Ok, so I'm pushing out as many chapters to this fanfiction (not only in part due to the already pre-written chapters I can simply use as material which can be changed/edited to my desires) as I can simply because I am leaving in less than 2 weeks for a 21 day field training god only knows where it's gonna be and as such I will not be writing anything for the entirety of that whole month. Yes I know I took a full 6 month break with like 1-2 chapters being pushed out the whole time and even when I ain't working I push out a select number of chapters every few weeks thus my progress is slow. Seeing as the main body of the story is already pre-written, I can simply rewrite the chapters to my desire, the dialogue to my specifications, and even add/delete entire sequences that I find to be unnecessary to my point of view to the story.
Anyways, with that being said, please enjoy chapter 2 of Rebirth of the forest.
The Sandaime Hokage looked through his all-seeing crystal ball, gazing contemplatively at the most intriguing ninja in the village at the moment, Naruto.
The boy was an enigma wrapped in a mystery, as seen from his effortless incapacitation of the traitor Mizuki. He displayed the shunshin no jutsu with a rare ease. Iruka was amazed that he could even perform the technique, but Hiruzen knew better. Naruto had performed the seals with too much ease and too little concentration showing on his face. It was as if the technique was second nature to him.
And how did he know to strike vital points? True, the theory was explained in the academy but students were not expected to know it. The mastery that Naruto had displayed was interesting. What Naruto had done could be done only by an experienced Medic nin, a Hyuuga or a ninja with considerable battle experience none of which applied to Naruto.
"The Jounin are here, Hokage-sama" announced his secretary.
"Send them in." said Hiruzen. The Jounin filed in quietly. Asuma, Kurenai, Aoba, Kakashi and other Jounin here for their team assignments stood at attention waiting for him to speak.
Well, Kakashi not so much. The pervert as usual was reading his beloved Icha Icha series. The Sandaime looked at the book closely and his eyes grew round.
A limited series edition of Icha Icha violence! This was pure gold! He had to get this meeting over with as soon as possible and get that book from Kakashi. He grinned his closet pervert grin at the prospect…
Kurenai coughed, noticing Kakashi reading the damned book and the Sandaime trying really hard to get a look at the book without being obvious about it.
"Um, Hokage-sama…Don't we have team assignments to do..?" she asked primly.
Hiruzen cleared his throat, looking disappointed.
"Yes. Yes we do. Now, then. These are the teams assigned. Aoba will get team 1 consisting of…"
He went on until:
"Hatake Kakashi will get team 7 consisting of Uchiha Satsuki, Haruno Sakura and Uzumaki Naruto."
Kakashi looked mildly interested, nodded and went back to his reading. Hiruzen could understand that. Lucky bastard...
"Team 8 will be Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino under Yuuhi Kurenai"
The beautiful Jonin nodded.
"Team 9 is still in circulation, therefore, Team 10 will be Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chouji and Yamanaka Ino under Sarutobi Asuma."
Asuma nodded, pleased at the fact that the second generation Ino-Shika-Cho trio was under him.
Hiruzen looked at them all.
"This completes the team assignments for this year's Genin. You will have today to observe your assigned Genin and will have to begin operation from tomorrow. Good luck to you all."
The Jounin nodded solemnly and turned to leave.
"Kakashi, stay back. We have some important matters to discuss", Hiruzen ordered, looking intently at the treasure trove in Kakashi's hands.
Kurenai looked at the two of them disgustedly before exiting.
~XxX-The Next Day-XxX~
Naruto waited patiently for his sensei Hatake Kakashi to make his appearance. He was assigned to team 7 along with Satsuki and Sakura. This would be an excellent opportunity for him to test the strength of the current Jonin of the village. He had to take care not to let loose though. He had a tendency to do that in a good fight.
He knew well that he had Hiruzen's eye on him even more than usual from his display with Mizuki. The secret of his true identity could not be given out lightly, even to his former student. He would have to probe Hiruzen closely and judge how much his student had changed over the years.
Kakashi was already running late by two hours and the irritation from this fact was showing on the faces of both his team mates.
