The Blonde Sage

A/N: Thanks a bunch for the reviews guys, really, I appreciate it. And the timeskip should have been 8 years, not 6 years; sorry for that. Now then, I'm so sorry for the late update. But I have been so busy these past months and apparently, I'll be busy this whole year. So, I might be late to update the coming chapters, but one thing, I will never abandon this story, that's for sure. And there's another thing for the late update. Considering that I didn't get much reviews, I figured out that I need to take things slow and steady, write the story in more details for character development and longer. Unfortunately, I couldn't get this chapter much long, only 4k+. In future, I'll try to make it much longer. Oh, and is anyone out there willing to 'beta' my story?

And sorry again for the late update. ( that is if you were waiting for it) Now, enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did, Naruto wouldn't be a deadlast for so long in the Anime. I mean he is the male protagonist of the story...

Chapter 3: Wave mission part -1

"...Naruto Uzumaki" finished Hiruzen making Kakashi's eyes widened and all the others shock.

'Naruto?' the same thought went through entire team 7's mind, probably for different reasons. Kakashi couldn't believe what he was hearing, let alone seeing; the Sandaime meant to say that the ever hyperactive, cunning, clumsy, troublesome kid and the number one prankster of the village was the young man standing in front of him. Now, he looks much more reliable than what he look like years ago. He couldn't believe it, he heard from Hiruzen that Naruto had left the leaf to train with Jiraiya so that he could become the awesome ninja he always wanted to be. There was just so much difference between his former self and this boy that he couldn't believe the teen was Naruto, but on closer inspection, he could see the trademark whisker like scars or birthmarks on both cheeks. And he knew of only one person who had that marks. Added to that was the unruly blond hairs and the mesmerizing oceanic blue eyes, he swore he could see the image of Minato at that moment. 'Minato-sensei!' Kakashi went wide eyes at that, but as soon as it came it was gone. As much as he wishes that the person in front of him was Minato, he knew that Minato had died at the Kyuubi incident, he even saw his corpse with his own eyes, scratch that he didn't see his body with his 'eyes', but with 'eye'. The other one was covered. So that means that the person in front of him was none other than Naruto, son of his late sensei. The other genins present there also look clearly surprised. I mean who wouldn't be? After the incident that happened just the day before. Hanabi was still frustrated, so was Sasuke that they couldn't sense him the previous day. He just came out of nowhere and stole the spotlight like they were just stand-bys waiting' for him to show up. They have been working, training like there is no tomorrow as long as they can remember so that they can become a perfect shinobi. Apparently, they haven't heard or don't heed the quote that goes 'Nobody's perfect'. Sakura was jealous of the boy. Sasuke was paying so much attention to the teen, the only thought going through her was 'If only I was the centre of the attention Sasuke-kun is giving him' and another one 'How dare he acted Sasuke-kun's line yesterday, Sasuke-kun should be the coolest there is, shanara'(Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I forgot if it was shanara or something else, just leave a review if it is wrong). The only one who was being usual was Tazuna. He was drinking his bottle of sake casually, like nothing was happening.

An uncomfortable silence took place in the office. Kakashi had finally composed himself from his shock but was staring at the blond warily. Hiruzen had enough of the silence. He raised his right hand to his mouth and cleared his throat. Everyone was snapped out of their thoughts as Hiruzen cleared his throat.

"Team seven, this is Naruto Uzumaki." Hiruzen said extending his hand towards Naruto before continuing "Naruto, this is Hanabi Hyuuga, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno and their jonin sensei, Kakashi Hatake. Meet team seven." Hiruzen introduced them. 'A Hyuuga and an Uchiha? Do they really work as a team?' thought Naruto as he gave a low chuckle. He wanted to laugh out loud at that one, but decided against it because of the circumstances he was in; he didn't want to leave a bad impression of him considering he just met them. But as much as he tried, he couldn't prevent the small chuckle that left his mouth. Sakura and Tazuna, well let's forget Tazuna as he's still in a half conscious drunken state, was dumbfounded 'Why did he feel amuse of their team?', but that's not the case for the others present. Kakashi and Hiruzen, in fact they also had chuckled when the team was announced; Hanabi and Sasuke glared at the blond. It was common knowledge to all ninjas of the leaf that the Hyuuga and Uchiha had a rivalry among them, and there were no exceptions. Naruto felt uncomfortable at the glare so the typical 'change the subject' thing was on the line

