This would be the first chapter from where Naruto truly starts to gain fame. So tell me what you think of it and if I need any more improvement.
'internal thoughts'
"Normal conversation"
Naruto and team had been running non-stop for a few days now, only resting at nights and stopping to eat. Naruto had been introduced to the team Sakumo was leading, all were jounin and were sufficiently skilled in combat. Their names were Daisuke, an tall man with average build and long black hair, he was apparently very skilled and the leader of their 3 man team, the others name was Kazuo, he was an arrogant jerk, Naruto had figured that out after staying with him for 5 minutes, so he was actively trying to avoid him, the last one was a white haired man named Hiruko, he was friends with the, yet to be named, sanins, Sakumo had said. Hiruko had instantly taken liking to Naruto and was constantly asking him to show some of his abilities to him, at first Naruto thought he just wanted to see what the grandson of the great Madara Uchiha could do but his constant insistence of Naruto showing him his sharingan was getting very suspicious, so Naruto avoided him too if he could.
They had already reached the borders of the land of snow and were making their way to Shimogakure (Village hidden in frost), it was still a day's run away. They had decided to stop for the night and rest. Naruto had caught some rabbits on his way and was now preparing dinner for the team which Daisuke and Sakumo helped in while Hiruko and Kazuo were tasked to setup tents and bring in more fire wood.
After dinner was over, the team discussed their plan of action.
"After we reach Shimogakure, we are to meet up with a team which was already sent here to guard the borders, with their help we will push back the invading Kumo forces and secure the land of snow again" Sakumo explained the plan of action.
"How many Konoha ninjas are there in shimo" Daisuke asked.
"According to the hokage, we had sent around 30 chunin level ninjas as reinforcement to Shimogakure but considering the assaults from Kumo, the number may have decreased" Sakumo theorised "Anyway, after we reach Shimo, I will be taking the charge of our combined forces and Shimo's ninjas to launch attack on Kumo and force them back in their land, we will then have to hold our position till Konoha sends in reinforcements which would usually take a few days after our mission here is done"
All agreed to the plan and turned in for the night, Naruto offered himself for the first night watch so that he could complete some seals he was working on. After his shift was over he woke up Hiruko since his was the next shift. And went to sleep.
He woke up after a few hours as he sensed someone's chakra, he quickly came out of the tent and saw Sakumo doing the same. They both nodded at each other and started to investigate their surrounding, immediately they noticed that Hiruko and Kazuo were missing. Sakumo quickly went in the tent which Daisuke had slept in to check if he was present or not.
Naruto sensed several chakra signature flare, no doubt about to launch their jutsu as soon as Sakumo went in, but he was too late to warn Sakumo as multiple shouts of
"Lightning Release: Lightning Blast Technique"
"Lightning Release: Lightning Ball]"
"Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder"
"Ice Release: Snow Storm Swallows"
"Ice Release: Tearing Dragon Fierce Tiger"
Filled the clearing, Naruto, thinking quickly, flashed in front of those multiple attacks and used a technique he had never used in a live combat before.
"Yin release : Bakudou 81: Danku (Spliting void) ".
He recited calmly and put his hand up with 2 fingers pointing at the incoming attacks. The entire field shook as noise of multiple techniques detonating filled the scene.
"That must have gotten all of them".
"Yes, no one can survive those many powerful jutsu's at once".
"We will be famous for killing The white fang and the grandson of Madara Uchiha".
They couldn't celebrate their victory for much longer as the smoke finally cleared and what they saw made their eyes widen in shock and awe.
"No way"
"That's impossible"
Sounds of disbelief soon rung throughout the clearing as they finally saw the result of their attacks.
Sakumo and Daisuke came out quickly following the explosions and they too were surprised by what they saw.
In front of the tent Naruto was standing with his pointer and middle finger stretched forward, connected to an transparent barrier with not a single scratch on it. All around the barrier there were huge craters and trenches filled with ice and static electricity which were spread in a conical formation starting from the barrier and spreading behind its edges.
"Looks like we have company" Naruto said in an excited fashion, "Make sure to keep few alive for information", with that Naruto dropped the barrier and made a single hand seal while jumping into the air.
"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu" Naruto shot multiple fire balls from his mouth which were all as big as him, the ones directly hit by the jutsu were incenerated on the spot, some managed to avoid it but still suffered 3rd degree burns. After disrupting their formation Naruto and team jumped into the Frey, killing everyone they came across. Naruto was fighting them with his bare hand and sometimes using rasengan to drill a hole in them, Sakumo had taken out his white chakra saber and was slicing through them without mercy meanwhile Daisuke was using his kunais, he seemed pretty handy with it.
