Chapter 2: Team 7 Reunited! Sort of...
'Pain's philosophy is possible through understanding. Once everyone has felt the same pain, they would not want to experience it again. They would all understand what pain feels like, which breeds peace.'
Dream Sequence
Death. That's the only word that could describe what he saw in front of him. The Hidden Leaf Village, the strongest of the hidden villages, lay completely destroyed at his feet.
The Hokage monument completely destroyed with the villages top ninjas crucified on the mountain side.
From his position he could vaguely see Might Guy, Kurenai Yuhi, and his own sensei Kakashi Hatake, amongst other ninja mutilated beyond recognition.
The Hokage Tower lay in rubble. Running towards it he prayed she was still alive. His precious Granny Tsunade.
Looking over what was left of the tower he sees a hand sticking out amongst the rubble. Running over he tries to pull out whoever it is out of the rubble. A lump forms in his throat as he recognizes who it is: Granny Tsunade.
"G-Granny?!!!" Naruto manages to choke out. Tsunade's genjutsu had come undone. Naruto saw that she was impaled with multiple black rods.
"Naruto..." she whispers. "What is it Granny?! What happened?!" He yells panic in his voice, tears streaming down his face.
Tsunade face suddenly turns into a sickening grin. "What are you talking about Naruto-kun? Don't you remember? You did this. You've killed us all." She says, then cackles like a maniac.
"No, no, no," he keeps saying to himself in a daze. Naruto looks around to see if he can find more of his friends. He sees Sakura nearby, with her chest ripped open.
"Sakura!! What happened?! Please tell me who did this!" Naruto all but yelled.
"It's all your fault. You couldn't bring back my Sasuke-kun and now you've killed us all. I should've listened to my parents, you really are a demon." Sakura whispers to Naruto before she too dies.
Before Naruto can even react he hears movement all around him looking up he sees his friends, the rest of the rookies, all impaled with black rods, their bones bent in unnatural angles.
They're all looking at him, right in the eye. All chanting "You did this." Over and over again.
Just as Naruto is about to go insane he feels someone wrapping their arms around him. Turning around Naruto comes face to face with empty lavender eyes.
"W-why N-Naruto-kun??" Hinata whispers, blood dripping down her mouth.
Naruto is paralyzed. Pure dread creeps into his very being. He can't move. He's frozen just staring back into the once beautiful lavender moons that now show nothing but emptiness.
Naruto gives out a blood curdling yell.
Suddenly the scene shifts and Naruto is staring back at himself. Except the Naruto that's looking back at him is different.
His bright sunlike hair is dulled and spiked upright. His whisker marks are much more deeper and pronounced. His hands now have 2 inch long claws. He can faintly see 2 small horns protruding from his forehead. But the change he picks up on the most are those eyes. Instead of the usual cerulean blue they are now a deep blood red, almost glowing, and his pupils are now slits.
"Soon I will be free from my prison, and there will be nothing you can do about it Naruto!" the other Naruto says.
Dream Sequence End
"AHHHH" yells Naruto, finally awake from his terrible nightmare.
"Fuck you 9-tailed cunt!" he suddenly yells while breathing heavily, a sheen of sweat present on his face.
A deep rumbling in the back of his head let him know that the bastard fox heard him.
The fox got enjoyment from twisting Naruto's dreams and giving him vivid nightmares. Ever since Naruto went into his 4-tailed state against Jiraiya-Sensei the fox's influence on his mental state has become even stronger.
He had a nagging fear that his seal was becoming weaker but he pushed it into the back of his mind for now. He had a test to do with Kakashi and Sakura today!
Looking at his alarm clock he saw that it was 7 am, plenty of time to shower and get ready. Getting up he walks into his bathroom and turns on the shower. As he lets the warm water cascade down his body he can't help but wonder about his dream. Was he really that much of a danger to his friends? He couldn't help but get a feeling that he should keep them at arms length, just in case. But that left him with another problem: Hinata. Ever since yesterday he hasn't stopped thinking about her, besides Pervy Sage she's the only one who's always been genuinely nice to him. In fact now that he thinks about it she never laughed at him or discouraged him ever, even back at the Academy. 'I should've befriended her since back then, but I always thought that she was afraid of me cause she'd always get red and refuse to look me in the eye.' he thought.