Satsuki looked like a brick wall. Naruto observed her closely and suppressed a smile. The girl was beautiful, and admittedly she reminded him of Madara when she was that age. Same stoic demeanor, same lack of speech and irritation with fangirls. The only thing different was a sense of superiority that Satsuki had picked up along the way. It was a bit too much like Madara if he was being honest.
Hell, even her chakra was similar. If he didn't know any better he would have said Madara created a sealing jutsu that rewound time on her. Not that he'd complain as even when they were teenagers Madara was one of the most beautiful women he had ever met before he got into that marriage with Mito.
Now, there was in fact a great difference between Satsuki and his friend and that was that was the fact she admitted to him when they were younger she might have become slightly unstable due to the mental torture she had suffered from Itachi Uchiha's Tsukuyomi when the massacre occurred. Admittedly, it had driven her into a desire to avenge her fallen clansmen due to Itachi's rampage against them.
Clan prodigies don't usually go nuts and slaughter their clan at the drop of a hat. Uchiha Itachi obviously had a good reason for doing what he did and he had also incited Satsuki's hatred for a reason.
Satsuki, like the impressionable child she was, had fallen neck deep into hatred and vengeance. The child was suffering. The Uchiha mess bore more investigation. He still had little knowledge of what happened after he was gone. Hearsay, books and rumors were not real sources of knowledge as they were always fabricated. He would know, as he had done the fabricating himself when he was Hokage for a small amount of time.
What unnerved him was that the Senju clan had basically just up and disappeared and the only known descendant was Tsunade. He smiled again as he thought of his granddaughter; he had spoiled her so much when she was little. It made him proud when he found out that Tsunade had made such a name for herself in the shinobi world. His little girl had grown so much…
His thoughts were interrupted as the door opened and a tall, lean man with gravity defying spiky white hair walked in. Opening his senses, he began to investigate the chakra of Hatake Kakashi.
"Team 7?"
"YOU'RE LATE!" Sakura yelled.
"Hai, hai" Kakashi eye smiled lazily. "My first impression of you… you are all boring. Meet me on the roof."
He disappeared with a leaf shunshin.
Naruto too disappeared with a shunshin, stunning Sakura. Satsuki snorted as she held up a half ram seal and puffed out of existence.
Naruto blinked as he saw Satsuki puff into being next to him before shaking his head. She probably learned it after hearing of Shunsin no Shisui so it really wasn't a surprise to see she knew it. Turning back to his new mentor he stared at Kakashi as he appeared on the roof with his jutsu. The Jonin hardly looked surprised, which meant that he was informed of what little capability he had shown. He was intensely reading an orange colored book but Naruto could see that he was very aware of his surroundings and was watching his student closely. He continued sensing Kakashi's chakra. The Jonin had about as much chakra as he did before his awakening, which was good. He could sense three natures in the man's chakra: Raiton, Doton and Suiton.
Not bad. And he could sense something all too familiar about his covered eye. Sharingan.
He sensed the chakra surrounding the eye carefully. The chakra emanating from the eye was far more sinister than a normal Sharingan.
Mangekyou Sharingan.
Either his sensei was a power hungry maniac, or he had experienced intense loss. The latter option seemed more plausible, as he was a shinobi under Hiruzen. Also his emotions were all over the place. Surprise, regret,…pride. Why would the man feel pride? This man was intriguing. He would have to find out more about him.
His musings were interrupted when Sakura opened the door to the roof and joined them. Kakashi put down the book and began speaking.
"Good, you are here. Took you long enough pinkie. Anyway, start introducing yourselves. You, pinkie, start seeing as you decided you wanted to take your time."
Scowling at being christened "pinkie", Sakura replied. "Why don't you go first and give us an example, sensei?"
Kakashi sighed. "Fine, my name is Hatake Kakashi. I have many likes, dislikes are too many to name. My dream is none of your business,…I have many hobbies…", he finished and stared expectantly at Sakura.
Naruto sweat-dropped. He had just gotten the name of the man. Not that he was any different when he helped Tobirama teach Saru as a kid.
"My name is Haruno Sakura. I like…" she blushed and stuttered silently. Naruto had to resist groaning in annoyance, " I dislike Naruto!"
Naruto merely shook his head. Children.
"My hobbies are…", she blushed deeply again. " My dream for the future is…" a final blush before she gave a high itched squeal.
