A/N: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.
I've got an interesting review complaining about Gaara being made the Kazekage while Naruto is not Hokage despite being stronger than him, somehow making this a plot hole. I'm not sure I understand where this comes from, do you seriously believe that everyone in this world have their jobs because they deserve it? Of course not, it is most of the time a chain of events and circumstances that leads someone to reach his or her position in the world.
That being said, on a more serious note, a ninja village is what we may call a dictatorship. So having one of the children of the deceased Kazekage replace him is not really unexpected nor illogical. Gaara being the stronger one of the three siblings makes his nomination quite understandable. I'm not even starting on why Naruto isn't made Hokage.
Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.
Chapter 21: Race against Time
Konoha – Hokage Office
Tsunade sat behind her desk with a cup of tea in her hand. She was reading the scroll sent to them by Suna, asking for Konoha's help in dealing against Akatsuki who abducted Gaara the Kazekage. She knew that time was a critical factor for the rescue mission she was about to program.
Out of all her shinobi, she knew that only Naruto and Jiraya had experience in fighting against Akatsuki. She would also need a good tracking team to go with them as well as a good medic. Having made her choice, she called for Shizune to start summoning the people who would take part in the mission.
She also summoned an ANBU team to go to the stadium and tell all those present there that the tests were canceled. She had already seen enough of Naruto's abilities and knew which rank he would assume now that he's back in active duty.
Timeskip – Half an hour later
Inside Tsunade's office now stood several people. Temari ambassador of Suna was wondering why she was summoned by the Hokage and apparently she wasn't the only one. Team 8 with their jonin sensei Kurenai as well as Jiraya the toad sage and Sakura were also here. Naruto was the first to break the silence as usual.
"Why are we here Ba-chan ? I thought I had one hour before the test resumes." He asked clueless as to why he was called here while in the middle of a meal eating his tenth bowl or ramen.
"Your test has been canceled, there's a emergency. Thirty minutes ago, we received a coded message from Suna saying that Gaara had been kidnapped. They spotted at least two enemies, wearing black robes with red clouds on them. They are aware of our past experience in dealing with Akatsuki and have asked for our help. Ambassador Temari, you are also to return to your village with the team I will send." Replied Tsunade.
Temari was speechless, a million things flashed in her mind. Someone was actually strong enough to come inside her village and kidnap her brother. Hinata had a hand on the Suna representative's shoulder trying to comfort her. Kiba and Kurenai stayed silent.
"Is it Itachi and Kisame again ?" Asked Jiraya in his serious spy mode, gathering as much Intel as he could. Sakura's ears perked up at the mention of the Uchiha member.
"We're not sure yet, it was night time there when the attack took place. All we know is that one of them was using a strange creature to fly and he also used high level explosives as his main attacks." Replied the Hokage.
"I thought you wouldn't let me take missions again before the end of the tests." Said Naruto.
"It's an emergency, you and Jiraya are the only shinobi who have prior experience with Akatsuki. Team 8 will be the tracking team while Sakura will be the medic support." Started Tsunade.
"In fact, I've seen enough of your abilities this morning. You were already highly skilled in ninjutsu before you even left with the pervert. So with my power as the Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto, it is my pleasure to promote you to the rank of jonin of Konoha." Finished Tsunade with a smile.
"Not to sound ungrateful but are you sure the Council will roll with that ? I don't want to cause you any additional troubles." Naruto said with concern in his voice. He knew how the council was always trying to harm him one way or the other, Jiji could never completely protect him against them. He didn't want to have Tsunade deal with those imbeciles.
"You're a hundred years too young to worry about me Brat ! For your information, since I took the Hat after sensei retired, I fired all of the previous Elder Council. Since then the civilian council had a lot less political power than in the past since they lost the support of the old fools. Sarutobi sensei is the only member of the new Elder Council now." Replied Tsunade with a smirk.
"Very well, I suppose Ero-sennin is in charge then, and when do we leave ?" Asked Naruto.
"Yes he is and you leave in half an hour. Dismissed." Said Tsunade as everyone started to leave her office. She had a really bad feeling about this mission and hoped nothing wrong happens to the team she just sent out.
Wind Country Borders
It had been two days since the Konoha team had left, they were about to cross the border over Wind Country. Naruto took this opportunity to catch up with everyone since he had been too busy to do it before now with the testing and all.
He was pleased to learn that Hinata and Kiba were both chunin rank. He still couldn't believe that Sakura started to train seriously and even became Tsunade's apprentice. Apparently, after Sasuke's betrayal and with him being gone for three years, Team 7 was dismantled and Shino was placed as his temporary replacement in team 8.