"Kakashi? So he's the copy ninja?" Naruto stated more of a question than a statement. Seeing as Hiruzen nodded, Naruto gave the one- eyed jonin a slight nod. Naruto look at each of them, taking in their features. Kakashi had his whole face covered except for his two eyes with a cloth mask; his headband was tied on his forehead and was slightly tilted so that it covered his left eye which left only his right black eye exposed. He had gravity defying grey hair which looks extremely cool if you take it into account. He had deep blue shinobi pants, a matching blue shirt with the konoha chunin vest, fingerless handgloves with metal covers. He had an uninterested look on his eyes as if waiting anxiously for the introduction to finish and get to some actions.

As Naruto shifted his vision from Kakashi to the next one, he found himself looking at a pink haired kunoichi which look rather strong as a civilian but as a shinobi, only one word came out, pathetic. She looked like she just skipped breakfast for a diet, that too for the Uchiha as she kept glancing at the emo teen. 'So, she's a fangirl! Huh! Ero-sanin would kill to have that kind' smirked Naruto remembering his sensei. Naruto rolled his eyes to the next person only to find a glare sent his way. 'Huh, what's his problem?' thought Naruto as he inspected his features. The emo looked quite strong for a genin; he had charcoal black eyes, black emo hairs, a konoha headband tied on his forehead. He was wearing a blue shirt with white arm warmers (I guess), a matching white shorts with shinobi sandals. By the way he was glaring at Naruto, he looked like he had some grudge against him. Shrugging it off, Naruto looked at the last person. At first glance, she looked like a sweet little girl; but as Naruto look at her eyes, he could see that she had the same scowl as the Uchiha, if not more stronger. She had rather long bluish hairs that were left freely, pale skin colour and the Hyuuga trademark eyes. A nice figure with a beautiful face. She was wearing a grey jacket with matching grey shinobi pants.

After examining their faces, Naruto came to know that the Hyuuga and the Uchiha were spoiled brats who obviously had hard lives. They had some great pain hidden in those eyes, Naruto being the specialist in detecting hard lives knew it. The pinkie was a fangirl who had no hard time in her life; she had yet to see how cruel life can be. The jonin, eh! No clue since almost the whole of his face was covered; but then again, on second thought he looked kinda lazy. It was written in his eyes, but there was also something in his eyes that he couldn't quite placed what it meant.

"So jiji, why did you called me here?"Naruto asked as he turned to Hiruzen. Hiruzen sighed as he had to explain the mission once again. Really troublesome

"Naruto, given that you have nothing to do before the chunin exams, I thought that I would send you to a mission. You shall be going to Wave for a mission with Team 7. The task is simply to protect the Bridge builder, Tazuna, from bandits before he finishes the bridge he is currently building there. It is a B rank mission so you shall not find any serious troubles. The team captain will be Kakashi. Am I clear?" seeing as Naruto nodded, Hiruzen continued "Okay then, that's all. Dismiss!" All of them slightly bowed, but not like the bow that goes all the way down like ninety degrees, (they are ninjas. They are always alert) except Tazuna (he's drunk) before leaving the room. As they were walking down the stairs, Kakashi told them to get packed and meet at the gate in 20 minutes.

