What Could've Been

by Concentrated Awesomeness

Naruto gets pushed to his limit early on in life. The same could be said for Sasuke. Follow along as both go through hardships that test their sanity. The two have to rely on each other to prevent the darkness that could have been. More mature, God-like Naruto. Good Sasuke, probably also God-like or close to it. May have some pairing(s) later on in the story, but no yaoi.

9. Chapter 9

Welcome back for the next chapter of What Could've Been. I hope you all enjoy.

I still don't own Naruto, but I have plans in motion. Who am I kidding they won't work anyways.

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"Namikaze Naruto, please step forward." Said Hiruzen Sarutobi in a dark chamber surrounded by all of the village's ANBU.

"Hai, Hokage-sama." Naruto replied as he stepped out of the shadows and stood at attention

At this point a new man, dressed in standard ANBU gear with a dog mask and a white cloak stepped forward.

"Please have a seat Namikaze." The man said.

"Hai, Tora-taichou." Naruto replied as he walked to the lone chair in the middle of the room.

Tora then handed Naruto a kunai and said "Cut your palm and pour some of your blood into this ink." as he held out a vial of black ink. Naruto cut his palm open without flinching and let the blood drain into the vial.

"And now your chakra." Tora commanded.

Naruto stuck his palm out over the vial and a blue haze swirled forth into the vial, making the ink glow blue momentarily.

"Namikaze Naruto, do you swear your allegiance solely to the village of Konoha and the Hokage?" Asked Tora.

"I do."

"And do you swear to do all that is in your power, up to and including forfeiting your very life to protect and defend this village and her people?"

"I do."

"Then by the power vested in me as the commander of Konoha's ANBU, I hereby welcome you to the brotherhood." Tora said as he began to mark Naruto with the standard ANBU tattoo on his left shoulder.

"It is an honor." Replied Naruto once the tattoo was complete.

"Please come with me to receive your mask and uniform."

"Hai, Taichou." Naruto replied as he stood up and the pair left the room.

After a short walk down a corridor they came to another room and entered it. Tora went to a shelf and returned with a bundle of clothes that he handed to Naruto. "Now pick your mask. Keep in mind that your mask will be your name as well at all times you are on duty. Also, your mask will be your lifeblood, as your identity is to remain unknown to all of those outside of ANBU."

Naruto scanned the wall in front of him for only a brief moment before he walked over and grabbed a fox mask off of the wall.

"I had a feeling you would choose that one. You know it has been 10 years since anyone wore that mask? The last 'Kitsune' took his own life shortly after the Kyuubi's attack, though I believe you will bring honor to it."

Naruto nodded before strapping his mask on and channeling chakra into in, making the inside clear so that he could see through it.

"Get dressed and meet me back in the main hall for Uchiha Sasuke's induction."

"Hai." Naruto said as Tora walked off and Naruto quickly changed into the black and grey ANBU gear before running off into the main hall to watch the procedure repeated for Sasuke.

Sasuke went through the same process as Naruto had just before, choosing the mask/name 'Taka'.

"I would like everyone to give congratulations to our newest member of Delta Squad: Kitsune and Taka." Tora said as the room erupted in cheers. "Weasel, Neko, would you like to meet your new teammates?"

Itachi and the ANBU with a cat mask and long purple hair stepped forward to the two boys and patted them on the shoulder. "Congratulations Kitsune, Taka. It is an honor to have you on my team." Itachi said.

"It is an honor to serve under you, Weasel-taichou." Sasuke and Naruto replied at the same time.

"Now gear up, you have 30 minutes to meet me at the north gate, we have a mission. By the way, don't get used to 30 minutes; when you are called you will be expected to be in front of Hokage-sama within 15 minutes no matter what you are doing."

"Hai, Taichou."

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With Hinata

"Try again." Anko said as she watched Hinata attack the training dummy in front of her.

"Sen'eijashu!" Hinata said as she stretched out her left hand towards the dummy, sending 2 snakes out towards it. The snakes wrapped around the dummy's torso and jerked it back towards Hinata before disappearing as she said "Hakke Sanjuni Sho."(8 trigrams 32 palms) Once the dummy reached her range. She then let loose a series of 32 chakra laced palm strikes, tearing it apart.

