Finally I finished the chapter. And I still don't have a beta as I'm waiting for an answer. As for why am I late... well, I'm not giving any excuses because they just sounds pathetic and most people don't care anyway. They're just happy a new chapter is up.
Thanks for all the reviews! It really inspires me to keep writing! To answer them:
SilverIcy: Hah. Laughed at that one. Included that line in my story and thanks.
Mad Bobert: no one's stopping you from reading, you know. Thanks though :)
Krsnik02: I too hate intervention of gods. I mean, it's okay for me if they appear once or twice in the story to give some powers or something, but if they keep appearing throughout the story it's a no-no for me, so don't worry about another intervention. Although there is going to be one at the end...
I know that idea of Naruto being descendant of Rikuddo is quite popular ( as is the Kami's intervention) so I went with what I like better.I also used info from Narutopedia and tried to create something original. Quote from Narutopedia 'It was said that in times when the world is in disorder, a person is sent down from the heavens to become either a "God of Creation" who will calm the world, or a "Destroyer" who will reduce everything to nothingness.' I used and explored this legend to make something original. So basically, Naruto's a protagonist while Pain is antagonist (there's gonna be a huge twist to it though). As for the thingy about only one person can awaken(get) the rinnegan - it doesn't matter because in my story only Naruto and Pain (Nagato) will have the rinnegan. It is considered to be a legend after all.
So in my story it goes like this (very briefly) - kami sees the world is in time of disorder so she chooses a pure soul to guide it to peace. That's how Nagato got his eyes. Nagato then goes through pain, feels the loss of his loved ones (the war) so he becomes as we know him now and changes the Akatsuki to evil organisation. Obito is still saved by Madara, but there's a huge twist in it so I gonna skip this part. The Kami sees that she made a mistake so she tried to find a way to fix it, to take the eyes away, but she coudn't for reasons which are too complex and long to explain. So she did the best thing she could (in her opinion) - she balanced out the rinnegan of destroyer by rinnegan of the savior. She was observing Naruto for some time and chose him. She obviously knew what's sealed inside him, but despite that Kami saw strong and blinding spirit and will. She also saw that despite all the treatment Naruto got from the village, he still didn't have a tint of hatred, where most people would already gone mad. So she tried her luck once again and gave Naruto the rinnegan.
That was brief origins of my story and I didn't even want to write that xD My fingers just kept moving. As for the error you pointed out about sealing. Yes, sorry. When I was writing that part I was referring the event as whole so I messed up a bit. But you're right, it was Mito who sealed Kyuubi.
XT3: I guess I can reveal some things. Yes it is Sakura and Sasuke (I think I made it a bit obvious, didn't I?). As for Naruto... that is a secret for me to write and you to find out. Thanks!
Rasnegan89: Thanks!
Gaaraxx33: I too think it gets better as I write more chapters. The thing is that I really rushed the first chapters so they are not as good written as new ones. And thanks for the beta suggestion, but he doesn't have a beta page so I won't ask him.
Dragonskyt: Yeah. It's sometimes sad when genjutsu is overlooked because they have so much potential. The only limit is your imagination. I was kinda worried about the description, so thanks!
Darkryus: Just so you would know, Sakura has water affinity, Naruto has all five + gravity, Sasuke has fire and lightning. So yeah, they will have epic combos.
NarutoInoU: Thanks a lot! It's nice to know that I'm doing good so far by trying to combine humor and seriousness. I gonna add some emotional theme later on as well so it would fit in like in actual canon.
Lavaflow900: Thanks. I know I have punctuation and grammar issues (they're not that bad, though. imo). While I agree there's a lot of ideas explored and written about, I'll try to make this one as original as possible. I already have some unbelievable twists and cliffchangers in mind. And I never sacrifice quality for a speed. That's exactly one of the reasons I don't update so often - Firstly I try to make an interesting chapter ending so when I think it's not good in my opinion, I expand the chapter or edit something (which takes time). Secondly, when I finally finish the chapter I reread it one or two times and fix any spelling or grammar issues which I can find by myself, so obviously it takes a lot of time to update. Sorry for that.
stormwolf3710: Originally this story was meant to be with Sasuke being a total moron, but then I was like 'Hey, but I've never seen a fic with epic team 7 fights'. I mean, maybe there are some, but they are rare. Most people hate Sasuke unless it's yaoi...
xxOMGgalxx: *thumbs up* That's exactly what I thought after rereading the chapter.
On with the chapter then!
Disclaimer: I do not own Narutoverse.
Chapter 9
The Mission
-With Hokage & Co.-
"How many casualties?" Hokage asked the medic nin, who came here some minutes ago.
"13 shinobi hospitalized and 4 had minor injuries in their throats which were easily healed. Overall nothing major and hospitalized shinobi will be released tomorrow when we will remove all the pieces from their throats."
"I see." Hokage replied "Dismissed. Make sure they're fine tomorrow."
"Hai, Hokage-sama!" medic-nin replied and left the council room.
"Naruto... why are you the cause of all the trouble?" Hokage thought as he remembered what happened some minutes ago.
-Some minutes ago (a.k.a. flashback)-
In a council room, everyone were awed and surprised the teamwork Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke displayed as well as how easily they defeated Kakashi without his Sharingan, while at the same time not revealing much of their abilities. They couldn't see the 'Moonlight Sonata' genjutsu, but they measured its strength and said it has to be quite powerful, seeing how Kakashi tried to dispel it several times.
After the fight they were even more confused what did the trio mean by their 'true strength'. And then it happened.
"Sharingan!" Everyone widened their eyes, because he already awakened it and it already was at its maximum level.
"Chishioton!" Everyone widened their eyes even further and gasped. They were so wide that eyes could fall out of their sockets. Some even started to cough because they gasped with mouth full of popcorn. They knew Sakura was civilian (they didn't knew about her father), so it was very, VERY surprising. Add to that the unknown bloodline and from surprising it comes to shocking.
"Holy Rinnegan!" Several nin with weak nerves fainted. It was too much for them. Most of them widened their eyes to unbelievable wideness. Some even started to cough; cough really bad because when they saw Naruto's eyes, they gasped so hard that popcorn from their mouths was sucked in by the air and stuck in their throats. They tried to cough them out, but to no avail. This dojutsu was supposed to be only a legend. Read: supposed to.