Damn this child needed a major overhaul. At most she'd die on her first B-Rank if not her first C-Rank.
Kakashi sighed once more.
"You next, Blondie."
Naruto stared at Kakashi, and began his own introduction, "My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like forests and gardening. I dislike traitors and power hungry maniacs. My dream for the future is to increase Konoha's power and prestige as its Hokage. My hobbies are practicing my Jutsu and reading research texts on the nature of chakra…"
Kakashi stared at him before blinking a couple times. There was much more to Naruto than those academy reports said. Those forest green eyes of his were too unnerving. They were ageless and compassionate and the boy himself radiated unbridled power. Kakashi wasn't a Jounin for nothing. He knew Naruto was suppressing his chakra to seem like it was at its previous levels. He had observed the boy with his Sharingan the previous day and found that his chakra network was extremely superior, even more so than Minato-Sensei.
He was obviously letting only a fraction of his true strength show, and it alarmed Kakashi that what chakra he allowed to manifest was about as much as the Sandaime. There was the matter of his chakra itself as well. It was pure shining silver, instead of the usual bright blue. The Kyuubi chakra was nowhere to be found in his network. It was as if he was not a Jinchuuriki.
He had to watch out for his sensei's son.
"You go next, broody."
Satsuki snorted. "My name is Uchiha Satsuki. I like nothing and hate everything. My dream, no…my ambition is to kill a certain man, and restore my clan. As for hobbies, I like cooking and trying out new culinary dishes that have tomatoes as a main ingredient."
Naruto nearly snapped his neck as he turned to the last female Uchiha, and it was simple to understand why. Madara had LOVED to cook when they had first become allies and began to build Konoha, and almost everything had included a tomato based dish.
Kakashi stared at them a moment longer.
"Alright, the three of you are interesting and that is good. Meet me tomorrow at training ground seven at 6:00 AM for the real Genin test"
"WHAT!" Sakura yelled.
Naruto sighed. The girl did not know the meaning of calm speech.
"The exam you took at the academy was merely a filter. This is the real survival test, and I warn you, the pass rate is not very encouraging. Oh, and do not eat any breakfast. You don't want to puke all over the ground do you?"
Kakashi waved at them and disappeared.
Naruto turned to his teammates.
"Satsuki, Sakura. Do you want to get some ramen and get to know each other better?"
Sakura didn't even look at Naruto and ran off to do god only knows what. Satsuki however, nodded her head, "Yea, I wouldn't mind."shestated before looking at him, "Besides, I wanna talk to you about something." she said before she pulled out a key, "Here, come by my compound and we'll talk at my house. Come by my house at five this afternoon, and I'll have dinner ready tonight at seven, don't be late." she said before she leapt off the roof.
~XxX-Uchiha Compound; 4:30 o'clock-XxX~
Having arrived thirty minutes early, Naruto couldn't help but feel as if something was off about Satsuki's sudden… kindness. Knocking on the door, Naruto had to wait for about a minute or so before Satsuki opened the door to him, "You're early." she noted.
"Better than being late. You said you wanted to talk? Well, I'm here. So let's talk." he said, shrugging his shoulders.
"Meet me out back, we can have a spar, and then I'll decide if we can do some talking." she said before she walked back into the house. Naruto sighed before he simply walked around the house to the empty backyard that was large enough to have a general spar but with the use of minor jutsu. It was nice to say the least.
He was pulled from his musings as he heard Satsuki clear her throat drawing his attention, "So, how do you want to do this?" she asked him.
"Anything goes, no major jutsu and full contact is allowed I guess." he said, more so for her than for him. He could keep up with a mere genin even as a small child himself.
Satsuki smirked, "Sounds good to me." she said. With that said and done, Naruto and Satsuki both shot forward towards one another. Naruto, having the superior strength, caught Satsuki's kick and punched her in the stomach, throwing the Uchiha back. Satsuki used her momentum to right herself and land on her feet, and shot back into the fight ready to continue. Naruto smirked at his opponent, he was as tenacious as himself. Naruto leaned away from a punch, jumped over a kick and spun into a hammer kick that Satsuki avoided and countered with a kick of her own that landed perfectly into Naruto's side.