To anyone else it would've been obvious that she was attracted to him, however growing up alone and hated by your entire village really fucks up your social skills. Having no parental guidance whatsoever except for the limited amount of time he spent with Lord Third (or Gramps as he liked to call him) left Naruto in a situation where he could barely pick up on certain cues from people.
Jiraiya had helped him somewhat during their training but he still needed a lot of work if he was going to be able to pick up on certain things from people.
Naruto sighed, thinking about all this wasn't going to do him any good right now. He needed all his focus on his test, he wanted to impress everyone, and besides, he kinda wanted to kick Kakashi's ass for being a shitty sensei.
After being trained personally with Jiraiya-Sensei and experiencing the difference between him and Kakashi, he couldn't help but feel slight animosity towards him. I mean for fucks sake he only taught him and Sakura tree climbing! Meanwhile he taught Sasuke how to better utilize his Sharingan as well as the Chidori. 'Just wait Kakashi, your ass is grass and I'm gonna mow it!' thought Naruto with a malicious grin. He really hoped they underestimated him.
Getting out of the shower he brushes his teeth before going back into his room and changing into his usual orange jumpsuit. He then had a bowl of fruit for breakfast. Yes a bowl of fruit. For breakfast. Pervy Sage had also taught him the importance of having a balanced diet, after being forced to eat fruits and vegetables for the first few months of training. His balanced diet was actually what helped him grow so much from being the midget that he was.
He walked out of apartment with 20 minutes to spare. He arrived at the training ground 10 minutes later. Seeing that Granny and Pervy Sage were already there.
"Hey Granny! Pervy Sage!" he greets running over to them. While Tsunade suppresses the urge to rid his head off Jiraiya voices his displeasure.
"How many times have I told you now to call me that brat!" he yelled. "Hehe come on Sensei! I'm just joking!" says Naruto with a chuckle.
Jiraiya mutters something about blonde brats needing to learn respect but if you saw closely he had a small smile on his face.
"Kakashi better not be late Granny." Naruto sighed as Sakura walked into the training grounds.
"Don't worry Naruto Jiriaya here offered him the next book in the Icha Icha series months before release should he actually arrive on time." said Tsunade in a matter of fact tone.
"Yup there's no way he'll arrive late then." said Sakura with a sigh
Everyone knew of Kakashi's infatuation with Jiraiya's famous book series. Kakashi arrived 5 minutes later much to everyone's relief.
"Yo! Naruto, it's been a while. Master Jiriaya I'm looking forward to this next installment a lot. In fact I heard you had a co-author this time around?" he inquires keeping his gaze locked on Naruto.
Jiraiya simply laughed while Naruto goes pale. With Sakura and Tsunade there, if they found out he plans to take over the legendary book series for his master at some point he could very well die. All he could do was pray to whatever god was out there.
"Anyways," Naruto started to change the subject, "aren't we supposed to be doing some type of test?"
"Ahem, right. I'm sure you and Sakura will be quite familiar with this test, considering that you've both done it already." said Kakashi, eye smiling at both of them.
"Let me guess. The bell test right Kakashi?" said Naruto
Tsunade scoffed "I'm surprised you figured it out brat." she said. "It wasn't that hard to figure out Granny. I mean come on, do you really think he'd make up a new test for us?" said Naruto.
Everyone just sweat dropped.
"Anyways, the rules are simple, since you both know the true meaning of the test we'll skip that. Come at me with the intent to kill, or else you won't be getting these bells." Kakashi said nonchalantly. Though the glint in Naruto's eye sent shivers down his spine he decided to ignore it. Tsunade had already briefed him on Naruto's new abilities so he was prepared.