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Naruto was walking through the market, towards the village gate where people goes in and out of the village. People didn't recognise him, for the moment at least, so he was treated nicely when he went to a store to buy something. If only he was born a normal boy, had a normal life! He wanted nothing more than that. He wanted a normal life the other kids had with their parents. God was so selfish to him. But then again, he didn't believe in the existence of God. During his travels with Jiraiya, he came across many religions. Christian, Buddhism, Sikh, Hindu, you name it; he knew almost all the religions that exist. In all the religions he had known, he keep hearing that God is kind, forgiving, He looks upon all humans with equal eyes, and blah blah blah. Some says 'He has the power to do anything and everything, this world is like a drama of the Gods, a movie; so don't do anything bad, He will be mad at you.' As if, if He really had the power to do anything He wouldn't make him and the other jinchurikis suffer so much! He is kind and He treats all equally. So, he believes in atheism. God does not exist! That or he is not so forgiving or kind as people thought him to be. He does not treat people equally. 'If he did, why do I had to suffer so much. And I'm sure there are people out there who felt pain even greater than mine. It's a mystery and it'll always remain a mystery. What the heck is a God anyway? If he has power, is he a god? Then shinobi are gods' these thoughts were going in his minds.

"Mom, I'm off to play with my friends. Make some noodles for me when I come back" yelled a kid about 9 years old as he ran out of a house.

"Be careful! Don't be too late" the mother replied back. Of course, the kid didn't listen to it.

Naruto felt nostalgia as he saw the scene. Who was his mother? Did she love him? What would it felt like to have a mother? These were questions that were left unanswered all his life.

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Village Gate:

It has been twenty minutes. All of them had arrived at the gate five minutes ago except for the most important person of the team, the captain! "Ah! Kakashi sensei is late again" the pink haired genin of team seven was frustrated. Why did they get the most unpunctuality jonin in the history of konoha as their sensei? Sakura was standing in front of the gate with her hands in the air in a comical way yelling curses at the absent jonin. Tazuna was sitting beside Sakura drinking his sake that he brought on his way to the gate of Konoha. Sasuke was standing beside a wall of the gate leaning on it with his hands in his pockets and head lowered. Hanabi was sitting on a branch of a tree near the gate with one of her legs hanging and a hand on the knee of her other leg. Currently, she was staring at Naruto, who was lying under the shadow of another tree, with calculative eyes. Naruto was looking at the sky, staring at the clouds. He was enjoying the gentle gust of wind; he felt amazingly calm under the shade of the tree and the breeze that blew on the surroundings of Konoha. He knew that the Hyuuga was staring at him. He sighed. Why did this always happen to him? He stood up, beating his shirts to get rid of dust and looked at Sakura only to find her yelling. He sighed yet again and look to the others present and then at Hanabi. Hanabi suddenly turned her head to the side as Naruto looked at her. She got nervous as she saw Naruto come towards her. Soon enough he came and sits at the foot of the tree she was sitting on. He sighed, look towards Sakura and said "Is she always like that? Always yelling and shouting?" She didn't know how to respond to that, so she just replied a 'yes'. She was never good in situations like this.

This time Naruto turned towards her "So, your name is Hanabi Hyuuga, right?" Hanabi didn't say anything, she just nodded. She got rid of her nervousness and reverted back to her usual self, the arrogant, spoiled, stoic and cold self. She didn't want to be weak and according to her father being nervous was a sign of weakness. She had to become stronger than her sister, stronger than any Hyuuga. And one day, she will become the head of the family.

"What do you want?" the tone was so cold, Naruto almost choke his throat in surprised at the change of her tone. One minute she was so nervous and then the next minute she was as cold as a bloody killer. Naruto just smile and told her "Nothing, I just want to talk to you while waiting for your sensei. Oh boy, he sure is late" Hanabi just snarled and said "There is nothing to tal..." on second thought she could reconsider that, he was a mystery to all of them. Normally, she wouldn't talk to anyone about anything but this boy; she was curious of him, there was just something different that rubbed her about him. After all, she couldn't sense him before so she was interested.

"Where are you from? I have never seen you before so you couldn't be from Konoha." Naruto just lied down, relaxed himself before saying "No, I'm from Konoha. I was born here. I just left to train eight years ago. I was about to finish my last training, but then jiji told me of the upcoming chunin exams. So, here I am."

"Training? Who train..." but before Hanabi could finish the questioned, Sakura called them telling that Kakashi had arrived. Naruto stood up stretching his arms and Hanabi jumped down from the branched. Both of them calmly walked towards Kakashi with Naruto in the front and Hanabi tailing behind him.