This time being thrown away Naruto grunted slightly and landed on his feet. Shaking his head he could only wonder how she had telegraphed his movements so easily? She was a lot better than she looked.
Both of them shared a smirk before continuing their Taijutsu warm up. Naruto knew that he and Satsuki were even in Taijutsu point-wise, so when Satsuki activated her Sharingan he was a bit surprised, so he kept a level-head as the two of them stared at one another. There was more to this chld than he originally thought. Naruto started to slowly push chakra to his limbs while Satsuki observed every minuscule detail of his opponent ready to pounce on any openings.
A breeze over took the clearing and the two genin launched at one another with lightning-like speeds. Naruto entered the Running Water Fist that Tobirama liked to use back in the day while Satsuki went on the offense while utilizing her Sharingan's abilities to the fullest.
Satsuki spun into a backhanded punch, Naruto ducked under the swing and sent an uppercut to Satsuki's arm. The Uchiha saw that hit coming and twisted her extended arm and caught Uzumaki's uppercut between her forearm and bicep. Satsuki pulled the caught arm and jumped at the same time, mid-air Satsuki put Naruto's neck in a leg lock trying to choke him out. Seeing what Satsuki was trying to do Naruto flexed his muscles and used his nearly unrivaled strength to throw Satsuki off of him and with his caught arm slammed the Uchiha into the solid earth. Dust shot up from the impacted area and quickly cleared from the shockwave.
Satsuki grunted at the near back breaking slam, he spun and twisted herself to her feet while glaring at her opponent. Naruto huffed slightly, Satsuki put him in that hold in an instant and he was nearly out of the fight right then and there. He would have to play it carefully in close quarters. Naruto reached into his shinobi pouch and slid several shuriken between his fingers before launching all of them towards his eagle eyed opponent. He was the fastest and could launch shuriken at faster rates while Satsuki relied on pin-point accuracy.
Satsuki quickly palmed several shuriken and tossed them towards Naruto's, having less at the time he aimed them to bounce off each other to hit the excess shuriken that Naruto threw. Naruto and Satsuki continued throwing shuriken at one another at blinding speeds both trying to break through the wall of steel that the other was throwing. Naruto winced as he was cut on the cheek, shoulders and legs, Satsuki could obviously keep track of Naruto's barrage much better than he could. Naruto took advantage of his superior speed and started throwing more and more while subtly weaving hand-seals in between trying to pelt Satsuki with dozens and dozens of shuriken.
Naruto threw ten more shuriken that were deflected by Satsuki once more but as they clashed Naruto smirked as he clapped his hands and wind exploded outward with use of the Fūton: Reppūshō (Wind Release: Gale Palm). All of the mid-air shuriken were blown towards Satsuki all backed by a hurricane like gale that upturned some of the soil in its path.
Naruto smirked slightly to himself, 'That is the first jutsu I managed to learn outside of Earth and Water. This body has a natural affinity to Wind, Water as well as Lightning, let's see how you handle it when it's toned down.' Naruto thought.
Satsuki flared her chakra and with two hand-seals sent out a massive fireball that stopped the shuriken in place and collided with the wind jutsu causing an explosion that blew both of them off their feet.
Satsuki steadied her breathing and unsealed a chokuto before taking a stance, if Naruto was going to throw around ninjutsu she'll need to get in his face before he could make seals. Naruto won't try to use a jutsu with a lightning enhanced sword coming at him, he wasn't that stupid. Blocking and jabbing at one another,the two quickly ended up knocking their respective weapons out from one another's hands as Satsuki kicked both their wrists and then performed a sweeping motion with her leg that knocked Naruto down onto his back before she quickly pounced on him and grabbed him by his neck, "It's you, isn't it?"
Naruto looked in a daze up at Satsuki. Her red eyes, products of decades of good breeding, were locked on his own with unnerving intensity. Straddling him as she was, her unreasonably long hair pooled around his head and cut off everything but her own shadowed features and vibrant crimson eyes. It was an eerie effect.
"Who's me? Of course it's me, why wouldn't it be me?" he asked, shaking his head in confusion. He pursed his lips. That hadn't made much sense.
