Title: Naruto Shippuden Evolution
Book one: Rise of the Betrayer – Chapter one: Premonitions
Author's note: This story takes place in the world of Azeroth during the Naruto Shippuden time period. It is a crossover between Warcraft, Naruto and Avatar but the main focus will be on Naruto and his adventures. It is mostly an adventure story, but I may consider a few pairings later on. Please review so I can write better! Also, please beware of spoilers! Note: words in italics are either jutsus or spells. I've reposted this chapter many times as I was unhappy with how it turned out previously, but this is the final product.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Warcraft or Avatar. All three are properties of their owners, Masashi Kishimoto, Blizzard, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko respectively.
Konoha Shinobi Memorial:
Kakashi Hatake was crouched down in front of the memorial in the hidden leaf village, Konoha. He slowly moved his hand over one particular name out of the hundreds carved on the stone. Kakashi sighed and let his hand drop but remained where he was, not in a hurry to get anywhere. He let the rain soak him to the skin, lost in his own thoughts. A sudden 'poof' told him that he was not alone anymore. Turning around, he saw a Jiraiya with a smug grin on his face, arms crossed and sitting at ease on top of a large frog.
"I thought you would be here."Jiraiya said quietly, sliding off the frog's back and de-summoning it.
Kakashi straightened up stood next to Jiraiya, still keeping his eye trained on the memorial stone. "All healed up hm?" Kakashi asked the toad sannin, fixing Jiraiya with his characteristic lazy look.
"Yep," Jiraiya answered, grinning," I was hurt pretty badly but good old Tsunade managed to fix me up. I'm almost fully recovered now. By the way, those students of yours have really become something haven't they?" A smile tugged at Jiraiya's mouth as he remembered how well Naruto had fought together with him.
"Well, you can take most of the credit you know," Kakashi told Jiraiya, smiling beneath his mask," you were the one who taught Naruto all those techniques."
"Heh, guess you can say that." Jiraiya said with a swagger.
Kakashi sweat-dropped at his lack of humility. "Uh…" Kakashi scratched at the back of his head, trying to think of something to say.
Jiraiya and Kakashi stood silently in front of the memorial stone for quite some time before the sannin remembered what he had come for.
"Oh yeah!" Jiraiya said suddenly. "I needed to tell you something."
"Eh?"
Jiraiya grinned. "Naruto and Sasuke have just been discharged from hospital. They're at Ichiraku ramen shop with Sakura right now."
"I see." Kakashi said as he turned to leave the memorial. "I guess I'll go and pay them a visit."
Ichiraku Ramen Shop:
"Ah ow!" Naruto yelped as he tried to hold the chopsticks in his heavily bandaged hand. Sakura who was seated opposite him looked at him worriedly, as he fumbled with them, wincing whenever his broken fingers pressed too hard on the wood.
"Naruto, you sure you don't want help with those?" Sakura asked him when her blonde teammate failed for the fifth time to get a firm grip on his chopsticks.
"Leave him be Sakura," Sasuke told her," I'm sure Naruto can eat on his own."
"That's not the point! If he keeps on trying like this, there's a high chance that he'll end up breaking his fingers again!"
"Heh, don't worry Sakura-chan!" Naruto grinned as he continued to grapple with the two pieces of wood. "I can do this! A couple of broken fingers aren't going to stop me from eating my ramen! Dattebayo!" The blonde went back to wrestling with his chopsticks.
Sakura shook her head at his stubbornness and stretched out a hand to get a pair of chopsticks for Sasuke. The raven-haired boy's left arm was in a cast, and his right was also swathed in thick bandages. Both her teammates had returned from their previous mission with serious wounds. Even though they had been discharged from the hospital, they still had yet to recover completely. Naruto still could not make full use of his right hand, while Sasuke was worse off: not being able to use his arms at all. Overall, Naruto seemed to be making a speedier recovery than the Uchiha. 'The reason is obvious though', thought Sakura, 'the Kyuubi's chakra in Naruto must be speeding up his recovery. '
Sakura smiled as she picked up a few strands of ramen noodles and held them in front of Sasuke's mouth. "Looks like I have to feed you for now. Open wide!"
