Chapter Thirty
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Masashi Kishimoto does. If I did, I'd have money to investigate missing 411.
Welcome back, got something special in store for ya in this chapter!
Dear DbzpreteenGohanfan87: I sincerely appreciate all the reviews you've written. I'm glad you like this story, and I'm very glad you took the time to write such long reviews. It makes me very happy to see you and others enjoy this so much. It's my first fanfic, so it means a lot.
"You'll die here, Nidaime Kiiroi Senko." The bulky jinchuriki retorted.
"Like hell. Let's end this feud now Han. You won't walk away this time." Naruto said, his focus solely on the enemy. Both shinobi ignored the blaze that had engulfed the forest around them. The fire roared, and trees cracked and collapsed as they burned. The scene played out a dramatic backdrop for the coming battle.
Naruto leapt back, quickly peppering the edges of the tree line where the fires were weakest with his kunai. The enemy container began to let out large amounts of steam, and it slowly engulfed his body. "I created this just for you Namikaze. You won't be able to touch me." The steam created a scalding hot film around his body, and anything that touched it would no doubt be severely burned.
Naruto said nothing as he watched his opponent. The bulky man grew impatient, and quickly launched himself at his enemy. As he came, Naruto flicked a kunai at him. He dodged, knowing the blond wouldn't be able to attack him. His thoughts were blown to the side however, when Naruto's foot collided with his ribs, and he felt the distinct feeling of water splashing onto the affected area. The blond had wrapped his foot in a coating of cold water to help counter the steam's effects. And now, he knew it worked.
The red clad man caught himself quickly, turning fast to attack the Konoha nin. The jounin formed a Rasengan, and made it fairly large. As Han closed in, he intentionally let it destabilize, causing it to explode outward in a blast of pressure. The resulting attack launched the armored man backwards, his body impacting one of the charred trees. He stood quickly, only to encounter Naruto slamming a kunai down where his head was. Barely managing to dodge the strike, the man rolled away, distancing himself from the enemy jinchuriki.
Immediately, the younger man was on top of him slicing at the larger nin with his kunai. The man dodged a few of the strikes, but Naruto's natural speed out did his own by a long shot. If it weren't for his steam, the Namikaze surely would have ended him. When Han had fought alongside Roshi, he'd had a strong ally. Now he was alone, and he was being pressed by the blond jinchuriki.
Naruto spun around with another kick, but his leg was caught by Han. He dropped the kunai he held and flashed to it, putting himself behind the large man. He swung out with his blade, channeling wind chakra into the knife. He cut deep into the Iwa shinobi's side, enough to make the man stagger. Once he had his enemy on the back pedal, he shot toward him, coating his hand in a large amount of wind chakra. "If I can mark him, this is over." His hand was close now, mere inches away and he was confident he would end the fight soon.
His palm hit the steam, the wind keeping him from being burnt by the hot air. The tip of his finger touched the man, and his senses were overloaded. He was blasted away by a huge release of chakra as the enemy went into his three tailed state. Han knew he couldn't fight the Yellow Flash in his base form.
It was a well known fact between Iwa and Kumo, that the second Yellow Flash had almost no control of his tailed beast. This was a weakness the enemy nations strategists intended to use to their advantage. While Killer Bee and Yugito were the only jinchuriki capable of entering a full tailed beast transformation, Han and Roshi still had recently gotten a fair grasp of the higher level jinchuriki forms.
As the jounin stared in deep thought, the bulky jinchuriki drew out a fourth tail. The beast featuring four horns emerging from its head, and a dense red skin formed over the jinchuriki. He watched as chakra pooled into a ball in front of the enemy, before the beast suddenly ate it. He'd never seen a tailed beast bomb before, and he was in for a shock. The destructive attack launched from the mouth of the monster, and Naruto quickly flashed behind it.