What Kakashi didn't know is that Jiriaya skipped over a couple other things about Naruto's abilities, such as his talent in Fuinjutsu, the sealing arts. As an Uzumaki Naruto took to it fairly quickly and he was well on his way to becoming a seal master in a few years, though Naruto bet Jiraiya he could do it in one year from returning to the Leaf.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever Sensei lets just get on with it." Naruto whines as he was itching to get started. "Impatient as always ey Naruto?" Kakashi said in a bored tone. 'Maybe he hasn't changed as much as I thought.' he told himself mentally.
Naruto simply smiled back.
"Start!" announced Tsunade.
As soon as she said that Naruto sped through hand signs. "Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!" he exclaimed before he shot a volley of small fireballs through his mouth.
While Kakashi was busy dodging the fireballs, Sakura smashed her chakra enhanced fist into the ground, trying to get Kakashi off balance so he would get hit.
Kakashi managed dodged the fireballs without getting hit anyway however. "I'm impressed Naruto, that isn't an easy jutsu to learn," he said while bringing up his forehead protector " I have a feeling I'm gonna need this."
"Glad we're being taken serious Kakashi." said Naruto while smirking. He brought his hands together for his favorite hand sign before shouting "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Suddenly the training ground was covered in smoke and once it was cleared Sakura was nowhere to be found. However she was replaced by 1,000 Narutos. "Think you can take us all on Sensei?" they said in unison.
Kakashi simply sweat dropped before sighing. "This is gonna take a while..." he mutters.
Meanwhile the real Naruto and Sakura are hiding within the forest surrounding the training trying to come up with a plan.
"Alright those clones should keep him busy for about 5 minutes. I only put a little chakra into them since they're just our diversion." explained Naruto.
"What do you think we should do? Launching a high powered jutsu at him won't work while his Sharingan is active, he'll see it coming." said Sakura.
"Hmm well this is actually something I've been thinking since we started the test. I mean the only reason why Kakashi even showed up on time was for the new Icha Icha book right? Since I've been forced to proofread Sensei's books I've actually read the book myself." explained Naruto, purposely omitting the fact that he's even a co-author on said book.
"Pervert! You actually read that smut?!" screeched Sakura.
"Yes I did now shut up. I'm thinking Kakashi won't take too kindly to spoilers right? So I'm thinking that meanwhile I distract him with potential spoilers on his new book you can sneak u on him and snatch the bells." Naruto said with a satisfied look on his face.
Sakura was shocked. Not only did Naruto come up with a good plan, he actually told her to shut up. Shaking herself out of her shocked state she was about to respond until Naruto noticed that Kakashi dealt with the last of his clones.
"No time to argue Sakura! Just wait for the signal." said Naruto, and with that he leapt toward the clearing to distract Kakashi while Sakura devised a way to sneak up on him from behind the trees.
Back at the clearing Kakashi was panting a bit but overall he was still in good enough condition to fight both Naruto and Sakura at the same time he hoped.
Just as he was preparing to go after Naruto to pay him back for all the clones he leapt out of the trees and stood 20 feet away from Kakashi. 'Saves me the trouble of looking for him at least.' thought Kakashi.
"Where's Sakura, Naruto? Didn't we establish that this was a team effort?" asked Kakashi with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh I'm sure she's out there somewhere sensei, but I actually came cause I wanted to explain something to you about the new Icha Icha book that I co-authored." said Naruto with an evil grin.
'What's he planning?' thought Kakashi.
"Well sensei, I actually wanted to talk about the ending of that book with you!" he said with a happy expression on his face.
'Got his ass!' thought Naruto when Kakashi widened in horror.
"You wouldn't Naruto!" yelled Kakashi.
"Oh but I would sensei. You see-" Naruto began before Kakashi stuck his fingers in his ears and closed his eyes in an attempt to not get spoiled.
"I CAN'T HEAR YOU NARUTO! LALALA!" yelled Kakashi to distract himself from being spoiled.