Sasuke scowled, his sharingan eyes narrowing at her. "Don't bother Sakura. I don't plan on eating that." He glared at the ramen in front of him, causing Naruto to quickly swallow the noodles he was eating and blurt out, "I don't get it teme, what's your problem with ramen?"
"It's not the ramen. It's the way that you're eating it which puts me off." Sasuke replied.
Naruto looked up at Sasuke, cheeks bulging with ramen noodles.
Sakura giggled at the sight and continued to hold up the ramen for Sasuke. "Come on Sasuke. If you want to recover, you'll have to eat more."
Sasuke glared at her. "You just want to humiliate me right?"
Sakura, who was already accustomed to his glares, just smiled innocently at him. "What makes you say that?"
Naruto burst out laughing. Sasuke immediately took it as an insult and, looking murderous, tried to reach for his katana. Sakura didn't want any bloodshed in the ramen shop, so she quickly snatched up some more noodles and stuffed them into the hyperactive ninja's mouth. "Gaak!" Naruto choked and fell silent, waving his arms about and looking very fish-like as he
tried to swallow. When he finally managed to do so, he was very red in the face. "Sakura-chan! What's that for?" He whined, massaging his neck.
"Saving your life?" She shrugged. Sasuke smirked and muttered, "Dobe."
This time, it was Naruto's turn to glare at the Uchiha. "What did you say teme?"
"Hn, I said dobe."
"Teme"
"Dobe"
"Teme"
"Dobe"
Sakura sighed as the two continued their name-calling. Seriously, the two of them could be so child-like sometimes! Well, boys would be boys. She gave up trying to get Sasuke to eat, and plonked the noodles back into the bowl. She would have to remember to get the money for the food back from Sasuke later. Sakura leaned back in her chair, thinking about how much things had changed. She had been overjoyed when Naruto finally managed to bring Sasuke back to Konoha. As he had slain Orochimaru, the village elders forgave him for leaving the village and had almost immediately reinstated him as a shinobi of Konoha. The only thing that made his homecoming sweeter was that Sasuke had revealed his feelings for her, and asked if she could be his girlfriend. Sakura, who had never given up on him even after all the three years, smiled as she remembered the pure elation she had felt when she heard him say those words and of course agreed. Team 7 was finally back again, and soon enough, they had to leave for their first major mission together.
Sakura clenched her fist tightly and shut her eyes, trembling slightly when she recalled that fateful mission to Amegakure. The familiar feeling of sadness overcame her, as the two battles that had taken place replayed themselves in her head. Jiraiya had tracked the Akatsuki headquarters to that war-torn city, and was soon discovered and attacked by Konan and then Pein, the Akatsuki leader. As the fight dragged on, Jiraiya knew that he was outmatched and sent for help. Tsunade sent Team 7, minus Kakashi who was away on another mission, to aid him.
Naruto joined Jiraiya to fight Pein while Sasuke, overwhelmed by his desire to kill Itachi, broke off from the group to find him. Sakura followed him, and they tracked down Itachi to an old pagoda tower located in the forest outside the city. In the following battles which ensued, Naruto and Jiraiya came to a shocking revelation about Pein while Sasuke and Sakura almost succeeded in killing the older Uchiha.
Flashback: The last few moments of Jiraiya's and Naruto's battle
It was pouring. The tall spires of Amegakure's skyscrapers stretched impossibly into the sky, with a maze of pipes and ledges clinging to each of their sides. The city was in fact a maze by itself. Amegakure's streets crossed one another frequently and the buildings rose haphazardly out from the ground, some tall, others taller still. The sky always hung like a dark cloud over the metallic city, and it was under this cold, drab-grey atmosphere that two shinobi were fighting for their lives against the one who called himself 'god'. The one who possessed the Rinnegan, the most powerful and dangerous kekkai genkai known to the shinobi world. Pein.
