Notes : I am working ahead! Chapter 5 is already in progress! If you have any suggestions, let me know ahead of time.
I have also edited these three chapters to include line breaks.
A long line means entirely different scene, small dash is just a change in location or time, but same scene.
Disclaimer : I do not own any part of the Naruto franchise.
Darth Kyuubi kurama : Thanks! I will continue it, as long as I am able to. Even if I have to focus on academics, I'll likely come back during break or something.
Stephane az : thanks!
LB Cat : Ikr? Hiashi bashing is one of my least favourite things in fics.
Chapter 3 - I can't think of a good name.
Naruto blinked groggily, and sat up.
Why was he surrounded by what seemed like the aftermath of a battle again?
Oh, right. Those god forsaken seals.
He groaned. Why was fūinjutsu so hard? And how much of a genius was his father if he had not only recreated but even improved the Hiraishin before he was even a jōnin?
Naruto shook his head, and went to wash his face, brush his teeth, and downed a cup of steaming hot food-of-the-gods.
"Didn't Jiji tell me the temporary Hokage has something to tell me?"
He drained the last few drops of broth from the paper cup, and then set off to the Hokage Tower.
Jiraiya silently cried as his secretary brought him another stack of papers. His calling was the battlefield, not the office!
Oh well. He'll probably get Shikaku or someone to act as proxy for a few weeks soon, while he searches for Tsunade.
Speaking of searching, wasn't Minato's kid supposed to come see him? Or was it the other way around?
Jiraiya sighed. He felt bad for not taking Naruto with him, but his spy business was harsh, and bringing a kid with him was akin to placing a "Kill me!" sign on Naruto's back.
"Hokage-sama, some..one's here to see you."
Judging by her tone, Jiraiya had a pretty good guess as to who it was.
"Well, speak of the devil…" he muttered.
Jiraiya raised his head, and he was not surprised in the least to see Naruto standing there.
He sighed. It was time.
"I suppose you're here to hear what "I had to tell you", no?"
Naruto nodded, curiosity overflowing in his expression and body language.
Jiraiya gestured for the ANBU team and secretary to leave.
Then he turned to Naruto, with a face void of any emotion, and spoke.
"I'm your godfather."
"WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU THEN?"
Jiraiya winced as a fist greeted his cheek. He did not retaliate.
"I deserved that. But you should know, I was the spymaster of Konoha."
Jiraiya's eyes told of his profound regret and sadness. "If I took you with me, that would be akin to begging people to kill you. A child, with a Sannin who never showed any sign of marriage or fatherhood? Already incredibly suspicious. Even if you were my child, you would still be a big target because of the war."
Naruto sniffed. Although he really, really, didn't want to understand, he understood.
It was for his own safety.
"What about letters? You could've at least written to me," mumbled Naruto.
"How do you think word got out about Minato being my apprentice?"
Naruto looked up, a look of surprise temporarily replacing his previous look of sadness.
"You mean that it wasn't public knowledge?"
Jiraiya sighed. "No. I only made it public after one of my letters to Minato was intercepted, presumably to Kumo or Iwa. Letters are not secure."
Naruto nodded silently. "W-will you stay from now on?"
Jiraiya hesitated. "Right now, I'm the acting Hokage, so I must stay. Once the war's over, I'm not too sure. However," he smiled gently at Naruto. "You can come visit me whenever you want. Don't go through the front doors, just hop in through the window, alright?"
Naruto's smile eclipsed even the sun, "Alright!"
Sasuke furrowed his brows in extreme focus.
Sweat dripped down the sides of his face, converging at his chin and slowly dripping onto his clothes.
"Argh!"
Sasuke couldn't hold his own anymore, and fell to the ground, beaten.
Fugaku stared at him.
"Take a break, and then get back up. We'll be working on your kenjutsu."
After a few towels of sweat and a good gulp of water, Sasuke unsheathed his tantō.
Fugaku looked at him expectedly. "Come at me with all you have."
"We'll be working on your Jyūken. Spar at full strength, Hinata. I want to gauge your progress."
Hinata merely nodded, and settled into the beginning stance of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms. Her eyes narrowed, and charged.