*cough* *cough*
*cough* *cough* *cough*
*cough*
*cough*
Coughing was heard from different parts of the room. Someone shouted "Hokage-sama! We need medics! They can't cough out the popcorn!"
Hokage sighed, rubbed his temples and summoned the ANBU.
"I knew I shouldn't assign 'the popcorn mission'. I just knew something like this might happen." he thought.
-Flashback end-
"Those who still want to see what happens next can stay. Those who think they've seen enough can leave. I just hope they won't do anything THAT shocking again." Hokage said. Although he knew about Naruto's Rinnegan, he didn't know about the Uchiha and Haruno kids. Especially about the Sakura, because she was supposed to be from civilian family. Well, she wasn't completely civilian, but her only relative who was still alive was civilian. "I'll have to ask why he calls it 'Holy' instead of just Rinnegan. Although I remember he said his Rinnegan is a bit different than the original."
Indeed, some left the room but most shinobi stayed. Never in their life they would miss something like that. Who thought village's pariah would have the strongest of all dojutsu.
For the next week, or even month... screw that, for years to come team 7's ascendance to such power would be the most discussed topic. Especially Naruto and Sakura with their unknown abilities and their teamwork. Even now some started to discuss them. Some even said that the legendary Sannin didn't have such teamwork at their youth.
-Back to epic team 7-
Kakashi closed his eyes and tried to calm his nerves. "Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Calm down. Be professional. Maybe it is yet another genjutsu." he thought as he inhaled and exhaled and opened his eyes just to try to dispel a 'genjutsu'. It didn't work so he widened his eyes again and quickly closed. "Damn! Okay. Be. Professional."
"Oh man, that was hilarious! Poor Kakashi almost fainted due exposure to a sheer power of his little and cute genins!" Kyuubi laughed inside Naruto's head making Naruto to snicker a bit himself "Next time you should make some explosions or earthquakes around you. It would be so epic that your opponents would faint right on the spot!" (A/N: Thanks SilverIcy for that line!)
"I'll think about that."
Kakashi finally opened his eyes he stared at the floating orbs of blood, three tomoe sharingan and Rinnegan with two white slits around pupil.
"Okay-y..." Kakashi started.
All three genins snickered.
"What's the matter Kakashi?" Sasuke asked "Still so confident that we couldn't beat you?"
"Actually I now have doubts I could come out victorious." Kakashi answered. And it was true, he had doubts indeed. Even if he would use his sharingan, they could easily beat him if they team up: he saw only a small glimpse of their abilities and who knows what else they can do with their bloodlines; even if he would go full strength on them so would they and it would be hard to exploit any opening, because someone would always defend the other.
"I know about Sharingan." the man started "But I do not know about that Rinnegan of yours ,Naruto, and the Chishioton, Sakura."
"Right. We'll demonstrate some abilities and give you a brief explanation." Naruto said.
Sasuke deactivated his Sharingan and muttered "Lucky bastards. Now they can show off and I have to sit and watch."
Everyone still heard him. Sakura felt a little bad for him, but there was nothing she could do about it.
"Don't worry about that, Sasuke. I will spar with you in one of our training sessions to see how well can you use your Sharingan." Kakashi said and then turned around to face everyone "Actually, all you will get a spar. I know your teamwork is magnificent but I want to see what you can do on your own."
"Thanks Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura said and the man did an eye smile. "I will go first with explanation. So basically, my Chishioton is combination of suiton with my chakra. What I mean is that blood is already in liquid state so I just add chakra to manipulate it as I want." Kakashi was about to ask a question, but he was interrupted "You may say that then everyone with suiton affinity and good chakra control could do it, but that's not true. If you fill your blood with chakra, nothing happens. The chakra just go through the blood like it wasn't even there. That's exactly where my bloodline comes in - once I filled the blood with my chakra, it stays there and helps me manipulate the blood to make it bend or to make it hard as steel.
These orbs above me are the start of my techniques. The more orbs I make, the more chakra I use to make them. The more orbs I have made, the harder is to control them. As you may already notice, for my Chishioton I use one handed handseals, which is quite rare. I can use up to two different techniques at the same time. Here, let me show you." Sakura said.
Sakura then did a series of one handed handseals on both arms before shouting out
"Chishioton: Spike rush/Wisps of Binding! "
Two orbs morphed into 1.5 m long and 15 cm thick spikes which then shot forward at tremendous speed and pierced two nearby trees going half way in. The third orb transformed into thin, 3 m long wisp, which was circling above Sakura's head until she took out a kunai and threw it high in to the air. The wisp then immediately shot towards kunai and grabbed it, after which the wisp threw kunai at nearby tree, piercing it a bit. The wisp then grabbed nearby tree branch and broke it by pulling it. Then the wisp transformed back to the orb.
Kakashi was quite impressed with the techniques. The possibilities were endless. He was also quite surprised that she did both jutsu at the same time using only one handed seals. She could do a combination of jutsu and various combos.
"As you can see, Kakashi-sensei, Spike rush has the form of strong steel, while Wisps of Binding has the form of strong rope, which can move and bend freely. Spike rush is also a set-up for my other attacks. Look." Sakura said and pointed at the place where she pierced of one of the trees. Surprisingly, there was no spike sticking out of the tree, just a puddle of blood under it.
"If an enemy evaded an attack, he might think I can't control the blood anymore. Fortunately for me, he is wrong. I can control the blood at very wide area and it doesn't need a recharge of my chakra. It kind of produces it for itself. So, when the spike missed the target I can transform from steel form to liquid form and make a puddle. Then I can use this puddle to make long range attacks for unsuspecting enemy or to make traps from them. For example."
Sakura did some handseals with both hands and when she finished she shouted "Chishioton: Crimson Bullets!" One of the puddles, which was closer to Sakura, started to shoot numerous red bullets into another tree. It continued for 2 seconds, slowly depleting the puddle until it was gone. The only thing what was left was small holes in a suffered tree.
Sakura then did another set of handseals and said "Chishioton: Underworld Binding!" The only one puddle which was left, let out 5 or 6 wisps from it and ensnared the tree by wrapping around it. Small cracks seemed to appear where the wisps were holding showing that these wisps had a death grasp. The wisps then retracted back to puddle which in turn morphed into a ball and flew back where it was at the beginning - above Sakura's head.
