Review Responses:
McAwzome: My my, that is quite the wishlist. Don't you think that would make Riku very OP if I granted that wishlist? I will say this though: one or two of the items on said list may just come true. Also I think I will give Riku s sword. Can't have him relying solely on Yuki can we haha.
meee: Happy to see you reviewing again! Hopefully this becomes a habit as you have given me some good input! I'm glad to see that you liked those two scenes, although I'm slightly surprised that you liked the Gaara moment considering I've never been good with speeches. Hopefully you like this chapter, now that your headache is gone (I hope).
'500...' Gaara still couldn't comprehend the number.
"Did...did I hear you correctly when you said...500?" Konkuro nodded dejectedly as he confirmed his brother's fears. Gaara felt a lump form in his throat and had to wait before he spoke.
"I...I failed them...I failed..." Gaara was nearly inconsolable. He felt someone put a hand on his shoulder. He refused to look at his longtime friend, Naruto Uzumaki, and instead he kept muttering the same thing: "I failed."
"No Gaara you never failed them. They knew the risks of becoming a shinobi and they gladly laid down their lives to fight next to you. If anything, their sacrifices secured the safety of your people." Naruto couldn't stand seeing his freind, and fellow Kage, in the condition he was in now. It hurt more than any kunai od jutsu ever would.
"500 NARUTO, 5-0-0! OUT OF SUNA'S ARMY OF 3,000 ONLY 500 SURVIVED...how...how does the ONE PERSON whose job is to protect everyone...how do they fail in protecting 2,500 of their own?!" For the first time since Naruto met him, Gaara felt completely and utterly helpless.
He felt like a failure.
-4 months later-
'Shit...Where is he?' Hotaru frantically looked all around him. 'Left? Right? Behind? Above? Bel-' Hotaru's thoughts were cut off when Kakashi came rushing out of the ground. Hotaru realized he was in trouble when he stared directly into the Sharingan eye. 'Shit shit shit shit! I am SO glad my mom is good at genjutsus!' Hotaru quickly released it only to find 4 Kakashis all around him, each with a kunai to his throat.
Kakashi grinned as he violently cut his students throat, only to be rewarded with the distinctive "poof" of a Shadow Clone dispelling.
Hotaru glanced at his comrades and nodded, holding up 5 fingers, 2 on his left and 3 on his right, which caused his team mates to start grinning. They all set out towards their assigned positions, mischief glinting in their eyes.
Kakashi sat waiting. He was listening for a certain sound, a sound that should appear at any time now. So he waited...and waited...and waited. Eventually even the Copy Ninja gets bored and, out of habit, he found his hand holding his perverted book. Of course THAT'S when he feels the heat from the Grand Fireball as it whizzed by his head, which caused his Sharingan to follow its' movements. That was the moment of dread for him as he felt a weight suddenly disappear from his hand.
"Oh for the love of-" He was cut off by said book smashing into his face with unimaginable strength, sending Kakashi flying through the woods with only one thought: 'SHE TAUGHT HIM THAT!?'
Kakashi's own thoughts were interrupted mid-flight as he felt another mind (and body) numbing blow smash him several feet into the ground.
"You 3 might as well just close this hole up right now because if I keep training with you this will soon be my destination, not the hospital." Kakashi continued his grumbling but he also couldn't hide the proud smile he wore on his masked face.
'Boy did they grow up fast.'
Team 7 stood before the Hokage all wondering why they were called to this "meeting", if it could even be called that. Just as Hotaru and Riku began to set up a prank for the Hokage, there was a bright orange flash that reveled Naruto nervously running his hand through his hair and grinning.
"Sorry about being late guys. Gaara really wants to get better at his taijutsu haha. But seriously, the way he mixes that sand into his taijutsu his absolutely brilliant!"
Team 7 just shook their heads at the Hokage and sighed.
"You know dad, if you're gonna be late at least give us a heads up please." Hotaru had been ready to run a marathon around Konoha. He couldn't help but be excited because today was their first C-rank mission.
"Yeah Uncle Naruto! What Hotaru said!" The Uchiha siblings had perfect timing on everything. That amazing skill tended to carry over to many things though, their favorite use of the skill was (sadly) chewing out their "Uncle" Naruto. Naruto just grinned and ran his hand through his hair. He REALLY didn't want to do this now but he had no other choice. Boy was this gonna suck.
"Team 7," That got their attention. Naruto almost never used proper identification. "I regret to inform you but your mission has been canceled due to new information we recently received it seems as if-"
"WHAT!" The sound of all three genin shouting in the enclosed space hurt his ears, a lot. "How could you-" Naruto interrupted his son by slamming his fist on the table.
"SHUT UP! Now like I was saying, this new information places a missing Konoha shinobi at the scene of the mission which means he is the cause of these problems. Normally I would just double-up the genin teams but this particular ninja is none other than Rykuga Azu. He is an S-rank missing ninja and has a bounty on his head from every Elemental Nation and several smaller nations. This total bounty amounts to about 350 million. He is wanted for the assassination of several Lords and is also wanted for the Invasion of Suna. That is just the tip of the iceberg. So you are NOT taking this mission. Period. I will find you another but for now you have a paid week off. Use it as you see fit. Dismissed."
With that done, the genin left his office muttering the whole way out. Naruto then turned his attention to Kakashi.
