Naruto Road to Ninja

Chapter 2:

The sun had just begun its descent into the horizon. Birds coming home for the night, dragging in whatever food they had caught for their young. There was also a light breeze, blowing through the town of Konoha as Rookie 9 walked through the front gates. Things were rather calm, peaceful, as if everything were just right in the world. However, in hokage tower…

"The Akatsuki members who were supposed to be dead came to attack us? What on earth is going on?" ,Tsunade mumbled the last question, mostly to herself.

Kakashi responded in his usual monotone voice, "We don't know. They retreated without putting up much of a fight."

"or do they have something else planned."

Shizune couldn't help but cut in to the conversation, uncertainty taking over, "Let's increase the number of guards and tighten the security of the village."

Tsunade let out a sigh as her attention went from Shizune to her desk, "Right…" Her attention slowly moved from the center of her desk to a box containing Kakuzu's arm, "…at least they left this sample behind." She turned to Shizune again, eyes stern and voice firm, "Analyze its composition and run a comparison immediately!"

Shizune nodded her head and replied confidently, "Yes!"

Back at the gates, all of Rookie 9 was surprised to find their families waiting for their arrival. They all seemed excited, smiling with pride as their children immediately went over to bask in their glory. It felt good to have family waiting for you, unlike Naruto and Ame, everyone began to laugh and joke with their parents, being congratulated as they received all different forms of affection. Ame smiled fondly at the others, listening intently as their parents began to rant.

"I heard you guys chased the Akatsuki away!" ,Tsume was the one to begin.

"Well, yeah. They weren't very difficult to deal with though." ,Kiba replied with a faint smile as he pet Akamaru.

"Don't say that. As expected, my kid can get things done when needed!" ,Tsume smiled as she gave Kiba a good smack on the back. Knocking him off balance as the wind was knocked out of him. Tsume's smile simply grew in response as Akamaru let out a sigh as he turned his head, feeling embarrassed for the poor human.

Inoichi smiled, his arms crossed as he stood in front of both Ino and Choji. Chōza was standing by his side as he started speaking, "Speaking of the Akatsuki, it's only comprised of incredibly strong individuals."

Chōza held up his index finger as he spoke happily, "Successfully countering them is a Jounin-level accomplishment!"

Choji smiled sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head, "Is that so?"

"It is! We were all talking about it! We're going to recommend to the Hokage that all of you be promoted to Jounin."

Smiles immediately sprung on both Ino and Choji's face, her hands balled in fists in front of her chest as she smiled brightly, she just couldn't contain her excitement, "Really?! We can become Jounin?"

Naruto, standing not too far couldn't help but overhear their conversation. Then again they weren't exactly trying to be all that quiet either. Ame's smile immediately disappeared as she began to scan the crowd for Naruto. Tsume smiled as she cut in, "Have some confidence. This is something we all have agreed on. Right?"

The other parents began to agree one by one, "Yes."

"Of course."

"That's right."

Ame had finally spotted Naruto and hurried over to him. His back was turned to her as he stared at Tsume and the others. She was just a foot away when he approached them, arm slightly extended as he spoke up in an uncertain tone, "Hey, does that mean I'll also be…"

They hadn't even so much as taken notice of his presence, "I kinda feel bad though.." Naruto's smile had gone, a slight frown taking it's place as he looked at them in anguish.

"We're not really from a highly accomplished family." ,Mebuki stated as a soft smile graced her and her husbands lips.

Sakura blushed lightly, due to embarrassment as she waved towards them, trying to get her to quiet down, "Mom!"

Mebuki continued on as she teased, "And the person in question is rather ill mannered. She leaves her shoes lying around, doesn't fold the laundry, and hates cleaning. If you promote her, won't she just cause problems for the higher ups?" All the other parents had begun to laugh as Sakura blushed more, absolutely speechless as her mouth slightly dropped open. She stammered a bit and slightly struggled to form words, as she looked around embarrassed.

"You don't have to say that here.."

Ino couldn't help but giggle as she watched the scene play out, "Sakura's so helpless in front of her mom."

"It'll be fine. After all, Sakura has a great teacher. 'If you have a teacher, you needn't fear death.' Or something like that." ,Kizashi grinned as he joked as well. The two began to laugh and smile as Sakura growled under her breath. Her hands balling up into fist as she grit her teeth. She was about to shout at them when she was interrupted by a stern voice shouting,

"You expect me to believe a weakling like you helped in the mission today. You have never been anything more than dead weight, why should I believe different now?"

Hinata was bowled low in front of Hiashi Hyūga as he glared daggers at her. It was very obvious he was disappointed. Noticing that all eyes were on him and his family, he turned and walked away, not before grumbling,

"Don't come home until you accomplish at least 8 hours of training." ,with that he was gone.