Within few minutes the enemy were all dead, as Naruto had suggested they had left a single ninja alive to extract information from him.
Sakumo had taken him into the tent, not wanting Naruto to see him torture a man meanwhile Daisuke had gone to finish off the stranglers. After few minutes and lots of screaming later Sakumo had returned from the tent with information.
"These were Kumo and Shimo ninjas" Daisuke informed, "Yes, apparently the snow Daimou's brother staged a coup and seized control of the land. Kumo had offered more land and resources in exchange for their aid in the war but the previous Daimou refused, so they manipulated his brother into overthrowing him by giving him a squadron of Kumo forces, who captured the Daimou and imprisoned all of his loyal soldiers." Sakumo explained the information he got from the ninja.
" And what about our forces there? "Naruto asked" Did he imprison them too".
Sakumo looked down in sadness and shook his head in negative "The were killed when the new Daimou took over".
"And what about Kazuo and Hiruko, I didn't see them anywhere" Daisuke asked.
"They were captured", Sakumo replied " They will probably be imprisoned in shimo and tortured for information"
"So what's the plan now, Kumo already has a foothold in Shimo, that's where they are probably holding Kazuo and Hiruko" Naruto asked "We can't wait for reinforcement as that would require time, it will be too late, Kumo will have complete control over the land of snow by then. As I see it, we have only two options, we either save Kazuo and Hiruko and retreat or leave them and complete our mission. The first option would fail our Misson objective as Kumo will gain advantage in the war putting extra pressure on us and if we complete our mission, there is no doubt that by the time we reach them they would already have been killed." Naruto explained, this is when he realised that this was probably the mission which led Sakumo to commit suicide, he no doubt chose to rescue his teammates and abandon the mission which caused Konoha to vilify him, causing him to kill himself.
"I can't leave a man behind" Sakumo started "We will save our comrades and retreat, I will take responsibility for the mission's failure"
Naruto had already guessed that this would be his answer, but he would not let Sakumo die for something he believed in.
"I may have a plan" Naruto started and Sakumo motioned him to continue "Its a risky plan but with it we might be able to save both of them and complete our mission as well."
After listening the plan, both of them were impressed with it, it was indeed an risky plan but they decided to follow through.
After running for almost a day they had finally reached the outskirts of the village, they decided to wait till nightfall to commence their plan, so they would be less recognizable.
"This is a crazy plan" Daisuke whispered as he, Sakumo and some of Naruto's clones henged as Kumo and Shimo shinobi approached the village gates.
"Its crazy enough to actually work" Sakumo whispered back, he was in chains and acting as a prisoner.
"Halt, recognise yourself" A Shimo shinobi yelled as soon as they were within range of the village gates.
"We are the squad that was sent to lookout for intruders, some of our men came earlier with prisoners" Said the clone in the front.
"We bought more gifts for you all" A clone said pushing Sakumo forward.
" Sakumo Hayate, the white fang of Konoha!!!" A Kumo ninja exclaimed, immediately recognizing Sakumo "He is a legend from the second shinobi war, it's said that because of him, Konoha was able to win against Suna, he killed countless shinobi's in that war" the shinobi continued, "How the he'll did you manage to capture him".
"We got him by surprise, after our team managed to capture the first 2, we launched a surprise attack on the tent, instantly killing the others sleeping in it, one of which was Naruto Uzumaki Uchiha. He then fought us, killing many of our comrades but in the end we managed to overwhelmed him and knock him out" The clone continued.
After confirming with the previous team, who were present for a short while during the initial attack, they let them in.
Meanwhile, Naruto had already infiltrated their base and was searching for the previous daimou, who was locked in the village jail.
After meeting him, Naruto discovered that the new Daimou, Toshi, has kidnapped his neice, the daughter of Tomo, the previous Daimou,
and was holding her against her will in the royal palace. This was also the reason that Toshi agreed to give his position to his brother, since he was threatening the life of his daughter.
Naruto explained him his plan and assured him that he will save his daughter. He created few shadow clones to help Toshi free his men from the prison and went to the palace to save the princess.
The palace was huge, but with help of his chakra sensing ability he was quickly able to pinpoint the location of the princess. He had killed any Kumo shinobi he came across and replaced them with his shadow clones to take their place so no suspicion would arise, he left the Shimo Ninjas alive since they played a part in his plan.
