Disclaimer: My left testical has stopped itching, thought you should know that...
What's for dinner? I'm starved!" Stated Naruto as he walked in like he had just took on god himself.
"How was training? With the way you're moving I would say you were doing some sort of "Shadow" training?" asked Kakashi with a wink... Or does that count as a blink?
Naruto knew what his brother figure was doing, he was giving Naruto a way out of his teammate finding out about his training methods, because they would demand to use it and die in the process.
"Yep, but I was working on my other skills as well, mostly "My" taijutsu." he stated. Kakashi's eye widened, if Naruto was already working on that, it might be ready in time for the chunin exams. oh the money he was going to rake in at the chunin exams.
"You need any help? I'm no Gai, but I think I can help." Kakashi asked. He truly would like to see this style. If its anything like he had drawn up when he was still in ANBU, he could probably even beat Gai in a one on one.
"That would be great, but I'm no where near done with it. Only got the basics done, but that should be enough for now." stated Naruto as he started to dig in to the pasta that was made for dinner.
"Understood. You know tomorrow is when Zabuza is supposed to be back to full. And with the bridge being almost finished. It will most likely be tomorrow. We should think of a plan." stated Kakashi, sounding every bit the ANBU Commander he was just a few months ago.
"Hmm, in your honest opinions, how strong are Sasuke and Sakura?" asked Naruto, he needed their real level to formulate a plan. He knew that Kakashi could at the very least hold Zabuza off, but the hunter nin was a mystery, most likely chunin to jonin. So Naruto would most likely have to take on the hunter nin.
"Hmmm, I'd say that Sakura is... Low to mid genin" stated Kakashi, Naruto just nodded, but thought the scarecrow overestimated her.
"And Sasuke?"
"high genin to low chunin, maybe even mid chunin? It's hard to tell really." said the jonin, still flipping through his book.
It was at this time that Sasuke decided to make his presence known. "Hey, dob... Naruto? Can we talk?"
Naruto was drawn back by the radical shift in Sasuke's attitude. He stopped himself from calling him Dobe, and asked for him something instead of demanding it. "Sure, what you wanna talk about?"
"Not here, I'd like to be alone" his tone was a mystery, even to Sasuke. It was a mixture pain, regret and ... Happiness?
"Uhh, yea... I got a spot" Naruto walked over to to the door and motioned Sasuke to follow.
Sasuke just nodded and followed him out the door. Sakura was torn up inside. She knew that if anyone could help Sasuke it was Naruto, after all, Naruto was the only one they knew of that had it worse than Sasuke. But this also meant that Sasuke and Naruto would grow closer. Which meant that he would pay even less attention to her.
-Roof of the house-
Naruto and Sasuke had jumped up to the roof and sat with their backs on the chimney. Naruto flashed through hand signs at a rate that would make Zabuza blush. Then the whole roof and a dome of blue light flashed around them.
"Its a silence seal, no one can hear us up here. I can guess what you want to talk about?" asked Naruto with a very serious face and tone.
"Ah, umm, I don't really..." he didn't know what was going on. He knew all the questions, but didn't know how to ask them.
"Let me guess, you want me to tell you about Itachi, clear up my past and tell you how I survived and thrived?" Sasuke nodded and Naruto just sighed. "Tell me everything you know about me and your brother Itachi. And not that we were both ANBU captains. Or that he slaughtered your clan."
Sasuke looked at the blonde that was next to him, a confused look on his face, but he did as instructed "Itachi was a genius, he unlocked the sharingan at the age of 8. He was a genin at the end of the 3rd Great War. His best friend was Shushi Uchiha. And... That's all I really got? He was always so distant and whenever I would ask for help he would poke me in the forehead"
"And what do you know of me? Other than we've been teammates for the last few months." asked Naruto
"You were raised from the age of 6 by Kakashi sensei. The council hates you. Everyone but a select few hate you. Your ridiculously strong for your age. You've suffered almost your whole life. You hid your skills during the academy and I think you still are. That's about all I got" he said, an amount of sadness in his voice
"Good. But tell me, why was I treated like that. If Itachi really wanted to test himself, why didn't he kill ANBU? Who was Itachi? Who am I?" asked Naruto
"You were in ANBU with Itachi. Did you ever work together?" asked Sasuke
"Yes. We we both on Kakashi's squad. After a couple of years Itachi was put in charge of his own team. After he killed your clan, I took over his team. But there's more. He didn't take life unnecessarily. The 3rd great war was traumatic on Itachi in that way. Itachi liked peace, that's why he joined ANBU, to protect from within. That's really all I know. But there is one more thing. The last thing he asked of me..." stated Naruto. He smiled remembering back to that night, the night of the massacre.
