Disclaimer: I don't own anything in Naruto.
AN : So far, I doubt there will be any pairings in this story...but well, we'll see how it goes. I aim to explore a very different Naruto - one who has been tempered by countless years. Essentially, a cool, calm and collected all-round BAMF. Enjoy and please leave feedback.
Thank you for all your reviews, follows, and favorites…your words of encouragement are truly, truly appreciated.
Sarutobi let loose a weary sigh as he stood up from his seat beside the unconscious form of Uzumaki Naruto. It was time for the first council meeting since the events of the invasion and they had much to discuss – even the Daimyo would be in attendance – since the village had finally settled down and begun to recover from the devastating attack. The initial reports and estimates had revealed that Konoha had lost a surprisingly low number of defendants – less than a few hundred all told. Those same reports also listed the most likely cause for their low casualty rates: Uzumaki Naruto. Sarutobi knew that the next few hours would determine the young man's fate, and he could do nothing but pray that his perverted student got back in time with his target; he had played the doting sensei for too long, it was time he acted as the Hokage he was. With that last thought, he turned to leave the room, preparing himself as though he were going to war…a reasonable assumption.
The council chamber was filled with the voices of those gathered. The civilians on one side were muttering amongst themselves about the happenings of the past few days, and about the genin that everyone was talking about. They were uneasy because the recent events of the invasion had revealed to those present that they had all been terribly wrong in their action towards the blond haired child. Many of them had been the more vocal detractors of the Kyuubi jinchuuriki and now, it seemed like their malicious actions would be returning to bite them.
Seating away from their civilian counterparts, the ninja clan heads were also involved in a discussion of their own. Many of them had children in the same year as Uzumaki Naruto and had, in the past, inquired after the boy's nature and performance in the Academy; the reports were not flattering. Yet, the events of the failed invasion and the Chunin Selection Exams suggested that everyone had been fooled by the genin's nonchalant airs. Though, as most of them recalled, Naruto had apparently broken all the records held in the Academy graduation exam, so maybe, the signs had been there from the beginning, and they had simply missed them.
Hyuuga Hiashi sat in his usual stoic manner, face blank and hiding the turbulent thoughts raging through his mind. After things had settled, he had attended a meeting with his clan elders, and they had made their opinions clear: They would not – could not – stand by while a no-name orphan made a mockery of their clan's most prized techniques; an opinion shared by most of the members of the clan, main branch and otherwise. Hiashi had reserved his judgment, swayed by memories of another blond haired blue eyed prodigy who had performed previously thought to be impossible feats with casual ease; a man who had been a dear friend to him and his wife. When the elders had thought to call him out on his neutral stance on the matter, he had simply pointed out that they had no grounds on which to persecute the genin. They didn't have proof that he had stolen their clan scrolls, nor did he possess the Sharingan to copy their technique. As impossible as it seemed, they just had to accept that he had simply observed the technique being performed, and replicated it, adapting it to suit his needs. After much grumbling and empty threats, they had subsided, leaving with a warning to keep an eye on the boy, and find out if he could be manipulated for the benefit of the clan. Hiashi had merely gazed back coolly at the interfering old fossils until they shuffled off uneasily. Now, as he sat in wait for the arrival of the Hokage and the Daimyo, he wondered what would happen next.
Nara Shikaku sighed tiredly as his ears picked up some of the things the civilians were talking about. As jounin commander, he was expected to be aware of all the ninja in Konoha, in particular, all those with potential. Thus, it was perfectly understandable that he felt blindsided by Uzumaki Naruto's performance during the Chunin Exams and the invasion after it. He recalled Shikamaru mentioning, about two years ago, that Naruto seemed to have changed after his one month long absence from school. Yet, Shikamaru had said that there was nothing interesting about him; he just skipped school and generally acted as though he couldn't be bothered to try. Now, it became clear that his indifference had not been out of laziness, but simply because he really couldn't be bothered to try. Though it was troublesome, he acknowledged that the blond haired genin currently lying unconscious in the hospital presented a most intriguing puzzle to be solved, and there was almost nothing he liked more than solving puzzles.
Inoichi flicked his gaze at Shikaku next to him, his sharp eyes easily picking up on the calculating gleam in his friend's eyes, his decades' long experience of the other man allowing him to correctly deduce the shape of his thoughts; he couldn't blame him. His darling Ino, ever the gossip queen that she was, had wasted no time in telling him all that had happened during their mission to the Land of Waves; going so far as to give him necessary background information on Naruto in order to put things in perspective for him. Being a high ranking member of the Intelligence Department, Inoichi was one of the few people privy to the truth behind Uzumaki's three months absence from the public. Having long since mastered the art of psychological evaluation, he wondered if he could site the boy's attempted suicide as the cause of his sudden change. Still, even if the experience caused him to take his studies more seriously, it still could not account for the boy's quite frankly terrifying skill in the ninja arts – here, the highly classified report of his battle with Orochimaru in the forest came to mind. He could not quite fathom how no one had noticed such talent. Did the boy's status as a jinchuuriki blind the Academy instructors to the prodigy in their mist? Or, was it, as Ino had said, that the boy simply didn't display anything to reveal his hidden talents? Either way, he concluded, something is going on and this meeting should help sort things out.
All talking in the room abruptly ceased as the doors were pushed open; many in the room unconsciously straightening in their seats at the serious air surrounding the now present Sandaime Hokage and Daimyo. The two most powerful men in the Land of Fire walked side by side to their seats located in between the two factions of the council. As soon as they were seated, Sarutobi motioned to a clerk who had been standing by the side to begin.
With the nervous air of one new to the job, Hamada Hisui cleared his throat and began to speak, valiantly ignoring the focused gazes of all the people gathered in the room.
