars.
Naruto sweated slightly at the man in front of him, the Third Hokage's killing intent was almost as strong as Madara's. Little did Naruto know, Hiruzen was well aware of the scroll being taken, it wasn't even the real one, but the Hokage felt like there was something more…
Naruto stood up straight before kneeling, "Sandaime-sama, it was not my intention, but I've apprehended a traitor in our ranks whose hope was to steal the scroll and give it to another traitor." Naruto explained briefly, opting for Hiruzen to snap his fingers, sensing the Anbu leave, Hiruzen looked at the boy in front of him.
Naruto nodded and unsealed Mizuki, making Hiruzen narrow his eyes even further, this was after all an academy teacher, the Third hadn't been expecting that.
"Explain!" Hiruzen demanded authoritatively.
Naruto took a small deep breath, "I arrived at the academy to pick up Karin seeing as it was graduation day for them. I saw Chunin Mizuki talking to her, although I didn't pay much mind to it. We later headed to Ichiraku Ramen to celebrate her graduation, I had asked her about what Mizuki was saying to her, she said, and I quote, "He kept trying to tell me there was a way to become Rookie of the Year by going into the Hokage's office and taking a certain scroll," He paused for a second to let the information sink in, as well as catch his breath slightly, the man's chakra was almost as vast as his own.
"So I decided to teleport to one of my father's old outposts outside the village in hopes of being able to sense him." Naruto saw the surprised face of Hiruzen and decided to elaborate.
"Yes I mean teleport, I have finished the Jutsu and created my own seal from scratch, although I'm not quite good enough to apply it in combat, I can still use it as a means to travel," Naruto informed briefly, leaving Hiruzen to his own thoughts.
Hiruzen nodded, still shocked that a boy only twelve years of age could understand, let alone re-create a Jutsu of that caliber. It took Minato half of his life to accomplish that feat, and it took his sensei decades to create it.
His thoughts stopped when Naruto spoke again, "I had found him on the north side of the village, trying to escape from the northern side of the village, presumably Ta no Kuni, with the scroll of seals attached to his back." Naruto said, making Hiruzen's eyes widen once more.
"He then attacked me with the intent to kill, to which I did the same, I placed several layers of genjutsu on him, but none worked, a foreign chakra kept interfering and breaking them. And just as I was about to finish him off, he said "It seems I've failed, Orochimaru-sama", so I placed a few seals on him then knocked him out to see if T&I could get any information on anything related to Orochimaru." Naruto finished.
Hiruzen nodded grimly, "This is now an A-rank secret, send him to the black ops T&I, I'll hand you a scroll that contains all of the needed credentials and locations, I must thank you, due to your other missions still being in effect and the fact you've managed to stop Orochimaru indirectly, I will pay you an A-rank mission worth, dismissed." Hiruzen said curtly.
Naruto mock-saluted and grabbed the scroll Hiruzen threw at him before using a lightning shunshin to head over to the T&I.
As Naruto left, Hiruzen let out a small sigh, showing just how much this job has aged him.
'To think you would come to hate Konoha this much, my old student, I'm sorry I couldn't help you stray from the path of darkness, I was too late,' Hiruzen thought tiredly.
-Torture and Interrogation-
Naruto arrived at the designated location, leaving a small burst of blue sparks in his absence.
The Intelligence Division.
Naruto found the place quite dark and obnoxiously quiet. As he walked through the halls he came across a door with a small barred window to the left of it. Knocking on the door, he waited a few moments before the caged window slid open, and a bird masked anbu looked at him blankly.
Naruto sighed, couldn't they show a bit of emotion?
"I'm here on Hokage-sama's orders," Naruto stated, gazing into the blank holes of Tori's mask.
The black-ops member nodded, and Naruto gave him the scroll that Hiruzen had previously given him.
Bird checked through the contents and nodded, getting up the Anbu unlocked the door and Naruto walked into several more corridors.
'Why so much,' Naruto inwardly complained.
Bird momentarily stopped, before shunshin-ing out, Naruto looked confused before his instincts kicked in and dodged a kunai coming straight for his face.
"Not bad gaki, it seems you've only gotten better since the last time I saw you," A familiar voice mock congratulated Naruto.
Naruto turned around to see a purple pineapple-haired woman, wearing a rather revealing beige trench coat, with an orange skirt and black boots.
"Anko." Naruto deadpanned.
Anko grinned, "The one and only!"
Naruto sighed and pinched the bridge of his masked nose, 'Why is it always me,'
Anko looked at Naruto for a moment, "So, what brings you around these parts brat?" She asked curiously.
Naruto held a finger to his masked face, "Secret.." he shushed with a small chuckle.
Anko gained a tick mark on the side of her forehead, how dare this brat mock her!
Though before she could retaliate, Naruto grabbed a scroll from his pouch and threw it at Anko, the latter caught it, though some confusion was written on her face.
"What's this for brat?" She asked, gazing at the scroll in her hand.
Naruto looked at her for a second before responding, "You work for Morino Ibiki, right?" Naruto asked.
Anko nodded, still confused though. "Right well, bring that scroll to Morino-san, the contents inside are an A-rank secret, I trust you will do accordingly." Naruto jabbed blandly.
Anko snorted, "Of course I would gaki."
Naruto merely nodded before giving a lazy wave and vanishing in a shower of sparks.
Anko looked at the spot he vanished from for a couple of seconds before letting out a sigh, "Well I should probably get this to scarface." She muttered, walking off.
-With Naruto-
Naruto arrived back at his apartment hoping to achieve a few things before the day vanished. He walked towards his room and gazed at the desk, the thing was a mess of papers and scrolls.
