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Chapter 14: Return
Naruto appeared in Patrol Route 27 without a sound. He looked around and pulled out his demon mask and placed it on his face, fully returning to his persona as Oni, the Hitokiri Battousai of Konoha. He made a mental note of changing his attire in the future since he didn't want his sudden appearance in the shinobi world to center on him. After all, there weren't a lot of people wearing blue kimono, white hakama, and an orange scarf.
"Time to get this show on the road." whispered Naruto before speeding through a set of hand seals and slamming his hand on the ground.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Akira."
The smoke cleared revealing a small brown fox sitting on its haunches.
"What can I do for you, N…uh…Oni-sama?" said the fox, changing the name at the last minute when he saw the mask his summoner was wearing.
"Hello, Akira. Thanks for coming. I have a little job for you." said Naruto behind his mask. The fox nodded before peering closely at Naruto's masked face.
"Sure. But…um…I thought you promised you won't be wearing that mask anymore, Oni-sama." the fox asked curiously. Naruto shrugged.
"This is a one-time deal, Akira. Someone precious to me was kidnapped. I want you to try to sniff around if you can find him. I think you remember Asuma-nii, right?"
"Yep." replied the fox, wagging its tail.
"Can you please try to find his scent and trace it to where he is now? I'll follow you at a distance. Dispel after you find them."
"Roger!" quipped the fox cheerfully before starting to sniff around.
Five minutes later, an excited yip from Akira alerted Naruto that the fox found something, probably a scent from his surrogate brother. Nodding to himself, he jumped off the ground and landed on the branch of a tree and started following his tracker.
"The hunt begins." Naruto whispered to no one as he soundlessly followed the fox to his prey.
Naruto followed Akira to an abandoned trading station just outside Patrol Route 27. The temporarily-reactivated shinobi recognized it as one of the few trading areas that was put to a halt due to the rising number of bandits in the area. He currently perched on top of a tree looking down at the various run-down shacks in the area and seeing some Iwa shinobis patrolling.
"Are you sure they're down there, Akira?" whispered Naruto to the fox who was currently hiding under his kimono. Akira's face poked out of his chest and looked up.
"Yep. I whiffed your brother's scent down there. I'm not sure where but all I know he's in one of those buildings." said Akira with confidence.
"Any idea how many shinobis are down there?" Naruto asked curiously, eyes trying to pierce the darkness surrounding the buildings.
"I sensed twelve chakra signatures so I would say ten enemies and two friendlies." Akira reported before double checking again. "Yep, there's twelve down there alright."
"Great. Can you keep the invisibility up for a few more minutes?" Naruto asked his friend.
"Sure, that's easy. What do you have in mind?" Akira asked curiously with a tilt of his head.
"I need to scout the area to see which of those buildings contain Asuma-nii and Kurenai." Naruto informed the fox before creating five shadow clones. "I want you to disguise yourself as animals and try to find Asuma-nii. Dispel when found. Go!"
The clones nodded and jumped to the ground soundlessly before putting on their animal disguise. Naruto waited for a few minutes alone since he already asked Akira to return to the summoning realm before one of his clones dispelled, informing him where the prisoners were held.
"Great, they are currently in that big building over there." thought Naruto, eyeing the only two-storey building in the area. "I need to draw the Iwa shinobis out and let my clones rescue them."
"How do you intend to do that?" Kurama asked curiously.
"Well, jiji, did say to make an example of them without killing so I'm planning to do just that." said Naruto before creating a clone and dispelling it, letting his plan pass on to the disguised clones hidden in the trading grounds below. He jumped to the ground and pulled out Kenshin before channeling his energies into it.
"So I take it you're planning a VERY loud distraction then?" asked Kurama with amusement in his voice.
"Yep." said Naruto before releasing his technique while executing a perfect horizontal slash. A wave of blue and red energy flew from the tip his blade, and flew towards one of the abandoned buildings in an arc. Said building was brought down by a huge explosion that echoed around the area. "I think that's loud enough for a distraction."
"You think?" said Kurama sarcastically.
Naruto walked out of the shadows and was immediately surrounded by five Iwa shinobis who were looking at him with both fear and awe, except for one who was sneering at him.
"Greetings, Iwa-nins. I think you already know why I came here?" said Naruto with a bit of cheer in his voice. The rather cocky Iwa shinobi gave him a malicious grin.
"Oh we know and we are going to make an example out of you, Konoha scum." said the shinobi with an evil chuckle. His four comrades, however, were giving him an incredulous look as if he was crazy.
"Are you stupid? Do you who he is?" one shinobi asked almost hysterically.