-Flashback, one minute after the massacre, Naruto's apartment-
Naruto awoke out of a sound sleep. There was a silhouette man standing in the doorway to his room, the smell of blood entered his nostrils. Instinct took over and Naruto lunged at the man in his doorway, plunging a kunai into the man's chest. There was a loud exhale. Then, the man burst into crows.
"Come on out Itachi, what do you need at this time at night?" asked Naruto in a half bored/half pissed voice. It was Naruto's promotion test the next day. He would finally become an ANBU trainee, instead of just training with Kakashi, Gai, Shisui and Itachi.
"Naruto, I have just massacred my whole clan minus Sasuke and Shisui. I beg you to keep Sasuke safe and sane! He only has you now, and he will need you to help him through his hard times. I left him because I know he can be pure, unlike the rest of my pitiful clan." stated Itachi with no tone in his voice, though it was clear he was crying.
"Why would you do that! Where is Shisui! What do you mean that Sasuke was the only pure one?" rattled off Naruto, truly confused of this whole situation.
"My clan was weak, they had to be purged. Shisui is dead, I drowned him 3 days ago. Sasuke is too innocent to take that path unless he is pushed to it. I need you to show him the right path and keep him from what he was born into." stated the stoic Uchiha.
"Stop speaking in riddles! Look, just tell me what to do and I'll do it, you've saved my life more than once, it's the least I can do" claimed Naruto.
"Well for starters, he's in a very powerful genjutsu right now, he could use some help. Until next time." then, he was gone. He left in his usual flock of crows.
-Flashback end-
Sasuke was shocked, Itachi had looked after him? He had gone out of his way to make sure he basically had a guardian angel? "W-Why? Why would he do that?"
"Sasuke, if I know anything about Itachi, It was that he hated pointless bloodshed. I know for a fact he didn't snap and go crazy, and he loved Konoha, the only thing we talked about more than his love of the village, was how much he loved you. I don't know what truly happened that night, but he looked out for you. Your life should not revolve around killing him, he wanted you safe. If anything, he wanted you to rebuild the clan as a strong and morally strong family. Not a group of jutsu thieves that rely on their Kekkei genkei."
"Maybe... Maybe you're right? But Itachi told me to gain eyes like his! But you said that he hated violence? I don't know anymore!" shouted Sasuke, once again, his life was being torn apart, but this time he was older. And this time, he would come out on top!
"Take your time, I felt the same way when I found out about my family too"
-With the clones-
"Are you shitting me? You call that a kick?" taunted one of the clones, a clone near the top of a tall tree that had all its leaves cut in half in a pile near the trunk.
"Screw you! Boss gave you the easy job! You just sit there and watch over us!" yelled another clone, right before he was dispelled with a kick to the throat.
Alright guys, 15 more minutes until the battle royal! I'll inform boss and when he gets here its time to start!" yelled the clone on the branch. It had been almost 4 hours and they were only supposed to go for 3. The clone jumped of the branch and swan dived into a group of clones, dispelling them all.
-With Naruto and Sasuke-
The duo was just about to jump down from the roof when the memories of Naruto's dispelled clones came to his mind. Which surprised him as they were quite a distance away, none the less, Naruto had to go watch the training.
"I'd love to stay and chat some more Teme, but I have to go take care of something, tell Kakashi I'll be back for tomorrow morning, and if one late to wait up for me, you guys can't fight Zabuza and his cronies by yourselves." and with that, Naruto disappeared in a swirl of intense wind.
'Naruto is my best friend... my only friend... Maybe I should do what he suggested? Stop going after Itachi? Would I be happier? Or would it cause me more pain? What would I do if he comes back? Ahhh! Why does this have to be so complicated!' mentally shouted Sasuke. The blonde had changed his view on Itachi, flipped everything he knew upside down and now he was his best friend? For the first time in almost 4 years, Sasuke smiled. Not a smirk or a grin, a true smile. 'At least he's here to help me through this'
-With Naruto and clones-
"Begin!"