He sat down at his desk unsealing several papers, 'Even after all these years, I haven't found one mention of you, Otsutsuki Indra.' Naruto thought annoyed. He had literally gone through every single history book in the Konoha library, being sure to thoroughly look through all of them, yet there was not one mention of this Otsutsuki Indra.
Inside his mindscape a certain fox snorted, 'Of course you haven't found anything, any information on him is long lost, not to mention he was already secretive as it is.'
Despite still not talking to him, Kurama continued to observe the boy in hopes of sensing any ill intentions from him. Now the ancient fox could care less about the village or any of the shinobi villages for that matter. But he still tried to uphold the duty his father gave him all those years ago.
Protect humanity at all costs.
Kurama tried and tried, but as the years went on, all humans did with his father's gift of chakra was wage in endless feuds in an attempt to gain power and higher supremacy. Some had even gone after his own power, they all failed and were killed in the process, but nonetheless tried.
Eventually, after what the humans called it, The Clan Wars Era, that stupid brat Madara used him to attack the other whelp, Hashirama Senju, or as Kurama would call him, wood rat.
Though one thing stood different between these two, they were the previous reincarnations. Kurama felt it, despite being under the Mangekyou Sharingan's genjutsu, he could feel Asura and Indra's chakra colliding, almost like their spirits were talking, one trying to snap the others deluded thinking, the other vehemently denying the latter's ideals.
Hashirama was victorious, but by that time Kurama had already been restrained and sealed into his first host, Uzumaki Mito.
At that point it was all history anyways.
His hatred for humanity continued for centuries, yet as soon as he was sealed in Naruto, it slowly died and in its place contained hope. Don't get him wrong, he still hated many humans, but the moment he felt Asura's chakra cling to this boy like a magnet, he felt as though he could retain some hope, just some.
That all changed the moment the brat received the Sharingan.
Somehow, in a one in a million chance, Indra's chakra clung in an almost futile attempt to Naruto. It acted as a symbiote, feeding off the boy's hatred to gain strength, the calm collected, and even peaceful boy on the outside was a complete put-off from the inside.
A storm-no, a hurricane of emotions and thoughts ran through Naruto's head at millions of miles per second, be that hate, anger, happiness, sadness, and even love. Kurama knew that much.
He would continue to observe the boy, no matter the circumstances.
Naruto sighed as he re-sealed all the contents of his scroll, yet again he'd failed to gain info on this man, "I want to believe he exists but I can't help but think that that dream I had was just a dream…"
A memory appeared in his mind, almost like a flashbang bright light appeared inside his head, opting him to grip the side of his head in somewhat of a pain.
'Don't worry! I'll protect you no matter what, little brother!' A child-like voice said in his mind.
Naruto in a spout of anger slammed his hand on the desk, "Dammit! Just what the hell is happening to me!" He shouted angrily. He calmed down immediately, it was embarrassing. Not having better control of his emotions, he was a shinobi after all.
Shinobi Rule #25, "No matter the situation, a shinobi must never show emotion. You must make the mission your top priority, and you must possess a heart that never shows tears."
He sighed for the umpteenth time before standing up and walking towards his bed and lying down in an attempt to sleep.
Though his efforts were in vain. With that in mind, he simply stared at the ceiling with an empty gaze. Shinobi were miserable people, it was no surprise he was the same.
-The Next Day, Konoha Academy-
Iruka Umino looked proudly at the gathering of students in front of him, this year's rookies. Iruka stepped up to the small podium in the front of the class, feigning a cough into his hand to get the attention of his class.
Seeing them continue to talk, Iruka gained a tick mark, "Ehem!"
They continued to talk.
Iruka's head grew like a giant balloon with multiple tick marks scattering his face, "SHUT UP AND LISTEN!" Every student in the class snapped their heads towards the irate teacher.
Iruka's face calmed considerably, "Alright now that I have your attention, I'd like to say first and foremost, congratulations." Each student smiled proudly at the proclamation.
"Now despite graduating the academy, each of you is but genin, the lowest of the low." Each student slumped. "Make no mistake, you are now shinobi of Konohagakure, you each have duties to uphold and you are Konoha's future!" He said passionately.
Iruka saw the shocked look in their eyes and smiled to himself. "I will now start team announcements,"
"Team 1…." Iruka started off.
Iruka looked at the seventh team with wide eyes, 'I would have thought he was chunin already at least!"
"Team 7, Satsuki Uchiha, Karin Uzumaki, And-" He was interrupted as the door slid open.
Naruto Uzumaki walked in wearing a sheepish expression. Every head turned towards him, each wearing different expressions, some of confusion, a few happy, and a few….Lust, Naruto shook his head and looked towards Iruka.
"Naruto Uzumaki." Iruka muttered.
Naruto rubbed the back of his head, "Did I interrupt something?" He asked sheepishly.
"Hardly, I was just giving out teams," Iruka responded curtly.
Naruto eye-smiled and went to sit down, pretending to not notice all the looks pointed his way.
"What the hell is he doing here!?" Kiba Inuzuka shouted, rather rudely in Naruto's opinion.
Naruto stopped and raised an eyebrow at the boy. "Didn't you hear? I'm here for team assignments." He informed Kiba calmly.
"I know that much! But why are you here? You left years ago then all of a sudden you're back and graduated! You didn't even take the test!" Kiba argued.
Naruto sighed, he didn't need to tell him anything. But not saying anything would cause him to continue arguing with the boy and if he did tell him… Well, it's not like he was ordered to keep his missions a secret but they were covert enough to cause several unwanted problems.
"Listen, I didn't take the test because I've been a genin since I 'left'," Naruto said, making sure to emphasize the word left.
Kiba smirked, "So you're still a genin, Ha! What a loser!" Kiba mocked the blonde.
"A loser is defined by what one would call defeat… And I don't recall a time where I was ever defeated by you," Naruto said calmly.
