The blonde sage
A/N: Last chapter I didn't get much review; but for those who reviewed, I give you a big THANK YOU!
To Kiriko the 22 tails: Hey there! Thanks for your review, truly I appreciate it. And as for your question, 'gaki' means 'brat'. And thanks for pointing out the mistake I made about Dattebayo.
Enjoy the chapter and oh! don't forget to review![ I know some of you might have gotten sick of the word review, but please remember that you are pointing out the mistakes and helping a fellow writer and possibly making the fic more readable.]
Disclaimer: I do not own naruto!
Chapter 2: My first Konoha mission!
After naruto had left, many things happened to konoha. Danzo Shimura, the old war hawk, wanted konoha's ultimate weapon to be made. The Anbu was there to carry out the assassination missions; the dirty jobs of konoha and other dangerous missions like A and S rank ones. 'Really, it is the strongest military organisation available to Konoha besides my Root, yet it is still not enough' well at least not to him. The military power of Konoha had drastically weakened after the continuous battles of the third great ninja war and the kyuubi attack. And then there was the Uchiha massacre, greatly reducing the already exhausted power of Konoha. So, Danzo suggested that konoha must put the top three graduated students into one team under the strongest available jonin. He knew that hiruzen would never allow that to happen. His old nemesis, the Sandaime would never want to disturb the balance of teams. If the balance was ever to be disturbed, it would mean the increase in the failure rate of missions of the other teams, and sometimes even death. Hiruzen deeply cares for his village as well as every single person living in it regardless of civilians or shinobi, but Danzo doesn't care for that. The only things he cares for is the existence of the village and power. He believed that sacrifices had to be made in order to bring peace to the majority of the village. So he riled up the council to persuade the hokage into doing this and they succeeded. He knew that Hiruzen was getting old and can't face the council like he used to in his prime. 'Hiruzen, you're getting old. You're not worthy enough to be the Hokage anymore. But that matter will have to wait for some time, it's better not to rush things too much'. So, the first ultimate team was formed by sasuke, the rookie of the year; Hanabi, kunoichi of the year and sakura[she's the third only because she's a bookworm] under Hatake Kakashi, the famous copy ninja. Hiashi was very disappointed with hinata and is on the verge of making hanabi the Hyuga heir.
Timeskip: 8 Years.
It was a cloudless, sunny day. The sun bathed in the trees. The leaves danced in the cold breeze that keeps the temperature mild and pleasant. The scenery presented at the moment was spectacular. Rows of trees with the leaves dancing whenever the gentle wind blows, the green grasses below where the squirrels run and play all day with their hearts content; all in all it was a nice and peaceful day in Konoha. Well it has been peaceful to the peoples ever since Naruto left the village; no more pranks, no more yelling. The civilians believed that Naruto was probably killed by one of the shinobi who bullied him all the time. Well not for long, cause...here comes UZUMAKI NARUTO.
Two figures walk towards the eastern gate of konoha. The taller one was jiraiya with the same outfit before 8 years. The second one had spiky blonde hairs with bangs that goes down upto his chins. Oceanic blue eyes and the three whisker marks on both of his cheeks made his personality even more define. Who could this blonde be? -Naruto? Bingo. Naruto now wears shinobi black pants, a matching black shirt which is left unbutton with fishnet shirt underneath, a konoha protector on his forehead, shinobi sandals and fingerless gloves with metal protectors that contain the konoha symbol. He was now 5'6 feet tall with a well defined slim muscular body. Naruto has finally returned to Konoha.
As the two shinobi neared the gate, Kotetsu asked them without even bothering to look up "State your names with reasons for coming here."
Jiraiya raised an eyebrow before saying "Jiraiya of the sanin. Here to conduct researches for my next book."
Naruto facepalmed and said as he stepped forward "Naruto Uzumaki. Here to participate in the chunin exams."
Kotetsu looked up with a blank expression and inspected the two for a moment. With eyes widening, he quickly bowed before apologizing "I'm sorry Jiraiya-sama. Please forgive my rudeness."
"Its okay, it's okay" jiraiya said with a smile of pride.
Kotetsu raised his head and said "The Hokage has been expecting you, Jiraiya-sama" He then turned to Naruto and told him " Naruto welcome back home, the village has quite missed your pranks"
Naruto smiled at the chunin. He was one of the few people in konoha that treated him indifferently "Well, you will be hearing a prank any minute now"
Hokage office:
Hiruzen was doing the usual chores of a Hokage, paperwork. He was reading through a letter; bringing the brush towards the inkpot and dipping it, he was about to write something when all of a sudden a messenger bird came in flying through the window that was left wide open. It landed on his desk with a letter tied to its back. Hiruzen took the letter, open the seal and began reading it...
