-9-

The Omega and the Alpha

Enjoy!

It had been around a week since Yagura Karatachi surrendered the Bloody Mist to the rebels.

Yagura Karatachi knew he had been under the illusive bindings of a rather powerful genjutsu, and seeing as his tailed beast had been oh so kind, having decided to not break the genjutsu, Yagura tried to fit the square block into the triangular hole.

Or rather, was trying to figure out what the fuck had been going on while he was trapped.

Bits and pieces of information floated in his mind, but there was one final command, and suddenly, he was back in control. Apparently, Yagura had been the bloodiest Mizukage to ever reign in office, which was quite the accomplishment.

Upon seeing his once peaceful village split down the middle of a cruel and vicious war, with the corpses piling up on both sides by the mountain, with his mind and body freed, there was only one thing Yagura could think of doing.

Conditional surrender, with the stipulation being Yagura be taken prisoner and not executed.

It was a little rough at first, with three Swordsmen of the Mist pointing their swords at his neck, heart, and balls, respectively in that order. But, a rather beautiful woman by the name of Mei Terumi had convinced the three Swordsmen to not slice him into separate pieces.

Shinigami bless her heritage.

However, now he was held in a maximum security prison cell, with eight… no… nine separate chakra sealing tags outfitted on his various body parts. In essence, he was given the bare minimum to survive.

Yagura wasn't sure how or when Zabuza Momochi transitioned from a frontline brute into a refined and calculating assassin, nor when Mangetsu Hōzuki actually graduated to a proper Swordsmen in the first place, but it seemed to work just fine.

"Just how long was I under that genjutsu?" Was the common thought Yagura had when pondering his life while in the walls of his cell, but regardless, he was imprisoned, stuck in metaphorical purgatory.

Meanwhile, the village of Kirigakure was changing for the better. News of Yagura's surrender, along with the rebellion taking over and instating a new government, had a divisive effect on the general public.

The majority of civilians were thankful and celebrating profusely that the tyrant in office beforehand was taken down, and were looking forward to a new era of peace and stability.

Others, however, were not as convinced. While they were thankful the Bloody Mist's leader was gone, there was still hesitation that the rebellion would fare any better.

The Mizukage's building was still relatively intact, and at the moment, the main office was occupied by multiple people. More precisely, multiple people from the rebellion.

Zabuza Momochi. Haku Yuki. Mei Terumi. Mangetsu Hōzuki. Kushimaru Kuriarare. Ao of the Byakugan. All of them had been discussing the next plan for Kirigakure.

Despite the previous reign being violent, plans for a newer, peaceful reign were being introduced, the start of it all being the actual governing body themselves.

Yagura ran his village as a tyrant. No advisors, no checks and balances. Any law he wanted instated would be approved immediately, due to fear of sudden and tragic disappearance.

However, a new Mizukage had been decided, with everyone in the room agreeing in majority vote.

The Fifth Mizukage was instated.

Zabuza Momochi, Swordsmen of the Mist.

The process wasn't official, not yet anyways, as they were still on clean-up duty for the village, but progress had been made.

Due to his leadership, and securing the money from the financial tycoon Gato, the rebels were able to guarantee their victory over the Bloody Mist, which ultimately gave him the nod for Fifth Mizukage. He was currently looking over his notes for the village.

There were four major Kirigakure clans still in the village.

The Hoshigaki and Hōzuki clans, seeing as those two had actually founded the Hidden Mist back in the Warring Clans era.

The Konoe clan, known for their impressive genjutsu, had been annexed and filtered in during the first Great War, specifically when Kirigakure had expanded their borders to encompass more of the surrounding islands.

And, finally, the Fushimaru clan, being prominent users of the bloodline Storm Release, having been annexed during the second Great War, after the fall of Uzushiogakure, managed to survive the Bloody War in Kirigakure and rose to prominence, securing their spot as a major clan.

The Yuki clan had been in Uzushiogakure as well, but unfortunately, most of the clan members had either died or escaped during the Bloody War, leaving only Haku Yuki and a few stragglers in the Land of Water.

Zabuza informed the clan leaders that they would have positions on his new village board, helping him run the village and offer their input, with all four clans agreeing in principle to this. His governing body would be any Kirigakure clans recognized as having influence or importance, and a group of civilian representatives, being offered eight table positions, outnumbering the clans two-to-one for the time being.

This was agreeable to all parties, so with that, the new Kirigakure governing body was established.