Hiashi was pleasantly surprised. He had never seen Hinata as a prodigy, not like he saw Neji. However, to have come this far by the age of nine…
She might not be a prodigy in the traditional sense, but was still fearsome in her own right.
He put a hand up, and Hinata halted.
"I've seen enough. Hinata, it is time for you to advance to the next level of Jyūken."
"... So you're a pervert?"
Jiraiya snorted. Then he turned to Naruto with an exaggerated lecherous grin and thumbs up.
"I'm a super pervert!"
Naruto face-palmed. Great. His godfather was a lecher.
"If it weren't for these restricting robes, I'd get up and do my dance too, but-"
"No, no, it's fine!"
Naruto sighed. "I was here to ask you about Dad's jutsu. Did you help him develop the Hiraishin?"
"Nope!" Jiraiya sounded way too cheerful.
"What do you mean no?" shouted Naruto, partly out of frustration.
"Look, Minato was a genius like none other. His skill in fūinjutsu surpassed mine ages ago. I can only understand bits and pieces of it. And you know how there are no records of his original formula other than the one you have? He destroyed them all. Your father knew the power it held, and thus destroyed it."
Naruto looked horrified, the true meaning behind Jiraiya's words dawning on him.
"You mean … I have to re-invent the whole jutsu with only that one formula?"
"Yep!"
"Damn it!"
"Why are we doing this?" grumbled Naruto.
Kakashi chided, "We've been through this a thousand times, Naruto. Teamwork, and for you to get accustomed to missions. Also to build our reputation around town."
Naruto grumbled, but stayed silent. He was pinning down a baby, allowing Hinata to change his diapers.
However, before she put the article of clothing on him, Konohamaru let out a stream of warm, yellow liquid.
Hinata was used to dodging due to her practice of Jūken, in which flexibility was essential, and was able to dodge the urine.
Sasuke wasn't so lucky.
"Aargh!" Sasuke was mortified. Although he did not care much for his looks, he felt his dignity (the little he had as a nine year old) melted away along with Konohamaru's pee.
Sasuke ran to a sink and washed his face off. With a glare that dripped of water, he yelled, "You brat! Prepare to die!"
Kakashi smiled as he saw the three way brawl that was the result of Naruto punching Sasuke to 'calm him down'.
Ah, the joy of kids and D-ranks.
Hinata observed as her father demonstrated the starting form and first two iterations of the Hakke Rokujūyon Shō.
Hiashi stopped his onslaught, and gestured for Hinata to try it.
Hinata nodded, and began.
"Faster!"
Hinata's arms and legs blurred from how fast she was going. Two strikes, missed. Four strikes, missed. Eight strikes…
She let out a cry, and Hiashi was down.
He had never seen nor expected anybody to get to Eight Palms within one day of learning the Hakke Rokujūyon Shō, much less Hinata.
He internally smiled, as a feeling of pride settled in.
She was the future of the clan, he knew it.
"We are neutral in this conflict. Shimo no Kuni wishes to remain out of war."
Hiruzen didn't even spare the Frost Daimyō a look.
"We both know that what you wish for is impossible. To remain neutral in the centre of a warzone? Ridiculous. If that was possible, Amegakure would have stayed out of the previous two shinobi wars."
The daimyō frowned. "Then what would you do in my position?"
The Sandaime looked directly at him, unnerving the daimyō with his piercing gaze.
"Choose a side. Stick with that side until the end, and gain a powerful ally.
"Kumo and Konoha are strong villages. Even if one loses, within a decade at most, their former glory will be restored. Having such an ally would be invaluable for a small land like you."
Hiruzen's gaze dug into the daimyō's soul. "I cannot speak for Kumogakure, but you have my word that if you happen to decide to ally with us, Konohagakure will lend Shimo no Kuni and Shimogakure her forces whenever you require. We will also open trade routes through your land, giving you an economic boost."
The daimyō was enticed, to say the least. Nobody had expected Konoha to be able to even hold off Kumo for this long, especially after the Kyūbi attack nine years ago. However, with time, Konoha proved that they were most definitely still a match for other Great Hidden Villages.