"And that's about it. Any questions?" She asked.
"Wow. The bloodline clearly shows some potential. Looks like it's more suited for sneaky attacks than in direct assault. Is it not painful to get the blood? Or you can use other's blood as well? Also, I saw how some drops transformed into a ball. Does your blood uses chakra, which you fill them with, to expand and retract?" Kakashi asked.
Sakura rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. SHE had FORGOT to explain something. What a nerve...
"Forgot to explain that. It isn't painful if I use a special knife." she then showed it "I channel some chakra in it so the seal would glow and then stab my palm. The process, somehow, is totally unharmful. Once I get enough blood and transform them into orbs, I take out the dirk. The moment I take out the dirk, the wound heals and the blood replenishes. I don't know how the seals does it. Even Naruto can't sort it out. And yes, orb shrinks or expands proportionally to chakra filled in them. Unfortunately, the healing work only on me, so it's not some kind of healing seal. Already tried on Naruto (poor Naruto - exposed to Sakura's evil experiments). Furthermore, my bloodline makes me quite resistant to blood-loss. So if someone wants to kill me, it has to be a death blow. It was another my experiment and I got a little headache after losing a lot of blood." she finished all the while demonstrating what she is saying. Well, except proving the blood-loss resistance.
Everyone sweatdropped at her last sentence. Naruto, on the other hand, thought something of lines like "Damn her experiments" and "evil experimenter".
"I see. Quite a bloodline you have there. And if I might add, it's somehow creepy. What are the drawbacks?"
"I'm not revealing that. Gotta keep some shinobi secrets, right? Especially if it concerns my bloodline." Sakura replied with a sweet smile.
"Fair enough. You're next, Naruto." Kakashi said.
"Finally!" Naruto replied and walked to a spot where Sakura was standing. Sakura, walked down and sat next to Sasuke who was quietly observing the scene in front of him.
Kakashi nodded indicating that Naruto may start.
"Okay. My dojutsu has several abilities. I will not explain all of them, just the main ones I use most often." Kakashi nodded in understanding. No ninja would like to tell someone all of his secrets. "When activated, I can see chakra outside of the human's body. Also, it allows me to zoom in my sight, which works like a telescope. It is not very far like Byakugan, yet useful. My left eye has another ability which I call 'Photography'. It allows me to 'photograph' anything I see and store it in some kind of library in my head which I can access at any time. In other words, once I photograph something, it stays in my memory forever. It is great to remember places, or maps or any serious documents which have to be destroyed. It is also great with seals. I won't go further on why it is good with seals because it's too complicated to explain. Anyway, there's a limited amount of times I can use this ability in one day, which is now 5 times."
Kakashi nodded in understanding. This ability would be great in sneak missions where you have to get information from documents. But he was curious what happens if Naruto uses the ability more than 5 times, so he asked it.
"Well, it gives me a real headache and that's all. Nothing is remembered. Anyhow, on to the next ability. The Rinnegan consists of 6 paths and each path has its own ability set. I will explain you two of my paths. The first one is Deva path which allows me to manipulate gravity. Watch and learn." Naruto snickered at his last phrase. So bad-ass. Although he copied it from Sasuke, he still liked it. Sasuke rolled his eyes at Naruto's last phrase.
He then faced a nearby tree and raised his left hand while saying "Bansho Ten'in!" Suddenly, the large tree was torn out from the roots and flew towards Naruto. Kakashi's one visible eye widened at sheer display of power. Just how strong the attraction power has to be to rip a tree this large from its roots? The tree was flying towards Naruto at fast speed and if the boy wouldn't do anything soon, it will hit him. Kakashi was bout to 'save' Naruto until he save his expression. Naruto was... waiting for something?
And it was true. Naruto was waiting. He was waiting when the tree would come close enough so his display of repulsion power would be bad-ass. When the tree was just 1 m away from Naruto, the boy quickly raised his other hand and shouted out "Shinra Tensei!"
The tree the exploded in various pieces of trunk and flew in the opposite direction form Naruto. Kakashi's eye widened even more.
"As you can see, it was power of attraction and repulsion. Power of my Deva path. It was quite strong and required a decent amount of chakra because I managed to rip the tree from roots and the torn it in pieces with just gravity power. But mind you, it wasn't even in full power. I have 3 jutsu in this path and you've seen only two. I know there's more but I still haven't found out what are they."
"Show off." Sasuke muttered and Sakura agreed with him by nodding her head.
"Wow. I've never seen the power of gravity before... it's terrifying to say the least. What is the third one?"
"That one," Naruto smiled as he paused to add dramatic moment " is a secret."
Kakashi wanted to face fault but he managed to resist the urge. Naruto's other teammates sweatdropped.
"Anyway, the second path is called Asura path. At least it was in an original Rinnegan. From what I know (read: from what Kyuubi told me), Asura path's ability was to transform user's limbs to mechanical parts and use them as weapons."
"I can't imagine how that works." Kakashi commented.
"Same here." Sakura added her own thought.
"Right. Anyway, fortunately I never had the chance to find out how that works, because I have totally different ability in my Asura path. I renamed it to 'Hunter path'. It allows me to mark various places." Naruto explained.
"Mark? You mean like Inuzukas does that with their nin-hounds?" Kakashi asked.
"That's exactly what I asked him." Sasuke said.
"No. I mean, yes, but still, no." Naruto said.
Now Kakashi was really confused.
"Let me explain. By channeling chakra through my eyes and concentrating on a spot, I create a seal on the surface which says 'Mark' and stays there. The moment this mark appears, I know exact distance between me and the mark, even if my back is turned to mark. For example if I mark both your fists and elbows, I can block and dodge your hits with my eyes closed or when my back is turned to you. Furthermore, I can exploit these marks by using ninjutsu and mentally 'commanding' it to follow the marks. In other words, I can cast a jutsu and make it follow the mark until it hits it. I know there are ninjutsu which you can make to follow the opponent, but those type of ninjutsu needs continuous sustaining of chakra as well as concentration. The good part of my marking is that once I give the command, I don't need to concentrate on that or even sustain it - the jutsu won't stop until it hits the mark or until I dispel it. But the bad part is that once the jutsu hits its mark, the mark disappears and I have to reapply it. It's not a big deal though."