Zabuza Momochi, with his immediate chain of commands being Haku Yuki and Mei Terumi. Mangetsu Hōzuki and Kushimaru Kuriarare would lead the new group of Swordsmen, and actively work on acquiring all the Legendary Swords in the process.

Ao of the Byakugan would be his Jounin Commander, adopting Konohagakure's model for their shinobi system. The academic focus would be on ninjutsu and various bladed combat, adopting the Kumogakure model.

Mangetsu had declined leading the clan. He cited his reasoning as wanting to rebuild the Seven Swordsmen, and also look for his brother, who had been missing for over a year now.

At the moment, they were in possession of the Hiramekarei, being used by Mangetsu Hōzuki.

The Nuibari, being used by Kushimaru Kuriarare.

The Kubikiribōchō, being used by the current Mizukage, Zabuza Momochi.

The Kabutowari, currently unused.

And the Shibuki, also currently unused.

That left two swords that needed to be recovered. The Samehada, which, to their knowledge, was still with Kisame Hoshigaki, and the Kiba, which were last with Ameyuri Ringo, but seeing as they had found her corpse and no blades, they assumed the blades had been stolen and probably sold off.

Nonetheless, they would find it.

For the time, they were working on immediately rebuilding.

"First of all, find Utakata and offer him official citizenship. We have absolutely zero jinchuriki, we need to start with that. Second of all, how long would the trip to the three Great Nations be, minus Kumo?"

Mei Terumi was busy writing official offers of alliances, trade deals, basically anything that would speed up the rebuild of Kirigakure, while Haku Yuki was parsing through the world map, trying to calculate trip times.

"Konoha would be roughly a week, maybe a week and a half, when factoring in the boat time. Suna and Iwa would both be an additional three days of running after that, so roughly two weeks total if we send multiple messengers. No Kumogakure deal?"

Zabuza denied the notion. Kumogakure were their biggest enemy in all of the Great Wars, no reason to advertise to the village with arguably the biggest military power that Kiri was ripe for invading.

"Terumi, I want you to send four messengers tomorrow, tell two of them to go to Konoha and the other two to travel to Iwa. Suna won't be of any help as they are basically indentured to Konoha."

The woman nodded, her pen furiously scribbling. A lot of work left indeed.

Zabuza Momochi had left the office for the time being, working on securing his village and calming their fears, leaving Mei and Haku to write out any letters.

The two of them were naturally quiet, this much was true, but something was bothering Haku enough to voice her thoughts.

"Don't you think… this was all a little too easy?"

Mei glanced up from her letter, brilliant green eyes staring at the effeminate young man near her. Her eyes sparkled in curiosity, but nothing was said.

Haku understood the silent prompt.

"Well, we went from pushing Yagura's forces back, to throwing him into his prison cell in the span of two days. It was literally an overnight change."

It was something worth noting, and Mei wasn't stupid. In fact, she was incredibly intelligent. It was odd to her as well, but she hadn't voiced this for anyone to hear. Now, she was thankful that someone else had picked up on the odd behavior as well.

Mei scribbled the finishing touches on that letter and looked at Haku again.

"I'll admit, I do agree it was too smooth, too sudden." The woman said after a moment of deliberation. "It wasn't something I was sure of myself, but here we are."

Haku let a frown rest on his beautiful face, taking a brief respite to consider his next words.

"Zabuza and I brokered a deal with that bridge dealer. Smuggled him back, collected the payment from Gato, got back to Kirigakure, supplied the rebels with new armor, weapons and medicine, and you are telling me that Yagura decided to surrender not even two whole days later?"

"He knew he was being pushed back. It would make sense for Yagura to surrender with his life intact. I agree that it's all very convenient, but sometimes that's just how it plays out." Mei responded.

But Haku wasn't as easily convinced.

It had only been roughly half a week since Team 7 returned from their mission, and Naruto was already training, attempting to grow stronger.

Six training dummies were set up. Three spread out over the entire training arena, and three clumped together. The three dummies clustered had rather sizable tears, some of the stuffing thrown around the grounds, while two of the isolated dummies were also covered in tears. The final dummy looked rather crisp - torched.

In the middle of it all stood Naruto. Two of the dummies were behind him, to his left and right, with the third training dummy directly to his immediate left. In front of him were the remaining, but the ground seemed to be torn up, as if it was broken and shattered and not paved entirely.

