This chapter was brought to you by Team Outback (Kakarot Son and Razamataz22).
…
"This is bullshit," said Ino as she shook her head. Hiding in the tree next to her was Sakura, as they looked upon Sasuke and Tenten spar - it must have been their third meeting this week. "He didn't even know her a month and a half ago."
"Maybe they're really just good friends," said Sakura optimistically, though as the tone of her voice failed on her halfway through her sentence, it became clear she didn't really believe that. There was clearly some sort of spark between the weapons mistress and the Uchiha, but had she been deluding herself when she'd thought the same thing about herself and her childhood crush when she had fallen asleep in his arms?
"I can't believe this. She's not even putting up a decent fight!" exclaimed Ino in a hoarse whisper that was so loud Sakura still had to shoosh her.
"I don't know… Tenten's pretty good. I was just barely able to beat her when we had that spar a little while back," said Sakura. "But Sasuke… He and Naruto… They're just in another league now."
"Pfft, Forehead, you were never going to be able to compete with those two in terms of brawn. With Sasuke being an Uchiha and Naruto having an ancient demon sealed within him, I don't think many would stand a chance," said Ino as she comforted her friend. Having learned the previous day of Naruto's dilemma had been hard at first for the Yamanaka heiress, but she had quickly come to accept it. She knew, however, not to discuss such topics with her parents the previous night, knowing that if they hadn't told her by this stage, then chances were that they were never going to tell her.
The gossip queen would have to be silent on this matter.
"Thanks, Ino," beamed Sakura. "It's weird to think how far we've come in the past year or two. Naruto, Sasuke, and I are actually a team."
"I couldn't have seen that working out in my wildest dreams, to be honest," said Ino with a grin. "It's funny you mention that, though. Even despite everything that's happened, we're still back where we started."
Sakura followed Ino's line of sight and nodded as she stared at the raven-haired boy. "I know what you mean."
"You know… Even if it turns out that Sasuke has a thing for Tenten or he has a thing for you, I'm still never going to let him go, right?" asked Ino.
"Right."
"Well, you want to stay here and watch him, or you're actually going to go say goodbye to your other teammate?" asked Ino as she looked in the direction of the village gates, knowing that the Jinchuuriki would be walking through them for the last time in a long time.
"Can you imagine how quiet it's going to be without him?" said Sakura as she began the walk towards the gate, Ino following her step by step. "I mean, sure he's quietened down a lot since the old days, but he's still Naruto through and through."
"Listen to you, talking about the 'old days,'" mocked Ino. "Next thing I know I'm going to find you down the tavern with my father, reminiscing about the glory days."
"After what I've been through this year and how it feels like something no Genin should ever be subjected to, I think I have the right to call the start of this journey the 'old days.'"
"Alright then, give me an example of something that you experienced that I haven't," said Ino, thinking that her friend was just bragging. When a demonic grin spread across the pink-haired teenager's face, however, Ino felt as if she had just poked a hornet's nest with a kunai.
"Okay, let me tell you about our mission to Wave."
...
"Naruto, there is a reason I have asked you here today," said Sarutobi as he eyed the young boy in front of him. The sight was somewhat surreal, knowing that only a year ago the boy likely was sitting in the exact same position as punishment for having run the ANBU ragged over something that seemed so trivial at the time.
"You do know that I'm meant to be leaving with ero-sennin in like a few minutes," said Naruto, concerned that this was cutting into his preparation time. All in all, he'd rather be spending this time devouring what would be his last bowl of Ichiraku ramen for the foreseeable future.
"Which is exactly why I summoned you at this moment," said the Hokage as he held out a piece of paper.
"What's this?" asked Naruto as he took the paper. Sarutobi gave him no answer as Naruto opened the scroll and read the contents inside. Several seconds passed before he turned his attention back to the leader of the village. "Are you serious?"
"This is something that is both sanctioned by myself and the head of the house, and we expect you to follow it accordingly," explained the Hokage. "As you can imagine this is a mission that can only be given to you and you alone, the details of which you are only allowed to share once the mission has been successful."
Naruto returned his gaze to the paper in his hand, reading it once more before placing it within his pocket. "You can count on me!"
"That's precisely what I wanted to hear," said Sarutobi. "Once you're in the clear, give the mission statement to Jiraiya, and he'll accept the terms whether he likes it or not."
"No problem," said Naruto as he stood up from the oak chair he had previously been seated upon. "I guess I better get going then. I've only got a few minutes to pull one last prank on Konoha before I leave."