Kakashi looked bored as always. But as they were standing in front of him, he smiled at them and said teasingly "What were you two love birds chatting about there?" Naruto turned a little red and coughed in his hands so as to control his nervousness before saying "Wh..what? No way, we were just talking to pass the time" Kakashi was glad to hear that from Naruto. 'At least he's not cold and he still has the normal effect like a normal teen.' But his gladness did not live long as he saw Hanabi was not having any effect like Naruto, always emotionless 'She's always like this *sigh*. What have Hiashi been doing to you, Hanabi? I have done everything I could to open you up, and this team doesn't seem to help you. And there's Sasuke, though he's a little better than you are. I had Obito to help me out of that state, but it seems there's not someone like him in this team, someone loud' Kakashi chuckled remembering his long lost friend.

"Alright team, since you have all arrived-" Naruto cut off Kakashi "It should be along the line- since 'we' have all arrived or yeah maybe even 'I' instead of 'we'" Kakashi ignored Naruto's remark "As I was saying, before Naruto kindly interrupted me-" again "But I was just speaking the truth, Kakashi- sempai". Kakashi just continued, ignoring Naruto "As you have all known, this mission is to protect Tazuna-san from bandits. So there is no need to worry for serious troubles..." as he said this, Tazuna seems to flinch a little, but only Kakashi and Naruto noticed it "but don't be too sure, the ninja world is full of surprises. Always keep your guards up; don't forget the ninja code, look underneath the underneath." All of them nodded. "Now let's go!"

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They have been walking through the forest towards the direction of Wave Country for at least 2 hours. They could have use the standard ninja way of travelling, jumping from branch to branch with chakra enhanced legs, but too bad that the mission was an escort mission, that too, a normal bridge builder civilian who can't use chakra. So, they are struck to walking for the time being. The journey was relatively quiet, as quite as it can be if you don't take into account of the lone pink haired girl of team seven. Sakura, like always was annoying Sasuke to go out on a date with her and the next minute, she would turn her attention to Kakashi and complain that she was tired. But of course it always ended with Kakashi messing with her by saying things like 'Did you say something, Sakura?' and Sakura would just settle with muttering curses, wishing that he would just die by her hand but like everyone knows that was impossible with her level. Naruto was walking casually, with hands behinds his head which was slightly tilted so that his face was facing the sky, staring the clouds and singing a song, his voice a little low so that his subordinates won't hear him, at least that's what he thought, but everyone heard him alright and they were impressed; he was good.

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('Futatsu no kodou to akai tsumi' by 'On/Off', Romaji lyrics, which I don't own)

Akaku akaku akaku yurete

Yume no yume no hate e hanarerarenai...

Mou nando mo akiramete wa

Oshikorosu tabi...

Ikiba no nai kanjou ga me o samashiteku

Kegare no nai sono hohoemi

Zankoku na hodo tooi

Sonzai da to wakaru yo

Ienai kizu kokoro mushibamu dake na no ni

Yami no... ima mo...

Omoi o osaekirenai...

Akaku akaku akaku yurete

Yume no yume no hate e

Deatte shimatta unmei ga mawaridasu

Dare mo dare mo shinarai himitsu

Ochite ochite ochite

Mou modorenai tsumi o kizande mo kitto...

Kodoko no fuchi arukinagara sukuwareta ita

Donna toki mo kawaranai riaru na hitomi

Demo hikari-

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Naruto was singing, about reaching halfway when he was suddenly interrupted by Kakashi which earned a slight glare from Sakura and Tazuna "So Naruto how was your training?"

Naruto sighed, he hated it when people interrupt him while he was singing, but Kakashi was his superior so he can't do anything reckless. "Well, it was...wait! How do you know I was on a training trip, I never tell you, did I? And I don't think we have met before today."

Kakashi pondered his words for a moment before starting to laugh. Wait, did Kakashi just laugh? How long has it been since he had last laughed, a genuine laugh? Sure Kakashi laugh, smirk, smile but those were his fake mask emotions (a fake mask above another mask that covers his face) he developed over the years after each and every pain he felt right after his father, the White Fang, died. Team seven was surprised at the turn of events, Kakashi have never, and by never they mean like all their days of acquaintances, smiled a true smile before, let alone laugh. They have never seen him laughed that kind before, the kind of laugh that came without the knowledge of the very person laughing. But Naruto doesn't know Kakashi keeps a fake mask on all the time so he was not surprised, instead he just raised an eyebrow signalling Kakashi to continue...