"Wow. That's quite an ability there. Quite powerful and gives you an advantage in battle. Kind of reminds me the Byakugan. I suppose there's a limit on how many of those marks you can place, right?" Kakashi asked.
"Yeah, there is a limit how many marks I can use at once. Originally, it was an ability of my right eye, but I developed it so I can now use it with my both eyes. The maximum amount of marks I can use with my right eye is 6 and with left 4, meaning 10 marks altogether. I don't know what's the total maximum though."
"I see. Well you can find out that with enough training, right?"
"Hell yeah!" Naruto shouted, full of enthusiasm.
Kakashi sweatdropped. "Right. Care to give a demonstration?" after receiving a nod, Kakashi created a Kage Bunshin so he could see if the jutsu would indeed follow and if Naruto could indeed see or know the distance between marks.
Naruto's slits in both eyes started to spin wildly and in less than 2 seconds he managed to place 10 marks on Kakashi's body - on on each hand, each elbow, each foot, each knee, head and chest where the heart supposed to be. In his training he was focusing on speed at which the marks applies instead of numbers. When finished, Naruto nodded, indicating he was ready, and closed his eyes. In less than a second he felt the clone's right fist coming at his face, which Naruto blocked by his forearm. He then felt Kakashi's knee coming at his gut, which Naruto sidestepped. In a second the clone was behind him and send his foot towards Naruto's head, which the boy evaded by tilting his head to the left. 'Kakashi' immediately followed by elbowing him and sweep kicking him, which was sidestepped and jumped over with. Just as Naruto landed, 'Kakashi' stopped his assault and Naruto opened the eyes.
"Impressive. Now show those jutsu."
Naruto nodded and did two handseals and shouted out "Fuuton: Razor Fox Rush!" while thinking 'Seek and destroy!'
Immediately 10 small, in a size of man's fist, transparent fox heads appeared around Naruto, which then rushed towards the clone in tremendous speeds. Original Kakashi's eye widened.
"Just two handseals for such technique. And why it's always foxes?"
The clone started to do bakclfips, rolls and jumps to evade and dodge incoming fuuton missiles. After 5 seconds, one of the heads finally caught up with 'Kakashi's' right hand. The fox head exploded in small vortex of wind blades which left some deep cuts and many small cuts on clone's hand. Then all the other's found their mark. After 2 seconds the clone had countless cuts and gashes after which he poofed out of existence.
"Indeed impressive. You can easily take on multiple enemies at once using this ability." Kakashi stated.
Naruto nodded "Yeah but it's sometimes confusing, especially if using on multiple enemies. I can see the mark, not the arm or fist itself so it's still easy to bypass the ability using some sneaky tactics. Anyhow, that's everything you're going to see now. Gotta keep those shinobi secrets, right?"
As he finished, he deactivated his Kekkei Genkai. Sakura and Sasuke did the same as they approached the duo.
"Yeah, Kakashi-sensei. Even if we're your students now we can't go around telling everyone about our clan secrets, right? I mean, bloodline secrets and other abilities." Sakura said.
"I'm not 'everyone'. I'm your sensei..." Kakashi muttered under his breath, clearly in depressed tone.
Sasuke snickered at that and decided to add his own voice on the matter "Hn. I agree with Sakura. If the word gets out about our power, me and Naruto will get those stupid fan-girls. In Sakura's case, fan-boys." It was harsh to call fan-girls stupid, but it was true.
"Right. To be honest, I don't really need to know your abilities, seeing you're already quite strong and can handle yourselves in a battle. You also move like trained shinobi. The only thing all of you lack is experience and it can heavily decide the outcome of battle." Kakashi said in his 'lecture' tone. All three of his 'students' nodded their heads in understanding, so Kakashi continued. "You still will come to our training sessions. Also, if you have any other questions regarding training, jutsu or pretty much anything you can ask me. Okay then," Kakashi took out his beloved porn as he started to walk away "Lets meet up here tomorrow at 9 a.m. for our first mission. See ya!" and with that, Kakashi was gone.
"He meant at 12 a.m. right?" Sakura asked as she sighed.
Sasuke nodded. "Maybe we should try kicking this habit of his out?"
Naruto just shrugged, "Guys, we don't have anything to do now, right? Lets grab some Ichiraku?"
Sasuke and Sakura smiled, it was one of those sincere smiles, as they answered at the same time "Sure, dobe./Sure thing."
And with that they left the training grounds all the while discussing today's events.
-With Hokage-
A small chattering could be heard throughout the full council room. Many were impressed by displayed abilities and discussed what else they might be hiding. They were a bit disappointed when Sasuke didn't show off his skills, but Naruto's mysterious '6 paths' were more intriguing. It was the topic of the day as many tried to guess other 4 abilities.
"Mmm, such power, such looks... Gotta get him before any other can laid hands on him." a certain purple haired snake lady commented, referring to Naruto.
Kurenai sighed at her friend's, antics "Anko. He is only, what, 12? 13?"
Anko looked at Kurenai as if she grew another head. "Kure-chan, did you know that once a boy becomes shinobi, he becomes a man. If he is at age to kill, then he is at age to drink and have sex. I've heard he has got quite a stamina..." Anko said dreamily, already imagining her and Naruto in... more intimate positions.
Kurenai could nothing but sigh. Some people never changes. "Anyway. I'll have to meet this Sakura person. Want to see her genjutsu in action." she thought.
In other part of the room a nonstop shouting was heard.
"YOSH! KAKASHI STUDENT'S FLAMES OF YOUTH SHINES EVEN BRIGHTER THAN THE SUN ITSELF! THEY ARE IN THEIR SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH AND I WILL TRY TO MATCH THEIR FLAMES! YOSH! IF I CAN'T DO THAT, I'LL CLIMB THE HOKAGE MONUMENT ON MY ARMS, AND IF I CANNOT DO THAT, I'LL DO 1000 PUSH-UPS WITH A BOULDER ON MY BACK TO MATCH THEIR FLAMES, AND IF I CANNOT..."
"JUST SHUT UP, GAI-SAN!" some random jounin shouted, annoyed by man's so called 'youthful' proclamations and impossible tasks.
