Chapter Twenty
Heyo welcome back please enjoy this next chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto Masashi Kishimoto does. If I did, well we wouldn't be doing this right now would we?
Elypsus: yup! The training ground is indeed the one from road to ninja.
"Naruto!?"
"Oh uh h-hey there Rikka…" The blond shinobi earned a fist to the face in response. Before he could fall the girl caught him in a tight hug holding him close to her. He had forgotten to write her for the last three months, and she had been driven wild in worry.
"You promised to write me you idiot." She said. He slowly wrapped his arms around her and held her in his embrace.
"I know. I'm sorry I forgot, Jiraiya-Sensei and I got very caught up in our last bit of training. I promise to make it up to you." He said with a smile.
"You'd better…" She trailed off before pulling away and punching his arm. "Wow, you've grown a lot!" The girl took in the appearance of the secret Namikaze. The eighteen year old was tall now, standing at a solid five foot eight inches. He still wore his chunin vest, unzipped and lazily swaying in the wind. The only change to his outfit was the fact that his standard Konoha shinobi uniform was now dark blue, in place of the black he had once worn. His hair had grown slightly more, The spikiness now almost out of control. Unknown to Rikka, although the idea was present in the very back of her head, the man before her was the complete spitting image of Namikaze Minato.
"Heh thanks. Teuchi! Lemme get another bowl for Rikka please!"
"Coming right up kid!" The chef yelled from the back.
"You've changed a lot as well, Rikka." He said taking in her appearance. She was now dressed in a standard Konoha shinobi top with short sleeves. She wore a pair of black shorts (like Sakura's), and sported her very own chunin vest. The woman now stood five foot six, and had grown out a lot physically. Her breasts had become larger, and as far as the boy could tell, the rear of the kunoichi that stood before him was very well developed and toned. He blushed gently, turning his head away from her. "That damn pervert sensei made me start acting all weird."
"Naruto… were you just checking me out?" She questioned teasingly.
"Uh...no! No! I wasn't I swear!" He said panicking. The girl simply laughed in response, before looking him over.
"Well you're not too bad either." She broke with. She quickly realized what she had said, before she blushed and turned away.
"You're still wearing that orange scarf. It must be special to you." He observed.
She blushed harder and took a step back from him. "Are you stupid?" She questioned her face very red now.
"Uh, I feel like I'm missing something here." He said scratching his neck. "Anyway let's eat really quick."
After quickly eating and catching up, Naruto promised to find her soon so they could talk more. He then quickly made his way to the Hokage tower.
"Jiraiya another word and I'll punch you to the moon." Tsunade said as Naruto opened the door and stepped in.
"Uhh...am I interrupting something." The blond asked.
"No brat you're just in time to get this guy off my back." The Sannin turned Kage answered.
"Uhhh... right. So I'm back."
"That you are. I've heard a lot about your new skills. Especially that one that ruined your arm to the point I had to fix it. Do not use it again! Got it brat?"
"Yes Ma'am."
"Now I was planning on having you and Sakura do an evaluation against Kakashi, but I've decided that it might be overkill. So I think I'll have you and Kakashi duke it out one on one." The Hokage said with a smirk.
"I won't go easy on you Naruto." The masked jounin said from the window. Unknown to the other shinobi, Kakashi had actually almost fallen out the window at the sight of his student. He hadn't expected the blond to look that much like his old sensei.
"Ah Kaka-Sensei, how are you? I brought you a present." The blond said with a smile, handing a book to Kakashi. "That's the last Icha Icha book Sensei will write for a while, I beat him in a spar and now he has to write a decent novel like his first one."
"Thank you Naruto. But the last? Really Lord Jiraiya!?"
"Kakashi use the damn door!" Tsunade yelled loudly. "Anyway, tomorrow at eight meet at training ground seven and we will get started."
"Yes Ma'am!"
As the morning breeze floated through the forest, two highly skilled shinobi stared each other down. The blond could sense the chakra signatures of his Sannin teacher, and the blonde Hokage hiding in the trees. He could also sense twenty others, among them were Sakura's and Rikka's. He assumed Tsunade had started a betting pool as most people would likely bet on Kakashi. "Smart woman." He thought idly.