Suddenly Naruto yelled "NOW!" and Sakura bolted from her position behind the trees and made for the bells.
Kakashi noticed movement behind him however and turned around before Sakura could get the bells. 'Shit!' Naruto and Sakura thought in unison.
Just as Kakashi was dodging Sakura, Naruto pumped chakra into his legs and dashed toward Kakashi, pulling out a paralysis sealing formula from his Kunai pouch in the process.
Kakashi wasn't fast enough to react to Naruto before he was slammed with the small piece of paper on his back, disabling him from being able to move.
"What is this?" said Kakashi while trying to move his limbs to no avail.
Naruto simply laughed. "You didn't think Pervy Sage told Granny all my moves did you!" he said while chuckling.
Meanwhile Tsunade turned to Jiraiya and scowled at him. "You were supposed to give me and accurate report on all his skills Jiriaya!" yelled Tsunade.
Jiraiya simply laughed her off. "Come on Princess! You can't deny that this made things much more interesting." he said.
Tsunade simply smirked. "I guess you're right about that. But I'll still need the full report." she said in her commanding Hokage tone.
"Sure, Lady Hokage." said Jiraiya in a mocking tone.
Back at the clearing Naruto snatched the bells before removing the sealing formula from Kakashi. "How was that Sensei! Still think I'm a joke?!" said Naruto with a slight glare.
"What do you mean Naruto?" said Kakashi in a confused tone.
"Oh you mean you don't know? I mean that you haven't been a very good teacher to me or Sakura. How about we start with all the amazing techniques you taught me and Sakura besides tree walking?" said Naruto.
Kakashi was stumped. It was then that he realized what Naruto was getting at. Kakashi had become a biased teacher simply because he saw much of his younger self in Sasuke.
Realizing his previous mistakes and looking at both Sakura and Naruto's glares, he began to apologize. "You're absolutely right Naruto. I'd like to apologize to both you and Sakura. I'll be a better sensei from now on." He said in a sincere tone.
Naruto grinned. "Apology accepted Sensei."
Sakura gave him a small smile and nodded showing that she also forgave him.
Kakashi eye smiled before putting his forehead protector back over his left eye.
"Lady Hokage?" He called out.
"What is it Kakashi?" Tsuande said with a smirk.
"I'd like Team 7 to be reinstated as an active team." he said while eye smiling.
Naruto and Sakura beamed. Both were happy that their former team was reunited... well almost.
"Now all we need is Sasuke." said Sakura with a solemn expression on her face.
Naruto simply rolled his eyes but said nothing. "Anyways" said Naruto, changing the subject, "when are you going to promote me to Jonin, Granny?!"
Tsuande thought about it. "You showed great skill as well as critical thinking Naruto, and when your initial plan failed you recovered quickly and still managed to accomplish the goal. While all that is impressive I'm afraid I'll need more time to consider making you Jonin."
Naruto simply grinned. "Don't worry Granny! With all the missions I'll be doing, you'll promote me in no time!"
Tsuande just smiled 'I don't doubt that Naruto.' she thought.
"Good job brat! I'm proud!" said Jiraiya while ruffling Naruto's hair.
Naruto beamed. Getting his father figures praise always pushed him to get even stronger. "Thanks Jiraiya-Sensei!" exclaimed Naruto.
"Alright Team, meet here tomorrow at 10 am for training and a possible mission.
"Hai!" Naruto and Sakura said before walking out of the clearing.
"So Naruto would you like to get lunch together?" asked Sakura, unaware that a certain Hyuga Heiress was watching the scene from the bushes.
Hinata had been stalki- I mean observing, yeah observing Naruto since that morning. She watched the entire training session while blushing profusely when she discovered that her beloved was a pervert. She was thinking about asking Naruto for lunch but Sakura had beat her to it. 'Why would Naruto want to eat with me anyway. He loves Sakura.' she thought with tears in her eyes.
Both were shocked with Naruto's reply.