To
The hokage,
Village hidden in the leaf.
Hokage-sama; I, the Mizukage; would like to request you to let your shinobi participate on the chunin exam that is to be held at kiri on a month after today. All the other kages have agreed to this. Let's perform the first chunin exam of all the elemental nations.
I hope to receive a positive reply from you.
'What the...amazing.. a chunin exam of all the elemental nations' thought Hiruzen truly amazed of the idea. And what's more is that all the other kages have agreed to it. The current mizukage was clever; she did this to create possible alliance for the kiri.
"This is truly a wonderful idea." exclaimed hiruzen before he began to write the reply, a positive reply at that.
And then, for the second time something came through the window; well two people to be more precise. At first, the three in the room didn't say anything; they just kept looking to one another for different reasons. Hiruzen because he didn't recognised the smaller ones at first glance, but then names began to appear on his head as he took the appearance of the blonde. Neruto because he couldn't believe how much Hiruzen had aged; his hairs had gone completely white which was grey with some black streaks, his face was more wrinkled that before. Jiraiya because he had completely forgot the brunette beauty he had come across on the way after seeing hiruzen's old and feeble face. Then, the silence was broken by jiraiya as he cried anime tears and went to a corner of the room with clouds on his head and muttering "Why...? why?"
"Naruto, is that you?" asked Hiruzen as Naruto nodded while saying "The one and only"
"You have grown into quite a young man, I can't even recognised you!" exclaimed Hiruzen truly amazed.
"And you have grown into quite an old man,jiji; I can't even recognised you" laugh Naruto as Hiruzen just smiled.
"Naruto you are here for the chunin exam, right?" said hiruzen
"Yeah, is that okay in my condition?" asked Naruto wearily.
"Jiraiya told me that your level is mid-jonin. If what he says is true, I can send you as a one man team. It should be perfectly fine even if you don't belong to any of the teams but..." trailed Hiruzen.
"But what?" asked Jiraiya joining the conversation.
"But there has been a chance in plan." said Hiruzen as he passed the letter from before to Jiraiya and Naruto.
'Interesting' both of them thought as they finished reading the letter.
"So? Can you handle it Naruto?" asked Hiruzen already expecting a yes.
"Can I handle it? Are you serious jiji? This will be piece of cake, there's nothing I can't handle. Hell, I'll even win the tournament. That's a promise" Hiruzen smiled at that.
"If that's all jiji, I'll be going; I wanna meet Iruka-sensei. I didn't even get to meet him that day I left Konoha. I missed him so much." said Naruto before disappearing with a leaf shunshin leaving the room in a mess.
"What strong shunshin, the leaves resonated and swirled like a small tornado!" exclaimed the Hokage clearly awed.
"NARUTTOOO..! You did that on purpose, didn't you?" yelled Jiraiya.
"What? He did that on purpose?"
"Yes sensei; now if you will excuse me, I shall also be going. I need to go to the hot spring" said Jiraiya perversely before disappearing with the same shunshin, if not stronger than Naruto's leaving the room even messier.
"Jiraiyaaaaaaa...Narutoooo...!" Hiruzen, the ever so collected and calm person, shouted for the first time; his voice echoing throughout Konoha. Now the arrival of Naruto has been officially announced with his prank of the year.
~Unknown location~
"Hey, let me go!" said konohamaru as he was being held by a suna genin.
"Is that suppose to be the way people say 'sorry for bumping you' in konoha?" said kankuro as he smirk. He had war paints on his face and wore a black dress that covers his entire body, only his face was revealed. Oh, and there was also a thing wrapped in bandages on his back.
An echoing sound suddenly interrupted them.
"What was that? Konoha sure is strange." said Kankuro.
'That sounded like jiji' thought Konohamaru.
"Kankuro, let the kid go" ordered a blonde girl about Naruto's age.
"Ah, come on Temari. Nothing's gonna happen." Kankuro said.
The now identified Temari has short Blonde hair [I'm getting tired of this; just imagine Temari's dress and appearance as in the Canon, the chunin exam dress]
"Kankuro, release the kid before Garra comes. You don't want to face him" said Temari seriously.
"Garra won't be coming for a while, sis. It's okay."
Sakura, the pink haired Kunoichi from team seven, step forward and yelled.. "Let the kid go; and what are you suna genins doing here? Even if the leaf and suna are allies, that doesn't mean that a shinobi from suna can enter the leaf freely."
"Hey, we're not trespassing. We are here to participate in the chunin exam" seeing that Sakura was puzzled from hearing her, Temari continued "Don't tell me that you know about the chunin exam"
"We already knew about it" Hanabi stated. 'at least I knew about it' Hanabi'; she knew about it only because her father told her and her sister that one of them should win the exam.