Tears began to fall to the ground and Hinata immediately dashed away from the scene, heading in the opposite direction of the training grounds. Ame was about to chase after her but stopped when someone grabbed her by the arm. She turned to see the familiar white eyes of the Hyūga clan staring right back at her. Neji simply shook his head, his way of telling her to let her be. Biting her lip, she mumbled under her breath and stopped. One by one everyone went with their families, heading home to celebrate and talk more about becoming Jounins. Naruto and Sai were heading home, the sun giving the town a faint orange glow as kids laughed and ran about happily. Playing marbles as Sai and Naruto passed.

"The others are gonna get a recommendation from their parents. What are you gonna do?" Naruto looked at Sai, expecting him to come up with some other way to get his recommendation.

Sai simply smiled as he replied, "I am a member of Root. We have a totally different ranking system."

Naruto laughed and rested his hands behind his head as they walked. Not carrying the conversation any further as they walked down the road. Eventually he said bye to Sai and continued on his way through the village. He couldn't help but spot all the different families. The way they interacted, the way parents would joke and laugh with their kids, or celebrate, or even buy them sweets or toys. To any other person it would seem as something small, insignificant but to Naruto…it was something he had wanted since he was a boy. He was too spaced out to notice his surroundings, in the shadows was a small creature, it seemed like the pup form of Ame's shadow dogs. It watched Naruto's movements closely; slightly tilting it's head as it watched Naruto stare at the families. The creature had followed him all the way home, ducking and diving through the shadows as if they were made of water. It had continued to follow Naruto even when he made it home.

Naruto hesitated a moment, reaching out for the doorknob but stopping as he looked at the door in dread. Letting out a sigh, a smile formed as he opened the door, stepping he spoke up rather happily, "I'm home!"

No one, not a soul was there to greet him, with the exception of all the trash that was littered on the floor along with the trash bags that were overflowing with their friends. His smile almost immediately disappeared as he stared at the room emotionlessly. His gaze dropped as another sigh escaped his lips. Turning around he left the lonely apartment.

As usual he found himself at the ramen bar with none other than Iruka-sensei. Taking a seat, a faint smile graced his features as he ordered his usual, "Hey Iruka-sensei, do you think you can write me a recommendation letter to become a Jounin?"

"Eh?"

"The others are gonna have their parents do it, so I thought…" ,he smiled a little nervously as he rubbed the back of his head and turned to face Iruka. Before he could even continue, Iruka cut in.

"No way, I refuse!"

Naruto's cheery attitude immediately dropped as he stared at Iruka in slight disbelief, "Why?"

"You need to become a Chunnin first. Just because you saved the village from Pain and became a hero, doesn't mean we can give you special treatment. Even your dad, the 4th hokage, went from being a Genin to a Chunin, and then a Jounin before becoming the Hokage and hero."

"And then he became a face on the stone. A stone face can't say, 'Welcome back.'" ,Naruto grumbled as he faced the opposite wall.

Iruka stared at Naruto, trying to analyze what it was he was trying to get at as he spoke rather sternly, "You…"

Naruto continued as he glanced back at Iruka, "Sometimes I think like that." He leaned on the counter, elbows resting on it as he continued on, "Instead of being a hero on stone, he should've just survived and said, 'Welcome back' when I come home…" he dropped his head on the counter as he closed his eyes and sulked. He was vulnerable at this point, letting his heart pour out as he lay on his arms, "Iruka-sensei, even your parents…"

"ENOUGH ALREADY!" ,Iruka slammed his hand on the counter. Immediately composing himself, he sat back in his seat as he grumbled, "What's wrong with you today?"

Naruto paused a moment to stare at Iruka before turning his attention somewhere else as he replied, "Nothing."

Teuchi popped up, in his usual cheery demeanor and smile as he served the two their ramen, "Here's your ramen! And a Miso Chashu for Naruto!" Said customer examined his ramen, looking over the food before looking up at Teuchi in disappointment.

"Old man, there's no naruto in my ramen!"

"Oh, we ran out, so I gave you extra menma instead."

Naruto's eyes wandered over to the menu, just barely noticing the small label over the naruto that stated 'sold out.' Frowning, Naruto stood up as he raised his voice, "I hate menma! What's it made of anyway? It's too hard to chew!"

"Well, it's made of fallen shoots, fermented…"

"So it's rotten bamboo!? You expect me to…"

Iruka slammed his hands on the counter again as he stood up, "You're the only rotten thing I see here!" He pointed his finger at Naruto accusingly, catching Naruto completely off guard.

"Hey! No fighting in the stall!"