"Nah I'm good Sakura. See ya later!" and with that he ran out of the clearing and toward the village.
Sakura just stood there. "What just happened?" she said aloud, and Hinata couldn't help but wonder the same thing.
Sakura was definitely going to have a conversation with him later, but for now she wanted to talk to Ino about it.
Hinata simply stood there waiting for Sakura to leave before walking out and going on a search for Naruto.
Naruto made his way to the Hokage Monument, on top of the Fourh's head. He didn't know why but he always like sitting atop of his head. He thought it was because the Fourth was his favorite Hokage, even though he burdened him with the 9-tails. In a way the Fourth was trusting him with protecting the village, and Naruto would protect the Hidden Leaf until the day he died.
As Naruto stood there overlooking the village he couldn't help but feel as if he was being watched. Turning around he noticed some movement behind some trees surrounding the area.
Thinking it might've been an enemy he pulls out a kunai and yells out "Who's there?! Show yourself!"
Hinata, realizing she had been caught, slowly stepped out of the trees with the fiercest blush she could muster.
"Oh Hinata it's just you! Sorry about that." Naruto nervously chuckled and scratched the back of his head.
"N-no N-Naruto it's my fault I'm s-s-sorry." said Hinata said putting her head down.
"Ne, don't sweat it Hinata. How about we get something to eat? I'm starving! My treat." asked Naruto who was hungry from the training exercise with Kakashi.
'Naruto wants to eat with me! But he rejected Sakura? Why?' thought Hinata.
"Uhh Hinata?" asked Naruto.
"O-oh umm I would l-like that N-Naruto." said Hinata with a small smile and a light pink dusting her cheeks.
'Cute' thought Naruto with a grin.
"Great! You choose where we eat this time Hinata, since we ate ramen yesterday." said Naruto interested in learning more about his lavender eyed friend.
"A-are you sure Naruto? W-we can eat whatever you want..." muttered Hinata
"Nope! Today I wanna eat whatever you want!" exclaimed Naruto.
Hinata just smiled. "A-alright lets g-go!" she said with as much enthusiasm as she could muster.
And with that they made their way to Hinata's favorite bakery.
Naruto noticing the bakery comments on it. "Oh you have a sweet tooth do you Hinata?" he teases.
Hinata blushes and nods.
Hinata orders her favorite food: Cinnamon Buns!
Naruto follows suit not really knowing what to order.
Once they both get their orders Naruto tries it and ends up loving it.
"Wow Hinata! This is delicious! Especially the icing!" said Naruto with his mouth full.
Hinata smiles and says "I-I'm glad you like it N-Naruto, it's actually my favorite food."
"Really? We should come here more often ya know." he mentions nonchalantly.
'Yes!' she mentally screams.
"I would love that N-Naruto." she says with a smile.
While they're finishing eating Naruto notices that Hinata has a smudge of icing on the side of her mouth.
"Hinata you got a little something there." he says pointing to his mouth.
Hinata tries to wipe it but wipes the wrong side.
Naruto just smiles and says "Here I got it." He reaches over and gets the icing with his finger then licks it clean off.
Hinata blushes so hard her entire body goes red.
"Hinata are you okay? Do you have a fever?" says Naruto concerned.
"I-I-I'm f-f-f-fine." she squeaks out.
Naruto just shrugs and finishes his food.
"Ahh that hit the spot Hinata! What do you want to do now?" Naruto says.
"W-well i have to meet my team today..." she says with a frown, not wanting to leave Naruto's side.
"That's okay! Mind if I walk you? I haven't seen Shino or that mutt Kiba yet."
'Yes! More Naruto time!' she cheers mentally.
"Sure Naruto." she says with a small smile.
As they walk to the training grounds Naruto tells her some more stories about his trip with his perverted sensei.
"...and then Pervy Sage got us kicked out of town after they caught him peeping in the hot springs!"
Hinata just kept giggling.
'She sounds so cute when she laughs' thought Naruto with a smile.