"Don't play dumb," she hissed, leaning in closer. Naruto idly considered leaning up and bumping their noses. She had a cute nose, he thought, especially when it wasn't all crinkled up by a sneer, "I can see it," she said, flickering from his eyes to his lips to the curve of his jaw, drinking it all in ravenously, "With these eyes, I can finally see. That chakra, the way it clings to you. I see."
"Chakra," Naruto whispered. This didn't sound good. "What chakra?" he asked.
"His chakra." Satsuki quivered, and Naruto let loose a strangled gasp as she leaned in closer, "I should have realized it sooner," She said, reaching out and brushing a few locks of hair from his forehead, "It was right in front of me for years, but I never realized. I didn't want to realize." She laughed, and its bitterness made it no less pleasant a sound. Shaking her head she gazed into his green eyes, "To think you'd be an Uzumaki..." She shook her head, hair brushing lightly against his cheeks. "It's just too cruel."
"I don't understand," Naruto admitted. Satsuki blinked, looking back at him as if registering his presence for the first time. The rorating tomoe surrounding her pupils spun hypnotically, luring him back into the fog.
"It's you, isn't it?" She whispered again, tracing a finger against the scars on his cheek. He shivered, "Hashirama..."
"What?" Naruto asked, wide eyed. "No. That's not-" he tried to deny it, couldn't do anything but deny as he needed to keep his identity hidden.
"Liar. I can see it. The same chakra that connected me to him, now it connects you to this girl." The last word was spit like a foul curse, and Naruto grunted as the Uchiha dug her nails into his throat, "My descendant, Uchiha Satsuki, the one who I have become part of in this life, while you are connected to this shell of a boy called a Uzumaki. Or did you forget, it was I who figured out that it was you planning on marrying both Mito and myself before Tobirama made it against the law for two clans to interbreed so as to maintain bloodline purity where you chose that redheaded whore over me? Then again you were kind of dense when it came to a woman's feelings." Satsuki said, her full red lips twisting in a scowl.
Naruto felt his eyes widen while in the seal, Kurama was snarling in rage, slamming against the cage he was imprisoned inside of,, "Madara/MADARA!" they gasped/roared out.
Satsuki, well Madara he guessed now, only smiled softly at him, "Hello my love." she said with a gentle smile on her face.
Naruto shook his head, "H-How, when?" he asked.
"Itachi killed this poor girl with his Tsukuyomi technique before she had the chance to grow into the woman she was supposed to be. I remember dying in our fight, but it was like I was trapped in a world of darkness for countless decades or centuries. When I finally opened my eyes, I noticed I was in the hospital of the village, despite knowing that I had in fact died against you. They called me the heiress of the Uchiha clan, then they called me a name I didn't recognize, and that's when it dawned on me. I was reborn as a fellow Uchiha in the distant future. After I decided to simply live my life out and hoped that a end would come for me, but then you awakened your chakra for the first time, and I knew, I just knew, I could have you for myself now that that whore Mito was no longer around to cockblock me." she said leaning in.
"You do realize we are in the bodies of young teenagers right? Not even eighteen years old." he emphasized.
Madara snorted, "Of course I know that, I'm not retarded. I've known you since we were eight when we met at the river and started skipping stones to challenge one another." she stated.
"Is there anyone else from our time that's come back?" Naruto asked.
"Not that I've noticed or sensed. So far it was only me, then you awoke your old chakra days ago." she said seriously.
"We have a lot to discuss, best head inside." Naruto muttered.
~XxX-One Month Later-XxX~
Naruto looked at Hiruzen listlessly as he droned on and on about how missions were assigned and distributed to the various ranking shinobi.
The past month had seen Team 7 doing various D-rank missions. This was just a euphemism for pointless chores.
The D-rank they had just completed was one of the most annoying missions ever. They had gone to capture one cat called "Tora". That damn cat was so elusive...
It had mauled him and Satsuki mercilessly. Sakura did not even get her hands on the irritating fur ball.
It had given them great satisfaction to see the thing squished to death by the Daimyo's portly wife.
Hiruzen had then gone on to assign to them even more D-ranks and all three of them had put their foot down.
Their united yell of vehement denial had made Kakashi proud; his kids were being a team! But Hiruzen was far from understanding as he and Iruka were now going on and on about missions and such…
Naruto was currently holding a conversation with his tenant.