"He is just a masked idiot," said the cocky shinobi. "A Konoha trash not worthy of our attention."
"I knew Iwa-nins were destructive, but I didn't know they were suicidal as well." Naruto said calmly from behind the man who didn't notice him disappear.
Without another word, Naruto did a backhand slash with his Sakabatou that hit the cocky shinobi right on the ribs, causing some of them to crack. With a burst of Ki to his muscles, Naruto completed the swing that launched the man off his feet to fly towards a building and hitting it with a loud crack. It would be safe to say that the Iwa nin wouldn't be getting up any time soon.
"Shit. It's the Hitokiri Battousai of Konoha. He's back." said one of the four, looking at the masked swordsman in fear.
"Oh? I didn't know I'm still famous after disappearing for two years. Interesting. Now that all of us are introduced with each other then it's time to get down to business, huh?" said Naruto in an amused voice before disappearing and started breaking the bones of the four. Since the Hokage asked him to make an example of them without killing them then he would just have to settle for broken bones…all of them. He promised not to kill anymore and broken bones didn't fall under that promise. They were still going to live, after all.
"What in the world was that?" shouted an Iwa Jounin who was currently standing guard over their prisoners.
"I don't know, but whoever they are they're good as dead." said another Jounin in a cocky tone.
Asuma tensed when he heard and felt the explosion. With his limited sensing abilities, he immediately recognized the energy signature, an energy that he hadn't felt for two years now. He knew that his father was going to send someone to rescue him but to bring him out? That was overkill. Besides, wasn't he supposed to be retired already?
He was brought out of his musings when one of the shinobis guarding him cried out in pain before being thrown out of the building by making a hole in the wall. He looked up and saw someone he hadn't seen for two years.
"What the hell!" shouted Asuma in excitement and relief. "You're back!"
"Who?" said an Iwa shinobi who was staring at the intruder before realization appeared in his eyes. "Holy shit. I was expecting a team of Konoha shinobis but to send the Hitokiri Battousai? Shit!"
"Damn. Even after two years of retirement, the boss is still famous." said Naruto-clone in an amused voice while eyeing the four Iwa shinobis in the room.
"Boss? You're just a clone?" said one of the Jounins fearfully. If the clone was strong then the real one should be stronger. He shivered at the beating they were going to experience under the famed Hitokiri Battousai, S-rank shinobi of Konohagakure no Sato. Why oh why did they take this mission?
"Oh yes. The boss is currently outside making an…example…of the patrol you mentioned. He should be finished now so I need to get my job done." Naruto-clone said with a chuckle before using Shinsuko to get under the Jounin's guard and did a battoujutsu maneuver that hit the shinobi right on the chin, propelling him to the ceiling, making his head crash on the wooden panel and stayed there with the rest of the body dangling, twitching all the while.
With a roar of desperation, the three shinobis proceeded to attack. Naruto-clone simply chuckled and brought his Kenshin-clone down on them like Kami's wrath smiting the wicked. It didn't take long for the Iwa nins to hit the floor suffering from broken bones, bruises, and concussions. Chuckling, Naruto-clone made his way to Asuma and removed their bindings.
"You're Oni's clone huh?" said Asuma as he winced a bit before standing. They suffered a beating from the Iwa shinobis before getting tied up.
"What happened to Kurenai?" Naruto-clone asked worriedly as he eyed the kunoichi after taking off the rope around her.
"She passed out after the beating. We were supposed to be delivered to Iwa in the morning. Good thing you made it here in time." explained Asuma. "Can't you heal us before getting out of here?"
Naruto-clone shook his head in negative.
"Can't. Only the original can use that technique. Don't worry, he'll be here soon." said the clone.
It didn't take long for the original Naruto to arrive in the building and proceeded to heal the two Konoha shinobis before dispelling the clone who was standing on guard while he cast the healing spell. Kurenai was still out of it despite having all of her wounds healed but Asuma solved the problem of escape by carrying her bridal style.
"Well, now that's over and done with, let's go back to Konoha." said Naruto cheerfully before heading out. He couldn't deny the fact that he enjoyed the mission and decided to become a Genin. Besides, He was getting bored doing nothing but read all day. If he remembered correctly, the next batch in the Academy would be graduating in three years and wondered if the old man would permit him to join them.
Naruto was currently sitting in front of the Hokage in his office. After debriefing the old man on how the rescue mission went, they settled into a homey silence that both welcomed.
"So Naruto-kun, I would like to congratulate you on a successful A-Rank rescue mission. Your pay will be deposited in your account later. Now, let's get down to business. I think you remembered that I said I have a proposition for you, correct?" Naruto nodded. "Well, I was going to ask you if you want to become a shinobi again, though this time, you will have to do it the normal way…graduating from the Academy with the rest of the hopefuls."