"As of two hours ago, these are the casualty reports: Damages sustained to numerous houses, businesses, the Shinobi Academy, the Chunin Exam Stadium, the village walls, and parts of the hospital total about 27 million ryo. The number of deaths reported so far is 298 ninjas – made up of 48 jounin, 75 chunin, and the rest genin. On the civilian side, we have a reported 134 deaths and many more injuries for both ninjas and civilians alike."
With that last statement, he took a step back, clearly indicating that he was done. After he had finished, Sarutobi motioned for him to begin distributing the folders he had in his hand in which were contained a far more detailed accounting of the losses they had sustained. A few minutes of paper shuffling later, most of the councilmen present finally let loose the breaths that they had been holding, somewhat relieved that the losses sustained were relatively little for an invasion attempt by two powerful ninja villages.
With the details laid out before them, Sarutobi opened up the floor for individuals to come forward with reports from the various sectors that they were in charge of. He listened as the council members brought forth their concerns and request for more relief funds. Through the nearly hour long discussion, he merely listened passively as he smoked his pipe, looking for all the world like an old man who had nothing better to do than be there. Finally, the proceedings drew to a close, ending with the head of the hospital requesting extra helping hands in the form of any ninja who knew battlefield healing; they had all been run ragged and most couldn't even summon up the chakra to close a paper cut anymore.
Once they were all done, the Daimyo leaned forward slightly, drawing the attention of everyone present, and spoke in a casual tone that disarmed all but the similarly cunning Hokage and a few of the ninja present,
"The damages sustained sadden me, but I am confident that Konoha can bounce back from such a tragedy. Still, this old man's memory might be faulty but don't such enemy actions usually result in more losses?"
Seeing the young lad before them verbally stumble as he tried to provide a response to his lord's unspoken question, Danzo took the opening presented to shift the discussion into a direction he wanted,
"Indeed Daimyo-sama, and there are…sayings circulating about why that was not the case."
Abruptly, the air in the room thickened with tension as Danzo broached the topic that everyone wanted to discuss, yet no one wanted to bring up. Some of the people who had let down their guard earlier as it seemed that the meeting would proceed as normal were currently cursing themselves for allowing themselves to be caught flat footed.
Still playing the absentminded old ruler that he was not, the Fire Daimyo let loose an ahh sound of realization, and spoke up innocently,
"Yes, yes, I hear that it was all from the effort of one lone genin, one Namikaze Naruto."
As some of the people present flinched at the name, those who had not yet caught on were beginning to realize that the seemingly doting old ruler before them was up to something and the faint feelings of dread began to creep into their minds.
Casting his gaze on his teammate, Danzo found Sarutobi nonchalantly refilling his tobacco pipe, acting as though it were vital to all of existence that his pipe be refilled in the next moment. Suddenly realizing that the lateness of the Hokage and Daimyo to the meeting had probably been planned, providing them with some time to plot together – thus putting him at a disadvantage, he settled back in his seat, determined to observe what was about to happen next, and to ensure that he didn't fall for whatever scheme the two crafty rulers had cooked up.
A particularly brave councilman spoke up in meek tones, still unwilling to entertain the possibility of the Kyuubi jinchuuriki's parentage and the changes that such truth would cause to the status quo,
"Ah…Daimyo-sama, don't you mean Uzumaki Naruto?"
Blinking at the man as though he were a particularly interesting insect that persisted in clinging to his shoe, he turned to his fellow ruler and asked,
"Ho…am I wrong in my assumption, Sarutobi-dono? Did my eyes deceive me or did the boy, in fact, look like my dear departed friend, Minato?"
The faces of those who had been particularly aggressive in the persecution of the child in question paled slightly as they were reminded of the close relationship that had existed between the Daimyo and the Yondaime Hokage for the year that he had led their village.
The Daimyo had treated Minato like a favored nephew, allowing him certain privileges that had enabled Minato curtail the influence of the civilian portion of the council – limiting their interference in his village and allowing him to better lead it. Now, along with that reminder of their lord's fondness for the legendary ninja came the realization that, if it were proven that Naruto was the man's son, they might have to answer to the most powerful man in the land for their treatment of the boy.
Ignoring the slightly panicked looks of some of those present, Sarutobi finally confirmed a vital piece of the mystery surrounding Naruto,
"No, your eyes are as sharp as ever, Tanaka-dono; he is in fact the son of the late Yondaime Hokage. The risk of assassination attempts forced us to conceal the truth of his identity from the general public."
With the room reeling from the blatant confirmation of long held suspicions, the Daimyo continued, striking while the metal was still hot and giving those present no time to react to the sudden bomb the Hokage had just dropped,
"Understandable, and in light of that fact, I find that my decision becomes easier."
Now with a twinkle in his eyes, the Daimyo spoke with an almost cheerful finality in his tone,
"Well, Sarutobi my friend, you and I can both agree that you are not getting any younger, and that at this juncture, it might be best to choose a successor. I think that Minato's strapping young lad is a reasonable candidate."
Silence followed his declaration for a heartbeat, before it was abruptly shattered by loud protests from most of those gathered, civilians and ninjas alike.
Through the furious shouts of "he's too young", "there are better candidates", and even, "not that demon brat" – which caused an unnoticed twitch in the Sandaime's right eye, the aging Daimyo merely sat back and calmly observed the chaos caused by his words.
Finally, Danzo's sharp voice sliced through the storm of protests, forcibly refocusing the attention of the furious council members on the matter at hand,
"I must admit, Daimyo-sama, that I agree with my fellow councilmen that the boy is simply not ready to be considered for such a thing. Still, in all this excitement, I noticed that my former teammate has yet to give his opinion."
Pleased at shifting the attention to the old Hokage, Danzo subsided, waiting for Sarutobi's next move.
Blowing out a stream of smoke, Hiruzen finally turned his eyes on the people waiting for his input, noticing Danzo's sharp gaze but not reacting to it. With an even tone, he spoke,
"Naruto-kun, without a doubt, is the embodiment of the Will of Fire, which is the heart of this great village. I have complete faith in his ability to be the greatest Hokage that this village has ever known and I stand with you in the matter of my needing a successor. That said, I must agree with the objections to his age and lack of experience; he is simply not ready to be Godaime Hokage."