The intense battle had dragged on for more than two hours. Jiraiya and Naruto knew that they could not afford to keep this up. Up till now, the battle so far had only consisted of them trading jutsus with little physical combat, so there were no injuries yet, but their chakra was almost exhausted. Even with the two of them together, the fight was still going badly for them. Pein seemed able to keep up with all their attacks, effectively making them unable to damage him at all. He simply did not leave any opening for Naruto or Jiraiya to take advantage of. But still, they were fighting on. They had to evade Pein somehow, and make a run for it. But the 'god' of Amegakure did not seem intent on letting them leave. Perched on top of one of the ledges around him, Pein surveyed the two shinobi below him and narrowed his eyes as Jiraiya was helped up to his feet by Naruto, the latter glaring up at him with the same defiant and determined look that he had maintained throughout the entire fight.
"Come on Ero-sennin," Naruto growled," we can't die now! Not like this!"
Jiraiya grunted with the effort to stand, and was bent double, hands on his knees, panting heavily. 'My chakra's almost gone,' the sannin thought, scanning the area for another escape plan. 'Or better yet,' Jiraiya grimaced as he straightened up slowly,' a plan to kill this guy. But how can you hope to kill someone who knows how to use all the jutsus in the world? We've got to find a chance to attack, and fast!'
"That's more like it!" Naruto yelled, fixing his attention back to Pein, who watched the duo with an amused smirk on his lips. Pein suddenly leaned forward, forming a set of hand seals which were too fast to follow, and almost immediately, shouted out: "Suiton, water dragon missile!"
The pipes behind the Akatsuki leader shuddered and burst, torrents of water splashing and gathering below him. Seconds later, the large pool of water coalesced and took the shape of a giant dragon, spiraling around Pein, hissing and roaring.
"Uh!" Naruto gritted his teeth as he saw the size of Pein's jutsu. The giant liquid dragon was now more than fifty metres tall, fueled by Pein's seemingly limitless chakra.
"Naruto!" Jiraiya shouted suddenly. "This is our chance! Summon Gamabunta!"
Naruto grinned, having realized what Jiraiya's plan was. Biting his thumb and smearing his blood on the ground, Naruto spread his hand and yelled out, "Summoning Jutsu!" A giant frog of epic proportions appeared in a large cloud of ninja smoke. Naruto had summoned Gamabunta the Frog Boss, complete with a giant short sword strapped on his back, a giant triad boss robe draped around him, a giant smoking pipe in his mouth and tons of attitude.
Gamabunta puffed a large cloud of smoke into the air and swiveled his two large, round eyes towards Pein, who was staring at the him incredulously. "So Jiraiya, Naruto. Having some trouble eh?" Gamabunta croaked haughtily, puffing up his chest.
"You think you can defeat god with that?" Pein sneered and directed the dragon to come crashing down on his enemies. As the giant form drew nearer and nearer to them, the deafening sound of crashing water pounding in his ears, Naruto made a big leap and landed on top of Gamabunta, making a series of hand signs before yelling out," Toad oil bullet!"
A huge stream of toad oil, brown and slimy, exploded at high pressure from the Frog Boss' mouth, meeting the water dragon head on. "Oil breaks up water!" Naruto said triumphantly as the dragon was destroyed, section by section, water splashing everywhere. The force of the collapsing water striking the buildings around the combatants brought down several of them, causing rubble crashing down on the street. Meanwhile, under the cover of the spraying water, Jiraiya was preparing his jutsu. Too late Pein realized that his water dragon wasn't going to hold up. As he prepared to get jump of the way, Jiraiya came rushing up to meet him, arm drawn backward, fingertips burning with the purple fire of…
"No!" Pein screamed, raising his arms in a futile attempt to block Jiraiya's chakra sealing technique.
"Five-prong seal!" Jiraiya rammed his fist into Pein's stomach. The impact lifted him off his feet, sending the Akatsuki leader crashing to the other side of the street. He slammed into a building with a loud crack and slid down, seemingly knocked out. At once, Naruto de-summoned Gamabunta and ran over to join his sensei who was now slumped on the ground.
