The Sacred Flame Ch 2: Ominous Wind
Naruto stood in a dark abyss, shadows surrounding and engulfing all the light around him. Suddenly a bright green light appears at the very center about fifteen feet above his head.
"Naruto a great darkness threatens to destroy everything and everyone in its path."
A voice said in a celestial feminine tone.
"Who are you? What darkness are you talking about?"
Naruto asked, not even aware of what was going on.
"A great Destiny has been your birth-right. You are the Chosen One Naruto. Now you must journey to the Land of Wind and obtain the Sage's Artifact."
The voice said, continuing on while ignoring Naruto's questions.
"This isn't a simple dream is it?"
Naruto asked, smiling at the vision unfolding before him.
"Now you must awaken… Wake up!"
Naruto's eyes snapped open, the conscious world coming into focus around him. Naruto's childhood friend Ino grinned at him through his window, knocking on it again.
"Hey Naruto, how long are you going to sleep?"
Ino asked, wearing a sheepish grin as she teased him.
"You think you're so fucking funny don't you?"
Naruto replied in a sarcastic and teasing tone, getting out of bed.
"Sorry about that. I got the traffic report for Tsunade this morning and saw that you and Jiraiya got in late last night so I thought I'd come wake you up."
Ino said in a friendly, yet slightly excited tone as she opened Naruto's window and helped herself inside.
"Whatever Ino, you're a weirdo."
Naruto said, still half asleep as he changed his shirt and slipped his Chunin Shoes on, finishing with his customized black Chunin Vest.
"Naruto when did you become Chunin!? You weren't even here to take part in the Chunin Exams! Naruto how the hell did you get a higher rank!?"
Ino demanded, getting serious out of nowhere.
"Tsunade awarded me the rank by doing a series of tests while I was training; I surpassed Chunin Level over a year ago."
Naruto replied simply, strapping his sword diagonally across his back.
"Damn and I wanted to rub in the fact that I became Chunin six months ago. Guess that makes us equals huh?"
Ino said, continuing to tease Naruto. Before Naruto could even reply a small bird flew in through the window and landed next to him, a small scroll wrapped and bound to its right leg…
"What does it say Naruto?"
Ino asked as Naruto unbound the scroll and read through its contents.
"Tsunade ordered me to go to a meeting immediately. Sorry Ino it's been great seeing you but I need to get going."
Naruto said as he finished packing all his Ninja tools.
(Smoke-bombs, Kunai, Shuriken, metal wire, etc. were all packed neatly into his multiple pockets throughout his entire outfit.)
"Fine but you owe me a date. Tonight at Seven meet me by our spot. Later!"
Ino said, blowing Naruto a kiss and winking before vanishing in a cloud of smoke.
"What a flirty bitch."
Naruto said jokingly, laughing to himself as he vanished in a burst of speed.
Jiraiya, Naruto, and Tsunade the Fifth Hokage were all sitting down around her desk. A serious atmosphere was present in the room.
"After Ibiki's wonderful work we managed to get some solid info from the Assassin you managed to capture. They are from an organization run by a man named Nagato and they were hired to kill any survivors from that Temple that was attacked three nights ago. Unfortunately that was all they knew but at least we have a name to go off of."
Tsunade said, drinking a cup of tea to wake her up.
"Well I'm glad we managed to get any information out of that situation. There were ashes and bodies everywhere and we had no way of finding out who did it and why."
Naruto said, skipping the tea and pouring himself a drink from how own Sake container he brought himself. Naruto then proceeded to take a small drink.
"Since when did you become the cultured drinker?"
Tsunade teased, not bothering to ask as she poured her own drink from Naruto's Sake.
"Please woman, I turned Sixteen five months ago. I can't wait to see what Ichiraku ramen tastes like with a drink of good Sake."
Naruto said with a childish grin.
"Well it's good to see that not all of you grew up."
Tsunade said, grinning herself.
"You have no idea Tsunade. This little bastard can handle his liquor better than me now."
Jiraiya stated proudly, pouring himself a drink too.
"Like that even means anything Jiraiya. Even Shizune can out-drink you."
Tsunade replied in a sly, teasing tone.
"What was that!?"
Jiraiya demanded.
"Don't be mad I was just teasing Jiraiya. Back to the business at hand, I'll need you to get in touch with your contacts and dig up whatever you can on this Nagato character."
Tsunade said, her tone shifting back toward seriousness. Jiraiya merely smiled and nodded his head in response before vanishing in a cloud of white smoke.
"As for your placement Naruto, I've gone over your updated profile of Jiraiya's evaluation of your current level of skill and ability and you will be eligible to take part in the Jonin Exams coming up at the end of the year. Congratulations."
Tsunade said with a proud look on her face, completely ignoring Jiraiya
"That's great news. Thank you for informing me."
Naruto said, smiling slightly but his mind continuing to shift back to his dream that morning.
"Tell you what, let's go out to celebrate. It's my treat."
Tsunade insisted, a tiny bit drunk in her hastiness after her Third of Fourth drink.
"Actually Tsunade I have a request. But first I need to tell you about something that's been happening to me… You see it all started with this dream…"
Naruto began to explain.
"Well since you've been given this information through your dreams I guess I can tell you… This information is classified so it is not to leave this room am I clear?"
Tsunade said, her eyes closed and a very weighted was reflected in her facial expression.
"Long ago before the founding of this village was a powerful Sage known as the 'Sage of Six Paths.' Legend tells he traveled the world spreading the Religion of 'Ninjutsu' throughout the entire world… I won't go into the entire Legend however this Sage had 'Five Legendary Ninjutsu Artifacts' each Artifact represented one of the Five Elements that exist within Ninjutsu but possessing powers of God-Like ability.
They were so powerful the First of all the Kage who originally formed an alliance, including my grandfather made a treaty that included the sealing of all of the Artifacts so that they may never be used again in war. What was stolen from the 'Fire Temple' was the artifact known as the 'Sacred Flame' that the Land of Fire was in charge of protecting.
And the seal was top-notch meaning whoever stole the Flame was an expert and very powerful in the Sealing Ninjutsu Arts. Now about your dream, I will consent and allow you to travel to the wind, however not without an escort. Find two teammates to take along with you and just remember this will be an official mission from me. The cover is that you're performing a joint exercise with the Sand Shinobi to strengthen our ties and alliance with our neighbors. Understood?"
Tsunade finished, switching back to the special green tea she had Shizune buy her earlier that morning. Naruto nodded his head in acknowledgement and hopped out the open window, leaving Tsunade the rest of his Sake as a greeting gift. Tsunade merely grinned and poured herself another drink as she watched Naruto make his exit.
"At least that kid has style."
Tsunade said, laughing as she drank her cup of Sake in one gulp as if it were a shot.