"You know, jiji, if I didn't know any better I would say that you can read minds." This remark made the aged leader give out a hearty chuckle, to which Naruto smiled. "After rescuing Asuma-nii and his girlfriend, I was planning to ask you if I could attend the Academy. I was planning to ask you if it's okay to join the class under my age group that would be graduating in three years." asked Naruto hopefully.
Sarutobi grinned.
"Actually, I am of the same mind on that, my boy." the aged leader said with a smile before removing two pieces of paper from a drawer. "Now, the first document is your entry form into the Academy. You don't have to worry since I already added a note there concerning your late admittance. Your cover story is that you were training for two years and have the necessary knowledge to attend your third year. Stick with it and all would be fine."
"I hope you're not going to get into trouble with the council over this, old man." said Naruto as he took the paper and read the form with his name on it. Everything was filled out properly much to his relief. Like the Hokage, he disliked paperwork and wondered why the old man didn't use Kage Bunshin to work on his while he relaxed.
"Oh no. To be honest with you, I haven't had any problems after you killed Danzo." Sarutobi saw a bit of sorrow in the boy's eyes but it quickly disappeared. It would seem that the boy was still suffering from that memory though he was sure that his surrogate grandson was over it. "Ever since Danzo was killed, the council has been…controllable, for the lack of a better term. Except for the shinobi council, the civilian councils are not putting up a fuss like they used to. From that, we can easily day that they were expecting Danzo to protect them. With him and his ROOT army no longer running, let's just say that they have too much to lose to protest my decisions."
"I see. Good for you, jiji. I know that you hate the civilian council like I do since they practically made both of our lives a living hell so congratulations in putting them in line. What is this second paper for? Looks like an address." Naruto asked curiously and saw that it was near his apartment.
"That address is for a new wardrobe for you. I know that you're no longer going to go under your old persona and I agree with your decision on that. That address will bring you to Higurashi's Weapon Shop, owned and managed by a friend of mine. I suggest that you go there and get kitted out with a new outfit to make sure that no one would make a connection between you and your alter ego. Also, you need not worry about the Higurashis. They know about your status as Kurama's container and they are fine with it. Get your new outfit and stock up on basic shinobi supplies. I don't think I need to tell you what they are."
Naruto nodded with a grin before a thought crossed his mind.
"So, jijij, when I do start in the Academy, do you think that I should hide my strength?" Naruto asked curiously. Sarutobi thought about it for a few seconds before answering.
"I don't think it is necessary for you to hide your skills, Naruto-kun, considering the curriculum you will be placed under not giving you an opportunity to do so. Since your alibi involves you having being trained for two years, I would suggest that you just tone it down a bit. Use whatever you learned if necessary but don't stand out."
"Alright then. I'm not really sure that I'm comfortable playing down my strengths since I earned them fair and square. I promise I'll tone it down a bit though." Naruto assured him. "Do you have any idea what my classmates are like?"
"Hmmm, this batch of students is quite special compared to the rest. In fact, most of your classmates are clan heirs so you can expect them to be of higher strength compared to the rest."
"Don't tell me that includes the Uchiha." Naruto said with a groan, which became louder when the Hokage nodded in positive. "Great. The other heirs I can work with. But the Uchiha would be giving me some trouble."
"Why do you say that?" Sarutobi asked curiously. He knew that the boy had it bad but he didn't know that it was this bad that even his open-minded grandson in all but blood had problems with the Uchiha survivor.
"Well, when I retired being the Kage's Hand, I spent most of my time checking out the village and meeting new people…though mostly all of them are shinobis that I'm acquainted with. Of course, quite a lot of them are excited over Uchiha Sasuke, the survivor of the Uchiha Massacre orchestrated by his brother, Itachi. When I heard that, I made a special point to check on the boy but what I saw wasn't to my liking." When he saw his surrogate grandfather raise a questioning eyebrow, he explained. "He is an avenger, jiji. Mark my words; he will be a pain in the ass in the future. He has no concept of respect and the villagers are feeding his ego. He kept pestering some shinobis to teach him because he is an Uchiha and he needed power to bring down his brother and avenge his clan. I don't know why but I sensed that Sasuke is the runt of the litter, which may be the reason that Itachi-nii spared him."
Sarutobi ignored the obvious respect the boy had with Itachi since the S-rank missing-nin was one of the few people that helped protect the boy from the mobs. In fact, he knew that Naruto had a brotherly relationship with the once ANBU shinobi.
