Chapter 12-Naruto-Itachi's charge
Naruto looked around the village with hazy eyes, now that the third was gone all the blonde wanted to do was go to the council and over them his services back into ANBU , but then at the same time Naruto knew that the third wanted him to live a happy ninja life with friends and all the other things that come with being a normal teenager. Looking over to the end of his bed he stared sadly at the black clothing that he had been given by Jiraiya for this type of ceremony. Once he was dress in a dull clothing Naruto locked his door and stared up at the sky which was rumbling "LOOKS LIKE THE SKY WILL START TO CRY SOON" Kyuubi said in a sad voice.
Naruto nodded and for once he wished he was a sender so that he could honour The Third in a way that he should have been. "Naruto"
The blonde looked up and saw Kiba standing just a little in front of him "hey Kiba"
The dog user walked up to the blonde and clapped him on the shoulder "wanna walk together?"
Naruto looked at Kiba and nodded "Yeah, I'd like that" Naruto said and then smiled at Kiba before walking with him down the alley.
Sakura let go of Sasuke and glared at him and pointed to Naruto and Kiba and made a sshing motion "Geez could you be more stupid" she demanded putting her hands on her hips. Sasuke scratched his head and then smiled and held his arm to her.
"Wanna walk together" Sakura gave him a small smile and nodded before entwining their hands making Sasuke's eye go wide.
"Yeah I'd really like that" she said.
The funeral was a dull and boring occasion, it had rain through it completely making it seem even more sad and afterwards Naruto felt even more depressed then he had before, but when Tsume laid a hand on his shoulder he couldn't help but feel a little bit happier. "would you like to come back to our house for the wake, it's going to be more like a celebration of his life people telling funny stories and all that" the head of the Inuzuka clan asked her gruff voice turned soft and calming.
Naruto stared at her for a second before nodding "Sure I'd like that" Kiba smiled and bumped shoulders with the blonde boy as they walked together back to the Inuzuka compound.
"So I heard you're the one who beat Gaara eh" the Brunette said in a happy voice making Naruto laugh a little.
"Sure if beating each other to pulps counts as beating someone then sure I beat Gaara" Tsume laughed and pulled both boys against her sides as they entered the compound.
"You know what kid I really like you" Naruto grinned and then gasped when he saw Zabuza talking with one of the other Inuzuka's.
'WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE!"
Sakura-who was at Sasuke's paused while drinking her tea and sigh and looked at Kakashi and Sasuke who had also heard the yell "Looks like Naruto and Zabuza found each other"
"YOU DAMN BRAT I WAS INVITED SAME AS YOU" Zabuza said and then bent down until he was looking directly into Naruto's eyes.
"SAY THAT AGAIN I DARE YA" Tsume cracked up laughing and Zabuza and Naruto stoped and looked at her and then shrugged.
"You two fight more than Kiba and Hana do" She said wiping the tears from her eyes
"MOM" Kiba said crossing his arms.
Naruto shook his head and then threw his arm around Kiba's neck "Come on let's start Celebrating" he shouted making many of the other Inuzuka's cheer along with him.
Tsume and Zabuza stayed behind and the Inuzuka leader sighed happily when she saw how happy Kiba was with Naruto "You okay with him being gay?"
Tsume looked over at Zabuza who looked at her with a blank look to which she nodded and then shrugged "A lot of male Inuzuka's are, anyway Hana's first born will be the heir to the clan so as long as Kiba's happy I'll welcome whoever that person is, with wide arms" she said before pulling the swordsmen over to where the large canine family were laughing and talking.
Half way through the night Jiraiya had appeared and joined in feeding Naruto sake until he was loose enough and happy enough that the young blonde was able to wrestle a small band together out of the Inuzuka's. But most of the time the Inuzuka's just stood and watched in awe as Naruto played the pipe happily making sure it was a cheery tune. Kiba laughed along with his sister as Naruto pulled random Inuzuka's up to dance with him. Soon the whole clan was dancing and to Kiba's joy Naruto was in front of him playing his tune happily.
"You're really good" Kiba shouted over the large roar of his family.