Kiba was about to speak before a gust of wind blew by his head, he noticed Naruto was missing!
Kiba looked behind him and froze.
The blonde normally lazy-looking genin was glaring at him with his heterochromia eyes. Though Naruto's posture was still lazy and uncaring, his different colored eyes glared at him laced with a high amount of killing intent.
"That big mouth of yours won't do you well in the shinobi world, you'd do best to keep it shut…" Naruto said lazily, though he seemed extremely menacing in the dog boy's opinion. As Naruto walked away, Kiba couldn't help but shiver extensively. Naruto's aura was dangerous, Kiba knew that for certain.
-Konoha Academy, Behind A Wall
A few Konoha jonin were observing the entire class from a secret area that overlooked the entire room, a couple of them frowned at the blatant threat that the blonde gave but shrugged it off.
"Wow Kakashi, That's one mean brat you got there." A tall bearded jounin commented blandly.
"Hmm, he's not usually that touchy with things but I suppose he's a bit grumpy," Kakashi commented idly.
"A bit? He just threatened his future comrade without hesitation." A raven-haired female said with clear animosity,
Kakashi chuckled awkwardly, gaining weird looks from his peers.
"I suppose I should talk to him about that…" Kakashi said sheepishly. Everybody in the vicinity either facepalmed or snorted.
The raven-haired woman snarled slightly, "No shinobi bearing a leaf headband should actively threaten one another." She grumbled.
"Be that as it may, you can't argue with the results. With him as my teammate, I've completed almost 250 missions with him, all above C-rank." Kakashi informed the woman.
The jounin in the room went wide-eyed, a boy no older than twelve had a mission record that high. It was almost unheard of, only shinobi veterans had that kind of record. The only exceptions were Kakashi himself, and Itachi Uchiha.
Kakashi because war times called for desperate measures, and Kakashi being six years old was no exception, shinobi on the field were desperately needed, and having talent would only boost your obligations. Kakashi was promoted to chunin at 6, and during another 6 year period would only encourage them to promote him to jounin at 12, due to his extensive efforts and tutelage under Minato Namikaze.
During the war Kakashi undertook several hundred missions, be that C to A rank as S-ranks were reserved for the skilled jonin and Anbu, and even gained a bingo book entry, opting other villages to give him nicknames for identification purposes.
Kakashi of the Sharingan
The Copy Ninja Kakashi
A prodigy like himself was said to be one in one-hundred thousand.
Even then only a few years later, did the village give birth to an arguably; depending on who you asked, even greater shinobi.
Itachi Uchiha was promoted to genin at age 7 due to his exponential skill shown in Konoha's academy, Itachi was considered a genius in every shinobi section, being compared to the likes of Hatake Kakashi, and even Namikaze Minato. Throughout a few years, Itachi was promoted to chunin and elected to join the Anbu Black Ops, a special task force composed of highly elite shinobi from Konoha that only the best could join, Itachi himself was put under the tutelage of Kakashi Hatake.
They completed many missions in the black ops, undertaking covert operations that if caught, could've sparked a war with several countries. But they were considered the best team for a reason. Though the Third Hokage saw fit for Itachi to become a captain of his own black ops team, later slaughtering his own clan, many thought he snapped under the pressure, or just hated everything. His story still remains a mystery.
"Kakashi, I understand that you like him, but he still is just a genin, if he'd done those kinds of missions he'd surely be a jonin!" Kurenai gaped, unable to contain her shock.
Kakashi sighed lazily, "Think what you want, but I have been with the boy for almost five years, and I can say for certain, he is no slouch." Kakashi responded.
The others just shook their heads, there was no point in arguing, they would just have to see for themselves.
-Back with Naruto-
After his small chat with Kiba, Naruto ignored the reprimanding glare Iruka gave him and walked up the steps towards his teammates. He saw Karin and Satsuki sitting next to each other and went to sit next to them.
"Naruto-niisan, I didn't think you would be on our team," Karin whispered.
"Yeah, what gives? I didn't think you would be on our team either, Naruto-kun." Satsuki added.
Naruto gained a sad look, and stared at the two, "Eh? Why's that? Am I not good enough?" He questioned in mock hurt.
They both rolled their eyes at his obviously over-dramatic statement, opting for Naruto to sit down at the empty seat. The trio sat in silence, only listening to the idle banter between their classmates and whatnot.
Naruto closed his eyes hoping to meditate, assuming Kakashi would be late, he would have plenty of time. Taking a deep breath, he slowly flared his chakra; not enough to garner the attention of the class, but enough to help it flow through his individual tenketsu.
Naruto felt it smoothly travel from point to point, each passing time only getting easier the next. Delving deeper, he felt the individual affinities of each element he pertained to, lightning, wind, and water almost speaking to him invitingly. He opened his eyes, looking forward in interest, he had expected this much, but not in this sort of fashion.
A giant blue storm in the middle, elegant, yet chaotic at the same time, several bolts of lightning sparking around the empty black plane, a horde of clouds bombarding its great strikes.
To the left, a smaller, but still otherwise giant funnel of air, screeching, almost as if the individual particles of air were grinding against each other. The sharp needle-like debris twisted in conjunction with it, giving the funnel an almost ethereal white glint.
Turning his head to the right, a dense dark blue mass of water.
Calm.
Dead Calm.
The small area of water eluded an aura of total calm, but Naruto knew better, beneath all that calm was a raging rip-tide waiting to be unleashed in a destructive tsunami, obliterating anything in its path.
Naruto looked down, but before he could see it, a hand was pressed softly on his shoulder.
Had he looked down, he would have seen a raging inferno, a small fire affinity blooming.
He opened his eyes to see Satsuki looking at him in interest.