Naruto soon arrived to the room where the princess was being held and dispatched all the shinobi around it. As he entered the room he saw that the princess had somehow gotten hold of a knife and was now throwing it at his face.
'That's so good aim' Naruto thought a he effortlessly caught the thrown knife in his hand.
"Calm down" Naruto started, raising his hands in a universal sign of surrender, "I was sent here by your father to rescue you", this made her calm down a little and lower the second knife she was about to throw.
"I am Naruto, a shinobi of Konoha" Naruto continued, as he showed her his headband.
"My name is Megumi" she introduced herself. She was around his age judging by her height, she had waist length light blue hair and blue eyes and was wearing a dark blue kimono with white obi.
He explained her his plan and escorted her back to her father.
Meanwhile, Sakumo and Daisuke had been put into the jail with Hiruko and Kazuo, both of them were yet to be interrogated as it had only been few hours since they arrived here.
Both of them looked relieved when they saw them but it soon turned to terror as they realized that they too had been captured.
Sakumo calmed them down and explained the plan to them making them sigh is relief. Now all that they had to do was wait for the signal, Naruto had sealed their gear into a seal which was placed on Sakumo's arm so they would be prepared when the time came.
Naruto had taken Megumi to her father and after a happy reunion they were both ready to execute the plan.
Naruto took both of them to the palace balcony and placed a seal on the Daimou so that his voice would be amplified and be heared all over the village.
"My fellow people, I am Toshi Hijikata, the Daimou of this land. My younger brother has usurped my position by threatening my daughter's life and conspiring with Kumo to take over the village." the sun was already rising by now so everyone was awoke when they heard him "He, along with some traitors captured me and held me prisoner but now I am free and I wanted you all to know the truth" by now Tomo had also come out and was furiously ordering the Kumo ninjas to kill his brother "So, stand with me now and protect our village from these traitors" Toshi yelled, and the effect was instantaneous, many of the Shimo shinobi turned their weapons against Kumo but some still wanted to be allied with them, this was the part where Naruto's henged clones came into play, they killed every shinobi that chose to stay traitor, creating chaos amongst them, as they were being killed by Kumo, the village that they were allying with, soon Sakumo and his team also broke free from their prison and started attacking all the Kumo ninjas.
It took several hours but by morning, Naruto's plan was completed, they had effectively saved their team and completed the mission.
"That was a brilliant plan Naruto, I didn't think it would work" Daisuke exclaimed, now that all the fighting was done, some of the Kumo shinobi had surrendered so they held them for questioning, the traitors along with their leader, Tomo were sentenced to death for betraying the village and attempting a coup.
"I was skeptical at first too, but I trusted Naruto to pull through when push come to shove" Sakumo replied, they were now sitting in the daimou's office discussing their further course of action. Kazuo had seemingly turned over a new leaf, he had dropped his attitude and was now working the shimo forces to rebuild the damage caused by the little civil war. Hiruko on the other hand stayed quite the entire time, he was feeling terrible because it was due to him that all of this happened, he was blaming his lack of natural special abilities for his failure.
"We still have a problem on our hand though" Naruto started "When my clones were henged as Kumo shinobis they heard that Kumo is sending a large force of their shinobis here as they had believed that Shimo is all but theirs. We are not equipped to fight such big forces and our reinforcement from Konoha is still few days away " Naruto informed everyone present.
" And what do you suppose we should do? " the daimou asked, " Retreat back and let them have our village till reinforcements arrive? "
"No, we can't afford that " Naruto shot down that idea" We can't let Kumo enter The land of frost. You must understand, we are not fighting only Kumo, we are fighting every shinobi nation as well and our forces are currently stretched thin and if they manage to secure Shimo, this war will become very hard for us to win "Naruto replied grimly " but we still have a day's time, I have a plan but its an dangerous and risky one"
"More dangerous and risky than infiltrating a village as a prisoner?" Daisuke asked jokingly.
"Yes" Naruto replied seriously. He then explained his plan to everyone present there.
"That's suicide!!!" Daisuke exclaimed.
"Yes Naruto, as your team leader I can't allow you to do that-" Sakumo was cut-off.
"But that's our only viable option" Naruto tried to argue.
"Let me finish" Sakumo replied "I can't allow you to do that alone, thats what i was trying to say. I will be with you till the end".
"Sakumo you-" Daisuke tried to protest but he was interrupted.