Someone rudely interrupted his youthful speech and that was unforgivable! The nerve! Gai gave the man a death glare at which said man flinched. He was about to start another speech on how 'unyouthful' it was to interrupt his 'youthful' speech, but before he could start, another jounin, named Genma, switched the topic.
"I saw how Naruto-san was using some kind of Kenjutsu style which I do no recognize. It would be interesting to ask for a spar to see what he is capable of..." Genma said what seemed like to himself.
Gai, already forgot about 'unyouthful' interrupting of his 'youthful' speech, added his own voice of opinion, though this one was more serious tone "Yes. I would also like to challenge Naruto and Sasuke for a fight. They seemed to be quite capable in taijutsu."
"No one knew about them until they became genin and team 7 is already so popular. I wonder for how many years they've hid their true power." Asuma, the ever smoking jounin, said as he joined the conversation.
"It doesn't matter. They showed exactly what is meant by 'deception is ninja's strongest weapon'." Genma said.
"Looks like team 7 will be quite busy these days." Asuma said.
"Indeed." Gai replied with a smirk. "YOSH! MY ETERNAL RIVAL HAS SUCH YOUTHFUL STUDENTS!"
Obviously, everyone ignored his shouting and continued to chat.
Finally after a minute or two Hokage's voice was heard throughout the entire room, asking for silence. And silence he got.
"Thanks. Just now you saw Naruto's and Sakura's bloodlines, so please don't talk about them in public. You may talk about them in private between yourselves but please don't reveal it to chuunin or other genin."
"But why, Hokage-sama?" some one asked.
"Because they just became a genin and I don't want to put too much pressure on them. If everyone would knew about their bloodlines, they would get too much attention. Just like now when you discussed them. I believe they will reveal everything in chuunin exams which, by the way, is not far from now. You can do whatever you like, but remember, they are genin and they still needs time to train and do missions. Do you understand why I'm asking you to not talk about it in public?"
"Hai, Hokage-sama!" everyone said.
Asuma then asked "Hokage-sama," although Hokage was his son, in public where other jounins were, he reffered to him as everyone else, "If we would tell our gening about team 7's power, it could motivate them to train harder."
Hokage nodded his head in agreement "Yes, while I agree with you, Asuma, there's also this thing as 'fresh out of academy'. They won't believe you unless they would see it by their own eyes so there's no point of telling it to them. Furthermore, they might even talk about it in public and spread rumors that you're showing favoritism towards team 7 instead of your squad. Though you can compare the progress of your team and team 7. Like missions done or something like that."
"Fair enough." Asuma answered fully agreeing. He knew Ino liked to spread rumors. He also knew she liked to make them more scandalous than they actually were.
"This meeting is FINALLY over. Dismissed." Hokage said as he left via shunshin. Most of ninjas followed his example and left the room by shunshin, but some preferred to walk away via door and discuss what have been seen.
-Unknown location-
Somewhere at the border of Tsuchi no Kuni, in a small village, two figures stood in the shadow of alley between the houses. It was a rainy day so streets were mainly empty. The big bullets of rain were banging against the ground so it was hard to hear or understand what they were talking about. A perfect time when most bandits and criminals would discuss their plans. But these two were no normal bandits. And they were not simple criminals. Oh, no simple criminals indeed.
"So are we agreed?" one them asked, the voice belonging to a man.
"Yes. I'll test it." the other one answered, his voice sounding a bit strange, like some hissing or something, but clearly belonging to a man as well.
"Good. You'll report the results." the first one said, before giving something to the other man. After that he quickly, but slightly, turned his head to the left, where the alley ends and looked at nothing.
Before the first one could say something, the other one did it first "Leader is calling. We should better go... Even I fear that man."
The first man nodded his head and each of them separated, going to different directions, each with their own thoughts.
There is a village at the border of Taki and Hi no Kuni, which is called the Glass village. Village is quite small, it had only about 50 or so houses, shops not included. The village itself was on a hill and not far from it you could also see and hear a waterfall. Most houses in the village had only one floor but some of them had two or even three, although they were rare. All the houses had big windows and big, yet narrow roof. Around the village there was a wooden wall which looked quite stable and could resist a bandit's, or even ninja's, assault. There was also a river surrounding the village which came from the waterfall and proceeded further into the Taki. At one point, there was a bridge and a gate which lead into the village. They were guarded by two guards. They were not ninjas, but they could handle some bandits. Over all, this village looked like a small fort.
That was also the village where Alicia Tsukiko, our young Valkyrie, lived for past 4 months. The village loved her because of her gentle and caring nature, yet merciless towards anyone who hurt the villagers, which mainly were bandits. She now was taller than 5 years ago and was as tall as Naruto now. Not like she knew who Naruto was anyway. Her hair still reached lower back, but from light blond they changed to snow white. She had her battle dress on, which she wore only when on mission or when accepting new missions, or on important events (A/N: by battle dress I mean what I described in earlier chapters) Now she was standing in village elder's office, discussing the latest reports.
The elder, Gaiko, was an old man in his 60. He had short, gray hair, silver earrings in both ears. He wore simple brown civilian trousers which reached his ankles, comfortable black sneakers, he had long-sleeved, brown shirt which went past his waist. He also had black leather belt which looked really expensive. His neck was decorated with beautiful necklace full of birds' feathers in various colors.
"Are they bandits again? Man, they sure are persistent." Alicia said with annoyance. She already dealt with that bandit group. Twice.
Gaiko spoke in loud, demanding respect yet elderly voice "No, you scared the bandits away so they won't be a problem for some time now."
"What is it then?"
"Patience, child." the elder answered with a smile. He knew Alicia didn't like the waiting, so he tried to teach her patience. It was pointless though. "Some of our loggers and scouts said they saw some ninjas passing by in the direction of bandit camp. They knew they're ninjas because they used some ninja techniques. Unfortunately, they didn't recognize from what village they were, but they saw that their hitai-ate had a slash across them indicating they were missing nin. Also, we don't know their intentions."
"Hmm, those are disturbing news. What is needed from me?"
Gaiko sipped some tea which appeared from thin air. Or maybe Alicia just didn't notice he was holding a teapot at all.