"Alright Naruto." Kakashi said drawing bells from his pocket. "I'm not going to go easy on you, I'd assume I'm going to need this." He said pulling his headband up and letting his eye take in the battlefield.
"You're gonna need a lot more than that to beat me Sensei." The younger man said drawing a kunai. At the sight of the tri-prong, Kakashi's eyes widened. His entire body tensed up, along with that of a few of his fellow jounin in the trees.
"Naruto...you?"
"Maybe...you'll just have to find out Sensei." The blond replied with a smirk.
"Begin!" Shouted the Hokage, and the two shinobi immediately leapt at each other. Four clones burst from Naruto, quickly engaging Kakashi as the younger male made for center field. He quickly peppered the surrounding trees with kunai before Kakashi had finished dispatching his clones.
The masked jounin flickered to the boy, engaging him in hand to hand. "First test: Taijutsu." He said. The blond dropped low, swinging his fist up at the jounin's face. The man quickly leaned back to avoid, only for his eyes to widen slightly as a new clone appeared and came rolling over Naruto's back, poised to cut him open with a kunai. He backpedaled and dodged to the side before bringing his leg around to impact Naruto's side. He was slightly surprised when this resulted in Naruto disappearing in a puff of smoke, signaling the use of a shadow clone. "Did he substitute with his clone that quickly?"
"Over here!" Yelled Naruto, and as Kakashi spun around, he was greeted with Naruto and two clones finishing hand signs. "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"
"Wind Style: Vacuum Bullets!"
"Wind Style: Open Destruction!"
"Super Wind Hurricane Combination!" The three yelled in unison, prompting everyone observing the match to sweat drop at the terrible name. The massive gale force ripped through the clearing, intend on ripping Kakashi away. The jounin knew he couldn't counter with a fire jutsu, so he was forced to retreat to the tree line.
"Wrong move Sensei." Kakashi heard Naruto's voice say from behind him.
"Ho-?" He started but was shot out of the trees into the clearing by a solid and harsh kick to the spine. He landed roughly in the clearing, but quickly regained his footing. As he stood he found himself face to face with a kunai. Said kunai became Naruto's foot, and Kakashi almost lost a few teeth. He impacted the ground but transitioned quickly back to his feet and shot off a jutsu. "Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu!" The Fire quickly ignited everything in its path, and soon a large section of the field was set ablaze. "Second test: ninjutsu."
When the fire started to die down, Naruto was gone. "It's like fighting Minato-Sensei all over again." Naruto appeared on a tree branch across the field. He smiled at his sensei before throwing a handful of kunai at the man. The jounin deflected them, and jumped away. Not willing to stay near the continuously dangerous knives.
Naruto flickered to life in the group of kunai, staring down his teacher. "Third test: genjut-." He was cut off as Naruto appeared behind him, moving through hand signs.
"Fuinjutsu: Limp Limb Seal!" The boy called out smacking his palm against the jounin's arm. The Limp Limb Seal was a fuinjutsu technique the boy had developed during his training trip. It did exactly what the name implied, causing the targets affected limb to go numb and become useless. The only downside was it had a range limit. This meant that unless Naruto stayed close, the seal would deactivate.
Kakashi leapt back from the blond, his left arm dangling uselessly. He stared at it in confusion, before accepting his situation. "Unfortunately for you Naruto, I can do this." His single arm came up, and with a few one handed hand signs, he shot off a jutsu. "Earth Stye: Mud River!" A massive current of mud swept across the field, intent in taking the blond with it.
"Water Style: Great Waterfall Technique!" Naruto shot a huge amount of water from his mouth into the air, which then cascaded down with enough force to completely dissipate the mud river, along with a chunk of the clearing. "I'm gonna go ahead and end this with, that jutsu." Naruto thought.
He had been working on a particular pet project of a sealing technique during his trip. It had been the technique that allowed him to finally beat Jiraiya in a spar, and get his way with what the Sage's next novel would be. Six clones burst to life beside the boy, and Kakashi was suddenly encircled with kunai, but before he could react, as he was still regaining his bearings from the waterfall, the kunai were all replaced with a blond clone. No matter what way he dodged, three of them managed to slap a palm on him, leaving behind a large sealing formula.
The jounin quickly dispatched the clones before turning his attention to the original. "So what did you do to me?"