He also leaned about the other rookies, everyone became chunin except for Neji who was already jonin. He tried to speak with Temari, to keep her from thinking too much about her missing brother. Kankuro and her were also jonin and of course Gaara was their Kazekage. She told him about the events that led her brother to change from an unstable killing machine to the highly respected leader of her village.
It all started when they came back from the failed invasion of Konoha. After being debriefed by their Council, it was revealed to everyone that it was thanks to Gaara's intervention that their alliance with Konoha was still holding. How he managed to prevent their troops from be slaughtered along with Oto and then the discovery of the traitorous snake who fooled them into participating in that war by impersonating their previous Kage.
At first, Gaara was lost and didn't know how to deal with all the praise he received. Then, he slowly but surely changed and opened up to more and more people. He even took a student and often put his life on the line to save the life of others during missions. After a while, everyone came to respect and like him. Being the strongest shinobi in their village and coming from the family of the previous leader, he was naturally chosen to become their new Kazekage.
Her tale made Naruto smile, he was happy for his fellow jinchuriki. Though he wondered if the same thing could one day happen for him in Konoha. How many lives would he have to save, how many allies would he need to bring in before people acknowledged him for being something other than the demon reincarnated. How much more would he need to sacrifice before the village finally sees him for a human being and not a monster. For the benefit of the village, he still hold his true lineage secret, fearing that Iwa would try to invade them again if they learn about his ties to the Uzumaki and Namikaze households.
Sunagakure
The group finally made its way to Suna one day later. They were immediately directed to the hospital where Kankuro was currently being treated after his fight with one of the enemy. He was suffering from a case of severe poisoning and none of the local doctors were able to help him. It was apparently a new type of poison they never encountered before and none of the antidotes they had seemed to work on slowing down the progress of the poison.
Sakura proved that she was indeed the student of Tsunade when she took charge of his case and succeeded in curing him. She demonstrated some impressive healing skills and jutsu. She also quickly took command of every medical personal that was present and worked with them in order to produce an antidote for Kankuro. She also made additional doses for the rest of the team, should they need it when facing the same opponent's poison again.
When Kankuro recovered enough to speak, he gave them all the information they needed in order to rescue Gaara. Apparently one of the Akatsuki member was Akasuna no Sasori, ex member of their village and expert in the art of puppetry. Kankuro provided them with a small piece of Sasori's puppet he was able to detach when they were fighting in the desert. Naruto promised him that he would bring Gaara back alive.
They were about to leave when Temari was held back by the council, her sensei Baki explained that the council would not allow her to leave for the rescue mission and that she had to stay in the village to help increase the defenses in case of another country attacking them while their leader was down. This greatly angered the Suna princess, she was about to disobey when another person jumped in front of them. It was Chiyo, the retired Puppet Mistress of Suna, Sasori was her grandson and she wanted to be the one to stop him.
Seeing that Suna would also send someone powerful enough, Temari finally decided to stand down and stayed in the village as ordered. She could only look helplessly as the ninja from Konoha left Suna, with their tracking ninja following the trail Kankuro gave them in order to save her brother Gaara.
River Country
The trail left by Kankuro led them directly into River Country. Naruto was glad to finally leave the desert, they were now jumping from tree to tree in a huge forest following the scent left behind by Sasori.
Hinata suddenly stopped on a branch and signaled for everyone that they had company. She had activated her Byakugan as soon as they left the desert and entered the dense forest.
"Two huge chakra sources right in front of us, one of them has so much chakra if feels like looking at Naruto-kun." Explained Hinata.
They did not have to wait long as two minutes later two familiar faces appeared in front of them. Naruto and Jiraya immediately recognized those faces for in front of them now stood Hoshigaki Kisame and Uchiha Itachi.
"So we meet again Naruto-kun, Jiraya-sama." Said Itachi in an emotionless voice.
"What's with the cool attitude, not running away again today?" Asked Naruto with a smirk.
"Still cocky as ever, Gaki." Replied Kisame with a murderous look in his eyes.
"You seriously think you can defeat me with just you two against us all?" Jiraya joined them in their conversation.
"We will see, won't we?" Replied Kisame as he took out his huge sword, ready to slice everything in his path.
However Jiraya was not fooled by them and knew they were merely stalling, trying to delay them in their mission to save the Kazekage. So he formed a strategy and informed the others.