Kurama looked at Naruto from his spacious cage.
"Hashirama, do you know why I have brought you here?" the fox asked him seriously.
"No. Why?"
"I know a way you can kill the Masked Man easily. Listen carefully…"
Naruto lavished his complete attention on the fox. This could well be what he was after…Kurama had so much experience that he could well be called a baby in comparison.
"Just tell him about how you, the GREAT Senju Hashirama, ran all around Konoha to catch a CAT! He will die LAUGHING…"
Naruto had a tick mark on his face as he stared at the fox that was laughing heartily at his expense.
It pointed a finger or rather, a claw at him.
"No, tell him about how a chicken pooped on your head when you were collecting eggs…HAHAHAHAAAAAA! Or how bout that time you decided to peep on Madara's new body while she was bathing in the osen and she beat you to a bloody pulp before asking if you enjoyed it as much as she did BWAHAHAHAH!"
Enough.
He had had enough.
Exiting back to the physical world he stared down Hiruzen. The old fool had stopped his boring lecture and was pinned down by Naruto's forest green eyes.
"Enough, old man. Give us a C-rank mission NOW!"
Hiruzen looked amused and a bit harried. He looked at Kakashi. Iruka was looking at Naruto and mouthing at him frantically to show proper respect to the Hokage.
Naruto found this irony bittersweet. He could now understand how little Hiruzen had felt as he and Tobirama had dumped D-rank upon D-rank on him and his team.
The tables were now turned.
"They are ready for a C-rank Hokage-sama. Aren't you, team?"
Team 7 nodded quickly. They were ready to participate in a war to escape those D-ranks. So yes, they were ready alright.
"Bring in Tazuna-san, Iruka"
They all watched as Iruka ushered in a middle aged drunk.
"So you are the ones who are assigned to protect me...hic..." Tazuna slurred.
Satsuki asked the Hokage, "Why is this old drunkard here?"
"He is your mission, obviously. You are to protect him as he returns to Nami No Kuni to complete his bridge. Do you accept it?" Hiruzen asked.
"…hic…do you think those kids can even protect themselves, let alone protect me?" Tazuna asked drunkenly.
Satsuki stared the old drunkard in his eyes, unleashing her killing intent. Tazuna suddenly snapped into sobriety, unable to withstand even that small killing intent. Well, he was a civilian.
"Now, now… Satsuki. Intimidating the client is not good for business, is it?"
Satsuki let up reluctantly. Admittedly, she still looked rather cute when she was pissed.
"We can protect you, Tazuna-san. I myself am a Jounin and am more than enough for a C-rank mission. Rest assured, you are in safe hands" Kakashi said soothingly.
Naruto could sense apprehension and deception floating off the old drunkard. He was obviously lying about the mission parameters.
They would need to be on guard.
"We leave tomorrow at first light. Meet us at North gate, Tazuna-san" Kakashi said.
XxX
Satsuki stared at Naruto with a gentle smile on her face. Sakura was all but ignored by Madara's new form and Hashirama all but wanted to strangle the useless child. Sakura never trained, never wanted to train, and she all but ignored her health. She was underweight, her body was underdeveloped and her chakra capacity was lower than any civilian back in the warring era days by a good margin. If she survived this, it'd be a miracle.
XxX
As Naruto continued to follow the mission parameters and protect Tazuna, Sakura was thinking of Naruto and his change. Just a few months back, he was the comic relief for the rookies of Konoha. But now he had changed so much that he was not even recognizable. He used to be more of a little shrimp who wore bright orange and shouted about how he would be the Hokage.
But now he was different. He still retained his bright personality, but he seemed wise and compassionate. Oh, and powerful. Untrained though she was, the aura of strength that surrounded Naruto of late did not go unnoticed by her. Or by anyone else.
The rest of the rookies had asked Sakura just what had happened to the prank loving dobe.
She had no answers for them.
But she did know that Naruto was far beyond the reach of any mere Genin. This realization had sobered her up.
She had then resolved to want to train and stop holding Naruto and Satsuki back. She refused to be the weak link for team 7.
This did not go unappreciated by Naruto, who had kindly forgotten her previous indiscretions and restarted their relationship on a clean slate.
