Chapter 6 – Bye world! Hello dad!
Naruto was looking at the gate of Academy. From this day he was going to be a student. He sighed and started looking around at other kids. He saw the gazes of the parents falling on him, first filled with confusion which slowly turned into the one having hatred. 'Ah! They must have thought I was dead or something' he thought after listening someone say about the return of Kyuubi brat. The history was repeating for him. He still remember the day when Danzo gave him the offer to get away from these gaze forever. He was crying that day for a long time on the Hokage monument.
"It seems you are early Naruto-kun"
Without turning to look at the speaker he replied, "No, it seems you are quite late, Hokage-sama."
Hokage flinched at the sight of Naruto covered in full orange, from neck to shoes. After a moment, he asked Naruto to follow him inside. It was going to be one hell of day for him.
One year passed. Naruto had made quite an image of himself, as others would say 'a loud mouth dead last knucklehead'. According to him, it made him easy to mix and he had made some 'friends', of course if Naruto consider them one.
Naruto was waiting for his turn. He was sitting on his desk, watching the sky outside the window. He sighed, 'the only thing I am bad at. I should have really worked on that. By the way who uses a clone when you can use a real shadow clone?' The only thing which made his situation worse were the written tests. He still didn't know what he was supposed to write. He never considered to study those books which were supposed to be for 'incapable weaklings'.
His name was called and he went to the next room only after giving a stupid grin to his classmates. 'Oh I so much hate this.'
As others had expected Naruto failed.
It was already dark. Naruto was waiting in the dark forest, with a large scroll on his hand. Mizuki had told him that he would pass if he learn all the jutsus from that particular scroll.
He heard some rustling nearby. He looked to find Iruka approaching.
"Naruto, what are you doing here? Is that the scroll from the Hokage's building?"
Naruto just sheepishly grinned and said cheerfully, "I have learnt some jutsus, now I can pass. Right? Mizuki-sensei told me so."
Iruka eyes widened, filled with surprise, "What are you saying Naruto? Mizuki said that?"
Naruto shook his head.
'Of course it make sense. This way, Mizuki will get the scroll, Naruto will take the blame and to keep this secret safe, he will… he will' he looked at Naruto wide eyed, 'he will not hesitate to kill Naruto.' Before he could say something he heard laughing. It was Mizuki.
When Naruto didn't hand over the scroll, Mizuki threw the large shuriken at him, which came tearing air at such a speed which was impossible for an academy dead last to dodge or block. But Naruto was not an ordinary 'dead last'. He was waiting for the shuriken to come, he was not afraid. He could simply block it anytime. Iruka took this as if Naruto was sacred so much it hindered his movements.
In an attempt to save Naruto, Iruka threw himself in front of him, catching the shuriken with his back. Naruto saw his teacher falling in front of him, that teacher who cared for him during his early days at academy when no other teacher or student did. He felt a pin in his chest. He hold Iruka before he could hit the ground. "Iruka-Sensei. Why?" he asked without showing any emotions. He tore of his happy-go-lucky façade.
"I couldn't let you get hurt Naruto. Now please run. Don't let him have the scroll"
"I understand" he said and laid Iruka against the tree, "He could never take that scroll. But I am not going to run." The scroll turned into a log. The confusion was all over the face of both Mizuki and Iruka.
"What did you do Naruto?" shouted Mizuki.
"There was never any scroll here in the first place. The scroll is still in the Hokage's building under the table." Naruto turned and faced Mizuki. "I knew what you were after from the start. And for that you are going to spend the rest of your pathetic life in prison"
Mizuki blood was boiling. "Who is going to do that? The dead last who can't even form a decent clone? I AM GOING TO KILL YOU." He took out his another large shuriken.
Naruto didn't show any emotion. Unfazed he said bringing his hand together, "I don't need the fucking clones, when I can make…" Seconds later, the whole area was filled with Naruto. He spread his hands to show Mizuki around, "…these".
He turned towards Iruka and sat beside him and said three words, "Don't kill him." The shadow clones came like tsunami of orange sea, destroying everything in its path. It all took just seconds. Mizuki was down, barely breathing. Iruka shook his head, pushing his surprise aside and smiled at Naruto who just looked at him apathetically.