"Right. Your task, if you accept, is to investigate the area in the forest and try to find their camp and from which village they are. I want you to report their exact numbers and if you can identify them by bingo book, as well as their intentions." the man said. He was quite informed about ninja business for a civilian, but then again - he was a village elder, a chief, so he had to know such things. "It will help us to organize our defenses in a case of attack. Do not attack them and try not to be found. I know you're capable, but there's a big difference between a bunch of bandits and several unknown ninjas."
Alicia nodded. "Understood. I accept the mission. I shall take my leave then."
"Be safe, Alicia. Without you, our village would be overrun with bandits that night. You have my gratitude."
"Always, Gaiko-sama, always."
And with that she left the room to prepare necessary supplies.
-Another unknown location-
It looked like a cave with lot of rocks of various size in it. There stood 10 shadowy figures. Or should I rather say it was an astral projection of real people? They were the Akatsuki, a small organisation consisting of S-rank missing ninjas of various countries. The meetings were rare and used only astral projection to keep themselves safe. It was also easier because you could attend the meeting at any point of the world. This was one of the meetings to discuss some of their plans.
Only eyes could be seen from the projection and the most noticeable were the ones with ripple patter. It was the Rinnegan. It belonged to leader of organisation, Pain.
"Good. You're all here." He started in a monotone voice "For now we shall lay low and gather money for our further plans. We will start capturing the bijuu after 1 or 2 years. Although if you found a jinchuuriki you may capture him ONLY if you're confident you can do it without any problems and if it would not bring any problems for our organisation. Is that clear?"
"Hai." everyone replied.
"Good. Kakuzu here will take care for the most income seeing how he likes the job of bounty hunter."
"Indeed, Pain-sama. Thank you for the opportunity." said Kakuzu in eerie voice.
Nodding his head, Pain asked "Are there any important reports you may have?"
"If I may." someone asked.
"Go on, Zetsu." the leader said.
Now revealed Zetsu continued "I have come across the information that there is going to be an assassination attempt at Yondaime Kazekage in some months. I don't sure if it's true or just rumors though." Zetsu spoke in two voices, which was quite strange and weird.
"Hn. I bet they're just rumors. Who would be foolish enough to assassinate the Kage anyway?" someone asked.
"Deidara, being a Kage means endangering yourself. Many try to assassinate Kages." some else answered. The voice belonged to a male and he was standing next to Deidara. Also, voice sounded stoic and demanded some degree of respect.
"Hmph. Whatever, Haori. As if you know what it means to be a Kage."
"Maybe I don't know how it is to be a Kage, but I do know how it is to be important person." now revealed Haori answered. He had pale, pupil-less eyes.
"Can you shut the hell up already? I want this meeting to be done with so I can go and sacrifice something to Jashin-sama!" Hidan shouted.
His partner shook his head in annoyance "Shut up, Hidan! Show some respect!"
"Respect my ass! I-"
But he couldn't finish as Pain interrupted "Enough!"
Hidan mumbled something under his breath. If one would listen closely, he would hear a quiet 'sorry'.
"To answer your question, Deidara, it is rumored that Sasori of the Red Sand will get the job done. For what purposes I do not know. But still they are just rumors. What are you going to do with information, Pain-sama?" Zetsu asked.
"Nothing. It is not our business."
"Actually, Pain-sama, I have a proposition." someone asked. It sounded like the man in a dark alley back at Tsuchi no Kuni border. The one who's voice sounded like hissing.
"What is it?"
"I plan to use this opportunity to strike Konoha and weaken their strength, which would be then easy to scout for Kyuubi jinchuuriki and update information on him."
"Hm? How are planning on doing that?"
"It depends if..." and so the man said part of his plan. Not the entire plan, no, but still enough details to convince the leader to allow such actions.
After some minute of discussing, slowly everyone disappeared from the scene by fading away in the shadows. When only two figures were left, one of them spoke. The voice was clearly feminine.
"You think it is okay for him to do that?"
"Either he succeeds or fails, it doesn't matter. He succeeds, we get information and more freedom. He fails, we get rid of another S-ranked criminal who could be nuisance in my plans." Pain answered.
"I hope you're right."
-Konoha-
Next day was bright as ever and many genins were anticipated to get new missions. Oh what a disappointment it will be after they will finish their first 'Devil cat Tora' mission.
It was 12 a.m. and team 7 were heading to the team's meeting place where their sensei was supposed to wait for them. He was supposed to wait because the trio were 3 hours late.
As they got closer to the spot, they saw Kakashi appearing via shunshin. "Yo." he said as he did his famous eye smile "Sorry for being late, I-"
"Cut the crap, Kakashi. We arrived just now as well."
Kakashi looked at them with shock. Damn them. And he finally made up a new excuse...
"Right, lets go to Hokage-sama and get the mission. Yesterday I convinced him to give us a C ranked instead of D." Kakashi said as they walked towards the Hokage tower.
"Really? Thank you so much, Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura said in joy. Kakashi was a bit confused.
"You just got some points of respect." Naruto added.
"Huh?"
"Kakashi. Thanks for saving us from the 'Devil Cat'." Sasuke thanked.
Kakashi looked at them with deadpan expression. 'Devil Cat'? Then realization hit him like a ton of bricks. "Oooohhh. So you already know all the joy of D ranks?"
"Of course. I received info not only on jounin, but also about their genin squad and their missions in the village." Naruto said.
"I still can't understand how you get the info."
"That's a secret, cyclops." Naruto said with a smirk.
"Don't call me that."
They were going rather slowly, enjoying the morning warmth. After minute or two of silence, Kakashi spoke up "Your introduction at the roof of academy was just an act as well, right?"
All three of them nodded.
"Quite impressive. I actually believed it. Anyway, care to tell something about yourselves? I mean, I'm sure you know each other quite well, but I would like to knew you better as well. You are my partners now, right?"
"Partners?" Sakura asked.
"That's right." he answered with an eye smile "Although you're genin by rank, you're quite powerful and we can fight as equals. I'm still your sensei and you should call me sensei, but we're partners."
Naruto liked it. Partner. One more person he can trust and rely on. He already had Sakura and Sasuke, but if he wanted to be Hokage that wasn't enough. He smiled and started off "Sure thing, Kakashi. It is always good to have another friend or partner at my side." Kakashi smiled at this. Slowly, he is being accepted in the team. It should be other way around, where genin should accept each other, but this was a ninja world. No. It was Naruto. "We know a lot about you so it is only fair you know something about us. So, my name is Naruto ... Uzumaki." Kakashi thought it was strange when Naruto paused at his surname, but he let it go.