"We got him! Ero-sennin, we got him! Dattebayo!" Naruto shouted as he stopped down to drape Jiraiya's arm around his shoulders, helping the sannin to get to his feet. Jiraiya flashed his student a wide grin, despite suffering from chakra exhaustion. "Yeah. Good job…let's get out of here…find the others. That was lucky…I just used up all my chakra," Jiraiya gasped, clutching at his chest, wheezing and panting with the effort to stand. Naruto nodded and prepared to stagger out of the area with him when a sudden movement behind them stopped them cold. There was a sudden shift in the rubble across the street, and a figure rose out of the collapsed concrete, brushing clouds of dust off his Akatsuki cloak.
"Damn!" Naruto quickly spun around, drawing a kunai from the holster around his leg.
"He's still not…" Jiraiya started to say, but stopped immediately when the dust cleared to reveal Pein. But Pein was Pein no longer. With his chakra apparently sealed, the Akatsuki leader's jutsu could no longer hide his true face. In place of the heavily pierced face and orange hair, the face that stared back at Jiraiya and Naruto was none other than…
"Minato!" Jiraiya said in shock. Naruto froze at the sight of his 'dead' father. His arms dropped to his sides, disbelief evident on his face. The air seemed to be contracting around him. It was getting difficult to breathe…
The previous Yondaime of Konoha, Minato Namikaze, fixed his son and sensei with a wide smile. "Hello sensei."
The silence dragged on before Jiraiya managed to choke out one word," How?"
"Hm?" Minato continued smiling, standing ill at ease in front of them. The rain was still falling, but less heavily now. Jiraiya overcame his initial shock and shook his head, trying to take in what he was seeing. 'Impossible! Minato gave his life to seal the Kyuubi in Naruto! How could he still be alive? Why is he in Akatsuki?'
"What's the matter sensei?" Minato asked casually, sweeping some rainwater off his face, reaching into the folds of his Akatsuki cloak with his other hand.
"How are you…still alive? What are you doing here?" Jiraiya demanded.
"That's surprising," Minato smiled again, still keeping one hand in the cloak," I thought after all these years, you of all people, would be happy to see me."
Jiraiya turned briefly to look at Naruto, and saw that he had sunk to his knees, frozen in place, eyes wide and staring. "Answer the question!" Jiraiya whipped his head around angrily. He suddenly choked and collapsed once again on the wet ground, gasping as the strain from the battle finally caught up with him.
"You'll figure it out sooner or later." The ex-Yondaime brought his hand out from his cloak, and Jiraiya saw that it was holding a kunai. It had a very familiar seal wrapped around the handle.
"Or not." Minato threw the kunai at the ground, and it stuck there, in between Naruto and Jiraiya. "I can't really say much," He said, letting his hands fall back to his sides in his casual stance," Madara wouldn't want that now would he?"
Jiraiya almost jumped up in surprise." I knew it! He's got something to do with this right? Answer me!"
"Too bad sensei, your time in this world is up." Minato smiled at him.
"What are you…?"
Minato finished his hand seal. "Flying thunder god!"
A second later, Minato was gone. Several translucent, barely visible images of him flashed in front of Jiraiya, coming towards him at high speed. There was a whirl of wind, and Minato reappeared where he originally was, keeping his bloodied kunai back into his cloak, the images of him disappearing, fading away. He turned and leapt out of the street, darting from building to building until he was out of sight.
Jiraiya had been left for dead. A vicious slash was drawn from the base of his neck to his stomach, and fresh red blood was flowing from the fatal wound. Naruto had been spared by Minato's attack, with a deep horizontal cut across his arms and chest. The Akatsuki leader needed the Kyuubi in his body after all. Both master and student lay where they had fallen, red rapidly staining the ground…
Author's note: How was it? I hope you liked my first chapter. I'm so excited about how my first fanfic will turn out. Anyways, I'll be covering Itachi's and Sasuke's battle in the next chapter, to be updated soon. Thanks for reading.