Naruto Fanfiction
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
Author's Note: Pre-read? Partially by Pyr00tje.
He had tried to grab something, anything, as he seemed to hover forward in a world where no ground existed. He couldn't see the air, he couldn't see the distance, there was no left, no right. He couldn't even see himself...
He had been captured by the Akatsuki; they were unable to knock him unconscious, so the S-Rank Missing-nins had decided to perform the Forbidden ritual as he was awake. Never could he have imagined such horror...
On the border between life and death, there was nothingness...
He saw the Nine-Tailed Fox Demon being dragged away by bright-red claws. He had watched how the Kyuubi had desperately tried to send all of its remaining Chakra towards him, but Naruto witnessed how the majority was carried away with the Demon. Strange, how the blonde Shinobi felt pity for the Youkai...
He was left alone in the darkness and though he felt more powerful than ever, he was still alone, where he could see nothing but blackness all around him.
After what seemed like days, a weird creature appeared before him, radiating in the darkness with an eerie blue light flowing around it.
"You are destined to dwell here for eternity..."
Uzumaki Naruto seemed to freeze just because of the mere presence of this huge creature, with long white hair, dressed in robes with a face of the devil himself.
And then he saw three figures approach him from underneath this ugly devil, it seemed.
"So, you're Uzumaki Naruto..." The first man said. "I feel ashamed to have let a young man like you have a destiny like this... A Jinchuuriki's life is truly the worst."
The second man bowed to Naruto. "Our sincerest apologies, Uzumaki Naruto."
Naruto knew he had seen these two man somewhere before and his eyes widened as the third man's appearance grew sharper. "Uzumaki Naruto-kun. My deepest regrets for having to meet in this manner..." The deceased Third Hokage spoke. "You might have guessed it, but these are the First and the Second Hokages. The Death God has brought forth judgement for you and us." He spoke as he motioned above him, where the Death God seemed to glare at Naruto.
"We are terribly sorry. Of all the fates a Jinchuuriki could have, yours is by far the worst." The First said. "I wish I could do something, but in this space between life and death, I am useless."
"This is where no one is supposed to linger for more than a split second. The choice for life and death is easily made for every being. You, on the other hand, or something else, aren't you?" The Second commented. "You want to die, but you want to live. Other beings want you to die, but want you to live."
"It's a normal compromise of existence, and it's the reason this place exists." The Third said. "But it seems you, in your right mind, don't want to live or die, on which The Death God has responded. You will become the next Death God, most likely... You are the second person, to have lingered in this space more than necessary... The Death God himself was the first."
All three Hokages bowed in respect. "By all means, you should have already died a long time ago... For your own sake. Now you will live endlessly in this abyss. In time, you will be its successor..."
The Death God chuckled while the Hokages all fell to their knees, to send respect to Uzumaki Naruto. "Please forgive us all..."
And then, the Death God's chuckling stopped as a sixth presence surprised all of them...
Naruto suddenly could see his own hands, his own legs... his entire self as someone seemed to reach out to him from behind.
"Kinjutsu..." The Death God seemed to murmur, on which it almost seemed like he was impressed. "Tensei Ninjutsu..."
"I-Iruka-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed and the three Hokages seemed to be very shocked as well...
Walking The Road
- Chapter 2: Lost Ambition
Uchiha Sasuke was jumping alongside Hatake Kakashi, both heading towards the Hokage Tower. "So do you think the rumours are true!" He yelled, being impatient and wanting to reach the Hokage Tower faster. "What do you think, Kakashi!"
The genius, but lazy, Copy Ninja had his revealed eye narrowed in what seemed like endless curiosity. "Rumours spread fast in Konoha, it seems even faster outside of it. The famous ANBU Captain, user of what appears to be the same techniques the Fourth Hokage had used. He has become a Member of a Jounin Team, being a Jounin Captain. A very weird promotion." He analyzed. "This guy is definitely something else."
Sasuke had his eyes narrowed as well. "From what I have heard... The Akatsuki seemed to have had a lot of trouble dealing with Uzumaki Naruto... Nine S-Ranked Criminals, forced to perform a Forbidden Jutsu together to be able to defeat a single man..."
Kakashi nodded. "The Forbidden Jutsu of pulling out the essence of a Bijuu to perform an Assembling of Youkai Presences... It seems the Akatsuki had found a way to perform it without losing their own lives..."