"Good job Hinata. Now I want you to spar against me." Anko said as she dropped into her ready stance.

Hinata quickly charged towards Anko and lashed out with several jyuken strikes, all of which Anko managed to dodge. Anko then retaliated with a kick to Hinata's ribcage, knocking her back several feet before she began doing hand seals. "Katon: Endan!" (Flame Bullet) She hollered out as she shot a large fireball towards Hinata.

Hinata quickly did her own hand seals and shouted "Suiton: Suijinheki!" before spitting out a wall of water to block the fireball. The attacks collided and produced steam that covered the field briefly. Anko quickly got into her defensive stance, ready for anything. Hinata, able to somewhat see through the steam, did a set of handseals and whispered "Suiton: Suigadan"(Water Fang Bullet) as the water droplets in the air formed into several drill-shaped balls of water and launched at Anko.

Anko was barely able to dodge the attack on instincts alone before she stuck out her arms and unleashed several snakes towards Hinata. Hinata dodged a couple of the snakes and killed a couple of them with palm strikes, but there was too many and she was caught by them. She struggled to break free, but was unable, as she was cut several times by a wave of kunai that Anko threw at her.

"Dammit!" Hinata cursed as Anko let the snakes loose and she fell to the ground.

"Don't get so upset gaki, you're still a few years too young to beat me, but you're doing good."

"Yea Hina-chan, you have progressed well these last 2 years. I think you'll be almost Jonin level by the time you graduate the academy." Kurenai added in as she patted Hinata on the shoulder.

"Thank you Nai-chan." Hinata replied with a smile.

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"I'm glad to see you made it quickly. This mission will be a simple one, kind of like a rite of passage to all new ANBU. We are to go north towards our borders and you two will destroy a bandit camp. ANBU do not usually do these type of missions but as I said, it is just to get you accustomed to the way we operate." Itachi said as Naruto and Sasuke appeared beside him.

Both boys simply nodded and the group took off out the gate without another word, Naruto out front, Sasuke in the back, Yugao in the left, and Itachi to the right.

After about 2 hours of travelling through the trees, Naruto held up a hand and the group stopped on a tree branch. Naruto began signing words to the rest of the group "Small camp. 12 mercenaries, 1 chunin. I'll take the leader, Sasuke get bandits."

Naruto noticed Sasuke give a nod over his shoulder and the 2 then disappeared from the tree in a blur.

Sasuke appeared right behind a group of the bandits that were sitting at a campfire eating. They never even noticed he was there until 3 of them fell to the ground without their heads. The other 3 in the group leapt up with crude rusty swords and went to attack him, but he simply ducked and dodged the blows before all 3 of them fell as well. Sasuke sheathed his tanto and blurred from existence once more to the tent where he could sense the rest of the men sleeping.

He looked up and saw Naruto appear outside of the leader's tent and give him a small nod. He then went through hand seals faster than the eye could follow and blew out a stream of fire over the sleeping men, killing them instantly.

The chunin leader of the camp heard the commotion outside and quickly ran out to see the fire. He was about to charge at Sasuke when he felt someone grab him from behind and felt the cold point of a blade at his neck.

"I'm sorry don't kill me! I'll give you anything; money, drugs, pow-"

"Pathetic." Said Naruto as the man's head rolled to the ground. With a quick look to Sasuke the pair then leapt to opposite ends of the base and did handseals in perfect sync, before blowing out a massive dragon made of flames. The 2 dragons ravished the camp and left nothing but ash their wake as Delta squad leapt away towards the village.

"Good job, both of you." Itachi said as they leapt from tree to tree.

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The next morning

4 figures clad in black and grey stood in a circle inside a fairly large clearing with walls built around it, ANBU training ground 4. On the walls in various places were large panels, each divided into 4 sections with the numbers 1-4 on them.

"This exercise will teach you to fight while paying attention to your surroundings. It will also teach you to fight with various partners. Finally, it will teach you that someone who is a comrade now, may not be in the next minute. Those panels on the wall will show 4 numbers lit up in various colors; when 2 or more numbers are the same color, that will be your team. Be sure to pay attention, because it will randomly change. I am 1, Neko is 2, Kitsune is 3, and Taka is 4… Begin." Itachi said as the panels lit up. 1 and 3 were blue while 2 was red and 4 was yellow. Itachi and Naruto quickly shared a look and leapt apart. Naruto appeared in front of Yugao and instinctively blocked a strike from her sword with his own.