Few months passed, Naruto was a genin now, along with his eight other classmates. Iruka decided to overlook his performance with clones at the test after seeing just the sheer number of perfect shadow clones he could make.
Naruto was reading some scrolls in his apartment. Days were quite peaceful. Konoha was recovering from the Invasion which took place during the chunin exams. Naruto remembered the time when he had to fight Orochimaru. It was less of a fight. Naruto lost consciousness before he could even start. On the day of invasion, Konoha lost its Sandaime Hokage.
During this time, Naruto learned a new A-rank technique, 'Rasengan', and made contract with the toads.
He had to go for a hunt for the new Hokage-Tsunade-hime, one of the three sannin. Tsunade took quite a liking for the boy. He was a copy of Minato in his young days. She knew he had the will of fire just as his father in him. She believed that he would become Hokage as great as his father someday, if not better. She gave him the necklace of her grandfather showing her faith in him. The days can't be better for him. He could just concentrate on learning new jutsus for now without any disturbance. The village was standing on its feet again under the leadership of its new hokage.
It was a bright day. Team seven was on a mission to accompany the family of relatives of fire Daimyo. The silver haired jonin spared a second to look at the carriage from his orange colored book. He sighed mentally about the gravity of the mission. Being close to Daimyo increases the risk of kidnapping and to some extent, murder. Why a team of one jonin and three genins was considered for that? 'Just what was the Godaime thinking?'
He looked at his students who were around the carriage. In short amount of time they had grown a lot. He looked at Sasuke who was guarding the carriage from right. He knew Sasuke could hold his ground against some chunin level ninjas. He would have been a chunin by now, only if the sound-sand invasion hadn't taken place. He shifted his view to the left side at Sakura. She was showing some improvement. Then his thought shifted to his third student. The academy report on him didn't do justice to his talents a bit. First, he beat Mizuki, a chunin without taking a single blow. Then the fight against Gaara, Ichibi jinchuriki.
He had talked about Naruto to Godaime. 'Root. Huh. That explains.' She had told him about his old days as a Root operative and the sharingan which was implanted. It was supposed to be a secret. But she thought it was necessary to at least tell Kakashi about him. Knowing about the team capabilities is game changer on which sometimes life and death depends.
Shaking his head to clear his mind he once again got lost in his book.
Naruto was moving in the front. From the corner of his eyes, he saw Sakura occasionally stealing glances at him. "Do you need something Sakura-chan?" He asked without turning his head.
Seeing that she got caught, she shifted her line of view to someplace else. It was like this since the Sound-Sand invasion. Sakura had started ignoring him. After knowing that Naruto is not who he seems to be, somehow she felt betrayed by his façade. Sakura had blamed him for the Curse seal which was placed on her precious Sasuke. If he was that strong, why didn't he save Sasuke in the forest of death? She had heard about the fight between Naruto and Gaara from Sasuke and Kakashi. How he had fought a fight which was clearly above a level of chunin, or to be more exact a lower level Jonin. How he summoned a large toad to fight the eqully large monster. She wanted to ask these questions but never got the guts. Now she was afraid of him, afraid of the unknown.
Naruto again looked at her from the corner of his eyes. He knew Sakura was behaving a little different since the invasion. He guessed the invasion as the reason for that. He thought that by time, everything will be like early days. But he could feel the gap increasing. It would affect their team work which was necessary for the success of missions. He would be having a talk with her later.
The sun was replaced by the moon. Team seven had decided to have rest as they were moving for the whole day. The Family was inside the Carriage and Sakura was seating near the fire next to Sasuke to her delight.
Naruto walked to Sakura and took a deep breath. He really hated talking like his stupid self, "Sakura-chan can I have a word with you?"
Sakura just ignored him and continued looking at the tendrils of fire.
"I don't understand. Why are you acting like this? Did I do something to upset you?"
When no reply came from her, he continued. "Tell me at least something. Or it will destroy our teamwork."
The word 'teamwork' stung her like a bee. "TEAMWORK? Don't talk about team work Naruto." She shouted at him, pouring all the anger she had accumulated. "Where did your team work go, when you left us during our Chunin exam? You could have helped Sasuke-kun fight that snake bastard. I know you are stronger than both of us. I know how you defeated that sand monster with that large toad. Then why? Why didn't you help us?" Tears threatened to flow form her eyes.