Naruto smiled and him and then slid into a new song making Kiba laugh. Suddenly Naruto was lifted off the ground and when he looked down he saw he was on the shoulders of some random Inuzuka who spun him around and roared with laughter.
"That's my student" Jiraiya roared as he tried to out drink Zabuza who was practically hanging off Tsume who was holding in her laughter "He can hold his liquor really well although..." Jiraiya trailed off as he was distracted by a platter of food passing by him.
Kiba laughed and took Naruto's hand as the blonde had finally stopped playing and lead him through a winding path through the forest. As they got deeper Naruto couldn't help but pull a few jokes.
"Wait is this were you kill me and bury my body" He asked in a mock frightened voice.
Kiba shook his head and when they reached the top of the hill Naruto was stunned when he saw the glowing blue lake at the bottom of a valley.
"I want you to see this, I mean you seem to like nature and all that" Kiba said softly as Naruto stared out at the lake in amazement.
Naruto smiled and then he rushed down the hill towards the lake shedding a piece of clothing as he went. Kiba raced after his friend quickly but when he saw Naruto's toned back covered in his large tattoo his face went up in flames. "Kiba come on let's swim" Naruto called out as he kicked of his custom made shoes.
Kiba nodded and then slowly shed his own clothes until he was standing just in his boxers. Naruto gave Kiba a grin and then stripped them to before leaping into the lake leaving an extremely embarrassed Kiba standing in his wake. When the blonde boy resurfaced he waved Kiba in and then dived back under the water. The canine user gulped and nodded before stripping his own boxers and jumping into the water himself.
"The water is great don't you think?" Naruto asked as he treaded water while Kiba swam over to him.
Kiba nodded and then hid his blushing face in the water making Naruto smile a little before grabbing his hand "Come on I wanna show you something" he said before diving under the water dragging Kiba with him.
As the dived deeper and deeper Kiba swam up beside Naruto and grinned happily when suddenly the blonde pointed to the floor of the lake that was shinning a light blue making Kiba just look in shock. But when he tried to speak Naruto just shook his head and then propelled them to the surface.
"What was that?" Kiba asked in amazement as he glanced back down to the water.
Naruto grinned and then shrugged "A rare type of gem that grows on the bottom of rivers and lakes: it emits a faint glow at night making the whole lake shine and glow beautifully" Naruto said when he saw a huge scar on Kiba's shoulder "Did I do that in our battle?"
Kiba shrugged off Naruto's concern and then nodded "Yeah my first battle scar kinda proud of it, I'm not like you who has that awesome scar over his eye" he said motioning to Naruto's right eye.
Naruto turned away embarrassed and then coughed a little "I saw you fight against Neji" Naruto looked at Kiba who grinned at him and then shrugged a little "it was impressive although I don't know whether to feel relieved you didn't use you pentingan on me or annoyed you didn't find me a strong enough opponent to use it on me"
Naruto splashed the Inuzuka with water and shook his head "I could have used the Pentingan on you but I chose not to, I didn't have to use it on Neji either but I wanted to show him that his Byukugan doesn't put him above the rest of us" He said as he treaded water. Kiba nodded and then shivered. "Come on let's go get dry" Naruto said swimming to the shore where his clothes were waiting.
When the two genin were fully dressed and sitting at the base of a tree looking out at the lake Naruto began playing a soft melody on his pipe making Kiba stare at him awe at the skill he possessed with the instrument, but the longer he stared at Naruto the more he began to feel and when Naruto looked into his eyes and he found his face heating up it finally became clear: I like Naruto.
Three days passed from the Hokage's funeral and Naruto was once again training with Jiraiya, this time the perverted Toad Sage had him and working on his Tai-Jut-su and unfortunately for Naruto the old Toad sage had decided to make him learn several styles of tai-Jut-Su including the famous leaf style, which meant the old sage needed a master to teach him, and the only master willing to teach Naruto was the one ninja he didn't want to teach him.
"Naruto!, You truly have the power of youth behind you" Gai shouted as Naruto merged three different styles into one to kick the Tai-Jut-su master back, "What styles are you using?"