...
"Watch Lee very closely," instructed Gai with a grin. "Turn your Sharingan off, though."
Sasuke shot him a confused look but still complied. It was odd; he was so used to using his bloodline now that not having it active was like taking off glasses.
"You can activate it when you watch me do the same in a few minutes," said Gai. "Unlocking the Hachimon Gates is something that can both be simple and complex. I don't want you to try and over complicate it by replicating what you see with the Sharingan, but at the same time I don't want you to underestimate what it will take, given that you have such a powerful tool at your disposal."
Sasuke nodded. The Sharingan only really helped him pick up on the minor details - unless the Gates were technically some type of Jutsu. But Gai was the experienced ninja here.
"Are you ready, Sasuke?" asked Lee as he crossed his arms above his head. The boy shuddered with raw unbridled energy for a moment as something invisible seemed to explode outwards from the inside of him. "Gate of Kaimon: open!"
Sasuke raised an eyebrow as he watched Lee punch an imaginary opponent with a burst of energy. He broke his silence when he saw the boy punch straight through a thick tree with ease; normally Lee would have met some form of resistance, but he just punched through the bark like it wasn't there. "I knew this technique was powerful… but I never imagined that the very first level could hold so much power."
"The sheer youthfulness that the gates unleash is quite breathtaking, is it not?" chuckled Gai. "I'm sure you already have an idea of the temporary boost that the gates will provide, but let me use this opportunity to warn you again."
Sasuke sighed a little, having heard the same lecture from everyone that he'd expressed his interest in the Hachimon Gates to.
"I tore the muscles in my leg in two when I first used this technique in combat after training to master the third gate for years," said Gai. "If within the next two years you can open two gates - nevermind master them - that will be far above the average pace."
Sasuke shuddered a little bit as he looked at Lee. The boy could open upwards of four. The Uchiha had thought that Team Seven had been doing well for themselves as of late. He, Naruto and, hell, even Sakura could probably take on any of the other rookies and expect to walk away successfully. But his battles with Lee and Kisame had skewered his view on their progress. There was work to be done.
"Now, ready your Sharingan," commanded Gai as he settled into a similar pose to the one Lee had assumed while unlocking the first gate.
...
"So your team's all run off to do their own things now," said Anko as she leaned against a wall, a senbon in hand as she picked at her teeth. "Naruto is going to train to become Jiraiya's next prodigious pervert, Sasuke is slaving away to death to kill his fucked-up brother, and Kakashi is a cripple. That just leaves poor old you…"
Sakura laughed. "Hardly. I've still got plenty of friends around. That and Sasuke's not going anywhere. And Naruto's still here."
"Oh look at the big bad kunoichi," mocked Anko with a grin. "You're allowed to admit that you'll miss your team. Up until this moment you have all been in primary school, but now it's time for you lot to get educated at different middle schools, so high school is all that much better for you."
"Only civilians have to deal with high school," said Sakura before sighing. "I guess you're right, though."
"Have you told your team about our little guest?" asked Anko, gesturing loosely to the interrogation chambers.
"Nah," Sakura shook her head. "I've given this a lot of thought, and as much as I'd love to go bash the guy's head in, after Naruto coming out to the others as a Jinchuuriki… I just feel like it's a good opportunity to let him go. To forget about him."
"Suit yourself," shrugged Anko. "I was going to offer to let you rip his balls out, but I guess I'll have to do that myself now."
Sakura shot Anko a disgusted look before deciding to quickly change the topic. "So, how exactly do I go about getting better with poisons? I mean, at the rate I'm moving at, I'm going to fall really far behind both Naruto and Sasuke."
"That's for you to work out," shrugged Anko. "Practice makes perfect or whatever. Ibiki and I aren't exactly masters when it comes to poison. If you want to keep up to those two, however, you're going to also need to learn to fight both with your poisons and without them. I mean, it isn't uncommon for some poison users to inject themselves with some adrenaline boosters before a fight, or even give themselves something that numbs their sense of pain. Sure it means that you can literally fight past your limit and even to your death, but that's got to be worth something, right?"
"Right," said Sakura, unconvincingly. It did sound like she was getting the worse end of the bargain compared to her teammates.
The Special Jounin's eyes settled in a determined manner before she tossed the senbon in her hand at her junior ninja, forcing the girl to throw herself to the side in order to dodge. "That doesn't mean we can't make you a better ninja, though."
