Story Summary: Everyone knows how Naruto Uzumaki became the hero of Konoha, but what of the past of Konoha. Before he beat Pain. Before Kakashi, Gai, Asuma, and Kurenai became sensei. Before the Konoha 12 were even out of diapers. Back when their sensei were young, inexperienced shinobi themselves. Before They Were Legends.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto in any extent and am not taking credit for any of Kishimoto's hard work. This is just a story of my own creation involving his characters.

A Naruto Tale: Before They Were Legends

Chapter 2: Journey to Hokuto's Castle

Thump...Thump...Thump...Thump

A steady pounding of feet to wood. That is all Kurenai Yuhi has been hearing for the past fifteen hours. Their journey began an hour before the Sun rose and they have run, without breaks, since then.

She looks out into the distance and sees the orange-red glow of the Sun setting in the distance. She sighs as she jumps a few more times and notices a bead of sweat fall from her forehead and onto the branch below her feet.

Another sigh as she notices her teammates around her. To her left, Asuma runs, his heaving chest covered in sweat as he sloppily trudges from one branch to another. To her right she sees Gai and Genma running without trouble, but they too have sweat clumping their hair to their foreheads.

She turns her head forward and notices that Kakashi is running with ease as he floats from branch to branch at a steady pace, making a beat with his feet. He has stayed an even ten feet ahead of them all, for the entire day, not saying a word to anyone and not showing any sign of fatigue.

Suddenly Kakashi stops and falls to the forest floor below them.

"We will stop here for the night. Set up camp, sleep, eat, do whatever you want. When the birds and insects awaken, we will continue."

The four Chunin all hop down on the ground in a circle, as Kakashi makes a campfire with a quick fireball jutsu. Genma and Gai both pull up stumps to sit on, Kurenai and Kakashi grab a rock, and Asuma just plops on the ground in a heap of flesh and sweat.

After a few minutes of heaving, Asuma opens his pack and pulls out a cigarette and a lighter. His hand shaking as he raises it to his lips. The small flame ignites as he breathes in and puffs out a black cloud of chemicals.

The rest of them all pull their packs off of their backs. Kurenai then leans over, kisses Asuma on the cheek, and snatches the cigarette from out of his mouth.

She gives a sickening smile and snuffs the flaming stick out on her rock.

"You shouldn't smoke, especially since you can barely breathe right now."

Asuma pouts a little and then puts his lighter back in his pocket and says, "Ya. Ya. I know."

Kurenai then claps her hands together and declares, "Let's get to business. Since we left so quickly, I think we should take this time to make a checklist of what everyone brought," Kurenai then opens her pack and begins to take everything out, "I'm sorry, but I didn't have much time to pack, so I didn't bring much."

Kurenai names everything as she pulls it out, "Pots, bandages, cream to prevent infection, extra water, ration bars, extra clothes, some kunai, shuriken, senbon, maps, bad of money, um...oh and some soldier pills. So...what about all of you guys."

The other four men all sit silently as they stare at Kurenai's pile of supplies. Genma and Asuma share a look of helplessness and concern as they both turn back to Kurenai.

Asuma opens his pack and says, "Well, I guess I'll go. Well I only brought the basics. Some kunai, shuriken, bandages, and ration bars."

Kurenai looks at Asuma's tiny pile of supplies, then back to his bulging pack, then to his terrified face, and back to the tiny pile.

"What else is in there."

Asuma casually scratches the back of his neck and says, "Oh nothing..."

Kurenai grabs his bag and turns it upside down. She watches as pack after pack of cigarettes fall from it leaving a pile almost, if not bigger, than hers.

Asuma looks at his girlfriend sheepishly as he says, "Like I said...just the basics."

Kurenai sighs as she turns to Genma and waves her hand at him, "What about you."

Genma's brow furrows as his eyes dart from person to person before he finally sighs and empty his bag.

"Well, like Asuma, I brought the basics too. I brought some rations, some kunai and stuff, a scroll with two Demon Wind Shurikens, and a deck of cards."

Kurenai knits her eyebrows together in disappointment as she turns to Gai without a word.

"Well I brought some organic ration bars, my two nunchaku, and my weights."

Gai turns his bag upside down and four giant weights fall to the ground, causing a large crater and dust to fly over the campsite.

Genma looks at the crater and asks, "Why aren't you wearing them like usual?"

Gai pulls his bandage up to show the padded metal plates and says, "Oh I am. Those are just my extra one, just in case I lose these."

Kurenai kinda half smiles as she looks towards Kakashi. Hoping that the ANBU prodigy at least thought to bring some more food or first aid equipment. She knows that she brought enough for the trip there, but the trip back will be pretty rough.

"What do you have Kakashi?"

Kakashi slowly unbuttons the strap on his backpack and pulls items out one after another. Causing everyone to subconsciously inch away from their friend and cover themselves with their hands.