"Just give him a chance, Naruto-kun, though I wouldn't put it past you that you're going to be teaching him a lesson if he gives you some problems in the future. Just don't…hurt him too much, alright?"
Naruto laughed and gave his grandfather a cheeky grin.
"No promises, old man, but I'll make sure not to hurt him…too much."
"Good." Sarutobi said with a nod. "Well, if we don't have any other things to discuss then I suggest that you make your way to Higurashis and get kitted out. I still have to finish today's pile of paperwork if I want to go home early and relax."
"Sure thing, jiji. I wondered about that for quite a while now. Why don't you use shadow clones to do you work for you? After all, they transfer the information back to you and they are you, in a sense, so they'll make the right decisions."
Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage of Konoha, the acclaimed Professor and God of Shinobi, stared at his grandson for a few seconds before banging his head on the table, mumbling 'stupid' each time his head hit the wooden furniture. Naruto quickly exited the office via Shunshin to avoid seeing his surrogate grandfather acting stupidly for forgetting such things.
It didn't take long for Naruto to find the right building as indicated on the address written on the sheet of paper the Hokage gave him. When he got there, Naruto stared at the two-story building with a large sign with the name 'Higurashi's Weapon Shop' written on both sides, telling everyone that the store sold shinobi equipments. Civilians, after all, don't need weapons or lack the training to use one.
He entered the shop to see a fairly large man with muscles on his muscles. Judging that this would be the owner, Naruto decided to make his presence known.
"Good afternoon." greeted Naruto causing the man to look at him in surprise.
"Well, hello. Welcome to Higurashi's Weapon Shop. My name is Kaito. What can I do for you?"
"Well, the Hokage advised me to come here to pick out a new outfit." said Naruto with a smile.
Kaito looked at him closely, noting the blonde's outfit, before his eyes settled on the sword. His eyes grew wide when he recognized it. He immediately went around the counter and closed the door before flipping the sign to make sure that none enters the shop.
"Well, what brings the infamous Hitokiri Battousai of Konoha to my humble shop?" Kaito said with a grin. Naruto was caught off guard that the man knew his alter ego. Of course, Kaito saw this and gave the blonde a comforting smile. "You don't have to worry that I know, kid. I'll keep your secret. So I take it that you came here for a change in clothes considering that you're easily recognizable in that outfit of yours."
"How did you know?" asked Naruto curiously.
Kaito laughed before going back to his counter and pulled out a black book from a drawer. He flipped a few pages before handing it to him. Naruto looked at the page and was surprised at the information it contained. Of course, there was a picture of him with his mask on.
Name: Unknown
Alias: Oni, Hitokiri Battousai of Konoha
Affiliation: Konoha
Rank: S-Rank
Bounty: 50,000,000 Ryo (Iwa, Kumo)
Description: A very powerful swordsman affiliated with Konoha. Oni is known to wear a demon mask, blue kimono, white hakama, and a pair of geta sandals. His head is covered by an orange scarf/hood so no physical description of his face and hair is available. Despite using a Sakabatou (Reverse-edged Sword), he is known to have slaughtered many bandits and shinobis during missions.
Skills: S-Rank swordsman using an unknown kenjutsu style though a samurai noted that it is very powerful and relies mostly on speed used to devastating effect. Oni is said to be on par or even greater than the Samurai General, Mifune of Tetsu no Kuni. No information on Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, or Genjutsu. Oni uses an unknown technique that utilizes an energy that is different from chakra. Techniques are dangerous and must be avoided at all cost.
Note: Flee on sight. Do not engage unless an army is at your disposal. Even then, don't engage since it was noted that he decimated half the army during the battle in Tetsu no Kuni. Very dangerous.
Additional Note: After his mission in Tetsu no Kuni, Oni has been absent and has never been seen since then.
"Wow." Naruto exclaimed after reading his entry. He looked at Kaito who was grinning at him. "I didn't know I made it into the Bingo Book as an S-Rank. The last time I checked, I was an A-Rank."
"When was the last time you checked?" Kaito asked curiously.
"Two years ago."
"Well, you're entry was updated after your mission in Tetsu no Kuni. You were bumped from A-Rank to S-Rank by both Iwa, Kumo, and Kiri." Kaito answered him.
"Uh, Iwa and Kumo I understand because I killed a lot of their shinobis during missions. But I don't understand why Kiri has a bounty on my head."
"It's only a rumor but the Yondaime Mizukage had a bounty on your head because your skill with the sword rivaled the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. I guess he didn't want someone more powerful than theirs though the Seven Swordsmen left Mist during the bloodline rebellion years ago." Kaito explained with a shrug.