Faint muttering broker out amongst those who had been protesting the Daimyo's words, many of them relieved that the Hokage would not be considering Naruto as a successor. Danzo, however, found himself uneasy even though he should feel pleased that Sarutobi seemed to be disagreeing with his assumed accomplice. As he noticed his old friend preparing to speak again, he listened, and learned the reason for his unease.
While the others in the room were feeling relieved at Sarutobi's words, he spoke again, garnering their attention once more,
"As I said, he is simply not ready to be Godaime Hokage, which is why he will be the Rokudaime Hokage."
Jaws dropped at that statement, but before their owners could begin a fresh round of protests, the Sandaime continued,
"The delay will give him the time to grow up, mature, and learn about leading a village while catering to the needs of the people."
Irritated at his teammate's slyness in nominating the boy for Rokudaime – an action which the Daimyo seemed to have expected, judging by his nodding head, Danzo moved on to the second part of his plan; appointing a pawn as Godaime Hokage, and only if he couldn't get himself chosen,
"Putting that matter aside, we are still in need of an immediate successor. Now, I have a few suggestions in mind, which I am sure you will all agree are –"
Smoothly interrupting him, Sarutobi said,
"Oh, did I fail to mention? Forgive me, it must be the forgetfulness of old age, you see? We do already have a Godaime Hokage, and if I am not mistaken, my successor should be arriving any moment now."
Just as everyone had finally digested his words, and before anyone could react to that surprising tit bit – least of all, Danzo, who felt like strangling his faintly smug teammate, the doors swung open to reveal the figures of two of Konoha's legends.
Striding forward, heels clacking against the floor, green robe fluttering behind her, and generous bust swinging side to side, Senju Tsunade cut an impressive figure as she came to a stop in the center of the council room, eyes fixed in a glare fit to strip paint off the walls. At her side, Jiraiya trailed in, bruises on his face showing his lack of success in keeping his perverted nature under wraps around the volatile woman. With a scowl planted on a face belonging to a woman decades younger, the Slug Princess locked her resentful gaze on the eyes of her placid teacher, terribly annoyed at being strong armed into coming back to the place that had robbed her of everything she had ever loved.
Fidgeting impatiently in place, Haruno Sakura called out once more,
"Hurry up Ino! I want to get there before any of the others."
With an exasperated huff, Ino finally emerged from her family's flower shop, clutching three bouquets in her hands. Passing one of them to Sakura, she turned to start walking towards the hospital, making space for her pink haired friend to walk beside her.
Sakura threw a questioning look at the second bouquet in the blonde's hands and asked,
"Ino, why do you have two? Ah! Don't tell me, you're trying to impress Sasuke-kun aren't you?!"
Rolling her eyes at her friend's over fixation with the broody Uchiha heir – blatantly ignoring the fact that she had been just as bad days before, Ino responded,
"Tch, don't be daft Sakura. One is for Sasuke-kun, and the other is for Naruto-kun."
Blinking in surprise at that, Sakura suddenly felt guilty for forgetting that her second teammate was also in the hospital. Aiming a slightly sheepish look at her irritated friend, she continued walking towards the library, thinking about the happenings of the past few days.
When the Kage's box had exploded and the invasion begun, she had been frozen in fear, having just seen an unknown Konoha ninja die just before her eyes. In her state of fear, she had not noticed the veritable rain of weapons bearing down on her teammate, nor his surprising rejoinder, nor even the ninja sneaking up to separate her pink head from her body. It had been Ino's scream of fear that had caused her to turn and find the sword on its path to behead her. Having only enough time to flinch, Sakura paled in fear as she realized that she was about to die, when out of nowhere, there had been a buzz of sound and she had found herself looking into the slightly concerned eyes of her teammate. Shaking herself off, she had put together what had just happened, but before she could turn to thank the blond, he was already off, tearing through the attacking ninja, leaving behind the gaping forms of his fellow genin.
Moments after her brush with death, she had received orders from Kakashi-sensei to do what she could to help fight off the invasion attempt, placing Shikamaru in charge of the genin present and leaving them to their devices. After that, she had had no more time to think about anything other than: another kunai, aim, release; providing long distance support to the rest of the genin was about the only thing she could do at the time.
When everything had finally settled, she had heard that Sasuke had been admitted into the hospital, but since she had been roped into helping the relief efforts, she had been unable to go visit him until this moment.
Yet, as she walked beside her friend, she couldn't help but remember the genuine concern she had seen in her blond teammate's sky blue eyes. Wondering why he would bother to care about her when she knew that she had – and she was embarrassed to admit – been nothing but a bitch to him since they had become a team, she suddenly had a flashback to the mission at wave: We are teammates, and inherent in that description is the understanding that during missions I watch your back and expect you to watch mine.
Ah, so that was it then.
Somehow, the belief that he had only cared because it was expected of him stung her fiercely and she idly wondered how things might have turned out if she had actually taken the time to get to know him.
Walking next to her pink haired friend, Ino was oblivious to Sakura's suddenly downcast mood; she was occupied with her own thoughts. While she had been helping out in the hospital, she had managed to listen in to various conversations amongst the older ninjas present.
They had all talked about the same thing.
And really, how could she blame them? She was one of the boy's classmates and yet even she too had been blown away by his performance at the Chunin Selection Exams. Who would have thought that Naruto…Naruto!...would be able to do the things he did? It baffled the mind, and if she were honest, scared her a little bit. Here was a boy who was her own age that was capable of going head to head with jounin twice his age, and emerging victorious. She had picked up rumors of his actions at the walls, the Academy, and even how some of his clones had provided emergency first aid to Konoha ninja who would have died otherwise.