As Sakura couldn't help but ponder what the future in front of her would consist of, Anko couldn't help but think of how ironic the entire scenario with Team Seven was. The Uchiha would be training under the Third who also trained the Sannin, Naruto was actually training with a Sannin, while she was once a pupil of one of the legendary ninjas herself.
Three generations directly revolving around the Sannin, all brought together by three misfit Genin almost as if it was fate. Irony indeed.
…
Naruto walked slowly towards one specific part of Konoha at a steady pace. Upon his back rested a rucksack with enough supplies to last a couple of weeks before he would have to restock at one of the small towns that he and Jiraiya were likely to pass by. He made a mental note to ask the sage how to create storage seals in order to lessen the load for extended travels, but that wasn't the important thing right now. What was important was right in front of him.
The Hyuuga compound.
Marching forward, the guards on duty took note of the orange-clad boy and allowed him passage, knowing of the affection the clan's heiress had for the child. While Hinata was usually very calm and composed, and while none spoke of it, every member of the family was aware that she had the ability to snap, given the affinity of the dark seal upon her neck. Turning her crush away was potentially one way to throw her vengeance in their direction, making the decision to allow him entry an easy one.
Opening the main door, Naruto found himself looking at the youngest sister of the main family, who must have seen him earlier and had made her way to the door in order to confront him.
"You're leaving," she stated.
"Yes," said Naruto solemnly. "I've come to say goodbye."
The blond-haired Genin was taken off guard as Hanabi quickly closed the gap between them and embraced him in a hug. "Don't go," she said into the hem of his jacket. "If you go Hinata will get sad."
"That's why there's something I have to do," said Naruto as he pushed Hanabi back slightly and knelt so that he was at eye level with the young girl. "Can you take me to where your sister is?"
While externally Hanabi looked like she wanted to refuse the request, she knew that this was something she had to do. With a reluctant nod, Hanabi turned around and began to lead Naruto down the corridor. The young girl wasn't completely adept at reading facial expressions, but even she knew that Naruto wasn't the cheerful boy she had seen on every occasion that they had been in each other's presence. In a sense, it was like he was a completely different person.
Turning around a corner, Hanabi paused in her step, causing Naruto to nearly collide with her. Before he could ask why they had stopped, he discovered the reason looming dauntingly in front of him. "Lord Hyuuga," said Naruto, doing his best to remember his manners.
"I believe the last time we spoke I told you that such manners are unbefitting of you," stated Hiashi, recalling the last meeting he had had with the boy. "Before you say anything else, I know that you are here to see my daughter. Chances are that this will be the last time I shall see you for quite some time, so I expect you to come back to Konoha someday with strength worthy of my daughter's hand."
"Father!" shouted Hanabi, somewhat disgusted by the fact that her father had so blatantly stated that he was willing to wed off his daughter to Naruto. In her frustration, however, she failed to notice the slyest of winks that Hiashi gave, something which didn't go unnoticed by Naruto.
"I will do what I can," said Naruto, knowing not to say anything more.
"That is good to hear," said Hiashi before he closed the gap between himself and Naruto and extended his hand. With a large smile upon his face, Naruto took the extended appendage and shook with the clan leader, no words needing to be stated in that moment.
As they released the grip, Hiashi turned his attention to his youngest daughter. "Hanabi, could you please accompany me to the study? There is something I need to talk to you about." Then he turned to Naruto again. "You will find my eldest daughter in the garden where I believe you made quite a name for yourself in my household. I'm sure your legend here will only grow in the coming hours."
While Hanabi was unsure of what exactly was being said between the two, she had no time to figure it out as Hiashi ushered her towards the study and out of Naruto's path. Allowing a breath to escape his lips, Naruto knew that the first roadblock had been passed, but the more difficult part was still to come. Remembering his way to the garden, Naruto passed several more members of the branch family before he stepped out into the sunlight and discovered his task right in front of him.
Seemingly sensing his presence, Hinata turned around on the spot to find Naruto walking towards her with all of his packs upon his back. "So you really are leaving," she said in a sorrowful tone.
"Hinata," said Naruto slowly. "I need you to pay very close attention to what I'm about to say and do exactly as I tell you."
Hinata blinked a couple of times as she pondered just what it was that the blond boy had to say. "What is it?" she asked.
Naruto reached forward and placed his hand upon her shoulder. A couple of the branch members of the family recalled this scene from some time ago but weren't quick enough to do anything as two logs replaced Hinata and Naruto. Outside of the compound, Hinata paused for a second, realising that this seemed incredibly familiar to her before she was snapped back to reality as Naruto grabbed her hand.