Naruto and Yugao then engaged in a kenjutsu battle for a moment before Naruto broke away and leapt back to gain some distance while doing handseals. "Fuuton: Daitoppa." (Great Breakthrough) Naruto said as he blew out a large wave of wind. Yugao quickly leapt up and over the blade of wind and charged towards Naruto before splitting into 3 copies of herself. The 2 clones blurred from existence as Yugao jumped into air. The 3 appeared beside Naruto with impressive speed and slashed into him as Yugao said "Mikazuki no Mai!" (Dance of the Crescent Moon)

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Itachi appeared in front of Sasuke already doing handseals, and said "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu." As he blew out a large fireball. Sasuke barely had time to jump to the side and avoid the fireball before Itachi appeared beside him and kicked him in the face, launching him up into the sky. Just as Sasuke reached the peak and began to fall, Itachi was there again and dropped an axe kick onto his stomach, shooting him back towards the ground. Just as he was about to slam into the ground, Itachi appeared again and punched him in the chest, only for Sasuke to disappear in a poof of smoke. Itachi quickly ducked to the side as a wave of lightning passed over him. "Raiton: Raifu."(Lightning Breeze) Sasuke said as the attack dispersed.

It was then that the numbers changed again; 1 blue, 2, 3, and 4 yellow.

Naruto stopped mid strike on Yugao and the 2 blurred away to face down Itachi.

Yugao quickly went in attacking with her katana while Naruto and Sasuke both sat back waiting for an opening. Finally Yugao left an opening and Itachi wasted no time in kicking her in the face, rocketing her back away from him. As soon as she was gone he heard Naruto and Sasuke speak simultaneously "Futon: Renkudan!(Drilling Air Bullet)/ Raiton: Raifu!"

Sasuke shot out his wave of lightning and it quickly wrapped around Naruto's air bullets, making the attacks faster and larger. "Raifu no Dangan!" (Lightning breeze bullets) Naruto said as he fired of several of the lightning bullets. Itachi dodged most of them with ease, only taking 1 good hit. He then began doing handseals and said "Katon: Hosenka Bofu no Jutsu."(Phoenix Flower Storm) As he spat out hundreds of balls of fire that swirled and danced about the field, making it impossible to dodge them all. Naruto and Sasuke were both burned in several places before the attack ended. Once more the 2 started doing hand seals and simultaneously said "Katon: Karyu Endan!" (Fire Dragon Missile) before they each spat out a large stream of fire that morphed into the shape of a dragon.

Itachi quickly began to run, jump, and dodge the large creatures as they chased him around the field. He eventually managed to maneuver himself beside Sasuke, and with a violent kick, knocked him across the field towards Naruto. Naruto saw him coming and had to dispel his attack and jump to avoid him, but before he could hit the ground Itachi was on him. Itachi placed a foot into his solar plexus and drove him into the ground fiercely, creating a large crater. Once they touched the ground Itachi leapt into the air with practiced ease, avoiding a swipe from Sasuke's tanto, before flipping back to the ground and smashing Sasuke in the back of the head with an elbow, knocking him unconscious.

Itachi then went around the field and gathered his 3 partners up and waited for them to regain consciousness. After only a few minutes Yugao awoke, and then began to heal the other 2. After several minutes the whole team was conscious once again and they all went their separate ways.

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Naruto walked through the door of his house to the smell of delicious food cooking. "Damn I never get over that. This must be what it's like to have a real family." He thought with a small smile.

"Naruto-kun you're just in time!" Came the voice of Hinata.

Naruto shunshinned from the door of the house straight into the kitchen, with anime tears streaming down his face. "That smells great, Hinata-chan, what is it?"

"Ramen. It's your celebration dinner for making ANBU." Hinata said with a smile. "Since we didn't get to do it yesterday."

Naruto then wrapped Hinata in a hug, which made her blush, and yelled "Thanks Hinata-chan! You're the best friend ever!"

"You earned it Naruto-kun. It's not every day that someone makes ANBU at 10 years old."

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Not much to say here. I didn't really like the way this chapter turned out, but I hope you guys liked it.

If anyone is interested I need a beta reader.