Still, no matter how juicy the gossip surrounding his actions during the invasion was, it paled in comparison to the rumors flying around about the possibility that he was their hero's son. She had been there when his face had been unmasked for the first time in two years, and even she – a child who had never met the Yondaime in person – had immediately noticed the eerie similarity between her age mate and one of the faces on the Hokage Monument. A lot of people seemed to be convinced that he was indeed the Yondaime's son, yet at the same time, they all seemed to be afraid to accept it as the truth. If she didn't know any better, she say that they seemed like they had done something terribly wrong and very soon, they would pay for it.
Now, as she made her way towards the hospital to visit the two hospitalized members of the Rookie Nine, she wondered if she could get something interesting out of her fellow blond, not even dwelling on the fact that she was about to visit Sasuke.
Besides, she thought to herself, Naruto is kind of a hottie too.
The two girls, lost in their respective thoughts, walked into the hospital, oblivious to the reflective flash of a pair of lens being adjusted somewhere in a darkened alley behind them.
With a faint start, Uchiha Sasuke jerked out of unconsciousness to hear the faint murmur of voices just outside the door. His return to wakefulness left him disoriented and confused for a moment, memories vague and blurry, as he tried to recall how he had ended up in a hospital bed. Racking his mind, the last thing he could recall was charging at his sensei, newly learned – but not yet mastered – chidori crackling merrily in his clenched hand…then nothing.
Checking himself over, he found that he had no lingering soreness or aches anywhere, nor was he bandaged. With furrowed brows, he sat up in his bed, seconds before the door to his room swung open to reveal his two most persistent fangirls.
Suppressing a grimace of irritation, Sasuke plastered on an indifferent look on his face as he prepared to find out what had happened in the time that he had been unconscious.
Pinning the two girls with a look, he questioned them before they could start off with their usual irritating fussing and pestering,
"Why am I in here?"
Momentarily taken aback at being directly addressed by their main crush, the two girls faltered in their approach for an instant, before Sakura was able to pull herself together and respond,
"Well…Kakashi-sensei said that you were injured at the beginning of the invasion."
Now more confused, Sasuke queried,
"What invasion?"
Blinking in surprise at him, Ino wondered if his memory had been affected by the attack on his person. Shrugging off her thoughts on that matter, she began to detail what had happened, with Sakura occasionally adding in bits and pieces that she hadn't been aware of. Almost without conscious thought, she found herself slightly gushing about Naruto's part in repelling the invasion, completely ignorant of Sasuke's increasing fury and Sakura's mounting confusion.
As soon as she finished, making sure to mention the rumors surrounding Naruto's parentage and whispers of a promotion beyond chunin, she turned to Sasuke and waited for his reaction.
Sasuke, for his part, was absolutely blank on the outside. So great was his rage that his features were unable to express it clearly, and so defaulted to a blank and expressionless visage. He could not seem to think beyond the knowledge that Naruto, of all people, had possessed such power without him knowing. It was incomprehensible that a no-name clanless orphan – regardless of the rumors surrounding his possible father – would be capable of such feats; feats that he knew he could not even fathom doing.
Who, he snarled in his mind, who thought him all these years? Why didn't they teach me? I'm the one who needs to grow stronger…to kill him! Why?!
His thoughts cycled within his mind, bolstering his anger to never before seen heights. So consumed was he by the furious storm of emotion that he was not aware when he turned to the two girls by his bedside and slowly said,
"Leave"
Something of his bottled up feelings must have shown because, with none of her usual reluctance to leave him, Sakura promptly stood up to leave, somehow convincing herself that she was not fleeing. Ino trailed after her, pausing in the doorway to toss one last glance at the frozen form of the Uchiha heir, before she shut the door behind her.
Now alone, Sasuke finally allowed himself to outwardly react to the situation. His teeth ground together in fury, his sharingan activated and began to spin furiously, and color rose in his cheeks as his rage effortlessly shattered his usually calm Uchiha façade. His hands, hidden by the blanket pooled at his waist, clenched so tightly that his nail cut into his palm, leaving behind bloody red crescents in his pale skin.
Hate…thick, oozing, cloying hatred burst forth from his heart, filling up his entire being until all that he knew, all that he could have ever known, all that he was, was hate.
Hatred at Naruto for being strong when he could not
Hatred at Konoha for denying him the power he needed to fulfill his lifelong dream
Hatred at Him for destroying everything that he had ever loved
Above all, hatred at himself for being weak
Suddenly, he lurched forward, right hand flying up to grab at the place where his left shoulder met his neck. It was only then that he became aware of the spreading marks on his body, all originating from the curse seal on his body. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to calm down and steadily pushed back the influence of the seal.
When he had it back under control, he took in a deep breath and let it out.
Abruptly, his mind flashed back to the second stage of the Chunin exams, when he had been under the influence of Orochimaru's seal, when he had been too strong for any of the other genin to contend with.
No, he recalled, Naruto was able to stop me.
With the thought of his teammate, he was plunged back into his thoughts on the recent invasion and how useless he had been in comparison to the Academy dead last.
Just as he was about to fully resume the vicious cycle of his destructive thoughts, the gentle clearing of a throat right beside his bed had him flinching and zeroing in on the figure suddenly standing there.
He had just managed to take in the silver hair and glasses before the person spoke in an unassuming tone,
"Sasuke-kun, my master has a proposal for you."
Seating on his specially crafted raised chair, the crafty old fox known as Onoki the Fence Sitter pondered the documents placed before him.
His spies had just brought word of the recent happenings in Konoha.
He wasn't even focused on the opportunities that might exist as a result of the damages sustained by Konoha; no, he was instead gazing at a picture that brought tension to his jaw, and a hard glint to his eyes.
Once he had heard news of another blond haired blue eyed ninja capable of unbelievable high speed movement, as well as summoning toads, he had contemplated the risks and benefits of attempting to assassinate the child before he got the chance to truly grow into his power – and wasn't that just a fearsome thought, that the child was capable of such feats at the young age of thirteen?