He tensed his legs, crouching slightly, building chakra into his body. A bead of sweat had built itself on his forehead, and his breathing was slightly ragged. Naruto's eyes remained focused, however.

And, finally, he sprung.

Using chakra to boost his jump, Naruto twisted in midair and twirled to face the two dummies. Flashing through a few hand seals, he blew two concentrated blasts of air, the dummies exposing more of their straw stuffing as both blasts hit them dead on.

The bullets he shot had been small, but precise, meant to shatter and obliterate their target instead of force them backwards. He wasn't using his full power, and if he had been the dummies would have been obliterated after the first blow.

In midair, Naruto suddenly shifted and looked to his side, at the burnt dummy. He flashed through his seals and used the same jutsu he had copied from his teammate, Sasuke, all of those weeks ago. He was attempting to practice in case he needed to bust it out in combat.

The fireball, about the size of the average wooden dresser, smashed into the dummy, lighting up the testing subject in searing flames, the straw melting and dripping onto the ground. "Too much chakra."

Finally, he landed back on the ground, having done all of that in one jump. He faced the three dummies in front of him, and flashed through hand seals again, attempting to build up chakra in the ground.

The bandit leader, Suien, had used an Earth Dragon jutsu against him, but thankfully he took the blow rather well, all things considered. Earth wasn't his natural element, so this was proving harder than he anticipated.

He attempted to raise the dragon from the dirt, but it was rather small, maybe as wide as a door and about eight feet in length. On the plus side, it moved rather fast, due to its size, but didn't do much damage.

Over the past few hours, Naruto had been attempting to incorporate the Earth dragon into his repertoire, but it just wasn't clicking. The actual formation was easy enough, since Earth jutsu didn't require keeping the components combined manually, like when you used Air or Water jutsu, but the chakra balance wasn't working in his favor.

Then, an idea formed in his head.

Has anyone made an Air-style dragon jutsu? He knew there was the Earth, Water, and Fire jutsu in the form of a dragon, and he ASSUMED that Lightning also had a similar technique, but he hadn't ever heard anything about an Air dragon.

Focusing on forming his chakra internally and moulding it into formation, he focused on keeping the air together and released. A pitiful half dragon, with virtually none of the face actually formed, came from his mouth, traveling about five feet before dissipating. He shrugged to himself at this.

Now this? This was something he could work with.

It had been five hours since he started trying to form his Air dragon. It could travel roughly twenty-eight feet before dissipating, the face having been partially formed. A tree to the side of the training ground had been marked up, much of the tanned bark having been broken off due to the continuous beating it had received from the blond.

He was making good progress.

"Alright, my cute little Genin." Kakashi said, snapping his esteemed literature shut as three separate sets of eyes drifted to him. They were outside of the gates of Konoha, having been given permission by the Sandaime for their training. The forest surrounding them was dense, with tall, branching treelines interrupting any chance of seeing more than a few feet in.

The sun was still blazing over their heads still, and Sasuke felt himself swiping away a bead of sweat as Sakura looked unfocused, her normally cherry gaze sparkless, as if she was walking catonic. Naruto passed a somewhat worried look to Sakura, something that shocked Kakashi, although he didn't show it.

Normally Naruto was somewhat expressive at best and downright indifferent at worst, so when the blond showed concern it was a good sign to Kakashi that whatever damaged him as a kid was slowly beginning to wear off.

However…

Sakura was worrying him a bit. He had sat down with her and talked to her a bit about how she was doing, and he chalked up her disinterest to her still being in shock, but it was continuing to persist. Kakashi wasn't surprised that she was taking this harshly, and he could sympathize with his student, but if she continued like this he'd have to recommend her to a Yamanaka therapist.

First kills were almost never easy, unless you were sociopathic, like Orochimaru, or you were like Minato, who separated the act from the intent, in this case killing to keep his village safe.

Naruto and Sasuke seemed to be handling their first kills just fine, but that was to be expected. Naruto has always been a little… off, and Sasuke went through a traumatic event as a little kid. Both of them were fundamentally different.

But Sakura? With all due respect, she wasn't mentally or emotionally built for killing at the drop of a hat. He'd look into it a bit with the Yamanaka clan, look at her potential options, and get her some therapeutic help.

"Today, you three will be cooking lunch for me."

Naruto's eyebrows scrunched down, his focus sharpening just a hair, while Sasuke huffed and slanted his body slightly. "This is our training for today? Seriously?"