All the clones shot at each other with intent to kill. And that they did. Every blow that connected could end a fight, and with a quarter of the clones using his doujutsu, Naruto was seeing almost every second of it, or at least he would when one of the clones was dusted. Naruto's head began to pound with the sudden influx of information and about 45 seconds after he started the clone battle royal, he passed out.
-Mindscape-
"Sup fox? Anything new?" asked Naruto as he took a seat and looked into the cage.
"Sup flesh bag? No, nothing new, just stuck in an idiot." stated the fox
"And just what makes me an idiot this time? I'm creating my own taijutsu style!" questioned Naruto
"What are you going to do if you're forced to hand to hand and have to use ninjutsu? You forget about that? Or what if your facing someone in Kenjutsu? Like That Momochi?" asked the fox.
"Duh, I adapt! The style is made to adapt to your opponent, so I just need to adapt. Plus, I want to learn Kenjutsu, to be a great shinobi you need to be well rounded, and I'm still only intermediate at sealing. I want to be able to use my fathers jutsu, but I need to redesign the seal to work with me. On top of that, I still want to go to to Uzushiogakure and see if I can find anything? Maybe there's some sweet jutsu there that's lost to the world? Or maybe there's something that can help with my eyes?" Naruto was just rambling on at this point, but the Fox knew the kid had a point, who cares if he was a little bit slow sometimes? When it came to anything ninja, he was a greater genius than his old man.
"Shit! Someone is coming! You need to head back to the real world!" warned the Fox
"I can't until I process all the information the clones are sending me, I can't wake up." stated Naruto a little panicked.
"Let's just hope their friendly, cuz you're a sitting duck right now"
-Real world-
A masked man had just entered the clearing, only to see about 750 blondes killing each other, though they were only clones. The masked man made his way to the Naruto on the branch overlooking the whole fight, figuring that was the real one.
"It's time to end this miserable life" as the man reached for his sword.
-Next day, early morning-
The group of Konoha nins were on edge, this was the day that Zabuza would be back, along with whoever he had with him, and Naruto, the ace in the hole, was nowhere to be found.
While Kakashi knew that Naruto was dependable, he couldn't help but wonder what his idiot son/brother/best friend/student was up to.
Sasuke was worried that the only person in this world he truly could care for still wasn't there. He knew that he would be back until later, but it was getting ridiculous. They were supposed to be heading to the bridge a half hour ago.
Sakura was wondering what color underwear her Sasuke was wearing today.
Tazuna was a little tipsy and started to drum on the table with two spoons he had snuck from the kitchen. He was surprisingly good.
All was quiet until the door flung open and Kakashi was hit in the back of the head with... A head? It was a freaking decapitated head!
"Hey Kakashi! You're it!" came the cheerful voice of Naruto who was leaning against a post that held up the overhanging roof.
Everyone was shocked. Who just throws a head at someone? Wait... Where did he even get the head? The 3 shinobi walked out to the yard, only to see 15 dead bodies. All with there throat cut or a hole in the base of their skull where a kunai had been "placed"
"Now Kakashi, I believe you owe me 50 ryo?" stated Naruto with a smug smile on his face, much to the added confusion of the other 5 people there.
"Nope, the bet was 15 AND bare hands, you used a kunai" stated Kakashi smugly, adding even more confusion to the group
"What's going on here?" asked Tazuna, a little worried that their was now 15 dead bodies in his front yard.
"They were sent by Gato to kidnap Inari and do... Something... To Tsunami" stated Naruto with a shiver "I killed them before they knew it was coming, a rapist life hold no value in this world"
It wasn't known to many, but the only thing Naruto hated more that the people that denied him his childhood, was rapists. Naruto, Kakashi and Jiraiya, even though they were huge supporters of the fairer sex, would kill anyone that had ever committed the horrible act. The only thing a rapist could hope for when facing one of the 3 was a painless death, which it never was.
Naruto washed the thoughts from his head and spoke "Before we head to the bridge, there's something I need to tell you all"
-flashback-
Naruto had just woken up from his shadow clone induced sleep, only to find a rather tall man with no shirt on and a huge sword on his back.
"Oh, hey Zabuza, need something?" asked Naruto in a calm tone. If Zabuza was here to kill him, he would have done it already.
"Just a couple of questions, gaki" stated the former mist nin. There was none of his usual harshness in his voice
"And what would they be?" asked Naruto, now sitting next to Zabuza on the tree branch
"How the fuck are you so good? You're in a genin team, so I know you're not a jonin like you should be, your like 12 years old and you act like a full blown retard when you're not fighting and you killed my apprentice as an ANBU, what gives?" asked the swordsman.