Honestly, youngsters these days, trying to surpass their elders while still in diapers.
He wondered what this new development would mean for his village. They had just barely finished recovering from the devastating blow dealt them by the Yondaime Hokage, not to mention the recent issue with one of their strongest ninja defecting to join some rogue group. His granddaughter had grown into a fine kunoichi, but even he had to admit that she would be no match for the rumored Namikaze heir. In truth, he estimated that they might be perhaps a dozen, at most, ninja in his village capable of matching the child, and he counted himself amongst them. There had even been rumors, a few years previous, of the identity of the new Kyuubi jinchuuriki. The lack of identifying traits on the blond haired child had weakened the integrity of such rumors, but if it were true, then he knew that they were in serious trouble.
With a weary sigh, he finally placed his stamp of approval on the documents he had been staring at for the past hour.
Name: Namikaze* Uzumaki Naruto
Rank: S-class, engage with caution
Skill: High skills in taijutsu, kenjutsu, ninjutsu; unknown talent with genjutsu. Capable of kage level speed and strength, and Toad summoning. High proficiency in the use of the Raiton Element
*Note: Rumored to be the son of the Yellow Flash
Bounty: 40 million ryo dead or alive.
As he called for his secretary to come and send his approval to the bounty station, he began making plans to return Iwa's absent jinchuurikis to the fold; they would need all the strength that they could muster in the coming months.
The dark skinned kage considered the splintered remains of his desk while, to the side, his secretary shook her head in exasperation. He stood up and walked to his balcony overseeing his village, thoughts fixed on what he had just learned from one of his informants.
He didn't even entertain the notion that Uzumaki was not that man's son; there was no doubt in his mind whatsoever. How could there be when the boy was a mini replica of the only man who had ever matched him in speed, while also wielding a high speed jutsu so like his own Raiton no Yoroi? Yet, being a man who valued strength above all things, the main though on his mind at that moment was that he was somewhat eager to test the boy's mettle in battle, but that was for another time.
He wondered what the repercussions of the recent events in Konoha would be.
He had finally managed to fix most of the mistakes of his bloodline obsessed predecessor and had dragged Kumogakure into the echelons of the major powers in the ninja world and now, Konoha had to go and pull such a stunt. There was no doubt in his mind that the display of skill put on by the genin during the Chunin Exams would see Konoha's reputation bolstered amongst the civilian clientele, leading to an increase in mission requests and revenue.
He let loose a weary sigh.
There was no helping it then; it was time to start resending Killer B, Darui, Team Samui, and Yugito on more visible high profile missions. It wouldn't do for people to think that they didn't possess talented Shinobi of their own. But first, he turned to Mabui and shouted,
"Mabui, tell my foolish brother to meet me at my private training grounds."
It was time to put B through the paces.
A knock on the door announced the presence of yet another visitor, before the door opened to reveal the bored face of Nara Shikamaru and his companion, Akimichi Chouji. Shikamaru paused for a second as he took in the forms of his fellow genin, noting that save for Sasuke and Naruto, the rest of the Konoha 12 were present in Lee's hospital room. With a mumbled troublesome, Shikamaru slouched into the room and placed his own get well card on the bedside table, which was overflowing with well wishes and gifts.
Apparently, Ino had been in the middle of sharing something, and she promptly got back to it once the customary greetings were over and done with. Shikamaru found himself unsurprised at the topic of the conversation.
"As I was saying, just when did Naruto-kun become so strong? I mean, wasn't it just yesterday that he was the dead last of our class and –"
A sudden sigh from Shikamaru cut her off, causing her to turn an annoyed – and expectant – gaze on the lazy chunin. Wondering if the effort of explaining was worth it, Shikamaru let loose another sigh causing Ino's face to tighten in further annoyance, before he explained,
"It's obvious that he was only the dead last because he wanted to be; no, because he didn't care enough not to be."
Seeing the uncomprehending looks of his peers, he elaborated,
"Remember, Naruto used to skip a lot of classes, never even showing up for taijutsu or weapons practice. The Academy only required that you attend a certain number of classes as well as pass your final exams to pass the year. So, he skipped out on almost everything and that was why his grades were low enough to make him dead last. Obviously, from his performance during the Chunin Exams, and even during the Academy Graduation, it's clear that he had not been idle in the two years he was skipping."
The others, partly surprised by Shikamaru's words – and also by the fact that he spoke so much in one sitting, took a moment to digest the explanation. Lee, Neji and Tenten, neither of whom had had much contact with Naruto before, couldn't really draw their own conclusions on the matter; the three of them had just assumed that Naruto's skills had been a combination of inborn talent and having a legend like Kakashi as a teacher.
Sakura's voice drew them out of their thoughts,
"Eh, then why did he hide it? I mean, there's no way that he would have just let people think he was weak if he wasn't…well, at least back then he wouldn't have."
The last part, spoken at a lower volume reminded the genins of Naruto's class that their classmate had changed somewhere along the way and they hadn't noticed. Shikamaru, for his part, was silent as he remembered days when teachers would send Naruto out of class minutes before teaching them something important, or when they would ignore the blond boy's sometimes insightful questions. Privately, he wondered if Naruto had simply given up on the Academy and done things his own way, and if that was the case, how much stronger would he have been if he had actually had a dedicated teacher?
The gathered genin spoke some more about the recent happenings in the village, taking the time to congratulate Shikamaru on his promotion, to which he merely mumbled his usual catchphrase. They also talked about the rumors currently circulating the village as well as the presence of the renowned medic, Senju Tsunade – here, Lee was ecstatic at the possibility of his injuries sustained during the preliminaries finally being healed.
Their discussion was just winding down when Lee suddenly perked up and exclaimed,
"I have heard that my new youthful rival is trapped here like me, I'm sure it would bolster his flames of youth if we paid him a visit!"