The blond's eyes widened as the chunk of ground he'd inhabited, and the forest around it, was blown away. "Dad fought this...but all out… he fought the Nine Tails at full power… incredible." He thought to himself. He quickly performed a set of hand signs, before throwing a kunai at the enemy. "Shuriken Shadow Clone!" The blade duplicated to a massive number, and the Yellow Flash made use of his signature technique. He flashed about the kunai, slamming Rasengans into the transformed shinobi and battering him all over the battlefield.
He slammed a foot into the abdomen of the man, sending him flying, but discovering the corrosive effects a tailed beasts chakra had. However; due to his own, the effects were quickly alleviated. "Damnit, that still stung." He thought, putting distance between himself and the man he had just kicked. At that moment, Han began using the version two's speed to great effect. Naruto was forced to dodge at rapid rates, and in some cases even flash away.
The jounin stepped forward, launching at the beast. He threw a kunai with a tag on it, and when it went off, the battlefield was bathed in bright light. The Namikaze peeled his eyes open seconds later, and seeing his enemy had turned around in it's blinded state, he pressed his advantage. He came upon the enemy fast, pulling out a suppression seal. Just as he reached the beast however; it spun around. The blond's eyes widened in shock when the jinchuriki opened his mouth, and launched its deadly attack.
Naruto barely had time to move as the attack hit at point blank. He flashed away, but not before catching a lot of damage from the blast. As he appeared beside his kunai, the force of the explosion threw him from his feet, sending him flying into the burning tree line. The forest around the battlefield was still engulfed in an inferno, and as the jounin hit the trees, he was burned badly.
The blond's eyes slowly opened as he brought himself back from the momentary lapse of consciousness. His eyesight focused just in time to see the enemy flying toward him, claws bared. Naruto waited until the last second, and as the claws touched his flak jacket, he smacked a suppression seal onto the jinchuriki, and flashed away.
The teleporter appeared in the center of the battlefield on his butt. He sat breathing heavily, knowing that the seal wouldn't cut the link between beast and container for too long. He also knew Han would wake soon, and that tailed beast bomb had done a number on the legendary shinobi. He coughed and wheezed as he realized a few of his ribs had broken. He grimaced in pain, and knew that the difficulty breathing was a direct cause of one of said ribs puncturing his lung.
Ignoring the pain, the man leapt to his feet, and forced himself to move, quickly appearing beside Han's currently limp form. He reached down and moved to cut the man's throat. Han stirred at that moment, and grabbed the wrist of his enemy. He tossed the wounded blond away, and the Konoha shinobi rolled to a stop and sat motionless. The red armored man stepped toward his opponent, and channeled chakra to his arm. He intended to crush the skull of Konohagakure's strongest ninja. Naruto disappeared, and reappeared with his feet planted firmly in the back of the bulking jinchuriki. He attempted to bury the blade of his tri-prong deep into the base of the man's skull. He quickly pushed off to give himself distance, and see if he had brought an end to his adversary.
He almost growled when the man once again stood. Unfortunately he'd only been able to shove the kunai into the soft flesh on the side of the man's neck, somehow missing vital points. As Han reached to remove the embedded blade, Naruto quickly took action. He flashed to the kunai, immediately planting his foot in the side of Han's head, launching him across the scared earth. He teleported once again before the man could come to a stop, and planted his fist into the man's gut. He spun a kunai into his palm from his pouch, slashing the man across the chest, channeling wind chakra to cut through the tough armor. Naruto repeated the process, while consistently landing punches and kicks. He finally kicked the man away slightly, before jumping into the air and coming down with a heel drop that connected with the bulking jinchuriki's head.
The student of the Toad Sage wasted no time when his foe fell, flashing to the blade still embedded in the enemy's neck. He appeared straddling his adversary, and lifted his kunai above his head. He channeled wind chakra into it, and brought it down full force into the beaten Iwa nin's chest. As Han let out a raspy gasp, Naruto pulled one arm back, and formed a large Rasengan. With one final move; He blew the head of Han clean apart, and The Jinchuriki of the Steam Release was no more.