Naruto snapped again, "It ain't ramen if it doesn't have any naruto in it!" ,with that said he slammed his money down on the counter as he stormed out. In his rage he stormed off, not really watching where he was going and not really caring where he ended up either. He had run past all the other shops and further away from his apartment and the ramen shop. Turning a corner, he crashed into a huge furry wall. Furry wall? What the..

He groaned as he sat up, rubbing the back of his head as he growled, "Watch where you're going!"

"I should be saying that to you." ,Ame smiled as she laughed quietly. She was sitting on Haku's back as the dog wagged its tail and barked happily. Her smile slowly went away as she looked at him a bit worried, "You okay?"

Naruto sighed and got up, dusting himself off as he replied rather coldly, "I'm fine. Leave me alone…" Ame frowned more, but forced a smile as Haku jumped in front of Naruto again. He sighed as he looked up at Ame, "What?"

"Hop on. I need you to see something."

Frowning a bit, he did as he was told and hopped onto Haku's back. The wolf immediately darted off, jumping on roofs and diving into alleys. Naruto screamed as he gripped onto the wolfs fur as he shouted, "Get me off this hell hound!" Ame laughed as Haku eventually landed at the entrance to the park. Leaning on Ame's back, Naruto tried hard to keep himself from puking. Giggling quietly, Ame slipped off Haku's back and stepped into the park. She wasn't at all surprised to find Hinata sitting on one of the swings. Smiling softly, she whistled and in an instant, two shadows darted towards Ame and dove into her shadow. Naruto's eyes widened and he was about to speak until Ame spoke up, "Hinata?"

Hinata slightly jumped as she began to wipe her tears before managing a smile as she looked at the two, "Ame! Naruto! Glad to see the both of you are good."

Ame smiled softly and rolled her eyes; Naruto on the other hand rushed over and grabbed Hinata by the Shoulders, "Hinata? Are you okay? What's wrong? Are you hurt? Who made you cry?"

His questions went a mile a minute but that wasn't what she was focusing on at the moment; she was preoccupied with the fact that he was so close and touching her. Ame burst out laughing as she pulled Naruto away and handed Hinata a handkerchief, "Give her a moment to breath! How do you expect her to answer without you giving her a chance to even breath?

Naruto was about to speak but stopped when he felt a light burn around his ankle. Looking down, he was surprised to see marking appear around his left ankle. Looking at Ame, he was cut off again as a fourth person spoke up, "It's been a while, Uzumaki Naruto." The three whipped their heads around to find a masked man standing a couple yards away. His mask was orange and his cloak was that of the Akatsuki.

"You…Madara!" ,Naruto immediately activated his shadow clone jutsu and dashed towards Madara. His shadow clone preparing a Rasengan in his hand as he jumped at Madara, "RASENGAN!" Ame stood in front of Hinata protectively, katana in hand. Her and Hinata's eyes widened as they watched Naruto go straight through Madara, as if he were a ghost. Crashing into the gate, Naruto had the wind knocked out of him as he lay flat on the ground, gate in ruins from his Rasengan.

"You never change" ,Madara seemed rather disappointed in Naruto, it was a pity the child never seemed to learn.

"Get the hell out of here!" ,Ame took the opening Madara had left as he focused on Naruto, slashing her katana down at Madara while Hinata activated her Byakugan. As Ame attacked from above, Hinata rushed to over to attack from the bottom, leaving not a single opening for escape. A rather large explosion destroyed the fountain he was on, sending water raining down on the small park. The water continued to gush out of the now destroyed fountain filling the rather large crater they had created. Hinata and Ame recovered immediately as they both glared up at Madara. Hinata, to Ame's surprise, spoke up first, "I won't let you do as you please in the village!" It was obvious she was struggling to hide her fear, but the determination behind her words gave Ame a sense of courage.

Madara again seemed rather bored as he spoke up, "I hadn't planned for this but whatever." Pulling out a beautiful clear red orb, Madara tossed it up in the air, aligning it with the moon perfectly. Naruto groaned as he got up, his attention immediately shot to his two companions. "Ame! Hinata!" ,Naruto jumped up and dashed towards the two preparing to block the two from whatever attack it was Madara was preparing. It all had happened in an instant, the Sharingan appeared in the orb, the moonlight making it shine almost magically as it began to glow. In seconds it had become bright enough that the others needed to cover their eyes. Naruto grit his teeth and began to shout in frustration,

"Damn you…What are you…?"

As fast as the light had blinded them, it died down again. When the three managed to get a view of their surroundings, they couldn't find any trace of Madara. It was all as if it were a bad dream. The damage they had caused at the park was still there, it was all just a trick. A simple mind game, at least that was what Ame had concluded.

"What the…? Wait, where did he go!? This is bad news…"