"My likes are ramen, training, creating and developing new jutsu, my precious people, which includes my team, and there's another thing I like, but I'm not saying it now. My dislikes are arrogant people who has unbelievably big stick up in their asses," everyone sweatdropped at this, " and people who can't forget their pasts to move onward, as well as people who goes with the crowd and believed their fears. By that I mean me and me tenant." Kakashi nodded fully understanding what he was talking about. "My hobbies are training, spending time with my friends here and gardening. My dream for the future is to become a legendary shinobi. Maybe if not legendary, then powerful shinobi and to become the next Hokage. Well, I won't be the next one as I'm too young and still only a genin, I dream to become Rokudaime. I would then do everything to protect the people of village."
Gardening? Kakashi thought. Oh, why not? He also guessed both Sakura and Sasuke knew about the Kyuubi if Naruto was talking so freely about it. Though he was surprised by his dream. He knew Naruto wanted to be the Hokage, but the man didn't know why he wanted to be and it appears Naruto wanted to be Hokage for right reasons. He also was impressed by how much maturity Naruto showed when he talked about being the Hokage.
Taking the initiative, Sakura said her story "Well my name is Sakura Haruno. My likes are my friends here, family training and developing new genjutsu. I also like cooking. My dislikes, juts like Naruto's, are arrogant people and fan-girls. Yes, I know that's surprising seeing how I was one once. But when I started to train with the boys I couldn't help but notice how fan-girls acted. How I acted. Anyway, my hobbies are creating new jutsu for my bloodline as well as developing genjutsu, and cooking. My dreams are to become strong and well known kunoichi, just like Tsunade-sama, and to bring genjutsu to new levels. The art of genjutsu is indeed forgotten."
Kakashi was indeed pleased with Sakura. She too showed great maturity and her dream sounded sincere.
Now it was Sasuke's turn. "You know my name already so I won't repeat i-" he got a death glare from Naruto and Sakura. Sasuke sighed. "Alright, alright. You almost killed me here with those glares..." and another glare.
"Anyway, my name is Sasuke Uchiha. My likes. Well I guess these two and training. Oh and I like tomatoes and taking walks." Kakashi sweatdropped. "My dislikes are arrogant people who are power hungry, just like my clan. Never liked them. My hobbies are training. My dream is to become an ANBU like my brother and maybe become well known ninja."
Overall, Kakashi was impressed and pleased with his team. All of them liked training and had a good dream, which meant they have the motivation to keep going. All of them hated the same kind of people, making their bond stronger. In fact, Kakashi didn't like arrogant people as well. He was a bit concerned about Sasuke's dream, but he will see where it is going. Kakashi just hoped Sasuke won't become as Itachi. It was also quite surprising that an Uchiha hated his clan.
"I'm proud of you. It is our first day together, but I'm already proud of you. I believe we will work together just fine." Kakashi said and looked up ahead "Oh, it seems we're already here."
And he was right. They were in front of Hokage tower. They walked in and went to Mission Hall where missions were being assigned. They walked in a large room. There was a long table at which Hokage himself, Iruka and some random chunin were sitting and giving out the missions.
"Hey, jiji." Naruto shouted out, ignoring everyone else in the room.
Except for team 7, there was also team 10 there. When Ino heard how Naruto addressed the Hokage, she was petrified. "Naruto-baka is and always will be a baka. He is going to be slaughtered!" she thought in a horror. Shikamaru and Choji were surprised as well. Asuma just snickered and approached Kakashi for some words. What was the most shocking for three genin of team 10 was that Hokage actually answered without any rage on anger, but rather with... loving and caring voice.
"Hello, Naruto-kun. I believe you passed your exam just perfectly."
"Oh, wouldn't you know, jiji."
"What do you mean?" Hokage asked.
"After I activated something," he blinked twice indicating that he was talking about his Rinnegan, "I saw you were using that crystal spying ball."
Hokage was shocked, as was Kakashi and Asuma. Nothing could see it! Nothing and no one! Regaining his composure, he said "We'll talk about that later. You haven't visited me recently. Tell me how you've been." And so Naruto and Hokage spent next 2 or 3 minutes talking.
Meanwhile, when Ino saw that no one is getting killed she approached team 7, Shikamaru and Choji following her as they didn't have any choice. Ino addressed Sakura "It looks like Naruto-baka is quite close to the Hokage-sama. I wonder what our leader saw in that loser anyway. I don't even understand how he passed the genin exam. I guess Sasuke-kun did all the work. By the way, what's with the new outfi-"
Suddenly, she was overflowed with a combined KI. It was all directed at her and she was already on her knees, panting and sweating heavy. Shikamaru and Choji fared better as they only had trouble breathing. All the talking stopped as everyone looked at the scene. Naruto was too occupied by talking to Hokage that he didn't hear what they were talking about.
Ino barely managed to raise her head to look who leaked such KI. She suspected it to be Kakashi as it was his student, but what she saw shocked her. It was combined KI of Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke. Kakashi leaked the less KI and Sakura leaked thrice as much. Sasuke, on the other hand, was the one who was leaking the most KI. Both Sakura and Sasuke had clear anger in their eyes.
"Never talk..." Sakura started.
"...about Naruto like that ever again..." Sasuke continued
"...in our presence." Sakura finished.
"Even though Kurenai-sensei removed most of the fan-girls from the academy, some stayed. You just proved you're one of them." Sasuke stated and he stopped leaking KI.
I was a lot easier to breathe now, but still Kakashi's and Sakura's KI pressed her down. But then they vanished. She quickly stood up, and stood between Choji and Shikamaru, as if hiding between them. She was too afraid and too shocked to say something. It didn't make any sense though. What could happen in one week? Shikamaru, Choji and Asuma were shocked as well, all for the same reasons. Such KI just from a genin.
Naruto snickered at the faces of team 10. "HA! They haven't felt MY KI yet." he thought. Naruto approached team 10 and stood just in front of Ino. Though Ino calmed down a bit, she was still too shocked to talk. But she couldn't help but admire Naruto as she took in his new features. Now when orange eye sore was gone it was more easier to look at him. He looked quite handsome...