"Kakashi instead you will be the leader of the new mission. This is a long term operation so you will be gone for quite a while, I'm afraid. Your team consists Shikamaru Nara, Temari, Hinata Hyuuga, and Asuma Sarutobi. Gaara has also volunteered, quite adamantly, to be placed on this mission so he will also be on your team. In about six months, if possible, I will send out another team to either relieve or reinforce your own. You should go gather your team. Dismissed." Kakashi disappeared in a swirl of leaves.
'Still likes to make a good entrance and exit.' Naruto laughed to himself. Suddenly he felt a strange feeling of dread in his stomach. He looked up at the clock and quickly realized why.
"OH SHIT! I'M LATE FOR TRAINING!" He closed his eyes and quickly located the proper tag.
Flying Thunder God."
His office disappeared in a flash of orange only to be replaced by a training ground. He landed rather clumsily on his butt and glanced all around.
'Where's Sakura?'
"Shannaro!"
"Oh there you- oh shit. I'm sorry Sakur-" Naruto never finished his apology as he went soaring through the air, and landed right in front of a combat ready Team 7.
"Oh you guys too?!" Naruto groaned as they grinned and nodded. A flurry of hand signs signified the impending attacks.
"Fire Style: Eruption Jutsu!"
"Wind Style: Winds of the Earth!"
"Fire Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu!"
Although he was proud of the three, it REALLY sucked when the ground opened up by a massive burst of air. That burst of air proceeded to catch fire and the course of that air-fire combo was changed and headed in his direction by a rather large fireball. Naruto knew he couldn't doge so instead he did something else.
"Elemental Seal!"
He shot his hand out and GRABBED the combination jutsu. He then sealed it inside the palm of his hand.
"Thank Kami that dad left me his sealing techniques!" Naruto laughed at the look on their faces. "Now it's my turn!" He pointed his hand and released the seal, causing the massive jet of air-fire to shoot at the three genin. Of course no-one got hit as they all disappeared in a poof, indicating they were nothing but shadow clones.
"Hey guys, Kurama wants to train too. Is that ok?" His answer came as a barrage of shuriken. He grinned as he turned inwrds into his mind.
"Ok you ready Kurama?"
"Of course." Kurama scoffed.
"Just remember no complete shift. We'll go with THAT." Naruto and Kurama both grinned and nodded. Naruto just barely had time to block his wife's punch as he re-directed it into the ground. She was about to send a rather vicious kick his way when her leg was caught by something orange and bushy. She was shocked to see Naruto now had nine tails protruding from his untransformed self! He also had fox ears and his whisker scars had become real whiskers. She had never seen THIS before.
"Naruto are you ok?" She was quite concerned but was shocked when he grinned and disappeared, only to reappear right in front of her. "Naru-" She was cut off when he decided to kiss her.
"Yes Sakura we're fine. This form is a perfect balance between us. At this point your talking to BOTH of us. But right now you should be more concerned about the training session." He grinned as she shook her head and threw a punch, only for another tail to catch it. She let out what almost sounded like a growl of frustration when he decided to hang her upside down and tie her to a tree branch, laughing the whole time. She turned around just in time to catch a brace of kunai on another tail and casually tossed them aside.
"Ok guys, now it's OUR turn!" He grinned and disappeared.
"That was complete bull shit!" Riku was fuming as he tried to untangle himself from the wire tying him to the tree branch, much to Naruto and Yuki's enjoyment. The hawk had always liked Naruto but it pissed Riku off to no end when it sat on Naruto's shoulder instead of trying to help cut him down. One impressive new thing about Riku though was that, much like the Inuzuka's dogs, Yuki was developing his vocabulary which has allowed him to start speaking a little human language.
"This funny!" Yuki was the bird equivalent of laughing as Riku failed to get untangled for the 5th time. He heard a crash and watched his blonde haired son fall to the ground.
"I suppose I should go check on him. Yuki you can help him down whenever." Naruto gradually made his way over to Hotaru, wiping tears of laughter out of his eyes the whole way. He mentally gave Kurama a high-five for the most successful prank on the genin team. When he finally got to his son he noticed 2 sets of emerald eyes glaring at him.
"Naruto." Sakura growled a very dangerous sounding growl which caused him to gulp.
"You owe me SO much ramen after this one!" That broke the mood as they all broke down laughing. They turned their heads to watch Yuki laugh when Riku hit the ground head first.
"Ouch," Sakura winced for Riku, "that's easily a minor concussion. I guess I'll go help him. Naruto take your son to Ichiraku's and I'll meet you guys their when I'm done." She watched both father and son jump to their feet.
"I'll beat you their dad!"
"Not a chance!" With that they both took off, leaving a trail of dust in their wake. Sakura just shook her head as she grinned and walked towards Riku's location.
Asuma was completely out of breath...and in a lot of pain. He glanced down at the bullet hole in his hand and winced when he realized that it hit several major tendons, rendering that hand useless.
"Well Kakashi," Asuma was breathing hard as was the silver haired jounin, "seems we're in a little bit of trouble here."
Kakashi shook his head and revealed a seal inside his jacket.
"Our Hokage will be here as soon as possible. We just need to hold out until then." Kakashi tried to locate his comrades and hoped they would finish their fights soon. A giant blade interrupted his thoughts when it tried to slice him in half.
"Well it seems that I'll just need to kill you before then!" Rykuga grinned as his skin turned to iron. "Shall we?"
AN: Sorry guys. This chapter should have been up yesterday but the internet went down and I lost the entire thing.. Well good news is it's here now. Please leave a review of your favorite part of this chapter. Enjoy!