"Sensei's here, what were you doing?" She asked in curiosity, she had seen him meditate before, something along the lines of 'taming' his chakra as if it were some wild animal, she never questioned it, with that in mind whenever he did meditate, Naruto's chakra tended to flare with destructive properties.
It was truly frightening.
-Flashback, 2 Years Ago, Uchiha Training Grounds
Satsuki was walking towards a private training ground only a few knew about.
As she arrived, she saw the mop of blonde hair she was looking for. Before she could run up to him though, a giant dark blue aura surrounded him, shattering the ground beneath him.
Satsuki immediately fell to her knees breathing heavily, still staring at the blonde sitting down with his legs crossed.
He looked so concentrated, was this his chakra? She thought.
The winds began to pick up around them, blowing her hair wildly around her body. The giant mass of chakra blasted in a second wave, almost making her lose whatever control she had over her body.
Sweat dripped from her forehead, how could his chakra be so powerful? She had only heard of chakra this destructive from the tales of the First Hokage. Before she could think any longer the pressure left.
She felt the oxygen return in a steadfast motion, her breathing stabilizing. Satsuki heard footsteps and looked up to see Naruto, he seemed worried.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
Satsuki nodded, although barely. Her body was still heavy from the pressure, if she tried to get up now, she would only fall back on her knees.
Naruto sighed, she hadn't ever been exposed to chakra as potent as his. He had to get it under control, or he could have very well sent her into cardiac arrest from the stress he put on her body.
He had barely sensed her, it was only the fact that she was unconsciously releasing her own chakra that he had. He would have to tread carefully with that from now on.
Satsuki looked up at the blonde still regaining her breath, his chakra was still so immense that she could feel it even if he wasn't actively flaring it. She frowned, how could he have so much, she knew even Itachi didn't have this much.
She closed her eyes, she felt tired and could only hear a faint yell that was her name…
-End Flashback
But now? He was almost invisible, he was completely undetectable.
"Nothing I wouldn't normally do," Naruto responded, 'A pity I couldn't see what was below me' He said in afterthought, that was the first time he had dove that deep into his chakra system.
It was interesting to say the least, nothing he didn't expect; his father's notes had said something of that sort would happen. Nevertheless, he was surprised, chakra in such an…Ethereal form. No other words could really describe it, it was beautiful, yet deadly at the same time.
Lost in his own thoughts, he had totally forgotten why he was thinking about it in the first place.
An irate-looking Satsuki was staring at him with a twitching eyebrow, 'The nerve of this idiot!'
She slowly raised her hand and whacked him on his head, causing the blonde to fall out of his chair and nurse his head with his hand.
"Ouch…" Naruto muttered in an annoyed voice, glaring up towards the smirking Uchiha.
Karin was waiting, standing by the door idly watching the two banter, smiling all the while. It was a welcome change as opposed to Kusa, she'd rather not remember those days whatsoever.
Before she could get lost in her thoughts, Naruto and Satsuki walked over to the door, the latter slightly glaring at the former, though if you looked close enough, you'd see the slight smile on her face.
"Well, what did he say?" Naruto asked, albeit confused because Naruto had thought Kakashi would have made them wait another three hours. It was refreshing to not have to wait longer for the lazy bastard.
"He said to meet on the roof," Karin stated
Naruto nodded, and before Karin or Satsuki could comprehend what was happening, they were both grabbed on the shoulder and vanished, a small tear in space lingered in their absence for not even half a second.
-Roof of the Academy-
Kakashi sat on the rail of the roof, silently gazing out toward the village.
The last two years had been…Demanding. Both he and Naruto had taken almost one hundred missions together due to the sudden influx of Iwa shinobi in Kusa.
Kusa's shinobi corps had almost been completely annihilated by the Iwa shinobi, the rest merely taken as prisoners for Iwa's military.
Had Kusa still maintained proper leadership, Iwa would have not attacked. What was Ohnoki thinking? The only reason the surrounding nations have not retaliated was due to Kusagakure's lack of allies and leadership, Iwa merely saw an opportunity and took it. It was almost like wiping out a bandit camp for them, the only difference being that they were shinobi and therefore were far more difficult to deal with.
They had got greedy though and had tried crossing Hi no Kuni borders without warrants, setting up small camps to hopefully gain information on Hi no Kuni and Konoha by that extent. Kakashi and Naruto had been sent to patrol the borders due to reports of foreign nin entering without passports. A simple assassination, any attempt to cross Hi no Kuni's borders as a foreign nin were met with death, Hi no Kuni nor Konoha could afford to be seen as weak…
Kakashi was broken out of his thoughts when a trio of genin appeared in front of him in an instant, one eye smiling, the other two on the ground, looking quite nauseous.
"What the hell was that!" Satsuki growled out, irritation seeping through her teeth as she clutched her stomach. Karin was no worse for wear, she hadn't said anything and a small green hue illuminated her face.
Naruto looked down at the two and eye-smiled, "Sorry, I forgot the side effects of instantaneous travel," He answered sheepishly.
Kakashi, though, was interested, how had the boy teleported without a marker, the blonde was around twenty feet away from him, and Kakashi knew from personal experience the Hiraishin's range.
Naruto saw the look Kakashi was giving, and mysteriously pointed to Kakashi's wrist, who upon looking at it, saw several kanji marking down his arm, 'When and how did he…?'
"Well, enough of that, let's get started!" Kakashi said with a clap of his hands.
Satsuki and Karin groaned in unison as they sat up, Naruto simply sat down on the stairs.
"Well tell me about yourselves, likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams, you know…" Kakashi trailed off.
"Why don't you go first?" Satsuki retorted groggily.