"I brought ten kunai, twenty-five shuriken, a pack of smoke bombs, soldier pills, plasma pills, scrolls with Demon Wind Shurikens, senbon, two rolls of metal wire, five packs of exploding tags, my father's tanto, some chains, my summoning scroll, bandages, and some ration bars."

The Chunin all stare at Kakashi's pile of metal before sharing a look of fear and addressing Kakashi.

Genma picks up the roll of metal wire and asks, "Are you going to war or something.. I thought we were just taking care of some rebels, not conquering the whole country."

Gai looks at the multitude of sharp objects and says, "It is very excessive," all the while thinking, "I wonder how heavy all of that is. It can't be heavier than my weights..., but what if it is. I can't let Kakashi work harder than me. He wasn't even breaking a sweat during the run."

Kakashi merely grunts in reply before repacking his bag and leaning back against the tree and staring off into space.

Kurenai scratches her chin and says, "I don't think we have enough food. I'm afraid we might run out on the trips."

Gai replies, "Well we could always just get food from Hokuto after the mission. I'm sure he will be happy to help us."

Genma swallows his bite and chimes in, "Ya, but he is a dictator and, from what I here, he isn't very nice. I wouldn't really expect much help from him."

Asuma puts his arms behind his head and casually says, "Well maybe if you save his life or something, he will give us what we need."

Genma leans back as well and replies, "Ya that's probably the only way."

Kurenai bites her lip and replies, "But what if he doesn't, I mean, we could trade some stuff, but we could be out here for a while. We should have been more prepared."

Asuma grabs her shoulder in comfort and says, "Well at least you packed well, Kurenai-chan."

Kurenai falls back into Asuma's arms and rests her head on his chest. She then snuggles her arms into his chest as he wraps his arm around her shoulders.

"Not really. I didn't bring as much as I should have. I really thought you guys would do better, especially Kakashi."

"Ya I'm sorry," Asuma whispers to the girl in his arms before tilting his head up to the silver haired teen sitting in the corner, "Hey, Kakashi. Why did you only bring weapons anyways, I thought you woulda thought this ahead more than us."

Kakashi simply sits still in silence, not even bothering to acknowledge Asuma. Gai reaches over taps him on the shoulder. Kakashi blinks a few times and turns to the group.

Gai asks, "Did you hear Asuma?"

Genma leans up and asks, "Ya, Kakashi. What's wrong with you lately? Your usually more alert than this."

Kurenai breaks from Asuma's arms and leans up as well, "Are you doing ok Kakashi? I'm worried about you."

Kakashi raises his arm in the air and punches the rock under him as he storms away into the forest. Each step stiff and sluggish, causing footprints to be left after him.

Kurenai taps Asuma and says, "You should go talk to him."

Asuma leans back and covers his eyes with his arm as he replies, "No, he is fine. He's a big boy, he can handle himself."

"I'll go. He is my eternal rival after all. I cannot have his youthfulness so depressingly low."

Gai gives a thumbs up as he turns away from the group and into the forest. He stops when a hand wraps around his wrist.

"Do you want me to go with you," Genma asks, his mouth bent in a half frown.

Gai pulls away and replies, "You know Kakashi. The less people the better."

Genma slowly nods and draws his hand back. He sits unblinkingly into the fire, before leaning back against a tree and closing his eyes to rest for the night.

Gai slowly strolls into the forest, keeping his ears perked and hands clenched, ready for anything that comes. He knows that Kakashi is unpredictable, especially when he is like this.

Gai walks into a clearing and sees his silver-haired friend twenty feet away with his forehead resting against an enormous tree. The tree is probably thirty feet in the hair and it is as wide as Gai is tall.

Gai walks a little closer and notices that Kakashi's left arm is resting above his head on the tree and his right arm is hanging under him. He investigates further and sees that Kakashi's knuckles are red and full of fresh scratches. The plate on his glove is cracked clean in half and a small sharps of metal are seen on the ground.

Gai turns his gaze over to the tree and sees ten large dents in the tree's bark, with small red stains in the middle of each one. Each dent having a distinct square in the middle of it and four small circles on the edges.

The green clad Chunin makes his way over to the slumping figure of his friend and crosses his arms over his chest.

"Those are pretty pathetic dents, my friend. I would expect more from my eternal rival. Let us see which of us can create the larger dent," Gai declares with a bright smile on his face.

Kakashi keeping his head in the bark states, "I'm not in the mood, Gai. No challenges. No youthfulness crap. No, pep talks. I just want to have some peace and quiet in the forest."

"Are you actually afraid that a Chunin would beat a big fancy ANBU?"

Kakashi slings his head up from the tree and shoves a finger in Gai's face. He waves it around as he yells, "DON'T START WITH ME, GAI."

The taijustu user stands his ground and stares back as he calmly states, "It is not like you to be so fearful and jumpy. What happened to your usual hip attitude? Are you that afraid of defeat by my hand?"

Kakashi reels his arm back and punches the tree, causing a much larger crater to cover it. This one covering over all the previous one and shredding bark away to reveal raw wood.