"A good shinobi would never reveal his secrets to the enemy, wouldn't you say Sensei?"
"Fair enough." As soon as the jounin made his reply, the younger man was on him, kunai in hand. He swiped at the masked man's head, who quickly ducked under the swing. However; as Naruto's hand passed over Kakashi's head, he dropped the kunai. A few seconds later and Naruto was behind the man again, striking out to kick his teacher's feet out.
The older nin jumped over the leg sweep, swinging his foot down into the blond's side. The blond man flipped a kunai up into the air as he fell, before appearing above Kakashi. The whiskered chunin caught the copy nin in the back with a heel drop, but he disappeared, and in his place was a log.
Kakashi appeared across the field from him and eye smiled. "You won't get those bells at this rate, Naruto."
"Sorry, but it's over Sensei." The blond replied. This immediately piqued Kakashi's interest, so he readied himself, but he also resolved to see what happened next. The chunin stood still, closing his eyes, and focusing his chakra with a single hand seal. It took a lot of concentration to pull off this technique. Had Kakashi decided not to let him do it, he would have had shadow clones hold off the masked jounin.
"Fuinjutsu: Reverse Summoning." Naruto whispered, and he was behind Kakashi. The jounin hadn't been around any kunai, and one simple move had put him in this spot. Naruto now stood behind the man, a kunai pressed to the jounin's neck. His left arm slinked around the jounin's chest, a second kunai poised to be buried in the masked man's heart. "Sorry, you lose Kakashi." The blond finished.
"Hmmm, seems you finally got me, Naruto." The jounin agreed. Finally at this moment Jiraiya, Tsunade, and a selection of jounin came out from the trees. Rikka, Sakura, and a few nin who had came to place bets also joined them in the clearing. "So how exactly did you do that Naruto?" The jounin asked, curiosity getting the best of him.
"Well after looking at summoning contracts and studying my other new jutsu, I was able to for a contract seal that essentially summons me. Instead of summoning a toad or slug or snake, it summons me. It's essentially a low level space time seal, and I couldn't come up with a name for it. I probably won't be using it much. The seal is so large, I either have to have a lot of time to apply it, or have to use clones to apply it all at once. If one of the three hadn't touched you, the seal wouldn't have been applied." The blond shinobi elaborated.
"Don't worry Kakashi, that technique is how the brat managed to beat me in a spar." Jiraiya said.
"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised you managed to create something like this Naruto."
"Well it takes a lot of inspiration and theory from Lord Second and Lord Fourth's jutsu." He said, not mentioning Minato as his father, considering all the nin surrounding them. "It's not nearly as fast, nor does it have the range. It also will dissipate after some time, and on top of that it takes a lot of chakra control. In fact I can barely execute the technique in the first place. It takes quite a lot of concentration in combat."
"Well damn that's pretty impressive Naruto, good work." The masked man replied.
"Thank you Sensei."
Sakura chose this moment to join in as well. "I can't believe you beat Kakashi-Sensei one on one Naruto."
"Heh, well I did so you have to believe it." The blond man replied.
"Naruto." Tsunade spoke up.
"Yes Ma'am?"
"You test is over, I now promote you to jounin."
"Wait what!?" He asked. "This was a jounin exam!?"
"That's right, and you passed, I think everyone else here would agree." The Hokage stated.
"Well thank you Ma'am, it's an honor." He replied with a bow.
"You're welcome. All of you are dismissed except for Kakashi and Jiraiya!" She yelled at the nin.
"Yes Ma'am!" Came the response all around.
"Come find me later, Naruto!" Rikka said before leaping off.
"Naruto."
"Yes Lady Hokage?"
"Make sure no one is around." At this statement the man knelt down, and placed his finger on the ground.
"We're alone, Lady Hokage."
"Good. Now Sasuke should be getting in contact with you sometime soon correct?"
"Yes Ma'am. I request a decent force to lead the assault to against Orochimaru's forces. After the situation is dealt with, Sasuke will come back for a debrief. However; we request the mission to go after Itachi Uchiha."
"If you quel the problem, and Sasuke is gauged to be strong enough, I will grant you your mission."
"Thank you Ma'am."