"It is decided, Daisuke" He replied firmly " We are going to go through with it, prepare the village and their shinobi for tomorrow" He ordered and left the room.
"Don't worry Daisuke, we will pull through, I promise" Naruto reassured and left too.
The village and its people were prepared for battle and soon it was time for it. The Kumo forces had arrived in huge numbers, Naruto could see thousands of them marching towards the village in a open field.
"Its time" Naruto said to Sakumo, who just nodded and followed him to the battle ahead.
"We still have some time" Daisuke begged, "You two don't have to do this!!"
"Just follow the plan" Naruto said "It will be alright", with that he and Sakumo both jumped down the village wall and ran towards the enemy alone.
Within few minutes they were standing several meters from the Kumo shinobi's, who had also stopped as soon as they both go in sight.
"We are here to talk" Sakumo started "We wish to avoid fighting if at all possible"
A few ninja in the front started laughing
"Why would we need to have a talk, this village is as good as ours" he spoke arrogantly.
"Does he speak for all of you? " Naruto asked, pointing to the ninja who just spoke.
"No, he doesn't" spoke a tall dark skinned man, who was dressed in a black sleave less T-shirt with a flak jacket with a strap on only one shoulder with black pants and black shinobi sandes. 'A'
Behind him was a blonde girl who had long, straight hair bound with taut bandages, dark eyes and she wore red lipstick. She wore a short-sleeved black and purple blouse and black pants, both of which had a design similar to clouds on them, purple fingerless gloves and a chain of blue beads wound around her left hand. She also wore the standard Kumogakure forehead protector, sandals and a kunai holster, which was strapped to her right thigh. She also had bandages around her arms and legs as well as a red belt around her waist. 'Yugito nii'.
And a muscular dark skinned man wearing oval shaped sunglasses and a white-coloured forehead protector. He also had his village's standard one-strap-over-one-shoulder flak jacket, and a long, red rope belt tied around his waist, the standard Kumo hand and shin guards, shinobi sandals, and a white scarf around his neck. He also carried seven swords on his back. 'B'
Naruto looked surprised to see them here but this was an crucial mission for Kumo so he guessed they would send heavy hitters to complete it.
"I am A" the future raikage introduced, "and they are B and Yugito" he said pointing backwards and walking a little forward.
"I am Sakumo Hatake" Sakumo introduced himself then pointed towards Naruto
"And that is Naruto Uzumaki Uchiha".
Everyone's attention was immediately on Naruto. "So he is the grandson of The Madara Uchiha" Yugito asked while she narrowed her eyes a bit.
"That's what the DNA tests says" Naruto replied with a shrug.
"That's enough!!!" A shouted, stopping B as he was about to speak, " I am the squad leader, what is it that you want to talk about?"
Sakumo nodded " We are here to advise you to retreat"
"And why should we do that?" A asked "We are at the advantage here, even if you have somehow managed to take back The land of frost, I doubt you could hold it without any reinforcements and by the information we received, they are still few days away from here, by then we will have a solid foothold in this land "
" That is true" Sakumo started " But we have already booby-trapped the village with explosives and sent all the civilians to Konoha. There are still many shinobi left to hold out for a few days till the reinforcements arrive. And if we were to fight, you can sure as hell belive that we will take at least 100 of you down with us when we die" Sakumo explained Naruto's plan to A who just started to laugh,
"You believe that I won't sacrifice my men for this mission" he gave a loud laugh "I'll sacrifice every single one of them if we will gain an advantage in this war" A exclaimed.
"Looks like your plan failed" Sakumo addressed Naruto while removing his chakra sabre and getting into a ready stance causing A, B and Yugito to step back into their formation again.
" So it would seem" Naruto replied as. He too got in a relaxed stance.
There was a moment of silence in the area before A shouted " Attack " and retreated back along with B and Yugito, perfectly fine with letting his enemy tire themselves out so he can later capitalise on them.
As soon as the word 'attack' left A's mouth, there were various kinds of jutsus fired at Naruto and Sakumo, ranging from lightning to wind to fire along with thousands of Kunais and shurikens all aiming at them both.
Sakumo moved to counter but was stopped by Naruto as he stepped forward and raised both his hands with palm facing forward.
"Yin release : Bakudou 81 : Danku Hansha (Spliting void reflection)"
Instantly a large transparent barrier was formed in front of Naruto but unlike the time he previously used it, it was soon covered in seals.
As soon as the jutsus crashed into the barrier they were immediately absorbed by it, meanwhile all the weapons that were thrown were reflected back and within seconds of that, all the jutsu that were absorbed were also thrown back, but they all had almost tripled in size and chakra.