"You knew about it Hanabi?" Sakura asked Hanabi in disbelief that she hadn't told about it to her and Sasuke.
"Huh, that's Hanabi-sama for you and of course I knew about; I am a hyuuga and I have the all seeing eyes." stated Hanabi arrogantly.
"The all seeing eyes? Are you joking? I ..." Kankuro was cut off by Hanabi
"Look out make up boy, a stone's coming your way" said Hanabi clearly bored.
Sure enough, a stone came towards Kankuro and hit him on his hand freeing konohamaru.
"Ah.. what was that? Who threw that?" yelled Kankuro
Then they all heard a 'hn' and looked up towards the tree that was besides the road. There, they saw Sasuke sitting on a branched smirking.
"You can also come out, the one behind the tree" Hanabi said as she smirk arrogantly.
A read head without eyebrows came out from behind the tree with a face that seemed excited for a fight. He had a gourd attach to his back and the kanji for love on his forehead.
"You are quite interesting; what's your name?" He pointed towards Hanabi and Sasuke as he asked the question.
Gaara received Hanabi Hyuuga and Sasuke Uchiha.
'Who's this guy? I couldn't even sense him and yet Hanabi sensed him; what have I been doing all these years?' thought Sasuke as he tightened his fist.
"Kankuro, what do you think you were doing?"
Kankuro tried to blamed the konoha nins but was cut off by Gaara telling him that he would kill him if he did it again.
"Make up boy, I told you my eyes can see anyone and everything" Hanabi boasted smirking.
"Not quite..." Gaara said
"What do you mean?" Hanabi said as she glared at him
"You haven't sensed him yet..."
"Ho, look at that, someone can actually sensed me; I am impressed" said Naruto as he appeared there with his leaf shunshin covering the area with leaves.
"Who are you?" all of them except Gaara said. Hanabi was furious, she had always been the best in sensing because of her eyes; she was angry that someone can hide from her and that too, a genin.
"Naruto nee-san, is that you?" suddenly Konohamaru yelled and ran towards Naruto.
Naruto nodded and hugged Konohamaru. "Yeah, I'm back."
'Naruto? Wait that's the kid mom told me not to associate a long time ago; so this is the guy. He's cute' Sakura thought
'Who the hell is this Naruto guy?' both Hanabi and Sasuke thought.
"Whoever he is, I like him; he has taught the Hyuuga brat a lesson" said Kankuro to Temari, smirking only to find that she was staring at Naruto with a dint of red on her cheeks. "You like him, don't you?"
"Shut up kankuro"
"My name is Naruto and I'm a Konoha Genin; that's all you need to know" said Naruto. He turned towards the suna genins and said "So you guys are here for the chunin exam?"
Receiving nods from Kankuro and Temari, he continued "You better leave then"
"Are you saying that we are not strong enough" said Kankuro
"The exams' been postponed; it will be held at kiri after one month."
"What? Why?" all of them except Gaara, Sasuke and Hanabi yelled but the three also looked clearly surprise.
Naruto continued ignoring their questions "The interesting part is that in that chunin exam, all...the...elemental nations...will paticipate" there was a long silence after that...
The arrival of the Jonin sensei of the suna team broke the silence. He told them that they need to leave. When asked why, he told them all about the change in the chunin exam confirming Naruto's earlier statement.
Just as they were about to leaf, Gaara told Naruto "My name is Sabaku no Gaara; what's your full name?"
Naruto smiled and said "Uzumaki Naruto"
"I'll be waiting for you in Kiri" with that said, the suna team left.
"Ah.. I'm late. I need to go now Konohamaru, see you latter" Naruto left without even waiting for a reply and konohamaru also left
After naruto left, everyone began to leave on different directions all thinking of the mysterious Naruto and the change in the chunin exams.
'Interesting' Sasuke and Hanabi thought while Sakura thought 'Now the chunin exam will be much harder. But I think Kakashi sensei won't allow us to enter. I mean we're not strong enough, well at least I'm not. Sasuke-kun and Hanabi are strong, but I'm not' Sakura released a sigh 'I only hope that I don't become a bother to them'
Ninja Academy:
Iruka was closing the academy front door; the day was finally coming to an end, all those yelling and shouting has made him exhausted. Even if it was tiring to be an academy teacher, he didn't felt any regret of being one. He loved the children. And because he became a teacher, he got to meet Naruto. It's been 6 long years he hadn't seen him. As he was thinking about Naruto, he murmured unconsciously "Naruto, Where are you?"