Naruto collapsed to his rear, holding himself up with his arms. His raspy breathing filled the clearing as the battlefield went silent. The surrounding forest was slowly burning out, and he could sense Konoha nin hosing down the fires in an attempt to make it through the forest. Waterfall Country had trees large enough in some places to even rival Konohagakure's, so the nin couldn't exactly just go over. With the fire's size, it would be hard to go around as well. He sensed a few nin trying to make their way around, but he could feel Kakashi making quick work in forming a path to get to him.
He lay back and sighed, his ribs were killing him. "Man… Rikka's gonna be so mad that I got hurt." Soon enough, he heard the telltale sizzle of water dousing fire. He painfully rose up, turning his head to the direction of the noise. Out of the trees emerged Kakashi, Rikka, and Sakura, the latter of which had rushed to the front when Kakashi's troops began taking heavy casualties.
"Naruto!" Rikka yelled in fear and worry seeing his battered state. She sprinted toward him, but when she and Sakura reached the blond, she moved up, and placed his head in her lap. Sakura quickly got to work on the wounded blond, and Kakashi watched with a smile.
A few hours passed, and after the arrival of Gai, Genma, and Anko at Takigakure, Sasuke rushed to the frontline. Upon his arrival he was greeted with the sight of Sakura and Kakashi conversing a few feet away from his former teammate. Naruto still looked battered, but unknown to the Uchiha, he was in much better shape than he had been thanks to the pinkette. The blond jounin sat with his head in Rikka's lap as she ran her fingers through his golden hair.
Sasuke made his way to Sakura, checking up on the woman. He found himself worrying more and more about her with their budding relationship. The idea of losing her often caused the man to lose sleep. After a few minutes conversing with his sensei and girlfriend the Sharingan weilder checked up on his friend. He approached the married couple, Rikka raising her eyes to greet him.
"He asleep?" The Uchiha questioned.
"Yes, he was pretty beat up when we got to him." The woman replied with a soft smile.
"Kakashi told me he killed the Iwa jinchuriki. It was the same jinchuriki that killed Ryuko." The man said, turning his gaze to the sky.
Before Rikka could respond, Naruto's voice interrupted their conversation. "I'm probably going to be in the bingo book as S rank soon Sasuke. You better catch up."
"Hn. Seems we woke you. You look like hammered shit Naruto." The last Uchiha said, not dignifying his friend with a response.
"Yeah well, as you know, it's not easy to fight a jinchuriki. He managed to catch me up close with a tailed beast bomb. I was able to flash away and avoid most of the blast, but I wasn't that fast. I've no doubt Flying Raijin could out run the explosion, but I didn't register it until pretty much the moment it went off. He hid it well, and I'm pretty sure he actually took a bit of damage himself just to get that hit on me." The male Namikaze explained.
"Hn. I see." The raven haired jounin commented. After a few moments of thought, he turned his gaze to the sky again before speaking once more. "I wonder where the Five Tails will reform."
"Good question. I don't want to have to reseal it. I'd hate to force one of our shinobi to be a jinchuriki, and I honestly feel like the tailed beasts should not be forced to fight in our wars. I wish they could live on their own. The Sage might have created both us and them, but these are our wars, not theirs." Naruto said. It was something he'd thought of for a long time. After he'd met his father, he'd realized the Nine Tails had been forced into it just as much as he had.
"Hn. You're being soft. But you're right." In a way, the tailed beasts' predicament reminded him of his brother. His brother hadn't wanted to participate in any sort of civil war, but his hand was forced. At least Itachi had been able to choose his own side in a way. The beasts however; had no say.
None of the five shinobi knew, but at that moment deep inside Naruto's mind a creature lifted its head in slight confusion and curiosity. It thought for a while, before reaching its own conclusion. The massive fox slowly set it's head back down on it's paws, and slowly drifted back to sleep. "On their own huh?"
Konoha shinobi would continue fighting for the rest of the week, and eventually, Iwa would be completely pushed out of Waterfall Country. With Konohagakure emerging from the first large skirmish of the war victorious, Iwa would be on the backfoot for quite a while. The shinobi of Konoha now had down time to recover before throwing themselves back into the war.