Jiraiya looked up bored and stared at Naruto's stance and grinned happily "I'm using your style, the Dance of the dragons and a unusual style known as Spiran Style" he said as he panted hard.
For three days straight he had been training and learning with both Jiraiya and Gai to become more efficient in tai-Jut-Su but in the end Gai had told him that he amazing at Tai-Jut-su and now merely wanted to spar against the boy to further enhance his skills. Kyuubi on the other hand had begun to teach him about how to utilize his chakra in a better ways other than just changing himself. But his favourite training was with Jiraiya: the old toad sage was teaching him various Jut-su's and was making sure he was furthering his speed.
"Gai, that's enough for today, I want to talk with the boy" The spandex wearing ninja nodded and then dazed Naruto with his smile of doom before leaping off.
Jiraiya shook his head and then jumped down until he was right in front of Naruto and put a hand on his shoulder and grinned "How's you Jut-su going?"
Naruto grinned and then ran through a bunch of hand signs when suddenly the wind began to react violently and he held his position muttering the names of the different hand signs when suddenly a huge dragon of wind appeared behind him. "Wind Dragon Jut-su"
Jiraiya looked impressed as the giant dragon of wind threw itself at the forest and cleared a huge path, "Good job kid, a little slow but you're getting there, I have work to do today so you can have the day off"
"Your gonna go peep on the women at the bath house again aren't you" Naruto said in a dead panned voice making Jiraiya freeze and look at him with scared eyes.
"No! I'm gonna peep on them from the street is that a problem?" he asked crossing his arms and glaring at the boy.
Naruto glared right back for a moment before his whole demeanour changed and he nodded happily "Okay, just don't get caught your by far my favourite Sensei" He said before running off leaving a large cloud of sand in his wake.
"That kid, you gotta love him" Jiraiya said before walking in the opposite direction whistling a happy tune now bring on the ladies
On the edge of the village two figures stood looking down at the village silently. "You sure he's down there?" the taller man asked
"Yes, he loves this village too much to leave it" The shorter on said in a smooth liquid voice the bell on his straw hat jingling as he began to walk towards the village.
The taller one jumped to catch up with his partner and then snorted "You seem to know a lot about him, were you close"
The shorter one lifted his head reveal pitch black eyes "You could say that, in fact at one point he was more important to me then my own family was"
The taller man snorted and then they breezed through the gates "Well he better be worth it"
Sakura laughed at something Shikamaru said and then looked over her shoulder when she saw a small dust cloud and was then shocked when Gamakichi landed in front of her. "It's you but where's Naruto"
Shikamaru remembered the toad and then looked around for its summoner when they heard a whistle from above them and they saw Naruto standing on the roof of one of the nearby buildings.
"Sorry about that Gamakichi got away from me" he said scratching his head as he jumped down and picked up his friend who jumped on his head straight away.
"Naruto, don't you ever get tired, ever?" Shikamaru asked as he leant against the wall he was before "I remember when you were just as lazy as me in the academy"
Naruto laughed and nodded "Yeah I guess, I don't sleep very often so a lot of the time I'm just sorta living on adrenaline it's a weird sensation" he admitted scratching his stomach slowly.
Sakura nodded and then waved goodbye to both boys and started off towards her house when suddenly Sasuke grabbed her hand and grinned before he pulled her towards his house. Shikamaru laughed lazily when he saw the two genin run off and then leant towards Naruto and whispered in his ear "When do you think the pressure of puberty will get to much for him" the cloud watcher asked
Naruto shook his head and laughed before staring up at the Hokage Mountain sadly "Don't you ever wish people like Orochimaru existed?"
Shikamaru looked at the mountain as well before sighing "I wish the world was all happy and peaceful but the fact of the matter is without people like the sound guy we can't have people like the third and the fourth who are regarded as heroes" Shikamaru said sadly
Naruto nodded and continued to stare at the mountain before grinning "I got idea, come with me" he said grabbing Shikamaru's hand and raced towards the fourth's temple.
When he arrived their Anton smiled at Naruto and hugged him tightly before motioning to the sending platforms. Shikamaru watched in surprise as Naruto was lead to a platform a little higher than the floor, he knew what the stage was used for he just didn't know that Naruto could perform a sending.