They arrived at the training ground meeting up with Shino and Kiba.
"Oh it's you Naruto." said Kiba with a frown.
"Yeah nice to see you too asshole. Wassup Shino." says Naruto.
Shino cried anime tears, grateful for not being ignored for once.
"Hello Naruto." he said with a small smile.
"Anyways what're you doing with this orange loser Hinata." said Kiba with a smirk.
"Don't worry about what we were doing mutt it's none of your business, and what's wrong with orange anyway?" He says angrily.
"Nothings wrong with it, unless you want to stand out like a sore thumb." he said in a matter of fact tone.
"Ha! I managed to paint the Hokage monument in a bright orange jumpsuit in broad daylight without getting caught. I think I'll be fine thanks." said Naruto with a smug expression.
"D-Don't worry about K-Kiba, Naruto, I'm sure he didn't mean anything b-by it." said Hinata hoping to defuse the situation.
"Hinata you have the patience of a saint to be on the same team as this idiot." said Naruto.
"Whatever Naruto, you're still the only genin out of all of us you know." said Kiba laughing.
"Sorry to break it to you Kiba, but rank doesn't mean shit. I kicked Neji's ass with one hit, then went on to beat the shit out of Gaara who actually transformed into his tailed beast. I did all that shit when I was 12, so tell me Kiba would you be able to do that right now?" said Naruto with a serious expression.
Everyone's jaw dropped. They didn't expect Naruto to mention any of that.
"Yeah I thought so. See ya later Hinata." said Naruto walking out of the training ground.
"B-Bye Naruto..." said Hinata, upset that they didn't hug today.
Naruto suddenly stops and says "Oh wait I almost forgot..." then runs back toward Hinata and hugs her, while flipping Kiba off.
"Bye Hinata-chan." he whispers into her ear then leaves in a swirl of leaves.
This had 3 effects: Hinata fainted with a blissful smile on her face, Kiba fumed, and Shino simply pushes his glasses back up his nose.
Naruto decided to train for a couple more hours considering he still had some time before it got dark.
Going back to his favorite training ground, he summons a couple hundred shadow clones and has them working on his new jutsu: the wind element Rasengan.
A few hours later...
A dirty and tired Naruto stumbles back into his apartment for some much needed rest.
Closing his eyes he hopes his 'tenant' doesn't cause him anymore nightmares...
In the Hidden Rain Village
"I don't trust him Konan." says a man with half his face covered by his blood red hair. He looks to be in some sort of machine, with multiple black rods sticking out of his back. He's clearly malnourished with his own ribs clearly visible. His defining feature is his visible eye, glowing in all its purple glory is theRinnegan
"Neither do I, but what choice do we have Nagato?" says a woman with blue hair and a origami flower in it. She has a small piercing below her lip as well as blue eye shadow and brown eyes. She wears a black cloak with 4 red clouds on it.
"I'm going with that other plan."
Konan's eyes widen.
"You can't Nagato! He'll never join us! He's the container of the 9-tails!" she exclaims.
"Yes that's true, but perhaps he may be able to harness its power. Besides he's the only one capable of using these eyes..."
"Nagato there's too many variables..."
"Of course, but this is the best option we have right now! I don't have much longer to live Konan. Besides he knows a little bit about Pain already. As soon as we capture him I can mold him by sharing my own Pain with him. Then he'll learn..."
"You're serious aren't you? *sigh* I guess I have no choice but to agree. We have to keep this is a secret from 'Madara' and I don't trust Zetsu either." she said before leaving Nagato's chambers.
Nagato simply contemplated his plan.
"You will be the one to bring peace, Naruto Uzumaki..."
A/N: One Of you fuck niggas suggested a harem and Ima let y'all know that i fucking hate harems. I'm not doing that. Also this entire story should be considered and AU story obviously I will follow canon but with my own twist to it. One more thing, if you're gonna talk shit on my story don't be a pussy and leave a guest review do it with your actual account fuck boy.