Kakashi sighed, "Well my name is Kakashi Hatake, I have a few likes, many dislikes, my hobbies? I don't know! My dreams? I don't have any!" He said cheerfully.
'All we got was his name…' Karin and Satsuki thought in deadpan.
Naruto just face-palmed.
"Well how about you next Naruto," Kakashi said, pointing towards Naruto
"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, my likes are Ramen, missions and I suppose learning new ninjutsu, my dislikes are traitors and…'Danzo and Madara'… Other things, My hobbies, meh. My dream? I don't really know…"
"Well…Thanks for sharing Naruto, you next tomato," Kakashi said, gesturing to the redhead.
Karin bristled in anger at the nickname but held her tongue, "My name is Karin Uzumaki, my likes are ramen, hanging out with Naruto-nii, reading, and watering plants, my dislikes are those who call me a tomato," Glaring at Kakashi all the while, "People who look down on others, and people who take advantage of others."
"My hobbies are the same as my likes, my dream? I've never really thought about it." She finished with a small smile.
"Very nice! How about you, broody princess?" Kakashi chirped brightly, making Naruto sigh at the man's obnoxious behavior.
Satsuki glared heatedly at the silver-haired jonin, "Whatever, My name is Satsuki Uchiha, I like tomatoes, taking walks and," She briefly glanced over to Naruto, though he wasn't paying enough attention to see, "And spending time with my mother, my dislikes are traitors, and people who keep secrets from others close to them,"
"My hobbies are taking walks and training. My dream is to restore the Uchiha clan." She stated with a small blush, not that anyone could see, it would be unfitting of an Uchiha after all…
Kakashi smiled, it seemed like this team was going to be good after all, "Well now that we're all acquainted with one another, I think I should set some things straight," Kakashi started off, looking each genin in the eye.
"Now normally, the jonin would be required to test the three genin to make sure they could each work together with moderate compatibility, but seeing as i've known and worked with Naruto for almost five years, and he's individually close to you two, that won't be the case," Kakashi explained lightly.
Before any of them could speak up though, Kakashi interrupted, "But, that goes without saying, although you aren't being pressured by the test and potentially sent back into the academy, I'm still going to test the two of you to assure you won't be burdens on the field." Kakashi informed the trio.
Satsuki and Karin nodded, each with an excited yet nervous look on their face. Meanwhile, Naruto had a serious look on his face, he needed to see how well Satsuki had grown. With Orochimaru still on the loose, he needed to see how well they held up against a stronger opponent.
"Any questions?" Kakashi asked.
The three shook their heads, it was pretty straightforward, fight him, evaluate your skill, done. It wasn't like they were being actively plotted against each other in some test they didn't know about…
"Meet at training ground seven tomorrow morning at seven, don't be late, Ja Ne!" Kakashi said, the three nodding in correspondence.
Kakashi vanished in a Konoha variant shunshin, leaves swirling around the roof in his wake.
Satsuki was the first to get up, "Well I'm going to go home, Kaa-san needs my help around the house."
Karin and Naruto nodded and got up as well, "I have something to do as well, see ya tomorrow!" Karin said, running off the side of the building.
Satsuki gave a small wave and vanished in a Shunshin, leaving Naruto to himself.
He gave one last look around before vanishing in a shower of sparks.
Naruto's Apartment-
After arriving inside, he went to his bedroom and shut the door before sighing, Karin had moved out last year, opting to live in a shinobi residential home. A small apartment, nothing special, but now he was once again left to himself. Not that he cared too much, it had always been like that.
Sitting down on the edge of his bed he gazed down toward his hands, his blood-stained hands. The past two years had done nothing good for him, the amount of death he'd witnessed was almost too much for him, yet his duty as a Shinobi serving under the Hokage outweighed all of that…
-Flashback, 1 Year Ago, Hi no Kuni Borders-
Three men surrounded a fire, just small enough to keep them relatively warm in the cool night. A small argument could be heard, budding between two people.
"Tsuchikage-sama gave us orders! Why are we treading so close to Hi no Kuni!" A man whispered anxiously.
"You know just as well as I do! The Leaf is weak right now, this is our chance to gain information on them and-!" The second man yelled back quietly before getting cut off.
"Are you willing to wage war simply for baseless information?" A third man asked calmly, interrupting the banter between the two.
The second man looked towards him, letting out a small scoff, "I guess not, but my point still stands, if we were able to get this close without any of those Leaf dogs stopping us, just think about what we would be able to gain with a small squadron of ours, we'd be able to-" He was once again cut off, this time by the first man.
"Be able to what?! Get slaughtered needlessly and have the Hokage retaliate!" He snapped
The second man snorted, "As if! That peace-loving Hokage would just try to make amends to prevent war!"
The third man simply got up and walked into his tent, there was no point in listening to a pointless conversation.
The first man followed suit, but not before leaving a message, "You'd do well to remember our orders, should you fail to follow them, I will personally write you up for insubordination, and have your shinobi license stripped, this is not up for discussion."
The second man snarled, 'Those cowards! I'm sure Tsuchikage-sama would agree to this, fucking cowards' He thought angrily.
The man got up and stormed back to his tent, though before he could open the flap, a kunai slammed into his neck, preventing him from screaming. The man choked on his blood, he looked to his left and spotted a small blonde boy gazing coldly at him.
The man froze when he spotted the leaf insignia plated on the boy's headband, 'Fucking Leaf dogs…' were the man's last thoughts before succumbing to death.
The smaller blonde stepped forward to catch his body before it fell to the ground, preventing any noise from escaping the corpse
Setting him on the ground softly, he made a small hand signal and another man appeared in front of him in a flash of speed, the man was much taller than the other one.
They stepped in unison towards the tents, the smaller of the two making another hand signal as they reached the tents, eliciting the bigger one stop.