If it bothered the scarecrow, he didn't show it outwardly, instead giving them a smile, albeit through his mask. The wind lightly howled around them, and Sakura shivered.

Glancing at his dark-haired teammate, Naruto nodded slightly. "I have to agree, Kakashi-sensei. I was expecting something more… meaningful. Not cooking."

He decided to have a little fun with it.

"Are my Genin doubting the authenticity of the famous Fourth Hokage, Shinigami bless him, training regime? Why, I'm sure he's absolutely rattling in his grave as we speak!" Kakashi said in mock anger, clutching his chest and turning his head away in apparent shock.

Now this had Naruto and Sasuke interested. Assuming their sensei wasn't lying, of course.

The famed (infamous, really, depending on the person being asked) Namikaze Minato had Kakashi and his two Genin teammates… cook lunch for him?

"Well, he had us cook dinner for him," Kakashi clarified with a finger in the air, drawing their attention. "but lunch is functionally the same thing."

Sasuke took a step forward. "And you aren't lying? Yondaime really had you cook for him?"

Kakashi shrugged and unsealed a chair from seemingly nowhere, causing Naruto to raise an eyebrow.

Sakura was still silent, not saying a word. Simply staring.

"It's about two in the afternoon." Kakashi said, seemingly ignoring Sasuke's inquiry. "That should give you three plenty of time to hunt my lunch, pluck the roots and vegetation without getting infected with anything nasty, and gather supplies to start and maintain a campfire."

Naruto shrugged and clicked his tongue in amusement - something Kakashi and Sasuke noticed immediately - and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "So this is survival training?"

Unfolding the chair and flattening out any creases, Kakashi sat down and reclined into it, letting out a rather exaggerated sigh of comfort, relaxing his normally tense muscles. "My, my, Naruto, you certainly have an eye for deductions. Have you ever considered a career in our cryptanalysis department? They always need new talent."

The blond opened his mouth to give a straight answer, but stopped. Naruto thought about the response he just got. It was sarcastic.

So, he decided to be sarcastic in return.

"Yeah, yeah, very funny."

Sasuke chuckled, satisfied with himself for staying quiet, since he was about to ask the exact same question Naruto just did.

Sakura didn't react.

"Right, well, I consider myself pretty generous." Kakashi continued, throwing them three separate little books, each of them catching one.

Naruto glanced down at his. "Beginner's Guide to Surviving the Wild: Foraging and Scavenging Edition v.3" the title of the book read, with a picture of a vibrantly colored three leafed plant, the leaves a dark shade of green, the tips and edges an intense scarlet.

"I got 'Hunting for Novices: The Literary Approach to Wild Beasts'." Sasuke stated, flipping it over to browse the back of the book. Naruto looked over to Sakura, who was staring at the cover of hers.

"'General Necessities to Camping' is mine." Sakura said simply, opening it to the first page. Naruto snorted in acknowledgement - something he learned from Fū - and stared into the forest, gauging the best possible move.

"It's 2:11 right now," Kakashi broke their internal musings, opting to kickstart this whole thing. He took out a paper list and handed it to Sasuke, since he had the main book required for this. "like I said before, I'm a generous and benevolent sensei, so, I'm going to give you guys until 5:15 to successfully capture what I have on the list, including the basic tools needed for the fireplace and the yummy veggies."

"Is the actual cooking included in that time frame?" Naruto asked, curious. It was common knowledge that to properly cook meat, you needed a few hours at BARE MINIMUM to cook animals. Normal restaurants, like Akimichi ran places, cooked their food overnight and threw out everything the next day. Good hygiene and all that.

"No, I'm not trying to die of food poisoning. I'll tell you the next steps when you report back with everything on the list. Now, shoo!"

The three Genin were about to burst off, before Kakashi clapped, causing Sasuke to almost trip. Sakura instinctively reached out and smacked her hand onto his chest, keeping him upright, and the boy gave her a quick thanks.

"I almost forgot to mention, you can only walk on trees and tree branches. No walking on the ground, unless you are picking up an animal, that is the only time I'll allow it."

The three Genin stared at him, no amusement flickering on their collective faces.

"Okay, now you can go."

And they dashed into the tops of the trees.

Kakashi flipped his literature open again.

"The young maiden is approaching the knight's bedroom the night before he rides into battle? Oh, I like where this is headed…"

"Alright, first thing, what is on the list Sasuke?"