Five weeks had passed since Konohagakure's victory over Iwa in Waterfall Country. This found Naruto waking up to a strange noise in his home. He strained his tired mind, trying to find out exactly what the noise was.
"Bleagh!" Echoed through the home once again. Naruto sat up quickly realizing his wife was not in bed with him. "Bleh!" Once again sounded, with a series of coughs following it.
"What the hell?" Asked the legendary jounin aloud. He quickly got out of bed and followed the noise to his bathroom. There, he found his wife on her knees, face over the toilet bowl. In moments he was by her side stroking her back. "Rikka, what's wrong? Are you okay?" He asked with worry.
A few coughs came from the woman, trying to clear her throat and mouth. With labored breathing, the woman responded. "Are you stupid? No I'm not okay. I just felt super nauseous out of nowhere."
"Are you sick?" He asked, placing his hand on her forehead. She wasn't overly warm, and he was confused on why she could possibly be throwing up.
"I guess so, but other than this, I don't feel all that bad." She said, letting out a few more coughs.
"Let me take you to see Tsunade." He said, grabbing a small bucket for her, and taking her in his arms.
"Okay." She said tiredly, clutching the bucket. The bathroom was suddenly filled with a yellow flash, and they were gone.
With a bright flash, the blond and his wife arrived in the Hokage's office. Tsunade recoiled in surprise at the sudden and abrupt arrival. "Damnit Naruto! Couldn't you arrive outside the damn door!"
"Sorry Tsunade, it's kinda urgent." He said with an apologetic smile.
At this moment she addressed the fact that he was carrying Rikka. "What happened?" She questioned. In response, Rikka threw up into the bucket. "Don't puke on my floor, make sure it stays in the bucket. Set her on the couch."
"Yes ma'am." Naruto replied, doing as he was told.
Tsunade began using her medical ninjutsu to diagnose the problem. She stopped suddenly with her palm over Rikka's abdomen. She slowly turned her head to the blond. "Naruto…."
"What?! What's wrong! Is she okay!?" He said, his mind going into a frenzy of worry.
"She's pregnant." Tsunade said flatly.
"Eh? Ehhhh? What!?" The jounin replied in happy shock.
Rikka's head also popped up, looking Tsunade in the eyes. "I'm wha-." She was cut off when she was forced to put her face back over the bucket and throw up.
"Naruto, I'm going to take her and run tests for most of the day, so run along." Tsunade said, pushing the blond out of the room.
Naruto stood shell-shocked in the hallway. He took one step before stopping and looking forward with his eyes wide. "What just happened?" He asked aloud, getting some strange looks from a few passing chunin.
The pair were found later that night cooking dinner together silently. The Hokage had informed the pair that Rikka was indeed six weeks pregnant. They were both lost in their thoughts, and had barely spoken a word since Tsunade had let the woman go home. The mood of the room however; was so happy and joy filled, that even Sasuke would smile from just walking in.
Rikka stepped away from the counter with a plate, intent on setting the table. She made it two steps before stopping and dropping the plate to the ground. The dish shattered, and a huge grin finally split the female Namikaze's face.
"Naruto…. I'm gonna be a mother!"
The blond stopped what he was doing, and spun around quickly. He smiled widely, and lifted his wife into the air. "I'm gonna be a father y'know!"
"A mother! Me, a mother!" She said in disbelief. They knew they were young, and it was early in their marriage but they loved the idea of a child.
"Ima be a dad y'know!" Naruto was proud. His smile split his face, and his entire presence radiated happiness. With the lack of family they had through their childhood, the pair found the idea of having a real family extremely exciting. "Who do we tell first?"
"Go invite Sasuke and Sakura for dinner. I'll make more for them." The woman said.
"Alright!" The blond said, leaving for the door.
"Grab Kakashi and Iruka as well!" She called out.
"Right!" And with that the blond was gone.