Rikka was currently cutting carrots up to make stew, when she was interrupted by a knock at the door. She walked briskly to the door, and looked through the peephole. Her eyes were greeted with a mop of blond hair, and she quickly pulled away to pull the door open. "Hey Naruto." She said flatly, but with a smile.
"Hey. What's up?" He asked her.
"I was making dinner, would you like to come in?"
"I have some time, so sure!" He replied. The woman quickly stepped aside and let the man into her home.
"Please have a seat." She said with her familiar monotone voice. Naruto never concerned himself with it. He knew the girl well enough to know that it was just a part of her personality. Unless it was a super emotional situation, the girl's voice never tended to change from her usual monotone.
"Rikka?"
"Yes?"
"There's something I've wanted to ask, but I've been avoiding it. It felt wrong to try to ask in a letter."
"You're here now, so you might as well just get it over with." She replied still happily working away at her stew.
"My training trip gave me enough time to come to terms with Ryuko's death. I still have the nightmares sometimes, but for the most part I'm there. The thing is, well….."
"Just spit it out Naruto." She said flatly. There was no attitude, just a blank statement.
"Do you blame me for her death?"
This actually managed to catch the marked girl off guard. That was the one question she hadn't expected. The woman quickly turned around and stared at the blond jounin blankly. "Do you really think you could even be to blame? How would anyone have saved her? You're an idiot. Of course I don't blame you."
"Thank you."
"Shut up idiot. If you ever blame yourself again I'll burn you." She said blankly. The blond gulped slightly in response and quickly nodded his head. "Good. Now hang around a while. This stew should only take about an hour or two."
The shinobi stayed in each other's company until the stew was finished. They chatted about things, and the blond told short stories about his adventures with his sensei. The woman informed him of the story behind her becoming a chunin, and of many other interesting experiences she had during his absence.
As they continued, a thought slowly crept into the back of the blond's head. Rikka was cute. But he couldn't help but feel terrible. This was his dead girlfriend's best friend. How could he possibly betray Ryuko like that? It was so wrong, but he knew Rikka so well now, and she was amazing. "It's been three years you stupid fuck. She'd want you to move on." He thought to himself angrily. "But would she really?" He thought sadly.
Rikka had a heavy dilemma, on one hand she knew she loved the boy from her childhood. He might not remember, but they knew each other long ago. Long before Naruto had met Iruka, she had been his actual first friend. Only the whispers of the villagers and other children had kept her away soon after their meeting.
On the other hand, this boy, was the former boyfriend of her deceased best friend. The girl who had cared for her since the day they met in the first days of the academy. She couldn't help but wonder how Ryuko would feel about her pursuing the raven/redhead's boyfriend. Not only that, but Naruto would be so angry that she could just forget about Ryuko in favor of him. She was disgusted with herself.
Naruto's curiosity had finally got the better of him now. He had to ask about that orange scarf. It just seemed more like something he would wear more than something she would. "Rikka how did you ever get a hold of-" He was cut off bout a loud pop, and a puff of smoke as the messenger toad Shitsujun appeared.
"Yo! Master Naruto, I've got an urgent message from…. uh a friend." He trailed off realizing that another person was in the room.
Naruto's eyes narrowed seriously at the toad. "From him? Is it time?"
"Yes sir." He said handing Naruto a scroll.
"Got it. Thank you Shitsujun, you can go now." The toad nodded before disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"Naruto, what was he talking about?" Rikka asked.
"I'm sorry Rikka, it's an S-rank secret. I have to go, we can talk again another time." He said moving quickly to the door.
"Naruto wait what's going on?"
The blond turned his head to face her, and flashed her a smile. "Don't worry about it Rikka, I'll be back soon." He told her before disappearing out the door.
A single shinobi appeared, kneeling before the Hokage.
"Yes?"
"It's time Ma'am."
"He sent his message?"
"Yes Ma'am. He's requested my assistance in taking out the target. Shinobi will be needed to deal with the rest of the enemy forces while we battle him."
"I understand, I'll be sending a chunin platoon, with a few jounin mixed in to go with you. You will explain everything to them as you go, and inform them not to attack Uchiha Sasuke."
"Yes Ma'am."
"Get on with it then."
Naruto, Kakashi, and Yamato stood before a platoon of chunin. Naruto had been introduced to Yamato earlier that day, and the two shinobi had taken a liking to each other. Kakashi had been happy to see that the blond was able to get the wood user to lighten up a bit.