Sasuke seemed to increase his speed as they both jumped over the Gates of Konoha. The guards immediately pursued them, seeing that the two went too fast to check on. Kakashi followed suit, the guards would be handled with later, this was more important.
"So they're saying that Uzumaki Naruto and this new Jounin Captain are the same guy?" Sasuke let out.
A few years ago, it was a known fact that Naruto had been taken away by the Akatsuki, but seemed to have returned unscathed. A team had been sent to retrieve him, consistent of the Legendary Jiraiya and Tsunade, Haruno Sakura, Umino Iruka, Hatake Kakashi and an ANBU Captain.
Kakashi knew what had happened on that faithful day. Naruto had seen his very first and most precious friend die right next to him. The two hadn't even been able to say some last words to each other. Tsunade and Sakura were both prepared to perform the Revival Technique if Naruto had really died against the Akatsuki, but it seems Umino Iruka had forced them to teach the Jutsu months ago once he had learned of the horrible possibilities. Iruka was forced to train for a long time.
As they had arrived at where the sixth Ritual had been performed, also in a cave, they had found a dead Naruto, surrounded by panting Akatsuki Members, who immediately fled after seeing two Sannin, Hatake Kakashi, an ANBU Captain and Haruno Sakura and Umino Iruka.
Kakashi watched how Iruka had performed the Tensei Ninjutsu on the lonely corpse on the ground and watched how Iruka crumbled to the floor minutes later. He also watched how Naruto cried for the longest time for his lost friend beside him... All of them had shed tears that day... First, for seeing Naruto dead, then for seeing Iruka dying and finally, for seeing true friendship crumble...
Naruto had changed a very great deal after that day... He had told them off and said he didn't want to return to Leaf on that very day. Jiraiya had decided to take him on another trip, on which Naruto had agreed.
Naruto and Jiraiya had stayed away from Leaf for over six months...
---
"Ok, who the hell spilled the beans!" Naruto yelled angrily as his mask was on the ground and he glared at his subordinates. Massive Killer Intent was freezing all of them at the spot. No one had ever seen Uzumaki Naruto this angry...
Mitarashi Anko found herself unable to move as she gazed in the murderous eyes of the Yondaime-look-alike. She managed to stutter an "I didn't say a word." It took her almost twenty seconds to finish that small sentence.
Yamanaka Ino was simply shaking her head in a very fast rate, too afraid to even speak.
Hyuga Hanabi, for one of the few times in her life, was too afraid to respond as well. This Killer Intent was unlike any she had ever faced before. She managed to shake her head a few times, but one could surely see nervous sweat forming on her face.
Ami was more used to this terror coming from Naruto, but hadn't seen him this angry before either, so she was also quite shaken up at the madman before them. She was shaking her head as well.
Naruto gritted his teeth. "It had to be one of you!" He screamed. "Ok, since you're not telling, you are all forced to hang on a tree branch with your feet with Chakra!"
He calmed down a bit to allow the Killer Intent to decrease in its fury so they would be able to move. "Each pick an own tree." He said, holding in his anger.
All of the females hung down from different tree branches moments later, too afraid to argue with the angry Naruto. "I'm going to throw Kunais at you in this state, you're not allowed to land on the ground, not allowed to jump to another tree branch, not allowed to go from tree branch to tree bark and not allowed to stand on the tree branch. You're ONLY allowed to HANG on the tree branch, got it!"
He had woken up this morning when several Chuunin had greeted him with "Good morning, Uzumaki Naruto-sama!" or "G'morning, Uzumaki-taichou!" or "Naruto-taichou!"
One day! It had taken him one day as Jounin Captain to completely shatter his hope of having a secret identity. There would be hell to pay for the perpetrator who revealed his identity!
Naruto started with creating three solid Advanced Clones next to him. All of them started throwing Kunais and Shurikens to the poor females hanging on tree branches. "Consider this training for Chakra Control and Stamina!" He screamed ruthlessly as the women were dodging Kunai after Kunai, walking and running only upside down under the tree branches.
---
"Iruka-sensei!"
All the man did was put his hand on his shoulder and give him the warmest smile anyone could give another. All the Hokages before the scene were silent as the space turned from pitch black to bright white.
Iruka and Naruto stared at each other, one confused, the other warm. Iruka then took his hand off of Naruto's shoulder and walked towards the Hokages. Naruto's eyes widened as all of them were slowly fading away, including Iruka...