He thought long and hard, but eventually came to a conclusion. Kumo was a village of force, a village of brute force, military power, and would likely try and take control of Shimogakure and even Shimo no Kuni. Konoha, on the other hand…
The daimyō of Frost let out a long, resigned sigh.
"When do you propose we draft and enter an alliance?"
Hiruzen smiled. His plan had worked.
This war may end sooner than expected.
Naruto sighed.
He was frustrated with the Hiraishin, and decided to shift his focus. Inspired by Sarutobi Asuma, Jiji's son, Naruto had tried incorporating his wind element into his staff. Key word being tried.
After dozens of broken staffs and a floor full of wooden splinters, Naruto was convinced he was going about it wrong.
Fundamentally, his idea was very oxymoronic. To make a dull staff 'cut'? Staffs could hit, bash, sweep, jab, but they couldn't really cut unless you use a lot of force and speed. Even then, it's only piercing, not cutting.
Perhaps Naruto was going about this wrong. Maybe the wind doesn't have to cut, but … push.
He recalled jutsu such as Fūton : Daitoppa (Wind Release : Great Breakthrough) and Fūton : Reppūshō (Wind Release : Gale Palm). These jutsu pushed enemies, by grinding the wind chakra into a state of instability, which released a powerful gale.
Maybe this was what Naruto needed.
Naruto's expression shifted into one of determination. He was gonna do this, no matter what!
"Wait, so you mean I could've…"
"Been using them to train, yes."
Naruto's jaw dropped, and a depressed cloud poofed into existence above his head. "All that time.. I could've been training at double, no, maybe even ten times speed…"
Kakashi eye-smiled. "I'm surprised you've used this jutsu for so long and didn't notice the memories. Perhaps it was due to the fact that you only used them in battle situations where your original experience was close enough, or you had already constructed previous mental images of those experiences, thus making it difficult to identify the extra memories."
His voice turned stern, "However, you cannot use more than five each time you train. The backlash of receiving memories is quite harsh, and with enough clones, your mind will drown in the sea of information, reducing your long-term memory capabilities. If I find out you've been using more…"
He cracked his knuckles, and Naruto gulped and nodded, having received the hidden message.
Sasuke scowled. "At least you have the chance to speed up your training multiple times," he grumbled.
Naruto grinned. "Aw, is Sasuke-chan jealous of me?"
Sasuke snarled, "What's to be jealous of? A defective brain?"
Naruto shouted, "What did you say, you bastard?"
Hinata had enough of it. "Quiet!" Her palms struck both boys on their hard skulls, sending them into a daze.
"S-sorry, Hinata-chan," Naruto and Sasuke chorused together.
She smiled sweetly. "Good! Now stay that way!"
Kakashi sweat-dropped. Hinata was resembling what he vaguely recalled of Tsunade, and it was not in an entirely good way.
It was a quiet afternoon. The sun was a beautiful crimson that splattered the originally blue sky with pink and orange.
Team 7 is gathered at the village gates, as Kakashi had an A-rank recon mission that he had to do.
"Stay safe, sensei!"
The three tiny genin chirped together, with barely any worry in their voices. They trusted Kakashi to come back to them.
Kakashi ruffled their hair, and patted their heads. He smiled mentally at his cute little students, and his resolve to accomplish the mission as quickly as possible multiplied tenfold.
"Be good little kids until I come back, alright? Sasuke, Hinata, work on your clan techniques. Naruto, polish your taijutsu and fūinjutsu, and try to learn a few wind jutsu if you have time."
They nodded, and Kakashi set off. When his figure was nothing more than a mere dot in the distance, Naruto, Hinata, and Sasuke slowly trudged away in silence.
It was a quiet afternoon.
Naruto sat by the Hokage desk, drawing up seals as Jiraiya worked on his mountain of paperwork.
"Naruto, are you going to learn how to use the Kyūbi's chakra?"
Naruto snapped his head up from his unfinished chakra suppression seal, looking at Jiraiya in surprise. "Why would I do that?"
His godfather sighed. "I don't like it either, but jinchūriki are used as war deterrents. They are feared on the battlefield, for the simple reason that even if they were to lose, they can still release their bijū. I don't want you on the frontlines just yet, but you should still learn in case you ever get backed into a corner."
"Ok. I'll ask the Kyūbi about that sometime."