The smaller one reached his hand out and flowed chakra through his palm, a small variation of kanji spreading throughout the entirety of the tent.
The smaller one looked toward the bigger one in confirmation, the older one nodded, both of them leaving in a shunshin, once they landed in their designated spot; several meters away, the smaller one held up a half ram sign.
BOOM!
A shower of dirt, ash, and blood reached their eyes. A miserable death, not even able to react.
"Are you sure that needed to happen, Kakashi?" the smaller one questioned.
Kakashi gazed at the destruction, almost in interest. "Not for sure, it was a rash thought on my end but we can't be for certain, I'm sure you heard their conversation," Kakashi said.
Naruto clenched his jaw wearily, "Then why didn't we capture them and interrogate them for info?" Naruto asked as though Kakashi's response was ludacris.
"You know just as well as I do that would have led to a full-scale fight, something like that can't be allowed to happen, we don't know if there were more in contact with them, for now, all we can give them is just death," Kakashi stated firmly. Naruto lost focus for a moment and anger washed over him.
"We're shinobi, not animals! Why must we partake in needless slaughter?!" Naruto argued, his emotions in control of him rather than the reverse.
"Sometimes as shinobi, we must set aside our humanity and annihilate our enemies. I can guarantee they feel the same and will not hesitate to end you and your comrades!" Kakashi retorted. He had seen it, after all, his experience as a third shinobi war veteran had stopped his naive thoughts.
"You give the enemy a hand, and they return it with a kunai jammed in your back," Kakashi said, his voice portraying no emotion.
Naruto gave no argument, he hated the way things were, but Kakashi was right, there was no changing someone's thoughts, let alone their resolve for their village.
Naruto stood there for a few moments, staring at the destruction, the dirt was still falling in the air. He noticed several pieces of their tents falling to the ground as well, almost like snow.
A piece of paper drifted in the wind, falling directly at his feet, it was burned on the edges, but still visible. Naruto bent down to look at it, it was a picture.
The man he had killed outside was in it, standing next to a woman, a small bulge on her stomach, both smiling brilliantly at the camera.
Naruto simply stared at the picture, a scowl forming on his face, bitter thoughts entertaining his brain. He sent lightning chakra through his palms and zapped the picture with an extreme voltage, burning it to dust.
Kakashi saw what he was looking at, what a horrible weight on a child's mind he thought, this was his sensei's son, the least he should do is help.
Kakashi grabbed his shoulder, "It's time we head back towards the village, there's no telling what will happen should we stay."
Naruto nodded blankly and they both vanished in a shunshin.
Only at that moment did Naruto truly understand the life of a shinobi, a truly savage way it is.
End Flashback-
The shinobi world was truly cursed, no one could be prepared for the horrors they saw. Such a disgusting way of living.
Killing for the sake of one's nation without reason did not sit well with him, but he would do it because that is his purpose as a Konoha shinobi and its resident Jinchuriki. To protect and serve the Hokage and his people till his last breath.
Naruto stood back up and let out a sigh, what a horrible memory. He decided to go out and train, his mind needed something else to focus on.
Several Hours Later, Training Ground 7
Scattered across the field were lots of kunai and burn marks, similar to that of high voltage output.
Naruto could be found standing in the center of that destruction, wielding his chokuto, with his headband now over his eye, as well as several of his shadow clones standing a few meters apart. Naruto looked at them with sharp, narrowed eyes, sending chakra to his feet and vanishing almost instantly out of his position, he appeared right behind one of the clones, holding his blade in a reverse grip fashion, the clone exploded in a cloud of smoke before it even had time to react.
A slice straight through the stomach at high speeds destroyed it instantly.
The other clones seemingly got the message and charged towards the original, each with the intent to kill.
Naruto resealed his sword and took out two kunai, charging them both with lightning chakra. As the first clone made contact, their kunai met with a clang, Naruto smirked slightly and channeled lightning chakra in his foot before vanishing in a small flash.
The clone lost its balance only for a second, but before he could regain it, he felt a kunai stab through his back, dispelling him. Before Naruto could comprehend his win, he was forced on the defensive with several water bullets being spat towards him.
Two clones charged at him on both his left and right. Naruto jumped into the air backward and took a moment to view his surroundings, two clones on each side of him and two in front.
He took two kunai out of his pouch while still in mid-air and threw two, one on his left and one on his right, hitting both clones straight through the forehead, dispelling them immediately. Naruto took two more kunai out of his pouch and threw it at the source of the oncoming water jutsu, though before the kunai left his hand a small seal shimmered on the handle of the kunai.
Naruto smirked before repositioning his body so he wouldn't land with the wrong footing.
The clones saw the kunai land at their feet in front of them and immediately tried to escape, but unfortunately, they were each slashed across the stomach with a wind chakra-enhanced kunai. Naruto looked at his surroundings for a moment, trying to regain his senses, that jutsu was still disorienting, if he did not know exactly where the enemy was going to be, he would most likely be killed.
As soon as he stood up, a brutal kick across his head sent him flying towards the clearing.
'Yup definitely would be,' He thought in mid-air. Naruto flipped back and landed in a crouch, sliding back a bit.
He looked up and saw his clone vanishing and reappearing in an extreme show of speed, leaving several after images in multiple directions, 'Flying Slash' He thought.
Naruto flicked his headband up and activated his Sharingan, not wanting to be on the other side of that dangerous Jutsu. Naruto saw the clone pivoting in several directions before vanishing completely.
He immediately sent lightning chakra to his finger and shot it out of the tip like a small bullet directly behind him.
Naruto heard a poof, 'Predictable, a strike to the hem of my neck is my only blindspot,' Naruto thought.
Naruto felt the ground break slightly and immediately unsealed his chokuto; lightning coating its blade and stabbed it into the Earth, a muffled poof signifying another clone's demise.