"Uzumaki Naruto... For once, it appears life and death seem to be fair to you..." The First Hokage said.
"Unfortunately, sacrifices must be made for Forbidden Techniques such as these..." The Second explained.
"Uzumaki Naruto-kun. You deserve this the most... Please honour Umino Iruka-sama..." The Third said as he put a hand on the shoulder of Iruka, who had joined them. "Do not worry; he has not the same fate the Death God has for us."
The Death God seemed to vanish, along with the three Hokages. Umino Iruka remained a little longer, staring at Naruto.
The two stared at each other for what seemed like ages... Until Iruka seemed to fade away into nothing...
"Do your best, Naruto-kun..."
---
Naruto had calmed down as all the women were panting from the exercise Naruto had made them go through. "Did anyone of you mention my name yesterday or today?" He asked as he approached the panting women, anger still very much present in his voice.
All of the females shook their heads, until Ino and Ami looked at each other in worry... Which Naruto, of course, noticed. "You two have something to say?"
"Well... We did kinda mention your name in a restaurant yesterday... once." Ino started. "But that was before you told us we weren't allowed to do so!"
Naruto's eyes widened. "You told my name yesterday in a restaurant? Once? And already the entire Village knows about it!" He let out in frustration. "How is that possible..." He complained. 'Damn, and I can't even yell at them, since they did reveal my identity before I had forbidden them to do so.'
"Word spreads fast..." Anko explained as she grinned at the blonde man. "Nothing you can do about it now, Naruto-kuunn."
"I guess you're right." He whispered softly. He then suddenly grinned at them, making all of them gape at him. Such a sudden switch from furious to non-caring. "It was inevitable, I suppose. So, how was warming up?" He asked, earning wide glares from his subordinates. "Time for the real training!"
All of them groaned...
---
Sakura was very close to the awakening Naruto, while Tsunade, Jiraiya and Kakashi were towering over him. The ANBU Captain with the codename Yamato had to go with them in case his expertise of Jinchuurikis and Bijuus was needed. But he also seemed very concerned with the blonde Shinobi as he had his mask off.
As Naruto opened his eyes, he didn't even notice Sakura holding him as he immediately looked at Iruka who was next to him on the ground. "I-Iruka... sensei?" He tiredly let out.
Everyone watched as Naruto tried to wake Iruka up, to no avail... "Iruka-sensei... Iruka-sensei..." He managed to let out, exhausted as he was, as he was shaking Iruka by the shoulder. "Iruka-sensei!" He repeated about a hundred times...
"N.." Sakura watched in sympathy as the boy didn't even notice that he had slipped out of her grasp to continue shaking his teacher. "Naruto..."
"Iruka-sensei!" He screamed with tears in his eyes.
Kakashi revealed his own mouth as he silently shed a few tears. Yamato had put his mask back on, while Tsunade was being comforted, albeit slightly, by Jiraiya. Sakura hugged Naruto from behind as he couldn't come to any other conclusion but confirming Iruka's death.
"Why him? Why did it have to be him!" He screamed as Sakura tried to soothe him from behind, also weeping. "Why him?" He whispered in Sakura's arms. He repeated it a dozen times...
---
"Ok, training is over!" He suddenly announced. They were all sparring against each other. He and Mitarashi Anko against Ino, Hanabi and Ami. Seeing as Anko was a well experienced Shinobi, he wanted to see how Ami, Ino and Hanabi would work together.
He seemed to glance behind him without turning his head as he spoke up again. "There are several Shinobis approaching us. I have no need for any reminiscing. We will all report back here tonight. I feel it's time to test our skills in complete darkness. Be here in six hours! Dismissed!" He muttered loudly, before doing a single handseal and disappearing.
Ino let out a sigh. "I don't think I've ever been this tired before..." She whined. "And he wants us to train in the middle of the night too!"
"Get used to it. Captain can really overdo it." Ami grinned, but anyone could see she was tired as well. Anko was the less tired of all of them.
"He has a lot of sadness hidden within him..." Hanabi suddenly informed them. "But as always, he hides it with his smiles." She turned to Ami. "I'm usually not one to pry, but what do you know, Ami-san?"
Ami shrugged and grinned at Ami at the same time. "I don't know anything. Captain's not a sharing type."
Anko snorted. "He will, in due time. He will have to, if I'm on his team."
Weirdly enough, the other girls all seemed to agree... And then, two Jounins landed in the clearing.