About thirty minutes later, the group of shinobi sat gathered around Naruto's large kitchen table. Other than the Namikazes, everyone in the room was very curious as to what was going on.
"Um…. so.." Rikka felt strange, she'd never been very shy before, and she was unsure why she felt shy. Naruto came from the counter with a large plate of turkey. He set the dish down, and placed his hand on her own. He leaned over her slightly, gave her a smile, and squeezed her hand.
"What Rikka is trying to say... is that she's pregnant."
The jaws of each person at the table almost hit the ground. They stared at the new married couple for a while, before Sakura started gushing at Rikka, asking the blue haired woman all kinds of questions. Meanwhile they ate their dinner, answering questions and talking about the future with their close friends.
"I wanted to tell you all first…. you're the closest thing we have to actual family…" Naruto spoke with a soft smile.
"I'm very happy for you two, but isn't it a little early?" Iruka questioned.
"Well, we weren't trying… it just kind of happened. However; it's a very happy surprise to us… I've dreamed of having my own family for so long…" The blond responded.
"I understand entirely, Naruto." Iruka said with a smile. He had his own budding relationship with surprisingly none other than the one and only Mitarashi Anko. He was very happy for his surrogate son.
"I'm sure you'll make great parents. Hopefully the child won't be as energetic as you were when you were young. Don't you think, Naruto?" Kakashi said with his signature eye smile. The man of one thousand jutsu had been surprised at the idea of one of his students becoming a parent before he himself had even thought about it. He knew Yugao was thinking about it. About two years after the death of her fiance, she had come to her old ANBU captain to talk about him about her loss. Time had been spent together, far more than they had as ANBU. Eventually, the road led to romance.
"I hope so sensei." Naruto said.
Naruto was found laughing as Konohamaru and Hanabi argued. The Sarutobi was currently arguing with the Hyuga girl about who was the better shinobi. Inuzuka Sakumo sat beside his teacher, smiling at his friends. Naruto had come to find that the feral brown haired boy was very passive, which was quite the oddity among the Inuzuka clan. He preferred to sit on the sidelines if things got too exciting when it came to social interaction. As it turned out, Sakumo was a very close cousin of Kiba's and the blond had promised to look after the young man. Sakumo had come a long way with his ninken, proving the Inuzuka to be a fierce foe in battle.
The other genin were fairly skilled now, and the jounin had confidence in their teamwork. Hanabi had grown strong in the Hyuga arts, and Naruto thought that she was almost as much of a prodigy as Neji. She trained with her elder sister, and her cousin Neji quite often.
Konohamaru had come a long way as well. They Sarutobi had unique mastery over his fire release, one that almost made him think of Rikka's natural mastery of the element. Most notably, through the Sarutobi clan's summoning, he now had his own familiar, a monkey known as Enra.
"Maybe if you weren't such a spoiled brat!"
"Did you just call me a brat SARUTOBI!?"
"What, your eyes are so good that your ears went to shit!?"
"You bastard!" Hanabi yelled, swinging her palm for the boy's chest. In a sentimental way, she reminded Naruto of a very young and prideful Sasuke. The blond jounin quickly appeared between the bickering children. Hanabi found her hand caught by the tall jounin, and was shocked at his natural speed. The three genin had seen his speed before, but they were still shocked every time he showed off.
"Now now Hanabi. Unless you're going to have a real spar with our silly monkey, then I'm going to ask you not to hit him." The man said with a smile. His calm voice caused the hot temper of the young girl to quickly settle, thus she turned almost shy like Hinata had been when she was younger. The girl was either one hundred percent hot temper, or fifty percent a shy mess.
"Ah sensei, it's just because they like each other." Sakumo said, approaching the trio.
"Heh, you're right Sakumo, maybe I should leave the love birds alone." Their sensei said.
At this, the two children leapt back from one another. Fingers pointed at the other, they screamed at the same time. "I could never love her/him!"
"Now now, you're teammates and comrades. You shouldn't be fighting like this, so either put it aside, or you can both spar with me."