"Surprised that Naruto is performing a sending?" Shikamaru looked at the older man standing next to him and nodded making the old ninja laugh a little "Yeah I was the first time I saw him do it, but the fact is that Naruto truly honours our fallen heroes and that's all it really takes to perform a sending"
Shikamaru nodded and then watched as Naruto gave his chakra to the gods and continued to dance.
Sasuke dropped Sakura back at her house and then smiled warmly as he walked off to meet Kakashi. The raven had gotten Sakura to come with him to his house and pray with him for the third's death, afterwards she had stayed behind and served them tea and just spoke about the good times. But then on the way back to her house Sasuke had spotted a hawk which was signalling him to meet with Kakashi.
"Oi Kakashi what do you want" he asked as he walked up to his silver haired perverted teacher who was standing outside a dango shop.
"I was waiting for you, I was hoping to talk to you and catch something to eat at the same time" Kakashi said and suddenly Kurenai and Asuma who had been standing a little to the side disappeared making Sasuke shot his sensei a confused glance.
'Look can we go somewhere different I don't really have a sweet tooth" he said in a bored voice as he began walking down the street towards his favourite restaurant.
Kurenai and Asuma jumped in front of the two strangers in black cloaks with red clouds decorating them. Then gave the two of them searching looks before Asuma grinned.
"Hey strangers haven't seen you around before" Asuma said in a fake friendly voice "I mean a lot of newcomers have come through the village in the last few days but you two...I think I'd remember you"
The shorter man sighed and ripped his straw hat off and stared at the two Jonin in a boredom and the glanced at his companion who then discarded his own hat to reveal striking blue hair and a pale blue face with what looked like gills on either side of his face.
"Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigami, what an honour two S-ranked criminals in our village at the onetime" Asuma said as he brought out his knuckles and spat out his cigarette.
"Itachi please I'm bored can't I kill one of them" Kisame said in a whiny voice.
The Uchiha shook his head and looked at the two Jonin "We didn't come here to fight, you know what we came here to do"
Kisame nodded and swung his huge bandaged sword rest upon his shoulder "yeah I know"
Kurenai looked at Itachi and Kisame in shock when she came to a frightening conclusion "Your after something in the village"
Itachi looked at the woman and merely stared before leaping forward only to get a kick to the head sending him flying onto the nearby stream. When the Uchiha looked up his Sharingan spinning wildly he saw Kakashi standing in Kurenai's place his headband revealing his own Sharingan.
"Kakashi Hatake, what an honour" Itachi said in a calm voice as the copy cat ninja jumped onto the water and faced him back.
"What are you after here it can't be Sasuke can it" Kakashi asked in a frosty voice at the thought of this monster taking away one of his students.
Itachi chuckled a little and shook his head "No, we are after my Charge"
Kakashi's eyes widened when suddenly Kisame and Itachi disappeared, Kurenai looked at Kakashi in confusion and then at Asuma who was also confused "Kakashi what did Itachi mean by his charge?"
The silver haired ninja just shook his head and gulped "When Itachi first got into ANBU he was given the honour of protecting and training one of the most amazing and promising ANBU to ever enter the ranks" Kakashi said gulping a little too wet his dry throat.
Asuma stared at Kakashi in fear and then turned to Kurenai "Itachi is after Kitsune"
Jiraiya stared at the two council members in annoyance as the practically ordered him to become Hokage and then shook his head in the negative "Sorry but the whole Hokage business isn't for me"
The two council members scowled at the toad sage and then old man stepped forward "Please Jiraiya you are the most suited to the job, you are a sannin of the village, one of the thirds students himself"
Jiraiya nodded and held up a hand "Yes its true I am his student but you are forgetting one other...someone who would be more suited to the political gig then I would" Jiraiya said a twinkle setting in his eyes.
"Who"
"The Slug Princess, Master of Elixirs and Potions and my teammate the one and only: Tsunade" The council members looked at each other before nodding
'Very well if you can find and escort Lady Tsunade back here to become Hokage we will accept her, who will you take with you we can spare a few Jonin.."