Naruto stood silent before saying. "I see. So that was the reason. But believe me, I had no intention of Sasuke or you getting hurt. I tried but I failed. Neither had I had any toad contract at that time. I am sorry if I hurt you." Naruto turned to leave. The one thing which he learned in root was to give priority to saving lives of his teammates, next to mission and his own life. Oh god! He hated so much being nice. How much he missed his days in Root.
Sasuke was listening to all this. He spoke for the first time. "Are you an idiot? Did you forget that it was him who saved both of us against Gaara. He could have just run when given the chance by Gaara, but he stayed. Did you see him running away or hiding in the forest of death? He was just knocked out by him before Naruto could do anything. And he may be stronger than both of us combined, but that snake man was on whole another level. I have doubt even Kakashi could have done anything." Sasuke knew who that man was. One of the legendary Sannin. There was no way Naruto could stand against one of the Sannin.
Deep down Sakura knew he was right. She was just trying to blame someone for her incompetency. She hugged her knees and looked down at her feet. "I know. I was wrong to yell at him. I should apologize to him."
"Hmm" was all that Sasuke replied. After all he had spoken a lot for a day by now.
Hearing the shouts from outside, the head of the family peeked outside and asked the jonin who was sitting nearby. "Is everything all right?"
The silver haired jonin gave him an eye-smile before continuing, "Yes. Everything is all right. You should take some sleep. We will be leaving early in the morning."
"Is everything really alright, Hatake Kakashi?" was all everyone heard before smoke bombs filled the clearing with smoke.
The instincts which Kakashi have honed in years kicked in instantly. Revealing his sharingan, he looked for any traces of chakra. He made a big jump to his right and stabbed a kunai in the neck of the assailant ninja who was making a move towards the carriage.
Instantly he formed the required hand seals, "Fūton: Daitoppa (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)." The wind cleared the smoke in instant.
"Everyone form a circle around the carriage and protect them at any cost." Listening to their jonin sensei, the three genins took their position around the carriage.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't the the copy ninja Kakashi."
Kakashi followed from where the voice was coming. "Jouchirou."
Jouchirou was a tall man, taller than Kakashi. He wore grey pants with holster attached to both the sides. His well-built upper body was covered with black shirt which was open to show the big scar which he had on his chest. Kakshi knew who he was. A-ranked missing-nin from Iwagakure.
Kakashi knew he had to deal with him quickly and provide support to his students in case he was not alone. He looked over his shoulder at his students.
"Do you have time to look elsewhere Kakashi?" was all the warning he heard before the ground below him opened. Kakashi jumped to prevent himself from getting swallowed in the bottomless pit but Jouchirou was expecting this. He appeared in front of him and swung the kunai with the goal of slitting his neck open. Somehow Kakashi managed to turn in mid-air and landed behind Jouchirou. He looked at the blood on his right shoulder. Jouchirou still managed to draw the first blood.
They exchanged blows for few minutes.
Kakashi spared a glance at his students, Naruto and Sasuke were involved in fighting and Sakura was protecting the family. He had to finish this fast, really fast.
Kakashi formed the seals and stopped at tiger seal. Knowing what Kakashi was going to do, Jouchirou formed his own seals.
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)"
"Doton: Doryūheki (Earth Release: Mud Wall)"
The great fireball collided with the earth wall, shattering the stones and leaving dust and smoke everywhere. Jouchirou's eyes widened when the ground below him started to split. The only thought that came to his mind, 'He… he copied my jutsu'.
He jumped in the air and turned his head to look from where the sound of chirping of thousand birds was coming. He saw Kakashi charging with his hand covered in lightening.
"You may have copied my jutsu Kakashi but I am not going to fall for my own trap." He formed the required hand seals, stopping at bird and shouted "Doton: Doryūsō (Earth Style: Falling Earth Spears)". The condensed mud shaped into spikes flew towards Kakashi who was also in mid-air. Nowhere to go he collided his Chidori in the mud spike which teared it like paper.