Among the chunin platoon, stood some of the survivors from the Otogakure massacre. They were happy to serve under the leadership of the Uzumaki. Others among the platoon included Team Ten, Rikka and her team, as well as Team Eight. Naruto had been assigned to lead the assault, as Kakashi thought it would be a good experience for him. However; the blond had assigned Yamato to take over leadership while Naruto and Kakashi join Sasuke to battle Orochimaru.
Naruto looked over the platoon and spoke loudly. "Listen up, I don't want to repeat myself. Orochimaru intends to try to overthrow the leadership of Kusagakure. This will not happen, we will be joining with some grass nin to battle his forces. Once contact is initiated, Yamato will take over command. Hatake and I will be joining Uchiha Sasuke in battling Orochimaru. Yes you heard that right. Uchiha Sasuke is a spy and still an asset of Konohagakure. Do not engage him by any means. He is a friendly. Understood?"
Murmurs spread through the platoon quickly, and small conversations began to pop up. "I said, is that understood?!" Yelled the blond jounin.
"Yes sir!" Came the joint call of the platoon, having been reeled back in by Naruto's commanding tone.
"Alright let's get a damn move on!"
"Kabuto! Bring Sasuke here, I'm tired of waiting."
"Yes my Lord." The silver haired man said, before approaching the Sannin.
"Kabuto I said go get him!"
"He's already here my Lord." Said the man as his hair began to bleed into a black color. A sword appeared from thin air, and was swung toward the Sannin's neck. A snake caught the blade in its jaws, but was fried to death by electricity as a lightning coating burst down the blade.
Orochimaru managed to put distance between himself and his attacker, before immediately counter attacking. "I should have known you would betray me, you vile Uchiha! No matter! You'll make a wonderful vessel!"
"How can I betray you, if I was never loyal in the first place. This was all a plan to assassinate you!" The youngest Uchiha shouted. The pale man quickly drew his sword from his stomach, and the two began a slightly unusual sword battle. It wasn't everyday you saw someone fight with a sword that stuck out of their throat. They crossed blades once again, and Sasuke's eyes burned to life. His Sharingan blazed as they predicted each of Orochimaru's moves. His Chidori ignited down the length of his sword, and moved to take the man's arm off. His sword cut clean through, but the limb shifted to a pile of snakes, and Orochimaru appeared behind him.
"You never cease to impress me Sasuke….kukuku. However; you're still too young to defeat me. On top of that, I have this." He said dangerously as he drew a mask from his robe. "I found out about this, I intended to take your body first, but I had a feeling you might betray me. So I had my loyal Kabuto retrieve it for me." He quickly placed the mask over his face and cut open his own abdomen. "Kabuto come!"
"Yes my Lord!" The silver haired man said as he appeared beside the Sannin and began healing him.
"What did you just do?" Asked the wary Uchiha.
"I've got my arms back boy!" He said flashing through hand seals at an alarming rate. "Wind Style: Vacuum Blast!" He yelled, and a massive blast of air carved a destructive path toward Sasuke.
"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"
"Wind Style: Vacuum Bullets!"
"Wind Style: Open Destruction!"
"Super Wind Hurricane Combination!" Shouted the three voices of the same person. The massive combination completely overtook Orochimaru's technique, blasting the Sannin across the room.
"Sasuke!" Came a loud shout as a figure landed next to the Uchiha.
"You're late, Naruto."
"Heh, you just got impatient."
After which, all hell broke loose. Konoha shinobi burst through walls, and sections of the compound were destroyed with explosives.
"You two remind me sickly of your mothers. How fitting then." The snake said spitefully
"What are you planning?" Questioned Sasuke.
"Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation!" The snake yelled slamming his palms to the ground. Two coffins burst out of the ground, slamming to a halt as they breached the surface. The coffins shook slightly before the lids fell open. As the two figures stepped out, the Uchiha and the Uzumaki could only ask one thing as they stared on in disbelief.
"Mom!?"
Well that's all for now kiddos. I'll try to get the next chapter out by Sunday, but no promises. I've got a lot going on and it's hard to find time to write. But I'm still working away, don't worry I won't abandon this. Anyways, Darling in the Fox out!