Welcome back everyone. Last time, Team 7 passed their Genin Test. Naruto also gave Sasuke a scroll from Itachi. Now we see Sasuke reading the letter from Itachi. Hope you enjoy.
Chapter 5
That night, Sasuke went inside the Uchiha Compound and went inside his room. He pulled out the scroll Naruto gave him, and to say the least, he was shocked.
Dear Sasuke,
If you are reading this, that means you have met Naruto Uzumaki. I gave him this letter to give to you. I have been staying with him for the last two weeks, and today I am making my leave. In this letter, I will be telling you why I killed off the clan. I will also be telling you a few things that will help you in the long run.
"First of all, I was ordered to kill the clan. I was spying on the clan and giving information to the Hokage. Now, before you start getting angry at the village, don't be." The Uchiha were planning a coup to overthrow the Hokage. Our clan was currently a threat to the village. I did what was best for the village. After I killed the clan, I begged the Hokage to protect you. After that, I fled the village. I still want to protect the village, but now that I am a missing-nin, I can't. That is why you, Sasuke, must take up my position. Protect the village with all your power. Restore the Uchiha Clan. Maybe someday we will be reunited, and things will go back to normal. But until that time, get stronger. Make friends. Protect those precious to you.
Now about those things I said will help you. Look under my bed and get the scroll hidden there. It has some jutsu that I think will benefit you.
That is all I have to say. Trust in your allies, and they will trust you.
Love,
Itachi
Sasuke was crying after he read the letter. He couldn't imagine the pain that Itachi must have felt to go through. That night, Sasuke made a promise. He promised that he would get stronger, and protect those that were precious to him. He stood up and walked towards Itachi's room. True to Itachi's words, a scroll was laying under the bed. When Sasuke opened the scroll, he found ten Fire techniques and some taijutsu techniques. Sasuke closed the scroll and went to bed. He had a long day ahead of him.
The next day…
Team 7 met at their usual meeting place at the bridge. Naruto saw the usual. Sakura trying to get a date with Sasuke, Sasuke refusing to go on a date with Sakura… yeah… the usual. Anyway, as Naruto was nearing the bridge he made several shadow clones, and told them to do some shopping while we was out doing missions with his team.
Sasuke was the first to notice Naruto's arrival. He stood up, and walked over to his blonde teammate. "Naruto… thanks…for giving me the scrolls yesterday" the last Uchiha said to the blonde. "No problem" Naruto replied. They both sat down next to Sakura, and continued to wait for their sensei.
Meanwhile, Naruto closed his eyes and entered his mindscape. "Hey Kurama, Rikudou-sensei "Naruto greeted. "How have you been, Naruto?" Rikudou asked. "Pretty good. Our team is a little shaky, but I think we'll live" Naruto replied. Rikudou let out a chuckle, and then motioned for Naruto to sit down. "Naruto, as you know, there are eight more Tailed-Beasts in the world. Naruto nodded in reply, but wasn't sure where the Sage was going with this. "So… what do you want me to do?" Naruto asked. Rikudou closed his eyes for a moment and then the reopened, a smile on his face. "I want you to gather them. Seeing Naruto's confusion, Rikudou decided to elaborate more. "A group called the Akatsuki is currently trying to gather the Tailed-Beasts to resurrect the Juubi. The Juubi is the monster that I sealed into myself. When I was nearing my death, I used the Creation of All Things technique to separate it into nine different constructs. Thus, the Tailed-Beasts were born." Rikudou explained while a Naruto sat there with a look of awe. "So what are their names? I mean, if you gave Kurama a name, shouldn't they all have names?" Naruto asked. Rikudou grinned, "You catch on pretty quick, Naruto. Yes, I did give them all names. I'm going to tell you them, just so you can have a little more info. The Ichibi or One-Tails is named Shukaku. The Nibi or Two-Tails is named Matatabi. The Sanbi or Three-Tails is named Isobu. The Yonbi or Four-Tails is named Son Goku. The Gobi or Five-Tails is named Kokuo. The Rokubi or Six-Tails is named Saiken. The Nanabi or Seven-Tails is named Chomei. The Hachibi or Eight-Tails is named Gyuki. And of course, you already Kurama here" Rikudou said. "Those are tough names to remember" Naruto replied.