His strategy needed work, his clones were extremely predictable, and should he encounter a shinobi with more or as much experience as him, he would undoubtedly be at a high disadvantage.
A disorienting chakra entered his system, snapping Naruto out of his thoughts and forcing him to break the genjutsu that was harassing his chakra system.s6
Gaining immediate awareness of his surroundings, Naruto saw a massive fireball speeding in his direction. He quickly stood in a stance and sent wind chakra to his hand, snapping his fingers before the fireball could make contact, successfully dispersing it.
However, a hard punch to his right kidney flung him across the ground. His body twisted and spun on the ground as he continued to fly across the ground. As he got up, Naruto gripped his side, what a nasty shot, that had rendered him immobile for almost a second. He needed to be more careful when using that move, it left him open and he paid in full.
The pain slowly disappeared as he viewed his surroundings with the sharingan. With the enhanced vision, he spotted a few chakra signatures speeding towards him, each weaving hand signs for a different jutsu.
'Sandaime-sama won't like the damage this will bring to the training ground,' Naruto thought trepidatiously.
The backlash of the jutsus being launched would no doubt destroy half of the place, damn his battle-hungry clones…
Naruto's Sharingan spun fastly, activating a wide-scale genjutsu. His clones stopped their advance, Naruto took that opening and charged a high amount of lightning chakra into his feet and vanished in a crackle, reappearing in front of one clone, slashing his throat, vanishing again, he stabbed another through the heart, the third clone had broken free of the genjutsu and already disappeared from his place.
Naruto had counted on this though. He stomped his foot on the ground and sent a small wave of chakra through it. Naruto felt his chakra pass by an object with a mass amount of chakra; his clone. It was 30 meters North-East, channeling chakra for something unknown; Naruto, frankly, didn't want to know what.
Smirking slightly, Naruto made a few hand signs, Katon: Neppa (Fire Release: Heatwave) A wide-spread fire jutsu, like the Great Breakthrough, though the differences were noticeable.
The fire arced in a wheel-like fashion, spreading out and around Naruto like a giant half wheel. The ground scorched and burned with such an intense heat that turned everything it touched to ashes almost immediately.
Though the jutsu was powerful, and rather destructive depending on the amount of chakra channeled, it was extremely dangerous and could only be used with those who have high control over the wind element.
The user would do the basic fireball jutsu, but instead of blowing out like you would a fireball, they would blow out a vat of flames, the wind chakra would be sent through the user's hand, almost like the Great Breakthrough Jutsu, but in a smaller caliber. The wind would essentially be sucked up by the fire but be sent in a wave-like fashion due to the momentum created from the wind.
The reason it was dangerous was that, if the wind chakra was sent out too fast or too much, it would explode in your hands, melting them off.
The Naruto clone didn't even have time to react before he was engulfed in an extreme heatwave.
The original Naruto saw the clone explode and immediately fell to his knees.
'I think that's enough for today, my reserves are only a quarter left.' Naruto thought, panting lightly. His body hurt, despite being just clones, they hit just as hard as the original. After several minutes of rest, Naruto stood up and vanished, heading back towards his apartment, hopefully for a decent night's rest and some food.
-Naruto's Apartment
Naruto walked directly through the front door and immediately went to the kitchen. He was starving, the fight with his clones had provided him with several details and holes in his strategy and fighting style.
He opened a drawer and pulled out a small pot and filled it with water. As he watched the water boil on the stove, he couldn't help but remember a certain time. During the past two years due to the demands in missions, Kakashi had trained Naruto in the ways of the Anbu. Lethal precise strikes, silence, and chakra suppressing skills. All that knowledge yet he still felt inadequate.
Compared to the likes of Madara, he was still but a brat learning to tie his shoes. Even Danzo was no slouch, he hated to admit as much but the man had an army of several hundred anbu level shinobi and kunoichi, if he could control them without so much as a problem, then Naruto would certainly have problems with him.
A distinct memory pooped into his mind, cloudy as it was he could still see the entire picture.
-Flashback, 1 Year Ago, Konoha
After an almost two-month mission, Naruto was ready to simply go home and rest. Though Kakashi made him sit through the entire mission report, it was just as boring as he remembered.
"...After several more searches, we did not see any trace of Iwa shinobi." Kakashi finished, causing Naruto to sigh in relief, though the Hokage had a troubled look on his face.
"They pressed you two without any sort of strategy and continued to do so in the same fashion. That is certainly an issue, Iwa shinobi are certainly stubborn, but that does not mean they're stupid." Hiruzen said to the two shinobi in front of him.
Kakashi and Naruto nodded though, the latter more absentmindedly. "What does surprise me is that Naruto didn't end up in their bingo books," Kakashi said, causing Naruto to snort.
Kakashi raised an eyebrow, "You find something funny, Naruto?"
Naruto looked at him for a moment almost questioningly. "You say you are surprised, yet every encounter we had with the Iwa shinobi, they were left dead at our feet, you made sure of that, no info exchanged between each other…"
Kakashi nodded, "That's true, but you should never underestimate a shinobi's drive, one of them could have very well planted info somewhere for their comrades to find, even in the face of death."
The Hokage looked at the exchange with something akin to nostalgia, in this same room a similar conversation had happened, though the difference was, in Kakashi's place was Minato Namikaze and in Naruto's place was Kakashi himself.
Like teacher, like student was certainly a statement to be withheld.
"Kakashi is right Naruto, you certainly cannot count out everything, which is why this is serious." Hiruzen looked at Naruto, "Are you absolutely certain no one escaped, were there any residual chakra signatures?"