The destruction that followed left the earth shaking as hundreds of Kumo shinobis lost their lives in the aftermath of the attack while many were severely wounded and screaming in pain.
"I do not wish to continue this" Naruto yelled " but I will if you don't retreat" Naruto tried to give them a chance.
"Never!!! " A yelled as he suddenly appeared in front of Naruto's barrier with his lightning armor mode and punched it with all his might.
The barrier didnt even budge but A was blasted back with neck braking speed as all of his power got reflected back at him with thrice the strength.
"A!!!" B and Yugito both yelled as they quickly caught him before he could be thrown away any further.
"His arm is broken" Naruto started, amplifing his voice so it could reach all them "Take him and all of your injured ninjas and retreat. This is your last warning, quarter of your forces are already incapacitated and more will soon follow if you keep this up. You have already lost this battle, even if you somehow beat the two of us, you would have lost considerable amount of your forces all to gain some destroyed land. Are you really willing to sacrifice all your ninjas for it" Naruto gave them a final chance.
By now A had gotten up with the help of B and Yugito and was looking around the battlefield. Hundreds of his ninjas were dead and many were fatally injured, even though he had boasted he would let everyone of them die for the success of this mission, he had not really meant it.
"Retreat!!!" he yelled "fall back all of you and take all the injured with you"
"Are we really retreating?" Yugito asked, she didn't believe A could be convinced so easily.
"No, we are not retreating, only our ninjas are" A explained "Those two are extremely powerful and skilled, large numbers against such enemies are useless. We have to go with quality instead of quantity".
"Meaning we three will have to fight those two" she said "I like those odds" she continued with a smirk.
"Don't get overconfident" A snapped at her "He completely broke my arm with only a barrier, a defensive technique, there is no telling how much powerful Naruto Uchiha is. Getting overconfident in this battle will be a straight ticket to the afterlife"
By now every ninja had been evacuated, leaving only those three and Naruto, Sakumo on the field.
"I see, you still choose to fight" Naruto sighed and cancelled his barrier "atleast I will not be slaughtering ninjas who were just following their orders".
"You are not like how I imagined you'd be" A started causing Naruto to raise an eyebrow in a questioning manner, "I thought you would be a bloodthirsty, battle maniac with the ego matching that of Madara Uchiha's fame but you are surprisingly merciful, even to your enemies. I believe that as a sign of weakness"
"Being merciful doesn't make you weak" Naruto started " I don't believe in mindless bloodshed as that only causes hatred in others, if I were to have slaughtered all of your ninjas, just like your village killed my entire village of Uzushio , their children, brother, sister or any other relative would have come to bear a hatred towards me and my family because of the loss of their loved ones, but I choose to forgive you all for the loss of my village because I know the pain of losing someone and don't wish for it on someone else if I could avoid it " he paused his speech for a second, everyone was looking at him with rapt attention by now.
" Love is the reason why there is pain. When we lose someone precious to us, hate is born. Vengeance is the product of that hate and so death follows. But in death there is only more death. This will give rise to more pain. In this cursed world we live in, it is a cycle of hatred that will not cease and I intend to break this cycle of hatred. If there is such a thing as a peace, I intend to achieve it, that is my dream." Naruto exclaimed.
Everyone were silent as they all listened his monologue, finally A spoke " That's a respectable dream you have, but in this day and age kindness like yours is taken for granted. People would rather backstab you than thank you for it "
" That's a risk I am willing to take".
" If there wasn't a war going on, we would have been great friends Naruto. I am sorry to say this but we will have to fight. Words are all well and good but the true character of a man only comes out when he fights , so let's fight and let me see your resolve" A then got into stance and motioned the other 2 to not interfere.
"You would hardly be a match for me with only one arm" Naruto replied "I could heal it for you, after all my teacher is the greatest medic of the elemental nations, Tsunade Senju. But since you think kindness is a weakness I wont, instead i'll let you team up with one of your teammates here" Naruto offered pointing at the other two.
"Naruto, are you sure" Sakumo asked worried "I have no doubt that you are powerful but fighting two on one would be very difficult".
"Don't worry, I can handle it" Naruto waved him off and motioned him to back away.
Naruto got in a loose taijutsu stance while Yugito retreated back with Sakumo to watch from a distance.
"Let's get the party started!!!" Naruto yelled and dashed towards the two of them.
Next chapter, A and B vs Naruto.