Rikudou chuckled, "They sure are. Now I will be telling you what they all look like in order. Shukaku is a One-Tailed Tanuki. Matatabi is a Two-Tailed cat. Isobu is a Three-Tailed turtle. Son Goku is a Four-Tailed monkey. Kokuo is a Five-Tailed dolphin-horse. Saiken is a Six-Tailed slug. Chomei is a Seven-Tailed rhinoceros beetle. Finally, Gyuki is an Eight-Tailed Ox-Octopus. Did I miss anyone, Kurama?" Rikudou asked the giant fox behind him. "I don't think so, Jiji" Kurama replied. Rikudou nodded and returned his attention to Naruto. "Your sensei is here Naruto. You must go now" Rikudou informed the blonde. Naruto nodded, and went back to reality.
When he opened his eyes, standing in front of him was Kakashi, reading his orange book. "Glad to see your awake, Naruto. " Kakashi said with an eye-smile. "I was awake the whole time sensei. I was just doing some meditation." Naruto replied. Kakashi nodded in understanding, and proceeded to inform his team of today's schedule. "Alright Team, today we will be doing some D-Rank missions. So for the rest of the day, Team 7 spent their time gardening, chasing cats, carrying groceries, chasing cats, painting fences, and chasing cats. Did I forget to say they chased cats?
Team 7 did a lot more of these for the next two weeks. When the second week was over, Naruto was pissed. Just when the Hokage was about to give then another D-Rank, Naruto shouted,"Jiji, I'm tired of D-Ranks, can't we get a better mission?" Naruto said with puppy dog eyes. "Well if Kakashi thinks its okay, I don't see why not." The Hokage replied while turning to Kakashi. "I think they're ready for a C-Rank, what do you guys think?" Kakashi asked his team. The three Genin nodded. The Hokage gave them a smile. "Alright then, just let me get your client." Hiruzen said before signaling the ANBU to send in the client. When the door opened, it revealed an elderly man wearing a brown shirt, pants and a straw hat. The smell of alcohol was radiating off of him. "These are the people who you assigned to protect me? A duck-butt, cotton candy, and a scarecrow? The blonde one actually looks decent." the man stated. "This is your client, Tazuna. You will be protecting him while he finishes the bridge connecting Wave Country and Fire Country together" Hiruzen said.
"Well, looks like I won't be getting anyone else. Meet me at the front gates in two hours" Tazuna said before walking out the door. Kakashi turned towards his team and told them to pack for the mission. Two hours later, they all met up at the front gates of Konoha. "Alright, we're all set to go. Let's go" Kakashi said as the group walked out of the village. They walked through the forest for a while, when Naruto said he had to pee. Kakashi sighed, "Make it fast."
Naruto walked for about five minutes before he stopped in a familiar clearing. Naruto made a hand seal and the temple showed itself, in all its temple glory. "It's been quite a while." Naruto stated to no one in particular. He walked through the entrance of the temple and walked around for a while. Once he found what he was looking for he took out a sealing scroll and sealed the items into the scroll. What were the items, you may ask? Just some extra sage staffs and robes. On the outside, the staff didn't look like much, but in reality it could be used to summon all five of the Treasured Tools of the Sage of the Six Paths. The Bashoshen, the Benihisago, the Kohaku no Johei, the Kokinjo, and the Shichiseiken. All the tools required vast amounts of chakra to wield, so no ordinary ninja could use them. Rikudou decided that Naruto would summon all the tools once he had finished mastering his jutsu.
"You sure took your time." Kakashi said as he saw Naruto emerging from the forest. "I really had to go, sensei." Naruto replied. "Can we go now?" Naruto asked as Kakashi gave him a nod in reply. They kept walking for a few more hours before Naruto saw a puddle in the middle of the road. 'That's odd. It hasn't rained in days and that is a pretty big puddle' Naruto thought as he stared at the strange puddle. Suddenly, when they walked pass the puddle, a couple of missing-nin sprang out of the puddle, all the while wrapping their chain around Kakashi. The two missing-nin pulled the chain tightly, which caused Kakashi to break into pieces.