"You can talk to it?" asked Jiraiya panickedly.
"Yeah. What's the big deal?"
Jiraiya slammed Naruto flat, and exposed his abdominal seal. After checking the complicated matrix, he hoisted Naruto back onto his feet.
Naruto glared at Jiraiya, "What was that for?"
Jiraiya returned his glare childishly. "To check your seal. You would've refused otherwise."
"Now, don't practise the Kyūbi's chakra unless you inform me. Then, I can be there to suppress the chakra if needed. The greatest of the bijū is not to be trifled with trivially."
"Got it! Ok, see yah, ero-sensei!"
"Brat…" muttered Jiraiya, with a small grin.
Itachi held his breath.
Metres away from his hiding spot was the Yondaime Raikage.
The fastest man in the world, the feared militaristic leader of Kumogakure no Sato.
Itachi calmed his nerves, and attempted to slow his heartbeat. No matter what, Ē was still a human. Humans had flaws, and Ē was no exception.
However, Itachi's target was not this man, who struck fear and admiration into the hearts of thousands of shinobi.
He was here for their supply carts.
These were wagons and wagons of soldier pills, ration bars, protective armour, weaponry, and even custom seals.
During the past few decades, Kumo has been researching the celestial art of fūinjutsu, and has become one of the most advanced in this field. Suffice to say, their seals, while not very advanced for Konoha (who remain the top village in the art of fūinjutsu), still were a menace on the battlefield.
Itachi closed his eyes, and waited for the troops of Kumogakure and their leader to pass by.
Time passed at an unbearably slow rate. Minutes felt like years. Itachi's forehead dripped of cold sweat as the Raikage scanned the surroundings once more, but failed yet again to find any threat.
Itachi let out a small stream of exhausted air from his nostrils. To not risk it, Itachi waited until they were a good hundred metres away before slipping out and letting all of his anxiety
His mission was successful.
"Halt! You think you can just get away after rigging our carts?"
Itachi's hands grew cold with fear.
It was the Kinkaku Unit.
His breath stopped, but Itachi quickly steeled himself. He was not about to die here, not like this.
"Good thing those seals are permanent, and can't be disabled."
Itachi formed a hand seal.
The elite shinobi tensed, but no attack came. Instead, a large explosion erupted behind them, and taking advantage of the distraction, Itachi fled.
"You won't escape!" snarled the lead Kinkaku Unit shinobi.
"We'll see about that," thought Itachi.
"Sasuke! Did you hear the news? Your brother is a hero!"
Sasuke smiled, albeit faintly. Itachi was now renowned as a hero of Konoha, having infiltrated Kumo's ranks, rigging their carts with potent explosive tags and destroying nearly a whole army's worth of supplies, and then single-handedly holding back the Kinkaku Unit until the Sandaime arrived, and the duo escaped.
"Yeah, I heard."
Sasuke looked away into the distance, his mind on one question only.
"Do you think he would be proud of me?"
In a way, Sasuke and Naruto were more similar than they realise. They both seek recognition.
Sasuke, from his family.
Naruto, from the village.
Naruto understood this feeling, the yearning, the thirst for simple acknowledgement.
His tone grew soft, and he said, "Yes. I think he would be proud. After all, what other nine year old has the ability to throw around C-ranked and even a B-rank fire jutsu like nothing? It's nearly unheard of, even in your clan."
Sasuke's reply was bitter. "Itachi could."
Naruto scowled, and lightly punched Sasuke's shoulders. "So? That just means you were equal. And don't you get started on the Sharingan! You'll unlock it soon enough, once we start on higher level missions."
Sasuke sighed softly. "I suppose, but…"
"No buts! You're you, Itachi's Itachi, and you're awesome in ways he can't even understand!"
"... Thanks, Naruto."
Naruto chuckled, abashed, and scratched the back of his head. "Hehe, no problem, Sasuke!"
"... Wanna spar?"
"You're on, broody!"
"... What did you just call me?"
"Broody, since ya brood too much, ya know!"
"I'm surprised you even know what that word means."
"Hey!"
Sasuke smiled. It was genuine this time.
He bet Itachi didn't have a friend like he had in Naruto.