After the few seconds spent parsing Lee's speech to understand him, most of the genin there expressed their consent at visiting Naruto. Lee was helped into the wheelchair by his bed, and together, they trooped down to Naruto's room, entering after knocking and a smooth voice telling them to enter.
Naruto's blue gaze fixed on his fellow genin and he observed as they took in the obscene amount of flowers, balloons, and gifts surrounding his bed like an island in the sea; apparently, it had only taken a few days for Naruto's fan club to start up and grow in size to rival that of Uchiha Sasuke. Blinking in amusement as he noticed that there was practically no space for them to stand close enough, he finally relented.
Reaching out, he plucked a moderately sized wrapped package and, with his peers looking on in interest, took a very firm hold on his chakra and used the tiniest sliver of it to create a fine scalpel at the tip of his pointer finger. Using the chakra gathered there, he fluidly sketched out an elegant script of squiggly lines on the bottom of the gift, and focusing his mind on his purpose, he then activated the newly etched seal.
With a shimmer of chakra, the numerous gifts surrounding his bedside vanished into the seal, leaving only the one present that he was holding. Even though he had been very delicate in his use of chakra, he still felt the slight twinge of his bruised chakra network complaining at his actions. Not reacting to the slightly wide eyes of the others in the room, he placed the single gift back on the table and motioned for them to make themselves comfortable.
Shuffling forward, clearly curious at what they had just seen, the other Konoha genins arrayed themselves around Naruto's bed, with Sakura taking the single seat available. Surprisingly, it was not Ino who finally burst out in rapid fire questions at Naruto's actions, it was Tenten.
"Wait, that, just now, was that a storage seal? I use them a lot, and I didn't recognize it. Also, I noticed that there wasn't any smoke or sound when you sealed them. And how did you draw without ink? I've never heard of the method before."
While the others were still reeling from Tenten's rapid fire questions, Naruto found that he couldn't suppress the small smile that grew on his face – nor did he want to. However, as he moved to give her a few answers, vague as they may be, he suddenly noticed the distracted and slightly glazed look in the eyes of the budding weapons mistress, as well as the faint blush on her cheeks. Casting his eyes around revealed that she wasn't the only one whose eyes seemed unable to focus on his face – or to focus on anything besides his face. It took him only a moment to realize the cause of their distraction and when he did, he only just managed to bite back a sigh.
It had taken him a few decades to figure out some of the consequences of his transformation into the Eternal Sage.
First of all, whenever he transferred into a new reality, and a new body, his essence would begin to influence his physical body, changing it to more easily fit his soul. The end result was that all scars on his body vanished, leaving behind flawless golden tanned skin. His eyes almost always ended up blue, even if he had been born to different parents. It was not always the case that his hair was golden, but then those were often exceptions caused by bloodlines. When all was said and done, even at the age of thirteen, Naruto was already a breathtaking sight, and appearing shirtless and without his facemask just made his allure more noticeable.
Secondly, his chakra had not remained unchanged after absorbing an entire world's worth of Natural Energy. That energy, being the energy of life itself, had a quality that always seemed to draw in living things, causing them to feel relaxed and blissed out in the presence of concentrated doses of Natural Energy. Though Naruto was not currently molding Sage Chakra, his body's own normal chakra had been warped by the presence of a Sage's soul, causing its nature to take on some of the relaxing aspects of the energy of life. In fact, he had been curious a few millennia previous and had set out to test just how potent his chakra could be; the results had been surprising. He had discovered that, at full blast, his chakra was able to negate the terror inducing Killing Intent of the nine Bijuu, combined. In the presence of his chakra, plants seemed greener and the air seemed fresher; life, all-round, just seemed more vibrant.
The combination of the two abovementioned factors was currently wreaking havoc on the attention spans of the Konoha genin present. It was not usually a problem since his custom limiter seal was usually kept on level seven, limiting his chakra output as well as its passive effect on the people around him. Now, his seal was on a constant level six and, until his chakra network healed completely from the bruising it had received owing to his actions during the invasion, he would be unable to seal off level six. At that level, his aura was more noticeable owing to more of his chakra being on hand, and thus able to radiate more of the effects of his chakra.
Still, the situation was not completely hopeless. He mentally grasped his chakra and began to wind it tightly about his person, ignoring the twinges that came from manipulating his chakra network while it was still healing. Slowly, the effect of his chakra aura reduced until the genin present were able to shake off his allure. The moment he saw that he had their attention, he didn't wait for anyone to ask what had just happened, and instead began to answer Tenten's questions,
"Yes it was a storage seal, a customized one hence the lack of smoke or sound. The technique I used to draw it is a clan secret however, sorry."
Tenten, having finally gotten a hold of herself, was stumped at the last bit. With furrowed brows, she inquired further,
"What clan? I thought you were an orphan."
Naruto let loose a noncommittal hum and, noticing that he had the full attention of everyone present, he replied,
"My clan, the Uzumaki Clan of Uzushiogakure"
Shikamaru shifted at that, drawing the notice of the others in the room. With sharpened eyes, he queried,
"Wait, you're really from that clan? I thought your last name was just chosen because you were an orphan."
Naruto had a small smile on his face as he shook his head to negate Shikamaru's last statement. Sakura piped up with a question of her own,
"I remember reading about the clan, but it was only a small mention."
She turned expectant eyes on her blond teammate, unconsciously ignoring their somewhat strained relationship in favor of new knowledge. With a shrug, Naruto explained a little bit of Uzushiogakure's history, their proficiency with Fuuinjutsu as well as their subsequent destruction for said skills.
With an interested look in her eyes, Ino leaned forward and asked,
"Is that where you learnt your…stuff; from clan scrolls?"
Apparently that was a question everyone was interested in because the others shifted in attention. Naruto spared a scant second to consider how to respond before finally settling on,
"You could say that. I came across some knowledge of my clan about three years ago."