Both genin audibly gulped. They knew when their sensei gave them the option of a spar as punishment, they would be brought to their absolute limit. When Naruto used a spar to dish out his discipline, the jounin held back only enough to avoid killing the genin. He made sure they had to help each other to get home, so his lessons wouldn't leave their heads before they got there.
Kakashi had done the same for Team Seven in Naruto's genin days. After a short chat one afternoon about his father, Naruto found out Minato had done the same for the mask wearing jounin in his own genin days. With Kakashi once being a stickler for rules, he rarely had to face that situation. On the rare occasion when he and his friends needed a proper lesson, the kind hearted Fourth Hokage had no quarrels giving them a smack down.
"Yes sir… we understand." The two bickering children said.
"Good. Now, I've got something important to tell you."
"Oh? Is it a S-rank secret or something?" The young Sarutobi questioned.
"No, not quite. However; it is something I'd rather you not go running around the village yelling to everyone about."
"Well what is it?" The scarf wearing boy asked.
"Konohamaru if you'd shut up he'd tell us!" Hanabi snapped.
Naruto simply cleared his throat, and at noticing the implication of the interrupting sound, the genin quickly shut up. "As I was trying to say, I'd like you all to know my wife is now pregnant."
"What!?" Hanabi yelled, her eyes sparkling to life as she remembered the few babies she had held. Hanabi secretly loved babies, and even their crying didn't annoy her. She absolutely adored what she called, "the cutest thing in the world."
"Ew, those loud screaming monsters?" Konohamaru asked.
"Congratulations sensei!" Sakumo said, the ever calm boy he was.
"Thank you Sakumo. Yes, we're having a child. I hope you can all assist me at times in watching over my child. Parenting will be difficult, and with the war going, I'm going to need someone to help watch over Rikka." Naruto said with a smile. He thought it might be fun to include his genin in his child's life. They would likely be able to act as sudo siblings to the yet to be born Namikaze.
"Gladly sensei. Do you have a name decided?"
"No no no." Naruto replied laughing. "It's much too early for that kiddos, but we'll let you know when the time comes. Now, if you guys are free tonight, Rikka would like you all to come for dinner."
The three genin looked at each other and shared a nod, before Hanabi replied. "We'll be there Naruto-Sensei."
"Good." Naruto patted the Hyuga on the head with a smile before speaking again. "I've got to go speak with the Hokage, so I'll see you later." Before the children could reply, Naruto disappeared in a flash. The training field went quiet, and the three genin began training together.
"What?" The blond questioned from the couch off to the side of the Kage's desk
"Kumo has made a large invasion into the Land of Hot Water, as well as hitting Fire Country through the Land of Bones. Luckily, with Iwa currently occupied with Gaara's forces, we're only facing Kumo on a wider front than the last wars." The Hokage replied, answering the man's question.
"I see. How's our garrison in Hot Water?"
"It's not."
"What?" He asked in confusion.
"Naruto…" she sighed. "The Raikage and his brother showed up in person to take over Hot Water Country. We lost nearly as many shinobi as we did in the Otogakure massacre." The Hokage said softly.
The jounin's fists tightened at his sides, anger coursing through his body. He quickly settled his temper before returning his mind to their conversation. "I see. What's the game plan then?"
"Well, now that's where things get interesting." She said. Before the Namikaze could reply, she turned her head to the door and called out. "Shikamaru, Shikaku, come in please."
Into the office stepped the father and son duo, who were the backbone of Konohagakure's current tactical planning. "Lady Hokage, Naruto." Greeted the eldest Nara.
"Shikamaru, Commander. It's nice to see you." The jounin replied.
"Thank you for coming on time. So, you two said yesterday you'd finalize a plan by morning, correct? I assume our new asset was involved?" Naruto's brow rose at her words, but he held his tongue and did not interrupt.
"Yes Ma'am." Shikamaru said confidently. "If you'd don't mind?" He questioned, pulling out a marker and moving to draw on a war map they'd placed on the wall.
"By all means, walk us through this." She replied with a wave of her hand.