She was happy. Team 7 was her family and she did not let down family.
….
Naruto walked down the road, letting his senses wash around the landscape in all directions, keeping alert for any threat.
He found two.
Said threats were currently disguised as puddles of water. He smirked in his mind.
Seriously, that was a very substandard Genjutsu. One, it had not rained the previous day and two, there was no real water source nearby. Any ninja worth his salt would have noticed the two idiots.
Both had water natured chakra's.
He knew Satsuki and Kakashi had also noticed the "puddles", by the fluctuation in their emotions.
He looked at Satsuki and nodded. He received a nod in acknowledgement. Kakashi seemed as oblivious as ever.
Suddenly the two puddles became Ninja who wielded chained blades. They pounced upon Kakashi and tore him to shreds.
Sakura let out a high pitched shriek and froze on the spot.
Naruto and Satsuki glanced at each other and shot off at the two Missing ninja. Satsuki formed seals fast and shot out a fireball at the nearest ninja who countered with a water bullet.
Naruto appeared behind the other ninja and sent a palm, which was blocked. The force of the palm sent the ninja staggering.
He reinforced his palm with his Mokuton chakra and struck the enemy hard, sending him flying into the tree behind, knocking him unconscious.
Satsuki himself was engaging her opponent with powerful blows from her superior Taijutsu. Suddenly Kakashi appeared and knocked down Satsuki's adversary.
"KAKASHI-SENSEI!" Sakura cried in relief. Naruto nodded in approval, having noticed his substitution before.
Kakashi glared at Tazuna.
"This is no C-rank, Tazuna-san. You have lied to us and it is well within our rights to stop here…"
Tazuna was sweating profusely and explained about the shipping Tycoon Gato. The wave country was apparently run over by his company and totally oppressed. The bridge built by Tazuna was the hope for the country as it connected the island to the mainland and made Gato's shipping redundant.
"Let us continue with the mission, Kakashi sensei. That country is obviously in need of our services and it will be good for Konoha to have a potentially prosperous country like wave in its debt." Naruto reasoned with Kakashi. The Hokage in him was coming out to play.
Kakashi sighed. "What do you two say?" he asked Sakura and Satsuki.
Satsuki nodded affirmatively, as did Sakura.
"We will continue, Tazuna-san"
Tazuna sighed in relief and continued on the path towards wave country.
Naruto followed, keeping his sensing active constantly. He needed a place to let loose his Ninjutsu. Preferably a large and isolated plane.
His chakra was very special after all, and any spike in it would be noted by Hiruzen and his old team, so he could not unleash even a small portion of his strength in Konoha.
He would have to get reacquainted with Mokuton somehow.
….
"Kakashi-sensei, I can sense two chakra signatures just ahead. Both are quite large, and one chakra is comparable to yours. What do we do?", Naruto asked.
Kakashi looked alert. "Be ready for an attack everybody. Sakura, guard Tazuna. Satsuki and Naruto will back me up."
They all nodded and proceeded onward.
About half an hour later, Naruto could sense one of the chakra sources close and signaled his team.
This person was clearly Jonin and had a strong water affinity, and his emotions were a kind of predatory rage. He would be a dangerous opponent.
They suddenly heard a buzzing sound steadily increasing.
"GET DOWN!" Kakashi yelled, and everyone dropped down. A large head-cleaver whirled towards them and missed them by a small margin. It embedded itself deeply in a tree by the edge.
Crouched upon the blade was a masked ninja who stared at them steadily.
"Sharingan no Kakashi, no wonder the Demon Brothers failed." He said in a deep voice, surveying the team with a critical eye.
Kakashi too stared back. "Zabuza Momochi, demon of the bloody mist. All of you guard Tazuna. This fight is beyond you"
Zabuza wrenched his blade from the tree and walked towards the group and stood opposite Kakashi.
The environment around them was thick with the chakra they were releasing. The very air was heavy in anticipation.
The two Jonin started leaking strong killer intent into the air. Tazuna, who was unaccustomed to this, sank down to the floor in terror. Sakura's face was set in a rictus of terror.