Shikamaru then spoke, with the satisfied air of someone who had just solved an intriguing puzzle,
"Three years ago, that time you missed about a month of classes towards the end of the year. Then, that must be why you began to skip; you were using the time to train in clan stuff."
The rest leaned in to take in Naruto's response to that theory. He merely responded with an enigmatic smile that had most of them huffing in exasperation. Still, most of them were convinced that Shikamaru was right in his conclusions.
Lee then chose that moment to burst out,
"Naruto-kun, your flames of youth were burning brightly during the Chunin Exams! I hope that Tsunade-sama can heal me soon so that I may spar with you and encourage our flames to new heights!"
Naruto expressed his consent to the future spar while the others also exclaimed over his performance during the exams, with most of them offering him congratulations since they fully believed that he would be promoted as well.
They all fell silent however when they noticed Naruto's gaze on Neji.
Neji, noticing the attention of his fellow genin, looked back stoically at the teen who had effortlessly defeated him in combat. He noticed Naruto's eyes flick to his left and, glancing over for a second, he saw that Naruto had looked at his cousin. Once he turned back to the piercing blue eyes, he found Naruto's face fixed in a questioning look with an eyebrow raised. While everyone else held their breath at the mounting tension, Neji considered the talk he had had with his uncle after he had lost his match. Then with his features softening a little, he inclined his head towards Naruto, who returned the gesture with one of his own. The two teens then had to fight back snickers at the audible sighs of relief spreading throughout the room; they had reached an understanding and now, Neji was no longer blinded by his hatred.
The eleven members of the Konoha 12 then spent some more time just talking amongst themselves. The others slowly got introduced to the Naruto they had never taken the time to know, and Naruto, well, he reconnected with the teens that had more often than not become best friends and more in other lives. By the time the teens left Naruto's room, not everything was dealt with, but bridges had been mended enough that everyone was comfortable with each other, and there had even been an agreement to meet up at a grill place for lunch sometime later.
Naruto's face held a soft smile as the last of his mates finally left his room. Now that he was alone, he set about fully checking up on the status of his body. Apparently, he had made a slight miscalculation in the design of his custom limiter seal as evidenced by the present state of his chakra network. He had spent about two years on a constant level seven and so, when he had unsealed to level six and then flung around high powered jutsu like candy on Halloween, he had strained his chakra pathways before they could acclimatize to the new level.
It wasn't too bad though, since this was the first time he was ever using said seal, it was actually pretty good for a first attempt. All that he would need to do would be to tweak the seal a little bit to speed up the rate at which his body adjusted to new levels. Normally, his advanced regeneration would have kicked in by now, but it was a chakra-based ability and so, given that his ability to use chakra was slightly dampened, he was healing at a slower rate than normal – still faster than the average ninja though. At his current level, using chakra caused a negligible ache in his body, as long as he wasn't doing anything extreme like summoning. Also, as he was now – level six and all, there were only a handful of people alive who could sneak into Konoha, harm him, and then make their way out before being intercepted.
Pleased with the pace that his body was mending and with the general state of things, he made to relax back in his bed when he suddenly tensed up, his piercing blue eyes flashing to the darkest corner of his room, just in time to see a figure materialize out of thin air.
The new comer was dressed in black robes with red clouds and an orange swirly mask with one eye hole in it.
Jiraiya's hand was inches from the door handle when he felt the spike of foreign – and hostile – chakra in his godson's room. Before the surge had fully vanished, the door was already halfway through the wall on the other side of the room, lodged there by Jiraiya's mighty shove. He only took a heartbeat to understand what his eyes were seeing – orange mask, single sharingan eye, and above all, a black cloak with red clouds…Akatsuki – before he moved, hurtling across the floor towards the masked intruder with his right hand outstretched and clutching a swirling ball of condensed chakra.
In the doorway, Sarutobi donned the persona of the Kami no Shinobi as he prepared to move into any opening that Jiraiya created while behind him, Kakashi and Tsunade shifted as well in preparation for a supporting attack.
All plans were summarily tossed out the window as Jiraiya phased through the stranger – clutched rasengan and all – and obliterated the wall behind him.
The destruction and use of chakra drew the attention of nearby Anbu and with a flutter of black, there was a four man squad arrayed behind the three ninjas in the door as well as occupying some of the space previously taken by the now nonexistent wall surrounding the doorway.
As Sarutobi motioned for them to halt their attacks, worried about collateral damage if their attacks passed through the intruder, he watched on as Jiraiya attempted to regain his footing from the surprise miss.
A pale hand bearing a ring suddenly landed on the Toad Sannin's shoulder, and before anyone could react, the air around Jiraiya began to warp and twist into itself, seeking to suck the Sannin into places unknown.
Jiraiya grimaced as he fought to escape the powerful pull, marshaling his chakra to no avail. Just as he was about to succumb to the assault – and with the surrounding Konoha ninja helpless to do anything, there were three flashes of golden yellow light, two so close together that they seemed to be one.
Everyone blinked as they found Jiraiya suddenly seating next to the crouching form of Uzumaki Naruto.
A single thought flashed through everyone's mind at the same time.
Hiraishin!
Before anyone could react to the reemergence of such a legendary technique, Naruto spoke up,
"That attire, that technique, that chakra…without a doubt, you are the ninja who ripped the Kyuubi out of my mother and started its rampage in Konoha thirteen years ago."
Bodies shifted as the ninjas present released a burst of Killing Intent in a knee-jerk reaction to Naruto's statement. With the danger level of their foe just increased, they all focused as one on the enemy, now determined more than ever to bring him down.
The masked man responded to Naruto's words, speaking in an even tone,
"I see, you know of what happened that night. How unexpected"
As people glanced at him in expectation of his response, Naruto merely locked gazes with the stranger's lone eye and replied, all the while ignoring the startled gasps that sounded as people caught sight of his suddenly red and black slitted eyes,
"No matter how you try, you can't hide that kind of foul chakra from the Kyuubi."