Kakashi observed all of them, before greeting with a "Yo!"
Sasuke wasn't the kind to greet. "Where is your Captain?"
It was strange, if it was ten years ago, but Ino was actually glaring at him... Hanabi did quite the same, while Anko and Ami seemed indifferent. "He just left. What's it to you?" Anko asked back.
"We were interested if the rumours that have roamed around are true." Kakashi began as he scratched the back of his head. "My lost student."
Anko snorted, turned and left the scenery. Ino surprised herself by snorting as well and turning on her heels to leave the two Sharingan carriers to themselves. Ami just smirked and disappeared using an ANBU Technique. Hanabi was the only one left in those two seconds and seemed to be amused as she witnessed the weird glances Kakashi and Sasuke gave each other.
"We don't know who our Captain is." Hanabi lied. "Ask him or her yourself who he or she is." With that, she departed. No one could ever tell if a Hyuga was lying or not... Except maybe Morino Ibiki.
"Well... I guess we'll have to request to the Hokage to do a mission with this Captain." Kakashi suggested. "Maybe then, we can find out."
Sasuke was still a bit surprised at the scene a few moments ago and reacted a bit lately. "That was... strange."
Kakashi shrugged and put a hand on the other's shoulder. "Let's go, Sasuke."
---
Naruto was jumping from roof to roof while using a cloaking technique so no one would see or hear him. Not even an Inuzuka could smell him when he used this. He stopped abruptly when he noticed someone sitting on the pavement in front of his old home. His abandoned home, where no one dared to live, dared to enter. The place where the smell of Ramen still lingered.
'Not that that's a bad thing...' Naruto thought as he saw who it was who was sitting on the pavement.
The rumours have indeed spread magically fast, but to think this woman would be waiting in front of his old home...
'Too bad I don't live there anymore.' Naruto thought sarcastically as he continued his sprint homeward, leaving Haruno Sakura alone on the pavement.
Moments, very short moments later, he arrived home to find Neji and Kiba inside.
"What are you two doing here?" Naruto asked as he eyed both of them suspiciously. "And don't give me that 'we live here' crap either."
Kiba chuckled. "But we DO still live here, officially, Captain."
Neji nodded his head. "Even if I mostly stay at the Hyuga Estate, this is still where all my stuff is."
"Yeah, and I still like it here, even though I live with Hinata..." Kiba explained with a grin. "Hey, so your old and your new team, they don't know you actually live here, huh?" Kiba asked.
Naruto had found both of them on a couch in the living room, eating some take-out food. He would never understand why they never ate Ramen. He dropped himself on another couch and took his mask off. "No, no one knows I live here except you two."
Naruto lived in a building placed at the south border of Konoha, completely away from everyone else. The only ones living close by were Jiraiya and Shizune. He very rarely appeared in his old home, when he made appointments with his old team or new team there.
Neji shook his head. "I don't know why you even bother, Naruto. But you've heard, right?" It was strange, but Neji was always like that. Always switching subjects during a sentence where you'd figure he was going to ask something personally. But Neji was mostly business. Naruto even know what he was getting at, too.
"Yeah, my identity is longer labelled secret." Naruto commented casually. "This means the Akatsuki has probably found out I'm still alive, too."
Kiba frowned at the two serious guys. "You two think those guys are all still alive?"
Neji shook his head and patted Kiba on the shoulder, a bit hard. "Of course. They have performed a forbidden Jutsu to pull out demons, but they haven't shown themselves afterwards... Do you really think they would just finish it with extracting the essences?"
Naruto nodded his head. "Yeah. I and Gaara are the only Jinchuurikis still alive, but we both don't have our demons anymore... I have no idea what can really stop the Akatsuki now... They wield the powers of all the Tailed Demons..."
"Heh, you still have a bit of the Kyuubi in you, right?" Kiba asked.
Naruto suddenly frowned at Kiba. "Where's Akamaru?"
"Out."
---
The next day, Naruto found all the women early on their training spot.
"Is it me, or do you all seem very eager to start training today?" Naruto asked as he approached them.
"Hey, Captain, why are you still wearing your mask?" Ino asked as she tried to see through the narrow slits in the mask to see his eyes.
Naruto shrugged. "Because I like wearing masks... Now." Naruto stretched his right arm out to Ino and aimed his right fist at her. He then unclenched it and Ino found herself unable to move.