"I'm right here Iruka sensei." Iruka suddenly jumped back hearing the voice. The voice felt familiar. As he looked at the source of the voice, tears welled up in his eyes, tears of happiness.. "Naruto is that you?"
Receiving a nod, Iruka ran and hugged Naruto "It is you. Oh, how I have missed you!"
"It's been so long, Iruka sensei." Naruto said.
Suddenly, Naruto's stomach growled. Iruka laugh and said "Same as always, eh? Let me treat you to Ichiraku Ramen, it must have been so long since you ate your favourite ramen."
At that Naruto's face brighten up tenfold and he pumped his fist in the air and yelled "Yatta! Thanks Iruka sensei"
'Naruto, you haven't changed a bit' Iruka smiled and thought. As they made their way to Ichiraku's, Naruto told Iruka all about his journey and his participation in the chunin exams.
Ichiraku ramen:
As Naruto and Iruka entered the stall, Teuchi said "Welcome to Ichiraku ramen" he then looked up "Oh, it's you Iruka. What can I get for you today?" He then saw Naruto "Who is your friend here Iruka?"
"Don't tell me that you forgot me, old man?" Naruto said smirking
"Sorry but I don't remembe..." he stopped cutting the vegetables and stayed still as he saw the whisker marks, the blonde hairs.. "...Naruto?"
"NARUTO! AYAME, NARUTO HAS RETURNED, COME OUT" yelled Teuchi.
"Naruto, when did you return? Why did you left Konoha?..." which was continued by many other questions. Ayame also entered the room rushing and hugged Naruto tightly "Why did you left us, baka" [ In this fic Ayame is only 7 months older than Naruto.]
"I left another letter for you at Iruka sensei's. Didn't he give you the letter?" asked Naruto looking at Iruka and then at Ayame.
"He gave it to me but why did you left Konoha? You could have trained at Konoha instead?"
"It's Ero-sen... I mean Jiraiya sensei. He can't stay in Konoha for even 1 year let alone 6! So... I had to leave" Naruto said feeling guilty.
"It's okay,Naruto-kun; but promise me that you won't ever leave me again" Ayame said
"I promise you Ayame chan, I won't ever leave you again" said Naruto as he hugged Ayame.
"Okay who wants Ramen? It's free for today" Teuchi said breaking the hug. Both Naruto and Ayame were blushing red just like a tomato.
That day, they spent the night chatting.
Next Day (Hokage office):
Team seven was promised by Hiruzen a B rank mission and were waiting for hiruzen to finish his meeting with the council concerning the matter of the change of the chunin exam. After about 20 minutes, Hiruzen came out and motioned them to enter his office.
"Team seven led by Hatake Kakashi, I now will give you your first B rank mission. You shall be protecting a bridge builder from bandits until he finished his bridge in wave country...but since this is your first B rank mission and the mission might encounter shinobi also, I shall add another person on this mission"
"We are more than enough for this mission, we don't need another person to help us" Sasuke said
"Sasuke, you don't give opinions to the Hokage. The Hokage's words are final" Kakashi said as he closed his book aka icha icha paradise
"It's okay Kakashi" Hiruzen said smiling.
"Hokage sama, I also agree with Sasuke" said Hanabi confident in her abilities.
"I have already told the person to come, sorry Sasuke-kun, Hanabi-chan" hiruzen said.
"hn" both of them grunted. Sakura thought looking at Sasuke and Hanabi 'I wonder if they are related somehow'
"Call in the Bridge builder Tazuna" ordered Hiruzen at one of his employees
An old drunk man entered the room. He was wearing a straw hat, a sake bottle on his right hand. "Are these kids my escorts? I asked for real ninjas, not kids playing ninjas."
"We are more than enough, shitty old man" said both Sasuke and Hanabi, again, slightly irritated.
Hiruzen told the old man that even though they were kids, they are the strongest genin team of their year and they also got kakashi, a jonin. "There's no need to worry, you will have a wonderful journey with them."
Hanabi, Sasuke and Sakura was a bit offended by that; they consider themselves the strongest genin team of the leaf, even if Sakura was weaker than most genins they got Sasuke and Hanabi, right?
"Tazuna-san, if you are ready, we can leave for wave now..." Kakashi said
"Kakashi, aren't you forgetting something?" Hiruzen said smiling, a smile that promise pain if he forgot.
"What am I...oh! The additional team member, who is he?" Kakashi said feeling ashamed of his memory
"He is..." Hiruzen was cut off
"I'm not late, right?" said Naruto as he flew through the window.
"...Naruto Uzumaki" finished Hiruzen making Kakashi's eyes widened and all the others shock.
How was it guys? All reviews are welcome
See ya next chap.