Satsuki drew closer to Naruto who stood there unconcerned by the ninja before her and Hashirama as he gathered large quantities of his chakra. She was mesmerized by his chakra, it was beautiful. Naruto could see that the killing intent was heavily affecting his teammates. Drawing Mokuton chakra, he released it into the air calming the frightened Genin and client.
Zabuza and Kakashi looked at this new phenomenon in interest.
"Good trick, kid. Do you believe that will save you?"
Naruto snorted, "Save the cliché threats, Zabuza. Tell me, where is your accomplice?"
"A sensor ninja, right?" Zabuza asked, intrigued. "Silent killing won't work, then…"
He suddenly disappeared and attacked Kakashi with a powerful swing of his giant blade. Kakashi blocked calmly with his kunai. The two then went on to engage in a fierce Kenjutsu fight, shockwaves erupting from the collision of their blades. They were so fast that it seemed like rain hitting metal continuously.
Zabuza tried to cleave Kakashi in two with a heavy swing, but Kakashi slipped under his guard and buried his kunai in his opponent's chest.
Zabuza dissolved into water and the original appeared behind Kakashi and kicked him hard off the bridge right into the water.
A clone of Zabuza formed next to Kakashi and trapped him in a sphere of water.
Zabuza grinned.
"You are taken care of for now, Kakashi. Watch as I kill your Genin right in front of your eyes!"
Kakashi cursed himself for failing to such a simple strategy. He had to intensify his training as he seemed rusty, "RUN! YOU ARE NO MATCH FOR HIM!"
Zabuza grinned again, "That's right, brats. Listen to sensei and run. Leave the bridge builder, though and I might let you live. I want Kakashi's head for my bounty…"
Satsuki and Naruto growled and Sakura flinched but gripped their Kunai tightly.
Naruto was irritated, though. How dare that man threaten his comrades? He would need to put the creep in his place.
Senju Hashirama did not run from such annoyances.
"Satsuki, Sakura, leave this to me and guard Tazuna", Naruto ordered calmly.
"Oho! It looks like the little Genin is stepping up! You three are not true ninja-"
He suddenly stopped his dramatic monologue as he watched Naruto.
Massive amounts of silver chakra exploded from Naruto, saturating the air and almost bringing Zabuza down to his knees. The ground around the blond started cracking from the immense pressure. Zabuza stared in alarm at the boy who was supposedly a Genin. He needed to be put down fast, so he blurred through his hand seals, "Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu", he roared, causing a huge water dragon to rise from the lake and rush towards Naruto.
Kakashi stared with growing horror. Satsuki snorted and Sakura closed her eyes at what she assumed was their impending doom.
Naruto clapped his hands calmly in a serpent seal.
"Doton: Daichi no Kabe" he intoned calmly.
A huge wall of earth rose to shield the group from the water dragon, easily dissipating it.
Kakashi stared with pride and curiosity at the blond who had performed a high level Jutsu casually with only one seal.
Satsuki and Sakura were just frozen with shock at the display of such power.
Zabuza frantically blurred through another seal sequence.
"Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu" he yelled, and a huge spiral of water rose from the lake and blasted with unbelievable force towards Naruto.
Naruto did not release the serpent seal, "Doton: Asudoragon no tasu", he said quietly. The earth in front of Naruto exploded, releasing four huge earth Dragons. Two of them neutralized the onrushing water jutsu, and two collided with Zabuza, sending him flying.
He was obviously grievously injured when he landed heavily on the shore. Before Naruto could finish the job, the dormant accomplice appeared and ran with Zabuza fast.
Kakashi appeared next to Naruto.
"Leave them, we will be ready for them later. Tazuna-san, lead the way to your house. Sakura and Satsuki, protect him."
The three nodded and went on, still staring at Naruto with awe.
Kakashi gave Naruto a hard glare.
"You have a lot to answer for, Naruto."
Ok so chapter 2 is out. LIKE/FAVORITE/FOLLOW and show the story some love. Also don't forget to write me a nice lengthy COMMENT/REVIEW to tell me what you think of this chapter. Til then, peace
1: Ok so i decided to use a bit of reference from the story Written in reverse (I think it might be a Naruto x Fem Sasuke x Fem Madara, as when Madara was mentioned she showed to have a deep affection for Naruto or rather his energy inside of him idk, not that good with these kinds of things)