Eyes widened as those who heard him stiffened in surprise at having not sensed him accessing the Kyuubi's chakra – it spoke of a level of control that was frankly alarming.
The masked man contemplated the blond haired kid before him.
After hearing of the boy's performance during the Chunin Exams, and the subsequent invasion, he had elected to look in on the brat, intending to find out if the boy would be a threat to his plans.
His first inkling that something was wrong was when the boy noticed him as soon as he had begun to warp into his room. Next had been the fact that the boy had fearlessly met his eyes and all his attempts to put a genjutsu on him had failed; the illusions just seemed to be sliding off him like water off a duck. Next had been his command of the Hiraishin, displaying a proficiency with the jutsu that rivaled that of his own father. Now the boy was speaking of things he wasn't supposed to know, hinting at a cordial enough relationship with the Kyuubi sealed in him as well as an astonishing command of the Bijuu's chakra.
He silently watched the other Konoha ninja present shift in their places as the various bombs were dropped one after the other. Finally, his red and black gaze alighted on a silver haired masked face and his eyes flashed with hidden malice as his thoughts were flung on another tangent.
He knew that something in him had broken irreparably as he had laid in the dark, waiting to die, trapped under tons of rock, and all alone. He was also aware that his master's meddling in his psyche had damaged him further; all the twisted words and – he only suspected – the genjutsu backed commands that had been given to him. He knew these things, and yet he could not find it in himself to care. He would see to the fulfillment of all their plans, even if he had to take care of the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki years ahead of schedule.
Nothing would keep him from seeing her again.
Naruto's now blue gaze remained on the mask wearing stranger, even as he felt Jiraiya retake his feet next to him. He remained in position, waiting for a signal, and as soon as he got it, he was off.
The watchers tensed as Naruto and the masked man suddenly moved in sync, racing towards each other. As they moved to intercept, a subtle – Anbu! – hand signal from Naruto had them reluctantly staying their position.
A few feet away from the quickly approaching blond, the masked man's cursed eye noticed a twitch in the teen's right hand, effortlessly tracking the tri-pronged kunai that was suddenly flying towards his head.
As the blade sunk into his head, and began to phase through, he spared a moment for one thought,
Like father like son
He brought his right hand up to grasp Naruto's chest to warp him away, not even stumbling when his fingers only just brushed him before he vanished in a flash of golden yellow light. As he sensed the sudden presence of the child above him, his eye flashed in triumph as his left hand – which had been raised during his approach – brushed against Naruto's arm. He watched as the eyes of the surrounding ninja widened in dawning horror, relishing in their distress as he countered the move that had felled him thirteen years ago.
Before he could celebrate however, his eye suddenly picked up on a second tri-pronged kunai
It was falling right past his face.
He only had time to spare one thought: Damn, again!
The cloaked intruder was suddenly propelled into what remained of the wall Jiraiya had destroyed by the force of the rasengan thrust into his gut. Bits of his red and black cloak floated to the floor, as well as some blood and tissue.
Once the room cleared, the people watching took in the damage wrought to the stranger, even as they all prepared to move in and finish taking him down. However, since all but one had been focused on his body, they all missed something vital. Their heads all snapped to the door at the sound of a choked off breath and they turned to find Hatake Kakashi, headband raised to reveal his spinning Sharingan eye, which was wide with stunned disbelief and something akin to horror. His whispered word, which still penetrated the silence, had them all flinching back to the intruder, allowing them to take in the entire scene.
Naruto was standing in the center of the room, where he had met the intruder and outsmarted him.
In his right hand, he clutched the two tri-pronged kunai he had teleported to.
In his left, he held onto the orange mask he had ripped off.
Against the wall, the formerly masked stranger felt the wind on his face, causing him to snap his gaze up into the wide eyes of the ninjas present, Kakashi's word a whisper on the wind,
"Obito"
A few notes, if I might have some of your time. First of all, allow me to address the delay in posting a new chapter. I had been asked a question which, caused me to pause and contemplate where I wanted to go with this story. It had taken me some time to realize that I was going about it all wrong. I didn't start this story with the intention of writing a deep plot with so many twists and turns and hidden secrets. No, I merely had a scene in my head of Naruto ripping off the Hyuuga Kaiten, and the rest is history. If authors are allowed to write hundreds of thousands of words worth of the protagonist just sleeping his way through everything that moves – and some things that don't, I think I am perfectly allowed to write a story where he is a cool guy who kicks ass and takes names, all the while casually reading a book. If I want a serious fic, I have my bleach story for that. This is just a project in self-amusement and I am glad that others are able to enjoy the story as well.
Okay, with that done, the next matter is that this story is very close to its conclusion. I know, I know, I had mentioned the intention to write the Shippuden arc after this, but I considered…meh. Don't worry, I'm not going to make some half arsed ending and slap a complete sticker on it. I will bring the story to a reasonable stopping point. But, I mean, I want to break out of this story and explore some more with his character. I even already have the opening chapters for four other short (maybe 30, 000 words) Naruto stories involving our beloved Eternal Sage, and here's a sneak peak of one…just a few sentences though, we wouldn't want to give anything away:
Sarutobi and Minato spun to face the door as it was flung open by a flustered chunin, who promptly blurted out,
"Hokage-sama, there's a blond stranger being held at the hospital. He came in with the body of Uchiha Obito…he's alive."
Sarutobi only just felt the hand suddenly placed on his shoulder before his office vanished in a flash of yellow light.
Rushing into the hospital room, noting the presence of two guards outside, the two ninjas were just in time to hear a smooth voice respond,
"Naruto…my name is Naruto."
They took in the blond haired blue eyed stranger whose face was covered with a facemask much like Kakashi's.
But that's not important right now, Minato thought, he brought my kid back home.
Thank you for taking the time to read this story. Please leave a review behind you.