"Run!"
…
"Tsunade, you asked for three weeks," said Orochimaru as he grit his teeth. "I, very patiently, granted that request. You can't be telling me now that three weeks aren't enough."
"What do you want me to do?" said Tsunade, resisting the temptation to spit on her former teammate's face. He always had been deplorable, but she had never yet witnessed firsthand just how much of the promising young ninja she had once known had faded into the twisted villain standing before her. "I can't work miracles. You can threaten me all you want, you can make good on your threats, but it'll still take you just as long."
Orochimaru snarled. "This is not some kind of game. I am not going to sit around waiting like a duck until you hatch your last-ditch attempt at resistance."
Shizune stood in front of her sensei protectively as Hashirama watched on with concerned yet somehow emotionless eyes. "Just leave us be. We'll heal your student for you, but please… just leave us be."
Orochimaru sent her sprawling to the side with sickening ease, looking at Tsunade's eyes intimidatingly before glancing towards her grandfather. "Kukuku… Alright, take all the time you want. But from this day forth, know that for every week it takes you to heal Kimimaro another town will fall at the hands of your grandfather."
"You bastard," growled Tsunade. Despite the fact that for the past half-decade of her life she'd been a hopelessly addicted, gambling drunk, she still had a heart.
"Who knows?" said Orochimaru as the aggression in his voice slithered into twisted amusement. "Maybe I'll set him loose on Konoha next."
"Leave Konoha out of this game," said Hashirama, speaking up. It was hard for him to do or say anything in these meetings, knowing that it was him who was being used to cast suffering upon his own grandchild.
"You can say whatever you want, Shodaime," said Orochimaru as he forced the dead man to look at him. "But that won't save any of the innocent people that you'll be slaughtering a week from now."
"I-I'll do it. I'll have his disease healed in the next week," said Tsunade as she resigned her head in defeat.
"You can't, Tsunade-sama, that's impossible! Even for you," exclaimed Shizune as she stood up again.
"I know."
The first Hokage's eyes were no longer on his granddaughter. It didn't matter what Orochimaru would force Tsunade to do within the next week.
Because before the end of the week, Hashirama would end him.
…
Jiraiya twisted his head to look up at the sun high in the sky, roughly estimating that it was just past the time he had instructed Naruto to meet him. Knowing him, however, there were a couple of things that could be going on. Firstly, the boy could have slept in, which was always a potential option. Secondly, he could still be considering to take on the trip, and as such hadn't realised that the deadline had expired. Thirdly, and most likely, he was off saying farewell to Hinata, the little heartbreaker that he was.
Jiraiya couldn't help but allow a nostalgic sigh to escape his lips as he watched two birds dance overhead as his thoughts travelled to his last student and how he had witnessed Minato's relationship with Kushina truly blossom over time. He saw so much of them in Naruto, and he couldn't deny the fact that part of the reason he had wanted some time to train the blond boy was to relive what was one of the happiest moments in his life.
Second only to having escaped Tsunade's wrath one summer's eve when he had successfully obtained all of the information required for one of his books in a single sitting.
"Ero-sennin, run!" shouted an all too familiar voice, snapping Jiraiya into attention. Before the sage even had a chance to complain about the nickname that the boy had given him, he saw a sight that one would likely find comical if it wasn't heading directly for them. With a large pack upon his back and Hinata in his arms, Naruto was running towards him at top speed with no less than a dozen Hyuuga clansmen trying to give chase.
It took no fewer than three seconds for Jiraiya's mind to become perverted and his creative mind to go on overdrive as he contemplated just how he could utilise this and somehow inject it into his next book.
"Get your head out of the gutter!" shouted Naruto as he zoomed past Jiraiya with speed that would make Gai proud.
Now realising that there was no yellow road block in between him and angry clansmen, Jiraiya started going through multiple seals in preparation for a technique that would work perfectly. "Gamayuden!" he shouted before expelling a large amount of oil from his mouth and onto the ground just in front of the branch members of the Hyuuga family. In something reminiscent of a slapstick movie, the clan members all lost their footing upon the slippery surface and tripped over in a truly comical fashion. With his job done and the pursuers now knowing that a Sannin stood in the way of their target, Jiraiya began his own chase of his student, wondering how far the boy had managed to get in only a handful of seconds. It was only as the sage left that Kakashi arrived on the scene, hoping to have the chance to say farewell to his student.