"Oh, okay then." Naruto said with a nod, thankful of the information the store owner provided since it cemented his idea of changing his outfit. He definitely didn't want to be hassled by bounty hunters during missions. "Anyway, I came here to get a new outfit, as well as stocking up on some shinobi supplies. I want to be drafted back into the shinobi program but I wanted to start from the bottom."
"So you're going to be attending the Academy then?" Kaito said with surprise and amusement. "It's somewhat laughable for an S-ranker to attend the Academy. But whatever floats your boat. I can easily kit you out with a standard shinobi set of shurikens, kunais, ninja rope, some exploding and trap tags, and sealing scrolls. I would say you need a new weapon holsters too since you're going to be an academy student this time. I suggest you also buy a pack or maybe a new weapon since yours is going to be quite suspicious considering Sakabatous are rare these days. No one uses them anymore. Hmmmm, any ideas on what you want your new outfit to be?"
"I don't know, surprise me." said Naruto with a grin though he gulped when an unholy gleam entered Kaito's eyes along with an evil smirk.
It took an hour of Naruto trying out different clothes until he found one that he was comfortable with. Kaito was impressed of his choices and couldn't help but agree that it would be useful to a shinobi.
Naruto's current outfit consisted of black shinobi cargo pants with a bunch of pockets for storage. A dark blue muscle shirt with an orange Uzumaki swirl printed on the front. A black belt with silver straps held the pants in place. Instead of the standard shinobi sandals, Naruto chose to wear black combat boots with steel plating to augment his Goken taijutsu style. He made a mental note to meet with Maito Gai before entering the Academy in a week. He needed to practice with his Goken since he mostly relied on his sword skills instead of hand-to-hand combat.
Completing the outfit was a brown trench coat that reached to his ankles and sleeves that reached all the way to his wrist. Two weapon holsters were strapped to his thighs, fully stocked with shurikens and kunais.
All-in-all, Naruto liked the outfit and ordered several sets of it just in case they were damaged though he didn't worry about that since he planned to add a few seals into them to make them more durable. Thankfully, he used his two-year break reading and practicing the Sealing Arts so he was quite good with it. Not on the level of seal masters but he would get by without having to purchase various tags used by shinobis during missions.
Considering that he was going to start from scratch and would act more like a shinobi than a swordsman, Naruto decided to stock up on shinobis weapons and convert one of his spare rooms back in his apartment into an armory. He made Kaito very happy with his purchase. He sealed Kenshin into the storage tattoo on his left hand and vowed to only use it during emergencies. To compensate his lack of weapons, he vowed to brush up on taijutsu. He wondered if he could meet with Akido and Yahiko to spar with him from time to time to get him back in shape. It had been three years since he sparred, and despite his sword skills being sharp, he needed get his body back in shape.
It was fortunate that he still wore his chakra weights and have gotten used to it with ease. He wondered if he should up it or not. He would think about that later since he still had three years before going into actual missions.
The shopping cost him around 120,000 ryo, which was quite a price considering how Kaito eyes seemed to transform into ryo signs after seeing the total. He paid for it in full since it wouldn't make a dent on his savings since he had a few millions tucked inside his bank account for safe keeping thanks to his many missions as Kage's Hand.
The week before the Academy was spent brushing up on his shinobi skills. It was fortunate for him to meet up with Maito Gai during one of his physical workout sessions with the Taijutsu Expert accepting the idea of brushing up on his skills with the Goken. It was safe to say that he needed to start from scratch since he was quite clumsy considering he didn't practice with it for three years.
He also contracted Akido and Yahiko for a B-rank mission to be his sparing partners, in secret of course. The two immediately agreed since they were thrilled that their idol was returning into the fold, though no longer an assassin but as a fresh Academy student. The two found the situation amusing, similar to Kaito's, when they heard of Naruto's plan to start from the bottom and work his way to the top.
Aside from the physical aspect of the shinobi arts, Naruto also made time to borrow some books from the Hokage's library to brush up on ninjutsus. Since he would be keeping a low profile and avoid showing skills that would allow people to recognize him as Oni, he needed to use more ninjutsu than spells. He only vowed to use them if the situation demanded it.
Of course, his physical exercise program activated, starting from chakra control to beefing up his stamina, not that he needed the latter since he was a literal powerhouse for a 12 year old.
After a week of catching up, Naruto knew that he was more than ready to start the Academy. This time around, he would start his legend as Uzumaki Naruto, Academy Student, and not Oni, the Hitokiri Battousai of Konoha.
End of Chapter 14
Date Uploaded: July 12, 2012
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