"Right." The Nara said approaching the map. "Now, our biggest threat currently is the fact that the Raikage has taken to the battlefield so early. With him on the front, it will be difficult to push back into Hot Water Country. Our shinobi will have no issue holding out on the border of Bone Country, but the Raikage is the big factor right now." Shikaku explained, as Shikamaru circled countries on the map.
"Now, as much as we'd like to send out Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi to hunt down the Raikage and his brother, killing the Raikage could cause issues. If we kill Ay, it could be detrimental to any future peace talks." Shikamaru said, taking over for his father. "We've concluded that if we are to send jounin Namikaze, Hatake, and Uchiha behind enemy lines with a small force into the Land of Lightning, they could cause enough havoc among the forts and war camps that Kumo has set up to force Ay and Bee to return home."
Shikaku took the reigns once again, and addressed the two blond shinobi. "Once they're confirmed to be back in country, we can lead a large force to push Kumo's forces back into the Land of Frost. With enough havoc caused in Lightning Country, the Raikage should need to stay in his village to handle the chaos."
Naruto smiled at the plan. Avoiding direct confrontation with the Raikage was wise. Although Naruto was optimistic about the idea of himself and/or Sasuke being able to handle the legendary brothers, the Raikage still had years of experience on them. On top of that, the Raikage had a better understanding of the Flying Raijin than most ninja, due to facing his father in the last war. Naruto knew in reality he could probably deal with the brothers on his own, but Shikamaru had made an important point. The death of their Raikage could possibly cause the people and shinobi of Kumo to completely ignore any sort of peace talks. Instead, they may favor the idea of revenge against Konohagakure.
"Well… you certainly thought this out well. However; I think Sasuke should either be deployed to the front at the Land of Bones, or the Iwa front in Kusa. We're both strong, and definitely better together, but we need to make sure we have someone who could hold off a strong push. That someone would be Sasuke." The Namikaze said.
"Hmm." Tsunade mused. "I believe Naruto is right, it's dangerous to take all of our strongest jounin off the front. It would certainly leave us open to attack. In that case, Kakashi will stay behind as well, attending to the Iwa front."
Shikamaru and Shikaku looked at each other for a moment before nodding their heads. The two geniuses usually would have thought that factor out, but they had structured the full plan in one night. "We believe our forces are more than capable, that is why we decided on this. However; you are Hokage, and this is your decision."
"We have to keep Kakashi and Sasuke back. If somehow this turned into a catastrophic disaster mission, we'd be out not one but three elite jounin. Naruto is S-rank, and this is an S-rank mission."
"How many nin do I get to bring along?" The blond man questioned.
"We've decided on a force of twenty, including yourself."
"Understood. Now, I'm rather curious. How exactly do you plan on getting us in to Lightning Country." He questioned.
At this moment the Hokage waved her hand and spoke to an ANBU in the corner. "Bring him in." A few seconds later, there was a knock at the door. "Yes, come in." She said. At this, a man of Naruto's age stepped through the door, with his short white hair with a blue tint, along with his fang like teeth being his most prominent feature. The second thing that stood out to Naruto, was a large familiar sword strapped to the man's back.
"And who are you?" The blond man questioned.
"I'm here to be your solution." Replied the newcomer, giving Konoha's Yellow Flash a large shark like grin. "The name's Hōzuki Suigetsu."
And that's a wrap! Hope you guys enjoyed. Yes Rikka is pregnant, yes Naruto will be a father very early. I forgot to mention he's damn close to 21, sooo. Be happy for them, they can finally have their own family.
Hope you liked Han vs Naruto, and an end to their feud. I enjoyed writing it, and I hope it reads the way I envisioned it. It was kinda hard to find a way for Han to actually push Naruto's limits, but I think I did alright. Let me know what ya thought! New art from wilczyca117 sometime in the future, so hopefully that will be cools. She does a great job, definitely worth the money. It's really cool to see what I imagine come to life. Anyway, later! Darling in the Fox out!