Needless to say, discovering a large number of Hyuuga clan members currently struggling to get out of a puddle of oil made him wonder what the hell he had just missed and contemplate how high the chances were that his student had been the cause of it. With a shrug of the shoulder, Kakashi reckoned that he would hear the story sometime in the near future and would get a chuckle out of it once details emerged. Now, however, considering he didn't have to say goodbye, he would utilise this time the best that he could. This, of course, meant something that he had feared for a long time.
It was time to orchestrate the sixty-second competition with Gai, and the game was to be of Kakashi's choosing.
He was going to demand a fight.
...
"Naruto-kun, I think we lost them," said Hinata causing Naruto to screech to a halt, a large dust cloud forming from his feet. Twisting on the spot, Naruto was able to see that he had gotten quite some distance away from the village, the Hokage Monument only just able to be seen as nothing more than a speck in the distance.
"You know," said Jiraiya materialising behind Naruto, scaring the boy to the point where he nearly dropped the Hyuuga heiress, "you may have just caused Hinata here to become a missing-nin. I have no idea how the hell I'm going to explain this one to the old man."
"You won't have to," said Naruto as he turned towards his teacher, placing Hinata on her feet as he did so. Reaching into his pocket, Naruto pulled out the paper that Sarutobi had given him earlier and handed it to Jiraiya.
"What's that?" asked Hinata as Jiraiya quickly read over the details.
"Basically it's a mission statement," said Jiraiya. "One instructing Naruto to kidnap you from the Hyuuga compound so that you can join us on our journey for the first year. Your time with us will, according to this, come to an end when we head to Cloud for the Chunnin exams where you will meet with your teammates, participate in the exams before returning to Konoha."
"W-what?" stuttered Hinata in disbelief. "Father would never allow it."
"Actually," said Jiraiya as he turned the paper around so that Hinata could see it, "both the Sandaime and your father's signatures are present, meaning that he gave this consent."
"But...he told me yesterday..."
"Look, I don't really care what he said, but I do know that he said that in order to protect you," said Jiraiya. "I imagine even within a place like the Hyuuga compound, there's a lot of internal backstabbing going on between elders and whatnot. If somebody had overheard a plan for you to join us, chances were that something could have gone terribly wrong."
"What do you mean?" asked Naruto, not truly understanding what was happening.
"Basically, kid, it would have been easy for the elders to convince one of the staff to slip something into a cup of tea that would leave Hinata here bedridden for a week so that she couldn't join us," explained Jiraiya.
"Father lied to me... to protect me," said Hinata softly, now understanding why Hiashi had said those things the previous day.
"I'm going to tell you this now, though, girl," said Jiraiya as he looked down at Hinata. "Remember that the gates back to the village are just over there, and if you choose to do so now, you can go back home and claim that you escaped. If you choose to stay, I will not go easy on you, and anytime that I have to talk to some of my informants, I want you to push Naruto to his limit. Essentially, you are here to help Naruto find his potential; can you do that?"
Hinata swallowed a lump in her throat as she looked between the white-haired sage and her crush before turning her head so that she could look down the road that would lead her back home. She knew well enough that no matter what decision she chose there would be consequences, but at the same time there would be some positives. Breathing in deeply through her nose, Hinata's eyes became focused as she looked at Jiraiya.
"I'll come with you."
"Well, brat, looks like you got a training partner," said Jiraiya as he looked down at Naruto. This hadn't really been what he had planned, but he could work with it.
"This is awesome," declared Naruto as he punched the air above his head in excitement.
"Yes, it is, Naruto-kun," said Hinata as she found her hand grabbing onto his, her fingers interlacing with his digits as she found herself enjoying the warmth of his skin.
Jiraiya meanwhile couldn't hide his smirk, knowing full well that if he played his cards right, he could have two or three books published before the year was even over.
The End.
...
We at Team Dragon Star would like to thank you for your continued support of the story. In addition to crossing the 200k+ word mark and a couple of other minor landmarks, the story has just reached over one and a half thousand follows but even that statistic can't hope to reflect just how much we've enjoyed writing this story and reading your responses to each chapter.
You can expect an epilogue for the next chapter before we move on with the sequel to the story. Details are to follow.
P.S. This is Razamataz22 here. I hope that you've enjoyed what we've done with Failings and Misunderstandings as we had a great time writing this. Where one story ends another begins and I am proud to announce that I am starting another story for TDS entitled "Days Gone By" which I will be collaborating on with long time friend DevilsDoCry (along with anybody else who wishes to join us, be it old or new member). Check it out for some more Naruto goodness. Peace.