Naruto knew what the Hokage meant, Danzo was still on the loose, not even a bingo book entry was given to him, he was of the same status as Hiruzen, if Konoha reported that one of their elders had gone rogue, many would actively engage them.
Naruto shook his head, "There aren't many things that can escape my sensory field, there is only one man that I can think of that can, and with how things are looking, he could definitely be behind it…"
Hiruzen stared at Naruto's face, the grave look in the boy's eyes showed him exactly who they were talking about.
"Just who exactly?" Kakashi asked. If this man was enough to warrant the God of Shinobi's attention, just how powerful is he?
It was Naruto who spoke.
"He is not a man to be trifled with, I know that much from experience, I believe even you have encountered him before Kakashi," He started, gazing towards Hiruzen asking an unspoken question; the Sandaime nodded, eliciting Naruto to continue.
Kakashi was confused, what man were they talking about? Surely he would have remembered him if his strength was something both were weary about…
Before he could open his mouth, Naruto cut in.
"This man has infiltrated the village on several occasions; twice now, leaving more than enough damage to cripple us and our military. What I am about to show you, cannot leave this room, you will not speak about it, you won't even think about it unless Hokage-sama feels it necessary." Naruto looked at Kakashi dead in the eye, the latter feeling rather insulted by the genin ordering him around.
Kakashi looked towards the Hokage, the older man nodded without question. It was Naruto who broke the unwanted silence between the trio.
"11 years ago, the Nine-Tailed fox seemingly appeared in the village, destroying everything in its wake, killing thousands. But that's not what happened, not fully" Naruto's eyes narrowed and his right eye pulsed.
Kakashi found himself placed in a genjutsu, many things running through his head at what felt like a million miles per hour! His brain could comprehend how it was happening, it all felt too real.
It was truly a nightmare.
He saw his sensei fighting this masked man, who kept seemingly 'phasing' through him. How could that be? Minato-sensei was the fastest man alive, how could he not hit him!
Kakashi couldn't react in time before he was suddenly sucked into a new area. His sensei was still there but Kakashi knew that killing intent all too well. He gazed up and saw several red tails swinging in a violent fashion, destroying everything in a horrid path of destruction.
The tails were soon encased in a bright set of golden chains, Kakashi knew who those chains belonged to though. Just before he could look in that direction though, a heavy chill enveloped him, it was so unbelievably cold and the pressure was so dense, it felt like several tons of bricks were just thrown upon him instantly!
Kakashi turned around and gasped.
His sensei had summoned the Shinigami.
The ethereal being gazed towards the fox with an empty expression before thrusting its hands forward, directly into the fox's gut. The fox in a last-ditch effort barreled its claws towards an altar.
Kakashi saw it all in what felt like slow motion, his sensei had thrown himself in between the claw in the altar, getting pierced through the stomach with an oversized nail.
Kakashi found it unbearable, it was like a raging inferno! The anger, the hatred! His throat clenched, his eyes watered, he felt his blood boil, he wanted to lash out and kill everything! It was just too much- wait… His anger died.
Kakashi looked down at his hands…These hands… were not his. He took off his forehead protector and looked into his reflection, his golden blonde hair, blue and black eyes.
Kakashi realized this was not his point of view, but Naruto's.
The genjutsu ended in his moment of realization, causing Kakashi to fall to his knees; breathing heavily. His mind was trying to process all this information at the same time.
How could Naruto's genjutsu be so powerful? He was in that genjutsu for what felt like hours, yet it looked as though it had been only a few seconds and Naruto was still just tapping into his potential as a shinobi.
Kakashi looked towards Naruto, the boy staring into seemingly nothing. Kakashi was about to speak, but Hiruzen beat him to it.
"That is what we were referring to Kakashi, that man is dangerous, far more dangerous than anything we have seen before." Hiruzen gravely stated.
"That was only one of the many things he has done…" Naruto added, a hint of frustration seeping through.
Kakashi had so many questions, his head was running a million miles per second, he could hardly process it. Kakashi took a deep breath and spoke, "Naruto, he said he only had a fraction of his power? Just who the hell is he?"
Naruto looked at Kakashi dead in the eyes and mouthed two words that would be stuck in Kakashi's head for years to come, "Uchiha Madara,"
-End Flashback
The Hokage had sent them back out several more times, each for the same purpose of gaining info on the whereabouts of Danzo and or Madara. Naruto though, knew they would not find anything on them, both covered their tracks far better than anyone he had encountered, ever.
Hiruzen knew that too, but they just needed to be sure, nothing was absolute, especially in the world of shinobi.
Naruto's train of thought was interrupted by the water boiling over the pot, spilling on the stove in front of him. He sighed for seemingly the hundredth time today, nothing could ever be simple…
After cleaning up his mess, he cooked his food. A simple noodle dish, nothing special nor lavish, although it was definitely an upgrade compared to those horrid ration bars they were forced to scarf down on the field.
Clearing his dishes, he went to his bedroom, hopefully for a peaceful night's rest, though he wouldn't be surprised should the occasional night terror fall before him.
Naruto's thoughts all remained the same clustered mess it always has been. His focus though, was on tomorrow, he had over the years not been able to see Satsuki as much nor how well she has developed as a Kunoichi.
He hoped she would do well, he hoped his mission wouldn't fail.
-Line Cut-
A.N
Wow.
I'd like to first of all apologize, I have been extremely inactive on this site for far too long. I had a really, really bad case of writer's block, and that led to an extreme lack of motivation. I still think about this story every day and truly wish to finish it at some point in the future. I think I will try to update at least once every two months. But don't expect short chapters at all, if I do that sort of time frame, they'll range from 10-20k words at least.
But, end of my shitty apology, I really do enjoy doing this, and any reviews, constructive criticism, or straight-up hate would be appreciated.
Thanks for reading and I hope to see you in the next one.