"I'm not afraid of losing. I'm afraid of what I might do to you? I'm afraid of hurting you. Of losing you."

Gai pats him on the shoulder. Kakashi looks up and looks into Gai's smiling face. A small crevice is seen in Kakashi's mask as he stares back. Gai closes his eyes as he slowly takes his hand off of Kakashi's shoulder.

POW

Kakashi staggers back slightly and grabs his left cheeks. He rubs it slightly and then moves his hand away to reveal a red mark spreading across to his jaw.

"Why the Hell did you just punch me?!"

Gai shuffles his feet back into his signature fighting stance and waves his front hand in the international sign for "let's see what you got."

Kakashi stands straight and tall and shifts his shoulder to face Gai as he says, "I'm not going to fight you, Gai."

Gai lunges forward and throws a series of punches at Kakashi. In turn, Kakashi weaves and pivots to dodge each one. Every chance he gets, he tries to convince Gai to stop.

"Stop this Gai. You don't want to do this. I don't want to have to hurt you."

Gai punches slightly faster and even starts kicking at Kakashi too. Kakashi begins to use his hands to block each crushing blow.

Gai finally throws a rather sloppy punch right at Kakashi's face. Kakashi stops dead in his tracks and grabs the flying fist in his hand with a loud PLOP.

Kakashi squeezes his friend's hand harder and mutters, "We are done here."

Kakashi throws Gai's hand back a little more violently than needed and storms off in a heap. Gai stands back and watches the fleeting body of his friend and rubs his wrist lightly.

"There's hope for you yet, my friend."

Inside the great walls of Konoha a large building in the middle of a renovation begins to take shape. The building stands short and sturdy, with gray walls and silver roofing tiles. The right side and back of the building's walls are bare, showing wooden beams and dirt covering the floor in the nearest room.

The renovation started just two days ago and it is already a fourth of the way to being finished. The civilians living around the building complained about the noise at first, but then settled down as they realized just how magnificent it was shaping out to be.

While the building is still in construction the front gate and shrubbery are close to being done and just need some finishing touches to make it complete.

What shocks people the most is the amazing simplicity of the front. When standing directly to the front of the entrance you see two stone columns on either side of you. On top of those columns are two statues of a pair of canines. The two original canines that created all others.

One with jet black fur and sword-like fangs. The other is an angelic white with red eyes and long claws. To either side of those columns are two tall slender trees, each with a bushy, leafy top forming a nice ball.

Once you walk down the cemented path you are welcomed by a large grassy area. The grass has total sunlight and is groomed every other day to keep it neat and fluffy.

Once you get to the end of the path you make it to the main house. Inside that house, the clan head and his daughter discuss plans for their home and for Konoha.

"Hello, Tsume. Please come in my pup."

Tsume struts into the room and plops down on a stool by a newly built table. She leans forwards, arches her back, and places her hands on top of her knees.

"Is this about my meeting with the 3rd? If it is, you know that I can't tell you. I know that a beta must always adhere to the alpha, but to be honest, he scares the living shit out of me."

The elder Inuzuka waves his hand and takes a seat. "No. It's nothing like that. I actually wanted to tell you that I had a meeting of my own with him and I will be going on a long mission soon. I need you to take over the construction while me and Akio are gone."

Tsume rises from her seat along with her father. She watches as her father walks out of the door followed by his most trusted ally, Akio. Akio is a long tall canine with ravor sharp teeth that jut out of his mouth, almost like a saber tooth tiger, along with his white and gray fur striping across his back and face. His tail is in towels and a large chunk at the end is missing from an explosion many years ago.

As they get to the front door Tsume raises her hand and howls out, "Follow the scent, Kegewa-san. Trust you senses and they will guide you to victory."

At hearing Tsuma's call the other Inuzka's, young and old, all begin to howl. The custom for a clan head and, more importantly, and alpha going away on a mission.

As the howling dies down, Tsume takes one last glance and turns to begin barking orders at her fellow clansmen. She knows that her father is going to expect it to be perfect when he gets back. As she points and screams her mind wanders elsewhere at his last statement.

"He said that the 3rd sent him. I wonder if it has to do with what I am doing for him? How many of us is that old man using for a simple tracking job. I figured I was it, but if my dad's involved it must be big."

Author's Notes: Well this is the 2nd installment of my second story. Nothing really special to say about it.

I'm sorry for how long it took me to get this chapter out, but I've been really busy in my real life and life comes before the internet.

I hope you haven't lost interest in the story yet, but I will try to update sooner in the future. They updates will probably continue to take a while and the chapters will most likely get shorter, but I will do my best.

One quick question to help the future of the story. Who else do you want me to include in the story.

Captian Yamato, Itachi, Hiashi Hyūga, the original Ino-Shika-Cho, any Akatsuki member, my OC Zishi, or someone totally different. Just keep in mind when this story is in the Naruto timeline.

Please give me a suggestion and the most suggested one will be placed in the story.

Review as always. Bye.