The three Genin stopped moving on one of the tree branches and started reading over their books. They were a moderate way into the forest, having decided to get into the heart of it. Naruto was standing rigid on the tree branch, and Sakura sat down and slouched her back against the tree, reading her book quietly.

"He wants us to bring back three wild boars… some firestone mushroom, pumpkins and crystal beetroot, along with goldstock potatoes and red corn stalks."

Naruto frowned and flipped through his book, trying to idly find what they needed. "I'm assuming all of these are native to the Land of Fire? Or at least, can be found near Konoha?"

"I hope so," Sasuke said, continuing to browse the list. "he also wants us to find three sources of water."

"I know where two lakes are." Sakura suddenly said, drawing their attention. Naruto and Sasuke were pretty sure these were the first words she had said all day, besides the title of her book. "My family would occasionally take camping trips outside of the village. We had to get water to put out our fires."

"Well, that solves part of our issue." Sasuke responded. He glanced at the list again. "What should we do first?"

Taking out a kunai and twirling it on his finger, Naruto glanced to the ground and scoped it out a bit. No tracks or anything to go off.

Obito had never taught him the basics like survival, but he knew that people could potentially track animals based on their paw prints. Sasuke attempted this as well, but came up short.

"We hunt first." Sakura suddenly said, standing up. "Kakashi-sensei probably intended this, seeing as they are constantly moving and have times where they sleep. We have no clue when the boars will become inactive for tonight, so we hunt now and deal with the produce later."

"Well, that settles it. We hunt." Naruto said. Sasuke nodded and Sakura got out a kunai of her own. The three of them dusted themselves off and descended deeper into the forest.

"Is that a boar? That looks like a boar to me."

Naruto was busy staring at the absolutely massive, dark furred beast that was currently chewing on some various greens. The animal had two large, dulled tusks that looked roughly a foot long each, and it sported healed gash marks and cuts all over its body, primarily on the main chest area. One of its eyes was permanently shut, and part of its tail was either ripped or bitten off.

It was an absolute unit.

The three Genin were all on different trees, forming a rough triangle from above, with the boar smack in the middle. The boar hadn't heard or smelled them yet, busy eating its vegetables, content to rest for the moment.

"The book is confirming all the signs, so I'd say this is a bear." Sasuke confirmed, glancing back at him. Sakura frowned slightly and gripped her kunai just a bit tighter. The beast was daunting to her, but she had faith in her teammates to eliminate the beast safely. Faith in herself? That was a different story.

"You mean boar, not bear, right?"

"Shut up, you knew what I meant. Do you think a kunai to the back of its neck will kill it?"

Naruto 'hmm'd in thought and stared at the brute. The hide looked rather thick, and he was unsure if a kunai or shuriken would put it down for good. None of them had a real tantō or wakizashi on their personnel, which would alleviate the issue somewhat, so they had to most likely scrap with the boar if they wanted to take it down.

If she remembered correctly, Sakura could recall that every living thing had chakra in them, even if it was a miniscule amount, and if that was the case, then…

"Sasuke, Naruto, wait." Sakura started suddenly, halting the two of them from launching any tools. Putting her hands into a seal, the girl started to mix her chakra around, the two boys wondering what she was doing, until the boar underneath them started to wobble, before falling asleep.

The two of them looked at her, their faces showing how impressed they were at the act. However, no smile was found on her face.

"All creatures have chakra," she explained. "I've been practicing genjutsu, and I figured I'd try to put it to sleep, to make it easier."

"Huh, no kidding? Thanks a lot, Sakura." Naruto said, unaware of how his words could be interpreted sarcastically. The girl knew he meant no harm in it, however, and Sasuke turned to the boar again.

The black-haired boy jumped down, just a few feet away from the boar, and walked up cautiously, unsure if the genjutsu would hold. The boar was lying down, his belly and part of his neck exposed, and Naruto jumped down with him, landing silently.

"Make sure you put some muscle into it, that hide looks thick."

Sasuke snorted callously and gripped his kunai in reflex. "What are you, some kind of boar expert?"

"In this situation, it is better to be a boar expert than a bear expert."

The smirk on Sasuke's face looked annoyed but amused, as if he was saying "you got me there."

Facing the boar once more, the boy took his kunai and put the edge to the beast's neck. He gulped silently, glanced back one time to Naruto, and then upwards to Sakura, and dug in, attempting to slice the neck.

Keyword being: attempting.

True enough to Naruto's warning, the hide was incredibly thick, enough so that the boy barely cut the neck, a line of blood forming and one now awake and incredibly pissed boar glaring at his next victim.