"Well I'm not exactly liked in my village. I was beaten and abused from the day I was born. After about six years the old man was finally able to outwit the council and get me placed in ANBU. I had several teachers including Might Gai, Kakashi, Itachi Uchiha, Shisui Uchiha, Jiraiya the Sannin and even old man Hokage for awhile. At the age of eight I was strong enough to become an ANBU recruit under Kakashi and at age 9 I was a full fledged member. But I lead a double life. I was also acting as an Academy student, the worst academy student. Since the council didn't know I was an ANBU, I was forced to take the rank genin" stated Naruto with an odd smile on his face, one of happiness?
"That's explains a lot, councils are a bunch of fuck offs anyway. But that doesn't explain the acting like a retard part" stated an understanding Zabuza, he hated councils, almost as much as he hated Yagura
"It's in my blood" laughed Naruto "Though I can't tell you who my father is, I can tell you my mother was Kushina Uzumaki"
"K-Kushina Uzumaki! The bloody habanero? Good god no wonder you act so fucked up! She was insane on the battlefield! The only person I feared more than her was your Yondaime! That blonde haired madman killed most of Iwa's army in one battle! And those eyes of his, I only met him once but I'll remember the look in his eyes forever. It was the look of a man who knew he had done horrible things, but did them for the right reasons, kinda like...yours!" Zabuza yelled and jumped back "Your his son! And Uzumaki's! Oh fuck I am not going to fight you!"
"The almighty demon of the mist doesn't want to fight a 12 year old? That's funny, I wonder what people would say if they heard that?" asked Naruto while laughing
"Fuck my reputation! You're the son of the two most dangerous shinobi ever produced in the Leaf!" stated Zabuza, his mind was running a mile a minute, before he thought about something...
"What would happen to me if I tried to join your village? You said you were trained by the Sandaime right? Could you get me and Haku into your village?" asked Zabuza, if he played his cards right he could end this life of constant running and provided a better life for Haku at the same time.
"I guess? Konoha loves powerful ninja and Kekkei genkei, so I don't see why not?" stated Naruto after about a minute of thinking
"Hey kid, if Kushina was your mother, how come you're not a swordsman? She was on par with me and the other 6 swordsman" Asked Zabuza, curious as to why the kid wasn't following in his parents footsteps
"I would, but I don't get my parents' will until I'm a chunin, the council doesn't want me to be strong, so there putting up every roadblock possible to make sure I stay weak" stated Naruto with disdain in his voice.
"Then it's your lucky day gaki! Your now my apprentice in the way of the blade and in Water jutsu!" stated Zabuza with some pride, he never would have thought he would find anybody to teach the way of the blade to. Haku wasn't right for a sword and well, Naruto killed the last one...
"Really? You'd do that? Why?" asked Naruto, wary of the situation he was in.
"A couple reasons, I hate councils, so it will be fun to fuck with them, I need an apprentice to pass my swordsmanship to, and it would be a total injustice if the son of the great Kushina didn't at least match her in swordsmanship." listed of Zabuza
"Awesome! But... What about Gato? I can just let him keep his hold on this village" asked Naruto, pondering the question
Zabuza got a sinister smile of his face, visible even through the bandages "You leave the midget to me, just meet me at the bridge tomorrow, then we can get me and Haku instated to Konoha and she can have the life she truly deserves" Zabuza trailed off
"Haku's a girl?" asked an astonished Naruto, though when he thought about it, it made sense, she had a rather lean build an effeminate voice...
"Yep, oh and one more thing" stated Zabuza as he pulled out his sword "You touch her, you die"
-end of Flashback-
Everyone was quiet, no, not quite. Silent. Well they were until a certain banshee decided to Speak up.
"So that means we don't have to fight him, right?" she asked, everyone else, including Inari face palmed.
"Let's just get going, he told me for us to meet him at the bridge. Just to be safe, it will be me in front, Kakashi in back, Tazuna in the middle and Sasuke and Sakura on either side." Kakashi nodded, not knowing the full situation as Naruto didn't say what got Zabuza to join them.
"Why can't Sasuke be in front? He's a better ninja than you!" yelled the banshee. Everyone looked at her with the "Your a fucking retard" face.