"No"
The council men looked at Jiraiya in shock "What do you mean no"
Jiraiya turned back to the view and grinned "There is only one person I'll be taking with me"
Naruto stared at Kakashi in annoyance as the silver haired ninja tried to tell him that he was in danger, "Look Kakashi, I don't really trust you so I'm not gonna even think that anything will hurt me in the village and secondly I'm leaving the village soon anyway"
Kakashi looked at Naruto in shock "What do you mean?"
Naruto shrugged and then stretched his arms up "Dunno, Pervy Sage just told me to pack a bag because he was taking me on a mission to find some old lady and at the same time teach me some new Jut-su"
Kakashi looked around and then down at Naruto who just gave him an annoyed glance before turning on his heel and walked away "See ya Sensei"
Kakashi swore and then leapt away to find the Toad sage, and when he did he gripped his shoulder and spun him around and looked at him frantically "You and Naruto need to leave the village...NOW!"
"Wow Kakashi what are you talking about were leaving later on this afternoon" Jiraiya said pulling Kakashi from him "and anyway why do you want Naruto out of the village so much I thought I told you to start respecting him/"
Kakashi looked around and then shook his head "No you don't understand Itachi and Kisame are here for Naruto"
Jiraiya's eye widened and he swore "dammit they shouldn't need Naruto for another few years" Kakashi gave Jiraiya a accusing glance
"Why are they after Naruto?"
Jiraiya bit his lip before sighing "Okay Itachi and Kisame aren't working alone, they are a part of a band of nine missing Nin under the name of Akatsuki, they are searching for all nine tailed demons, but from what I've learnt I don't think they plan on just taking Kyuubi from Naruto" he said in a wise voice "Why do you think I told you I'd take over Naruto's training, your good Kakashi but when it comes to these guys Naruto needs to be able to deal with nine of them, he needs to be the very best ninja he can be"
Kakashi nodded and then rubbed a hand on his forehead, "Okay but Itachi is after Naruto, there is nowhere he can hide in the village from him"
Jiraiya nodded and then the both of them leapt off the balcony.
Naruto stretched out on his bed sighing as he relaxed, he was going on a big mission with Pervy sage which meant he wouldn't be getting a lot of sleep so if he was going to train to his fullest potential he was gonna have to be fully rested. But just as he was about to go to sleep someone knocked on his door loudly.
"Coming" he called out as he jumped off his bed and leapt towards the door. When he opened it he was frozen when two eyes that he hadn't seen since he was eight stared back at him.
"Hello Kitsune...you've grown"
Naruto gulped and nodded as he stared at Itachi's cold dead eyes "Yeah, I sure have, I'm not in ANBU at the moment" Itachi nodded and gripped Naruto's wrist
"I know, I've been watching you let's go for a walk shall we" Naruto stared at Itachi for a moment before he nodded"
"ITACHI" Naruto froze once again when he heard the familiar voice. Itachi turned his head and stared at his little brother who was glaring at him with pure hatred n his eyes.
"Kisame take care of Kitsune" Confusion flickered into Sasuke's eyes for a second only to be replaced with hatred as Kisame roughly grabbed Naruto and pulled him to his chest.
" Sasuke get out of here this doesn't concern you" Naruto screamed making Sasuke falter.
"Are you telling me to leave you with him" Sasuke asked in a small voice "I can't do that Naruto"
"You always were jealous of him taking up my time when we were kids" Sasuke gave Itachi another confused Look and was going to strike when suddenly the hallway turned into what looked like the inside of a stomach.
"Let the boy go" Sasuke looked behind him and gulped when he saw Jiraiya standing behind him glaring daggers at Kisame who let Naruto go and pushed him into Itachi's waiting arms. "I'm not gonna hurt him I just want him to remember all the fun times we had"
Naruto closed his eyes as the memories came flooding back.
Flashback
Naruto walked happily beside Ookami who was laughing because of the tiny Anbu's actions "Kitsune, your meeting your new guardian today try to be a little more controlled" he said laughing as he looked down at the young child.
Naruto nodded and smiled behind his mask and then stopped when Ookami did and then looked at the ANBU in a weasel mask.