Sakura and Sasuke both had a look of shock on their faces. "One down, four to go" one of the missing-nin said. As they both charged towards the group, Naruto made a few hand seals and called out,"Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld!" Suddenly, the missing-nin were sucked into the ground, neck-deep in mud. Naruto examined them carefully. "Hmm… the Demon Brothers, Gozu and Meizu. B-Rank missing-nin from Kiri." Naruto stated. Then he looked towards the trees and called," You can come out now, Sensei!"
Kakashi jumped down the tree he was hiding in and congratulated Naruto. "Good job taking care of the Demon Brothers Naruto." Then turned to look at Tazuna, who was sweating bullets." These are two Chunin Level missing-nin from Kiri." "You said we had to protect you from bandits. This C-Rank mission just turned A-Rank. "Kakashi stated. "You have some explaining to do, Tazuna." Kakashi said. Tazuna sighed as he began his story. "Wave was once a prosperous and peaceful country. But all of that changed when Gato arrived. He took over Wave and turned into a bandit camp. Thieves run rampant, stealing our goods, hurting our friends, violating our women." (A/N: I put violated because I don't like using 'that' word. Just to keep this story PG. ;)) Team 7, especially Sakura, were shocked to hear this news. "That's why I want to build the bridge connecting Wave to Fire Country. So that we can be freed of Gato's treachery. So that we may have hope again." Tazuna was shedding tears as he was telling his story. Kakashi thought over the information he was just given. Then he turned towards his team. "What do you guys think? Should we stay and complete the mission, or go back and leave Tazuna here?" Kakashi asked his team.
"I say we continue the mission. After all, Konoha would look weak if we couldn't complete this 'C-Rank' mission." Naruto replied. Kakashi looked towards Sasuke and Sakura and they both nodded. Then Kakashi turned back towards Tazuna. "You're a luck man, Tazuna. If I were to decide the fate of this mission myself, we would have left." Kakashi said the old drunk. "Thank you!" Tazuna cheered. "Once we finish the bridge, I promise we'll give you A-Rank pay." Tazuna promised.
"But first, I want to interrogate these two" Naruto said looking towards the Demon Brothers. "Very well then Naruto, go ahead." Kakashi replied. Naruto nodded his thanks, and proceeded to make a barrier. "Earth Release: Mud Encampment Wall" Naruto shouted as four walls made of mud surrounded him and the Demon Brothers. Then when Naruto thought it was safe, he muttered, " Wood Release: Wood Tentacles" and giant tree roots sprouted from the ground, taking the Demon Brothers out of the mud.
Naruto closed his eyes for a moment before reopening them to reveal the Rinnegan. The brothers were awestruck at seeing the legendary dojutsu in the flesh. Naruto looked into their eyes before asking, "What other ninja has Gato hired to kill Tazuna?" One of the brothers, Gozu, answered "The Demon of the Mist, Zabuza Momochi and his apprentice Haku of the Yuki Clan." in a monotone voice. Naruto smirked. The Rinnegan was perfect for interrogating enemy ninja with its mind control ability. "You will tell no one what you have seen here." Naruto commanded. Both of the brothers nodded slowly before Naruto released the jutsu on them.
"How did it go?" Kakashi asked when Naruto was finished. "It looks like we'll be dealing with Zabuza Momochi and his apprentice" Kakashi's eye widened. "Are you sure?" Kakashi asked in a serious tone. "Positive." Naruto answered. He turned around to look at the Demon Brothers who were snapped out of their trance. "Remember what I told you. NO ONE hears of this." Naruto told the brothers. Gozu and Meizu nodded their heads rapidly before running away into the trees.
With that, Team 7 with Tazuna in tow continued their way to Wave with the information that an A-Rank missing-nin and his apprentice were waiting for them.
That's chapter 5. Be sure to check in next time for the epic encounter between Team 7 and the Demon of the Mist. Review, Follow, Fave! ^_^