"Let's just go"
-15 minutes later, at the bridge-
There was a dense mist hanging in the air as team 7 walked on to the bridge. All was quiet until Kakashi was hit in the head by ... A head?
"Tag, you're it!" laughed Zabuza. It wasn't a demonic laugh, just a normal laugh, well, as normal as Zabuza will ever get.
"Oh come on! Twice! What bullshit is this!" yelled Kakashi, much to the amusement of Naruto, who was rolling around on the bridge laughing his ass off.
"So does that make us even, may we go with you?" asked The Demon of the Mist, well not really ask, more of a demand
"You kill Gato?" asked Naruto as he struggled himself back up.
"Whose head do you think that was?" laughed the soon to be Demon of Leaf.
"Cool, what about his bandits?" asked Naruto
"Ah shit, I knew I forgot something"
"Were right here kid!" shouted a voice from behind them "You killed our meal ticket! Now we're going to kill you and get everything we can out of this town, including all the women!"
"Oh, that was the wrong thing to say..." stated Kakashi
"What do you mean Kakashi sensei?" asked Sakura
"Just watch the bandits and don't blink" stated Kakashi
"You who defile this earth with your disgusting souls, you will all die by my hand! Those as lowly as you don't deserve to live!" shouted Naruto before he disappeared from sight, no jutsu, just pure speed.
The bandits started laughing until there was only silence. Then, almost all at once, their throats slit open and blood sprayed everywhere. In an instant they were all dead.
"What the hell just happened!" yelled Sasuke, Tazuna and Sakura at the same time. None knowing what just happened. Naruto vanished and not even a second later every one of the 45 or so bandits were dead.
"Naruto was merciful" stated Kakashi nonchalantly, like this was a daily occurrence, which about 2 months ago, it was.
After he said that, the 5 people remaining on the bridge heard a loud cheering, and a chant repeating louder and louder.
"Hero, hero, hero" chanted the crowd that had gathered just before Naruto killed all the bandits single handedly.
"Well at least the bodies are still intact... Well not that one.." stated Kakashi as he looked at the body of the man that had been talking. His head was literally torn from his shoulders.
-That night, bridge-
"Goodbye! Visit us sometime!" yelled a random villager
"You're our hero!" shouted multiple girls as they all rushed the group. Sakura stepped in front of Sasuke to intercept the wave of girls, but was shocked when they all latched on to Naruto.
"Help please!" yelled Naruto as he was engulfed in a sea of women from Wave, ranging from age 10 to age 30.
"Lucky gaki.." stated both Kakashi and Zabuza at the same time, much to everyone else's amusement.
"You'd never catch me acting like that!" stated Haku defiantly, though she did notice the glance that Sasuke sent her. She had taken off her chest binding and was wearing a little tighter battle kimono, showing off her rather well endowed assets.
"I don't get what the big deal is? It's just Naruto?" stated Sakura. In her twisted mind it was Sasuke who did everything and he was the hero. She knew that wasn't true, but the mind of Sakura Haruno was a weird place to be...
Naruto had finally gotten away from the crowd of women and was hiding behind Zabuza, who found it funny the affect women have on men. "Can we go now? It's about 4 hours back to the village if we run"
"Hmm, sounds like a plan, I need to get the newest release of my precious" stated Kakashi as he held the book to his chest. There truly was no one normal in this group.
"Good bye everyone! I'll come back someday soon!" yelled Naruto as he took off down the bridge, followed soon by the rest of the group.
"He will be a legend one day" stated Tazuna
"We still need to name the bridge!" yelled a random guy in the back
"I've got it! The almighty Tazuna bridge!" yelled the half drunken bridge builder.
"How about the great Naruto bridge?" asked Inari, with a great cheer in response.
(Pairings poll: Yugito 18, Ino 17, Fuu 17, Yugao 15, Anko 15, Temari 14, Sakura 3)
(Naruto hasn't named his Taijutsu style yet, that should come in the next chapter)
(Next chapter will have Naruto's journey to the ruins of Uzushiogakure, should i have Zabuza go with him and start to teach him kenjutsu? or have Kakashi go and teach him something new? or someone else?)
(What type of Sword should Naruto use? Its going to be huge, somewhere between the size of Zabuzas sword and a standard claymore)
(Sasuke pairing? who should it be?)
(as always, Review, ask questions, be assholes. it helps me write better and faster)