But Ino wasn't the only one who couldn't move. All of his subordinates couldn't move. "This is a part of today's exercise, ladies. You find yourself unable to move. Even your lips can't move. Also, I will cause a disruption within your Chakra Control by doing this..." Naruto walked over to each of them and tapped their shoulder once. They felt a tremendous but strange Chakra entering their body. "So what do you do in a situation like this?"
Of course, there was no reaction. They were like a bunch of statues. Naruto chuckled inwardly as he noticed that they couldn't even show expressions on their faces. But Naruto could guess they would all be a bit angry. "Imagine this, then..."
Although they couldn't widen their eyes, they all hoped they could as the great Youkai Demon Kyuubi was towering above them. 'Guh-Genjutsu!' They all thought.
Naruto smirked. "This is Genjutsu... Now, with you unable to use your hands for the Cancel Technique, and me disrupting your Chakra Control with my own Chakra... How will you get out of this Jutsu?"
Naruto stared at each and every one of them, trying to see if any of them could already respond. He was disappointed no one could, but grinned nonetheless. "You know, Hanabi-chan. Neji aced this Test in a minute. Can you do the same?" He asked.
"Normally, you try to increase your own Chakra Control within the Genjutsu by increasing the Chakra Amount around you... However, I have cancelled out that possibility by putting in some of my Chakra in your System." Naruto explained. "There's a third possibility, beside pouring out extra Chakra or doing the Cancel Out Technique." Naruto then grinned. "You all know it, but like this, you can't perform it. Because ALL of you are caught in this Genjutsu... So there will be no help from outside. No one outside will be able to pour Chakra in your System to help cancel the Genjutsu."
Naruto chuckled evilly. "So what to do, what to do?"
---
It was really quite awkward, seeing a man with a mask in a restaurant. "I won't eat."
All of the women, except Hanabi, pouted. "Aww, come on, Captain, I bet you're hungry as hell..." Ami grinned wickedly. "I bet you can't wait to let your teeth sink into this..." And then a waitress came with a gigantic plate of chicken. "Meat..."
Behind his mask, Naruto's eyes widened. The Chicken was shining so magnificently in this light. It also seemed really juicy. "Screw it." He took his mask off and started eating.
The women all grinned, even Hanabi, when Naruto dove in.
"Hey, Uzumaki-taichou." Ino started. "How did you become Captain, anyway?"
Naruto was too busy eating.
"Oy, Naruto!" Ino's old nature kicked in. Naruto's old nature kicked in as well as he looked really dumbfounded at Ino.
"What?" He asked, with a bone sticking out of his mouth.
Ino frowned and shook her head. "How did you become Captain? I mean, last time I saw you, you were..."
Ami also seemed interested in what Ino was going to say. Everyone else on the table was, actually. "You were still Genin."
Naruto nodded his head. "Yeah, that's true." He said as he swallowed even the bone in, making the women shudder. "But I did S-ranked missions together with Jiraiya, sometimes with Tsunade, but most often with Gaara outside of the Village. For special reasons, of course."
"Hey, we all know about it, don't have to be so quiet about it." Anko leered as she took a bit of her own chicken. "So it had to do with the Kyuubi, right?" She let out as if it didn't mean anything at all.
Naruto nodded, settling a bit in. "Yeah..." He was a bit surprised that all of them knew...
"What does his working together with Gaara have to do with Kyuubi?"
Oh dear god...
Anko simply smirked.
---
TBC
Just so you guys know, hehe! Ami is an existing character, not an OC! She was the one who bullied Sakura for her big forehead. Also, Ino's doing Kenjutsu, not Kinjutsu. Sword Techniques, it means. All the names mentioned in the first chap are existing characters, no OCs. Check their names on Narutofan's site.
Oh, and in the first chapter, Naruto brought Ami home, but I never mentioned Ami knowing where her Captain lived. Hehe. And yes, Neji, Kiba and Naruto used to live together. In fact, they had been a team of three before Naruto decided to join the ANBU Team. It'll be explained, it'll be explained, meh. I'll also explain how the women managed to get out of the Genjutsu, but that'll be during a mission, of course.
And revealed it is! Akatsuki is still alive and kicking! As you might have guessed, they are the final villains of this fic...
Oh well, this chap was kinda short, eh? Very well, very well, next chap you'll get to see Naruto interacting with old team 7. Also, a first mission for Naruto's Jounin Team! Up to Suna to meet up with Temari and Kankurou, hehe...
Thanks for reading all!