The four shinobi stood on the lake in the grounds. The student's were in class, so they had privacy to go mostly all out. Shikamaru was watching the clouds roll by, as Neji was training his Byakugan. Naruto and Gaara were staring at each other, waiting for their match to start. Shikamaru started to count down.
" Three...Two...One...Hajime!" the Nara said, causing Naruto to perform hand seals, while Gaara had sand swirling around him.
" Tajuu Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" Naruto said, creating hundreds of clones. The clones pulled out fuuma shuriken and charged Naruto. The shuriken cut through the sand easily, while the sand took out many of the clones. This happened until Naruto was out of clones, then they would repeat this process. Naruto then decided to take it up a notch, and Gaara agreed. Gaara performed many hand seals while Naruto created a single clone which started to focus chakra into the original's hand. Once complete, Naruto charged Gaara across the lake they were on.
" Rasengan!" Naruto yelled.
" Sabaku Bakuryu!" Gaara said without emotion and created a large wave of sand to rush Naruto, who thrusted the Rasengan towards the sand. The sand flew away from the power of the attack, and a large explosion was created. Naruto and Gaara fell onto the shores of the lake. Both were up in a second. The two shinobi were about to go again, when a very sharp pain erupted from Naruto's and Gaara's forehead. They screamed in pain, as Shikamaru jumped and yelled to Neji.
" Neji, look for it!" he called. While Neji nodded and formed a hand seal.
" Byakugan!" He looked around until he saw someone running away. " Shikamaru! To the right!" he yelled, causing the Nara to cast his shadow forwards. After he felt someone get stuck in it, he smirked. After Shikamaru had caught the person responsible, Naruto and Gaara stopped screaming. Gaara was almost unconscious, while Naruto was knocked out. At seeing Gaara almost asleep, Neji ran towards the target and found a professor with greasy black hair, with a goatee. His eyes were blazing with anger. Neji hit two pressure points causing the person to fall into unconsciousness.
Neji came back to the lake, to see Shikamaru waken Naruto and help Gaara walk. When Shikamaru saw the person, he quickly led them to Professor McGonagall's office, interrupting the class of third years she was teaching. When McGonagall saw the person, she was shocked.
" What's going on here?!" she asked. Neji decided to say something.
" Take us to the Headmasters! Now!" he roared. The third years all gasped when they saw who Neji was carrying.
" It's Snape!" one called.
" They did something to him!" said another.
" Alright! I knew they were good guys!" a third called, causing the shinobi to sweat drop. Neji looked to the Professor again and said.
" Take us to the Headmasters." McGonagall was shocked at how cold his voice was and took them to Dumbledore's office, seeing the three headmasters sitting at a table. When Karkaroff saw Snape, he sneered.
" Dumbledore, what in the world is happening to your school?!" he asked. Shikamaru ignored him, and went to Dumbledore.
" One of your teachers attacked us old man! I will not have any of my comrades so close to death again, got it?!" he asked enraged. Dumbledore was confused.
" Why Shikamaru-san, what are you talking about? Professor Snape cannot have attacked you, he had been in his chamber the whole time" This time, it was Neji that slammed his hand onto the desk they were sitting at, creating a large crack on it.
" I saw him running away from us!" he yelled, causing his Byakugan to activate by pure anger. The four wizards were startled by the appearance of the Byakugan, since when he first activated it in the first task, they were to far away to see it. Naruto then slapped Snape awake, and punched him in his stomach. Dumbledore and McGonagall tried to stop him, but Shikamaru bound them with his shadow. He then started to talk.
" Now, I want you to listen and listen well!" he said to all of them. Karkaroff and Madam Maxime were shocked to see such anger in all of their faces.
" Did you know, that when you went into my mind, I can see what you tried to do. I saw you try to find what we were capable of, and when you found out, you tried to kill me and Gaara because we might mess up your plans to help resurrect some dark lord and betray Dumbledore!" Naruto yelled. Dumbledore had a look of rage on his face. The old man looked to McGonagall.
" Minerva, please get the experimental potion in my cupboard for me." he said. McGonagall nodded and went to get the potion. She came back with a small clear vial with a clear liquid in it. Dumbledore forcefully poured the potion into Snapes mouth and made the traitor swallow. " Are they telling the truth Severus?" Snape tried not to reply, but nodded. Dumbledore was about to pull out his own wand, but was stopped by Shikamaru's shadow.
" I want you to all listen and listen good. If you want to risk the lives of all of the students, then do not attack Naruto or Gaara. Or any of us for the matter. If Gaara loses consciousness, then he loses all control of his powers. There has only been one person to ever defeat him in battle. That person left us last year." At this, Naruto and Gaara both snorted.
" The Uchiha couldn't even get a scratch on me Nara." Gaara said in a monotone. Shikamaru looked at him confused.
" If he didn't beat you, then who did?" Shikamaru asked.
" The only one to ever defeat me in battle, including the assassination attempts on me since I was six, is the only person other then my siblings that I respect. He is standing in this very room." Gaara finished, causing Naruto to smirk, and Shikamaru to jaw drop. " He beat me when I lost consciousness, and told me about his past, I respect him, because he lived through the same as me, but did not end up as a killing machine." He finished, while Naruto had smack his own head.