"We don't have time for this, Naruto will take care of Itachi while I go against Kisame. I want the rest of you to go ahead and locate their base but do not engage them. Be careful, they may have set some traps along the way." Ordered Jiraya getting nods from everyone as they ran past them.
Kisame tried to stop them but Jiraya appeared in front of him instantly and delivered a powerful punch to his head, sending him backwards nursing his jaw then went after him.
With Naruto
During the time Jiraya went to stop Kisame, neither Naruto nor Itachi moved from their spot, still facing each other in silence.
"What was Jiraya-sama thinking, leaving you alone against me." Said Itachi, strangely pointing his finger at Naruto.
This was in fact his first move, as he called his jutsu in his mind "Utakata !", it was a hypnotic attack that left his opponent at his mercy. By merely pointing his fingers at someone he could direct this genjutsu against that person. It seemed to work since his blond opponent suddenly lost his focus and relaxed his arms, signaling that the jutsu most likely caught him.
Itachi drew a kunai and ran towards his opponent ready to incapacitate him. As he tried to pierce his target, the kunai went right through it. The Akatsuki operative's eyes widened, shocked to have been caught in what must have been a genjutsu as the illusion in front of him slowly disappeared.
"Very impressive Naruto-kun." He said stoically as he activated his Sharingan, not wanting to be deceived again. As his doujutsu activated, he was extremely surprised to see chakra flowing everywhere around him.
"I always thought you would never be able to cast a genjutsu with your high chakra reserves." Added Itachi trying to fish for information out of the young man in front of him.
"I guess your file on me is outdated then." Called Naruto as he came out from behind a tall tree, without his jacket and his katana in his hand.
Itachi immediately launched a new jutsu as he confirmed with his doujutsu that the Naruto in front of him was real.
"Katon : Gokakyu no jutsu !" He expelled a huge fireball in Naruto's direction.
The fireball ran its course perfectly in Naruto's direction but the Uchiha prodigy had to frown as the jutsu hit what looked like an illusion again. He was sure the one in front of him was real, there was no way someone could hit him with a genjutsu while he had his Sharingan activated.
He was pulled out of his thoughts by the sounds of footsteps coming from his right, but his eyes widened as he felt the blade of a katana suddenly piercing his body from the left. He turned his head to the left and saw a smirking Naruto holding his katana.
Naruto thought he had succeeded but Itachi suddenly smiled, all Naruto heard was "Bunshin Dai Bakuha !". He cursed as he knew the blast would hit him point blank, seeing no other choice he called his next jutsu "Senpo : Ryu no Hada !".
There was a short flash, then an explosion shook the entire area. When the dust settled down, Itachi went out of the woods where he had used a Kawarimi to substitute himself with a log. He raised an eyebrow at what he saw, near the center of the explosion stood Naruto unharmed, two huge black wings spread around his body in a protective stance.
Naruto cursed himself for underestimating his opponent's tactic, he had to reveal something he didn't want to be known just yet. Still hidden behind his dragon wings he prepared his next move as he drew his katana in the direction of Itachi.
"Futon : Kaze Shinsou !" was all Itachi heard when he felt his heart explode, slowly looking down he only felt a gush of wind from where his heart used to be before he fell to the ground dead.
From his original position Naruto fully retracted his wings, revealing the same stance he had in his test against Yugao when he used his long range wind spear jutsu.
When he made his way to the down body of Itachi, he was surprised to see the face of a completely different man he never saw before. The man still wore the Akatsuki outfit just like the Itachi he fought just moments ago. Deciding to not lose more time than he could afford he sealed the body in a scroll then moved on after dispelling all his techniques.
"I have to catch up with the others, hope the pervert is fine." Said Naruto as he jumped in the direction the rest of the team took earlier.
A/N: Decided to stop the chapter here, next time will be 100% fighting chapter.
I was not sure on where all this took place in classic Naruto, I remember them in a forest, then Kakashi and Naruto chasing after Deidara on top of a river or something. Looking at the Naruto world map I found that River country was between Wind and Fire Country so I chose it as the place for this confrontation.
As you can see Naruto is not invincible in his Wind field, he can still get surprised. (for now)
Next, yes Naruto is a dragon sage, he'll show off more technique in the future.
As usual please Read and Review.
New jutsu :
Senpo : Ryu no Hada , translates as Sage Arts : Dragon Skin. One of Naruto's basic defense in dragon sage mode. He deploys his two wings around his body to protect him from an attack. The scales on those wings are extremely durable and can withstand most elemental attacks.