Suddenly Naruto spoke "Did you know Sasuke hates fan-girls? Have you ever questioned yourselves why he ignored you or you just thought it's because he is so cool? Hmph, you just annoyed him at the academy." Sasuke nodded agreeing with Naruto.
Ino couldn't help but blink dumbfounded.
Hokage coughed, bringing back all attention to him. "Right. You came here for missions, so lets get back to business." Seeing as everyone turned their attention to him, he spoke "Team 7, you'll get the mission first as it is more important. Actually, you first mission as a genin squad is going to be a B ranked."
Obviously team 10 widened their eyes in utter disbelief. They had to do some stupid D ranks and team 7 got a B rank as their first one? All three genins on team 10 had the same thought 'They're genin fresh out of academy, they can't possibly take a B rank.' Overcoming the shock Shikamaru decided to voice his concerns.
"But Hokage-sama, we're fresh out of academy and I'm sure we can't take on dangerous missions as B ranks."
Hokage smirked "Yes, Shikamaru, I agree."
Shikamaru was a bit confused "But then-"
"I agree that YOU'RE not ready. But they," he proudly pointed at team 7 "they are. You'll find soon enough why."
Shikamaru just stood there, dumbfounded. Countless scenarios ran in his head on what Hokage could mean by that. Sure, he knew Naruto and Sasuke were training, but they surely couldn't get that strong. It was too troublesome to think on it now so he just stood there.
"Hokage-sama." Kakashi spoke out "Yesterday we talked about giving them only a C rank. Why change your mind so quickly?"
Hokage smiled "Originally, this one was supposed to be a C rank but the client send some extra information so I upgraded it to a B rank. I don't want to show any favoritism but I believe team 7 skills and talents could be used elsewhere than in bandit or wild animal chasing. Team 7 is quite unique team, right?" he said, emphasizing on some parts so Kakashi would understand what he was referring to.
Shikamaru narrowed his eyes "This is clearly a code talk. Just what did he mean by 'unique'. What's so unique about them that they could get a B rank mission as their first one? Troublesome..."
Ino was very shocked and confused. Usually at this situation she would demand explanations and such, but not in the presence of Hokage and not in this state of mind (after combined KI). Choji was confused as well, but he didn't care that much.
"I suppose you're right. Do we accept?" Kakashi asked the team.
Before everyone could answer, Asuma asked "Kakashi, why are you asking them? You're the one who decides."
Hokage looked at Kakashi and wanted to know that as well. The man gave an eye smile and said "Well. When a sparrow can bite the hawk, they become equal. And with equalness comes Will of Fire." (A/N: I know it sounds obvious, but just imagine this code was so hard that Shikamaru couldn't figure it out just yet.)
Both Sarutobi nodded fully understanding what he meant. Looked like Kakashi's genin's caught on that as well because they were smirking. On the other hand genin of team 10 had this 'Whaaat?' face expression.
"So, are we taking it?"
"Of course." Sasuke replied. "Not gonna miss a chance to kick someone's ass."
"Maybe B ranked is still too high for us? Maybe we could start with high C ranking?" Sakura said though she didn't really mean her words as she wanted that B ranked mission as much as the boys did.
"Oh come, Sakura, I agree with emo. This is our big chance. Imagine, we will be the first genin team in history who skipped all the D and C ranked missions and started straight with B! We will the first genin in history who were saved from 'The Demon Cat'!" Naruto tried to reasons.
Now that was unfair, thought team 10. They had to catch that demon of a cat - in fact all genin teams had to catch it - yet team 7 got lucky and avoided the torture.
"Now when you put it that way it sure sounds awesome. I'm in!" Sakura said and chuckled "I was just messing with you. I want this mission as much as you do."
"I almost got a heart attack in that moment. Don't mess around with such things, Sakura. It's dangerous." Sasuke said and three of them laughed. Ino was getting jealous of their interactions. They weren't like this in academy. It wasn't like that in her team.
"It looks like they know each other for years..."
"Okay then, we accept, Hokage-sama. What's the mission?" Kakashi finally asked and the trio suddenly became all serious, which in turn surprised team 10.
"Here's the scroll." Hokage threw a purple scroll with a big 'B' on it to Kakashi, who in turn easily caught it. "Everything's written in it. You may lave the village when you're ready, but I advise you do it as fast as possible."
Kakashi opened the scroll and read through the contents. When he finished, he raised an eyebrow. "Interesting one. What do you guys think?" He asked as he passed the scroll to his team.
All of them read through the scroll and copied Kakashi's face expression at the end.
"Sound interesting." Sakura said.
"Interesting or not, we need to focus on the objective. Let's go and pack everything we need. We'll discuss it later, as we go to the destination." Naruto said, showing some leadership which Kakashi and Hokage noticed.
"Agreed." said Kakashi and Sasuke at the same time.
"Let's meet up at main the main gate after 2 hours." Kakashi said, but before he could shunshin away, Naruto stopped him
"Kakashi. If you're going to be even 1 second late, you're gonna experience something what will make 'Moonlight Sonata' look like a child's game." Naruto said as he gave the man a death glare. Sasuke and Sakura joined in as well and it was intimidating as hell.
"O-Okay. J-Ja ne!" He said and shunshined away, his face all sweaty. "Damn, they're something else." Although he was interested what could it be, he didn't want to test the fate. Plus he really didn't know what abilities they possess so their threat may be real. "I might as well turn on time..." he mumbled.
Team 7 just left the Hokage tower and Choji looked at the spot they were some moments ago.
"Did they just threatened THE Kakashi?" he asked himself.
Shikamaru shook his head while Ino remained silent.
"Khem. So, for team 10 we have walking Inuzuka dogs, picking up the litter at nearby lake, or... OH. Catching Tora the cat!" Hokage said in a sing song voice.
Team 10's shout of horror was heard all across the village.
END!
I would appreciate some feedback.
I also know some thing might be confusing so feel free to ask.
Though there's some thing I want you think about (more like know your opinion):
Can you guess who were those two man were at the dark alley?
What do you think the mission is?
What will happen to team 10 after team 7's little performance at the Hokage mission hall?
Well, that's all.
Ja ne!