"What's so funny?" Naruto said slightly irritated.

"Nothing, nothing! It's just that it's so funny that you don't recognised me considering I was almost all the time with you when you were here..." seeing that Naruto had a questioning look, he continued "Well, it's no surprise that you don't recognised me since we didn't talk quite often...okay, I always ignore you, but I was always there observing you, well not really observing but protecting would be the right word, from the shadows so that you won't get in trouble. I will give you a hint of who I am though. I'm 'dog'." Kakashi left the conversation hanging there, and started focusing on their journey. Now team seven have heard many weird things that surprise them, but this was the weirdest thing they have ever heard which surprised them by far. Team seven stood their grounds as they heard the last statement, not just them but also Naruto and Tazuna. They stopped walking.

"Oh, and Naruto your singing was great" Kakashi turned one last time before walking. All the others agree on that one though none of them voiced it. Naruto just gave a thank you, no time to be humble.

The group just stood there in silence until Tazuna, still under the influence of sake, broke it...

"What? You're a dog? What kind of ninja is a dog?" they all sweatdropped at that. The small group shrugged it off and started to walk again but Naruto was still deep in thought 'A dog? Is there any person who was close to me related to dogs? The one time when the villagers beating me were stopped by...no, no, that guy had a bowl hair cut and his clothes were all green. And the other time when the Uchiha with a scar...no, definitely not Kakashi! A person with a facemask! A person with a facemask! A person with a facemask' as Naruto was too focus on trying to find a person with a facemask who was someway related to dogs from his long list of persons he had met, he failed to sensed the small puddle of water with a faint amount of chakra on the ground he stepped on. That was big mistake. As Naruto stepped out of the puddle of water that was only as deep as the lower portion of his shoes, after about ten steps, two figures rose up from the of them were covered in cloaks, exposing only their faces. However, their mouths were also masked by what looked like the masks worn when there was poison in the air or something along those lines. A gauntlet with chains was attached on both of them, each of them have one armed on one of their hands. Considering the weapons and the chains, the duo was like a tag team, like they were made to battle as a pair.

Piercing black eyes darted to and fro among the members of the groups, looking for its first prey. Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and finally the eyes landed on Kakashi, the captain. First go for the strongest! That was the tactics of the 'demon brothers'. The pair hurried towards Kakashi, running as fast as their legs could carry them, ready to pulverise him. Like lightning to the eyes of the untrained, they appeared on both sides of Kakashi and shot out their chains. With a 'tap', they fixed the shot chains on their respective gauntlets. The action resulted in Kakashi being tied around several times by the chains leaving him immoveable. The restrained captain tried to move around, but was rendered futile. Locking their eyes on each others, the brothers "...the first..." pulled the chains with all their might which resulted in shredding the copy cat's body in pieces "...one down"

"Kakashi-sensei!" cried out a petrified Sakura, her voice shaking along with her body. Sasuke and Hanabi were sweating bullets, their bodies frozen at the sight presented. Tazuna was lying on the ground in a sitting position on the floor with hands in front of his mouth, scared out of his shit. Panic surfaced on all of their faces. This was their first B rank mission. Meanwhile, Naruto was thoughtfully looking at his fingers, counting them and walking down the road as if nothing was rolling. He stopped walking. Looking at his back, he took a look at his comrades "Is everything alright guys? Are we taking a break?" that seemed to break the tension in the air. Apparently, Naruto was not aware of the situation as he was too focused on Kakaski's identity. Walking back to his comrades' side and sitting next to Tazuna, he stretch his arms and saw the brothers "hey, who are those two? Woodcutters?"

That's it for now. And I hope that I will get much review this time. Seriously guys, I got only 5 reviews while I get 28 above follows and favourites! I have seen some authors get about 10 reviews and only 5+ favourites. So please guys, review!

See you next chap.