"Hello" he said politely
"Hello" Weasel said back his voice deep and a little awkward compared to his short stature.
Ookami cleared his voice and then motioned for them both to take their masks off "Weasel Meet Kitsune you will be taking care of him for now on" Itachi stared down at Naruto and then held out his hand to the young child and nodded.
"Hello I'm Itachi Uchiha, I will be taking care of you from now on" he said in a calm and polite tone.
Naruto grinned back and shook Itachi's hand in his much smaller one "Hello I'm Naruto Uzumaki, please take care of me from now on"
Itachi looked down at Naruto smiled back while Ookami looked on proudly at the two new ANBU who had just bonded.
Flashback
"You remember don't you Naruto" Itachi said as he swept Naruto's bangs back "What fun we used to have, how I used to play with you and treat you like a brother" he whispered in Naruto's ear.
Jiraiya rolled his eyes and then kicked Itachi sending him flying and Naruto crumbling to the floor. The toad sage picked his student up and looked him over and saw that he wasn't hurt merely shaken, turning back to deal with the two missing Ninja Jiraiya swore when he saw the two of them had escaped. 'Naruto are you ready to leave" The blonde looked up and nodded and then Jiraiya looked back to Sasuke and Kakashi "You take care of things here, I bring Tsunade back"
Sasuke watched as Naruto walked off with the toad sage a million thoughts running through his head could Naruto be...Kitsune?
As they walked out of the village Jiraiya turned to Naruto and looked down on him "Naruto I want you to tell me about how you know Itachi and I want to know everything" he said in a serious voice.
Naruto nodded and grabbed at his seal before looking down "You remember how I told you that the last six years of my life was spent in ANBU , well Itachi entered into ANBU around about three months after I did" Jiraiya nodded and motioned for the young boy to continue "In an effort to give me a sort of family, the Hokage ordered my Captain Ookami to find me a guardian, someone who would stick to me like glue, train me and in a way love me" Naruto said smiling a little "Ookami chose Itachi" Jiraiya stared at Naruto in shock before nodding for the boy to keep going "Itachi trained me and in a way became my brother, we spent more time together than Itachi did with his own family, if I was called out on mission Itachi would go with me, Itachi would do anything for me, and in time he started spending time with me outside of work hours, he would take me around the village in a hooded cloak and show me what the others kids would do, it went on like that for a year and a half, but a month before my seventh birthday, he came to my room and told me he was leaving the village, I didn't think anything of it until he told me he would come back for me and make me the ultimate ninja, I never saw him after that night...until today"
"So that's why he was so fond with you, you were the closest living person near him for a better part of two years" Jiraiya said scrubbing his face with his hands "You were his charge"
Naruto gripped his shirt above his stomach and gulped looking up at Jiraiya with sad eyes "Why are they after me?"
Jiraiya looked at Naruto closely for a minute before sighing and sitting down and putting a hand on Naruto's stomach and smiling sadly "I wish I could say that they wanted just the Kyuubi...but I have reason to believe that they want you" Naruto looked up at Jiraiya and then smiled sadly.
"Why would they want me, I'm not special not without Kyu" Jiraiya put his hand on Naruto's shoulder and shook his head "If I knew Naruto I would tell you but at the moment I don't have any clue as to what they want with you"
Naruto nodded and then exhaled lightly "Well then I'm gonna have to get a lot stronger if I'm gonna have to deal with Itachi and his big Freaky Fish guy of a partner" he said smiling before he quickly ran through the summoning hand signs and then slammed his hand down. When the smoke cleared Naruto put his hands down and immediately Gamakichi jumped up and onto his head "Although I can't do anything without my buddy here"
"KIT SOMETIMES I REALLY AM AMAZED AT YOUR CHILDISH TENDANCEIS" Kyuubi said laughing loudly
Naruto grinned at Jiraiya who nodded and smiled before he began walking off towards some unknown city "Hey Kid are we going on a road trip" Gamakichi asked happily as he looked all around.
"Yep and I'm gonna get much stronger just you watch" Jiraiya laughed as he looked back at Naruto and then grinned Just like you Minato, oh how I wished you could see him, he's grown up well.