Seeing his jutsu disappeared, his eyes widened in panic. Kakashi was moving towards him, his hand still covered in lightening. The fraction of second it took Kakashi to reach to Jouchirou, appeared very long for him. Finally when they collided, Kakashi's hand penetrated his chest. They both landed on ground. Jouchirou spat blood and after few seconds fell to ground face first.
A bright light got the attention of Kakashi. He turned towards the source of light. Naruto was holding, barely, a huge scorching ball of flame with a mud wall. Knowing that Naruto was at a disadvantage with his weak earth jutsu, he rushed towards them. He gained his speed but suddenly stopped when the whole surrounding ground shook with the shockwaves created by the blast. He looked in horror inside the smoke where once his blond student was standing with his eye. He was not there.
He gritted his teeth. For the first time, an expression was visible in his eyes, an expression other than boredom and perverseness, an expression of anger and hatred. 'I am going to kill those bastards.' Pushing more chakra into his legs, he covered the distance in an instant and without any hesitation he stabbed the kunai into their necks upto the handle, a whole 5 inch. The tip was sticking out from behind their neck. Blood rushed from the pierced neck and colored the hand of jonin.
Few minutes back.
Naruto and Sasuke were busy in exchanging taijutsu with occasional ninjutsu with the two missing-nins while Sakura was standing in front of the carriage, ready to fight if any unwanted guest decided to show up unexpectedly.
Both of the missing-nins were wearing Iwagakure headband with a big scratch in the centre. One of them was a women in her twenties with long black hair which came to her mid back. Other was a man almost same age as her, with short brown hair.
Seeing that they were unable to pass the defence in the form of two genins, they decided to change the game. Black haired missing-nin looked at her male partner and nodded. They both jumped backwards maintaining the distance between them and the konoha ninjas. They looked backwards over their shoulder at the fight where their boss was keeping the copy ninja busy. They saw the big ball of fire colliding with the mud wall. They decided to end this then and there.
Preparing themselves for their most powerful combo attack, they formed the seals. This was their ultimate attack which required a lot of chakra and they only used that when there was no way around. Still they were amazed to see just two genins who were around half their age were able to force them to use their last resort.
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)"
"Fūton: Daitoppa (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)."
They cried in unison. The large gust of wing magnified the flame and increased its speed. Naruto knew that he could jump away to the side, taking some burns at the max. Also he was sure that Sasuke would survive somehow. Then he looked at her third teammate. He saw the terror in her eyes. Then he saw his mission. 'Mission first, then you, they your teammates. And nothing else' He remembered Danzo saying this multiple times.
He knew what he had to do. He moved forwards with blinding speed and pressed his hands against the ground.
"Doton: Doryūheki (Earth Release: Mud Wall)"
A small wall came to life in front of him. He knew it was not sufficient so he decided to pump some extra chakra from his enormous reserves. He touched the wall and started pumping in large quantities. The very next second the flames collided with the wall. Naruto took the blunt force directly, decreasing the power behind the combo attack. After a second, the whole surrounding was filled with dust and smoke. A blast echoed in the area. The last thing which Sakura and Sasuke saw before their eyes were forced shut was the silhouette of their third teammate struggling to keep the flames in bay.
When the smoke cleared, nothing was left there. Neither the wall nor the blond. Tears started coming out from Sakura's eyes. She just stared at the large crater.
"Sakura! Hey Sakura! You need to focus. I can't hold them alone. We have to protect the family untill Kakashi finishes his fight." Shouted Sasuke. She just turned her head and looked at him blankly with tear filled eyes.
The two missing-nins tried to say something. They opened their mouth but no sound came.
Sasuke was relieved to see his sensei standing between the two missing-nins with a kunai stabbed in their necks. As soon as he let the kunai go, their lifeless bodies fell to ground.
He looked at the large crater and then at his two students. It was not going to be easy for them. He moved towards them with only one thought in his mind. For the first time he doubted his superior eye. 'Kamui?'
That day Konoha lost a good ninja. That day elemental nations lost Naruto Uzumaki.
In his mindscape, Naruto heared someone calling his name. "…uto! Naruto"
He opened his eyes to look at the source who was calling him. He saw two people standing in front of him. He rubbed his eyes and tried to focus to look clearly and said just one word "Yondaime?"