"Gaara, I told you I didn't want anyone to know about It." he said. Gaara just shrugged.
" They are going to find out sooner or later. Especially when Tsunade finds out about it in your records, she's going to kill your council, and frankly, I don't care." the red head said.
" Can we just get back to killing this guy here?" Naruto asked, trying to change the subject. Gaara sighed and wrapped Snape in sand. Shikamaru let his shadow go while Gaara clenched his hand.
" Sabaku Sousou." And the sand crushed Snape. After he was done, Shikamaru asked a question.
" Naruto, when were there assassination attempts on you?" he asked. Naruto didn't answer. The four wizards in the office were still shocked that they had just killed someone, and continued to talk about one of their past.
" I'll tell you later." he said and turned to walk out but was stopped by Shikamaru's shadow.
"" Naruto, where are you going?" he asked.
" I promised Fleur-chan that I would meet her up in our dormitory." Naruto then sent a chakra pulse so powerful, it disrupted Shikamaru's shadow and made them stumble a little. He then walked away. Before he got away, he was transported by Gaara's sand. He was once again in Dumbledore's office, with Madam Maxime looking at him, along with Dumbledore and Karkaroff. Shikamaru walked up to Naruto.
" Naruto, this is a mission that you are on. Do not get attached to the person you are supposed to protect." he said firmly. Naruto growled.
" I'm not getting attached Shikamaru. I promised her, and I never break a promise, ok?" he said. Shikamaru sighed and motioned Gaara to let the blonde go. Gaara did, and Naruto disappeared. When Naruto was gone, Madam Maxime went to Shikamaru.
" Is 'e dangerous to be around?" she asked, worried for Fleur. Shikamaru sighed.
" Naruto is only dangerous when someone endangers one of his friends. He's harmless." the Nara explained. Karkaroff then stood and pointed to Gaara.
" What about him? He may lose control of his powers and kill Victor by accident! I don't want to lose my champion by this." Gaara stepped in.
" If I lose control, then the only chance to stop me is with Naruto. But, if he loses control, not even I can stop him." he said, gaining everyone's attention.
" What power does Naruto control?" Shikamaru asked. Gaara shook his head.
" If you want to know, you must gain Naruto's ultimate trust. It took me almost a year to get him t trust me, and he finally has. I will not break it." He then left. Dumbledore looked at the body of Snape. He then pulled out a wand and waved it, the body burned away. Madam Maxime, still looked worried for Fleur so she went to Neji.
" 'Ow strong is Naruto?" she asked. Neji thought.
" Back in our village, when we were in the academy, when you graduate, in the class there is always a Rookie of the Year, the top student, and a Dead last. Naruto was the Dead last of his graduating class, and he was in the team of Rookie of the Year. Six months later, when we had a Chuunin Exam, Naruto proved how much he had grown, when he beat his first opponent that nobody thought he could beat. Then in the finals, he beat me, the Rookie of the Year before his year, after I sealed off all of his chakra points. The same day, when Gaara lost control of his power, Naruto fought him on even terms in power after his teammate, the Rookie of the Year in his year, gave his all to attack Gaara, but didn't manage to get a scratch on him. Naruto used all of his power to save his third teammate, and beat Gaara. I don't know how he beat Gaara, but when you threaten his friends, Naruto is almost unstoppable." he finished, Madam Maxime was still worried, but Neji smirked. " Don't worry, it seems that Naruto has become friends with your student, and maybe even more." At this, Shikamaru frowned.
" Naruto should not be getting attached to her, this mission will end eventually and he will have to leave her. They will both be hurt." he said. Neji interrupted him.
" But he has been in so much pain already, especially after that bitch of a teammate broke his heart. He almost died that day as well." At this Dumbledore asked the question that the headmasters had been trying to ask.
" Shikamaru-san, you once said that you didn't want anyone on your team close to death again, when did that happen?" he asked. Shikamaru sighed and began to tell his story.
" Last year, Naruto's teammate, the Rookie of the Year, Uchiha Sasuke, was tired of Naruto being stronger then him. Naruto worked hard, but because Sasuke was an Uchiha, he expected power. When Naruto and Sasuke fought each other once, they both used their most powerful attacks, and were sent flying into water towers by their sensei. After Sasuke saw the damage done by Naruto's attack, he left the village by a promise from someone that he would gain power. A team of five followed him after, that team included, Neji, Naruto, and myself. Sasuke was being escorted to Orochimaru's hideout. Orochimaru is the one who promised Sasuke power. Naruto's other teammate, Sakura had made Naruto promise that he would bring Sasuke back. We fought Orochimaru's elite guards and Naruto fought the strongest of them, until one of our teammates came from the Hospital. Lee fought with the last guard s Naruto went to fight Sasuke who said he wasn't going to came back to Konoha. They fought and they used their most powerful attacks, and Sasuke used Orochimaru's curse seal, something that gave him enormous power but would kill him if he used it for too long. They fought and then used their most powerful attacks again. This time, they destroyed almost half of the valley they were in. Naruto had a whole the size of a fist in his chest, while Sasuke was carried to Orochimaru by a traitor. Gaara and his siblings joined us and helped us fight against the guards and we got there in time to see Naruto get stabbed through his chest. He failed to bring Sasuke back, and almost all of us were on the brink of death that day. We hurried as fast as we could t get Naruto to the hospital, but we weren't sure if he would make it. Sakura had never forgiven him for failing her. Naruto was in love with her, but she was infatuated with Sasuke. Two weeks ago, Sakura yelled at Naruto, saying that she hated him, and wanted him to die. That's why Naruto is this way, and why Neji thinks Naruto should have time to heal himself." he finished.
The wizards were both astounded and shocked to hear wheat had happened. They never thought that Naruto o all people, the one that was so carefree, was in so much pain that he hid it from everybody.
With Naruto
Naruto may have said that he was going to eat lunch with Fleur, he continued to walk out of the castle until he was at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. He walked into the forest until he thought he was in far enough.
He sighed and bit his thumb and performed some hand seals.
" Kuichiyose no jutsu!" and he summoned Gamakichi.
" Yo where's my snack?" the little toad asked. Naruto fished into his pocket and pulled out a cardboard box and handed it to him. Gamakichi read the box and threw the box at Naruto. " What the fuck?! What do you think I am, a cannibal?!" Naruto looked at the box and sweat dropped. Chocolate Frogs.
" Ummm... Oops?" he said. The toad looked aghast.
" Oops?! You better give me a snack, or I'll oops you!" it threatened. Naruto laughed nervously and gave it a bag of jelly beans. The toad ate one and nodded to Naruto. " OK, nii-chan, what do you want?" he asked. Naruto whispered something into the toad's ear and after a while, it nodded. " Ok nii-chan, I'll get it in about two to three months, if your lucky, by Christmas!" and with that, Gamakichi poofed away. Naruto turned around and jumped in suprise when he saw Gaara standing five feet from him.
" Gah! Gaara! I told you not to do that!" the blonde yelled. Gaara just shrugged and walked towards Naruto.
" You said that you were going to see your champion. Why are you here?" he asked. Naruto just grinned.
" I just summoned Gamakichi to see how things were in Konoha and he got mad at me when I gave him a chocolate frog as a treat." he said. Gaara nodded.
" You better see the girl if you want to remain her friend, you might have offended her." At this, Naruto's eyes widened. He quickly ran toward the castle while Gaara picked up the box of Chocolate Frogs. He walked back to the castle and ate the frog on the way.
Unbeknownst to the both of them, Harry and his two friends had just figured out the message of the golden egg.
With Naruto
Naruto ran up the way to the Ravenclaw dormitory, while almost running into Fleur.
" Whoa!" he yelled as he flipped over the girl, who was getting out of the common room. Fleur was shocked to see Naruto flip over her, she quickly turned to see Naruto sitting on a pile that used to be a standing suit of armor. She giggled at his expression, and helped him out.
" Naruto, where were you? You were supposed to meet me here five minutes ago." she said. Naruto rubbed the back of his head nervously.
" I had to do something first. Sorry Fleur-chan. Let's go." he said, quickly leading her out to the lake with the golden egg in hand.
The Lake
Naruto and Fleur approached the lake wearily.
" Are you sure zis is ze right way?" Fleur asked as she put the egg into the water and opened it. Instead of the screeching sound that would usually come out of it, there was a song that they could hardly hear.
" Come seek us where our voices sound
We cannot sing above the ground
And while you're searching, ponder this:
We've taken what you'll sorely miss,
An hour long you'll have to look
And to recover what we took,
But an hour past-- the prospect's black,
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back."
Fleur looked at Naruto in astonishment.
" 'Ow did you figure out 'ow to get this song out of ze egg?" she asked. Naruto grinned.
" I overheard Cedric tell Harry to put it under water. So I thought we could try it out." he explained. " Now, we should try to figure out the poem. ' Come and seek us where our voices sound'. Where do there voices sound?" he asked stupidly. Fleur rolled her eyes.
" Naruto, are you serious? The voices sound underwater!" she said. Naruto laughed in realization. He rubbed the back of his head and laughed.
" Hehehe, you're right Fleur-chan. Ok, so the first two lines are solved, but what about the next two? 'And while you're searching, ponder this: We've taken what you'll sorely miss,'. It sounds like what ever's in the water, will take something important to you, but what? Fleur-chan what's the most important thing in the world to you?" he asked her. Fleur thought for a moment before her eyes widened in realization and fear.
"Ze most important zing in my life, is my little sister, Gabrielle. Does zis mean zat zey will kidnap her for ze second task?" she asked alarmed. Naruto saw the fear in her eyes and tried to comfort her.
" Don't worry, Fleur-chan, I won't allow that to happen. I promise that I'll do my best to protect Gabrielle." he said. Fleur hugged him, causing him to blush, but he returned it.
SOrry about the lateness. Iv'e been having a lot of problems with the later chapters. I hope you enjoy this one though.