Sasuke was about to hop back before the beast launched itself, slamming its body into Sasuke's and causing him to go flying back a few feet, rolling to a stop. However, since they were shinobi, who could use chakra to enhance their bodies to almost superhuman levels, Naruto put some chakra behind his right arm and cocked back and unleashed, a sickening crunch coming from the boar as it was sent straight into a tree, the beast falling unconscious almost immediately.

It was a wild animal, not a trained shinobi.

Sasuke huffed and got up, his chest slightly bruised but not really worse for wear. It hurt, yes, but a punch from Naruto or even Sakura was incredibly more painful than a boar hitting him from extremely close distance.

"Not a word, Naruto." The boy grit out, his teeth clenched in irritation as the blond walked over to the boar, brandishing a kunai. He angled the kunai directly above his head and jerked downward, piercing the neck of the boar, before putting his strength into the cut, killing it.

"Ah, yeah, sure, you got the next one." Naruto said, and then craned his neck up at Sakura. "And you got the last one!"

Kakashi was idly reading his novel, with two of his personal summons lounging around him, resting in the sunlight. It was about 2:58, and according to his dogs, they had just killed the first boar.

"Forty-five minutes for the first boar? And these are your Genin, Kakashi?"

The man shrugged his shoulders. "Team Minato's first boar took an hour and a half."

One of the dogs snorted in amusement, and shut its eyes again.

Sakura had used her genjutsu twice more, putting the next two boars to sleep. Sasuke killed the second, and Sakura killed the third, and Team 7 had accomplished part one of their training.

"It's 3:40 on the dot." Sasuke said, checking his pocket watch. "We have roughly an hour and thirty to accomplish the rest of our checklist. Any idea where to start for the foliage, Naruto?"

He flipped through a few pages. "I bookmarked the specific pages. The mushrooms are most commonly found at the bases of tree trunks… the pumpkins normally grow in open fields, where no other plant is growing… and finally, the beetroots are also normally in isolated sections."

Sasuke immediately started scaling the tree they were on and glanced at the base, spotting a cluster of maroon-tinted mushrooms. "I'm assuming the color of firestone mushrooms is a shade of red?"

Naruto shook his head no. "You'd think that, but they are actually a shade of aqua blue."

"Then why the hell are they called firestone?"

The blond shrugged. "Says they get the name from their spiciness."

Snarling to himself, Sasuke scaled back up, and hopped to another tree. "I'll look for the mushrooms, Naruto'll look for the pumpkins, and Sakura, you take the beetroots, okay? Meet back here so we can find the water together." and before they could respond, he shot off.

"Someone was cranky." Naruto mumbled, before turning to Sakura. "The beetroots are normally found away from water, and away from trees. They look white and light green, okay? Here, they have a picture."

The girl nodded, and took off as well, leaving Naruto alone.

"Damn, they both are cranky today." And he shrugged as well, before beginning his search for pumpkins.

It was 4:16 at the moment.

Kakashi found himself joined by two of his fellow Jounin. Kurenai Yūhi and Asuma Sarutobi, also known as the most obvious "not yet official" couple in the whole village. They had decided that, since the both of them had finished their team training, that it was a good idea to see what Kakashi was up to.

"We're eating boar tonight? That works for me!" Asuma said, puffing a cloud of cigar smoke into the air, causing Kurenai to lightly smack his arm.

Kakashi had put his book away, as it was rude to read around honorary guests, and reclined back into his seat.

"Stupid red mushrooms." Sasuke mumbled to himself, picking a couple blue mushrooms from the base of the tree he was binding himself to, using chakra on his feet. He put them in his knapsack and walked back up, slight marks on the tree's bark being indented.

It was a rather tall order, trying to gather beetroot when they grew away from trees and she wasn't allowed to take her feet off the tree, but she was determined to make it work. Gathering clues around the plants, she noticed a few wild dogs sniffing the plants, before sauntering away in disinterest.

"If I can cast genjutsu to put them to sleep, could I also get these animals to bring the plants to the base of the tree?"

It was worth a shot. Flexing her chakra and performing a simple genjutsu, she watched as the dogs gripped the plant with their jaws and ripped it from the ground, bringing it over to her tree.

For the first time in a while, Sakura allowed herself to grin.

At the moment, Naruto was carrying three rather sizable pumpkins in his arms, doing his best not to trip, or let them fall, as he scaled the tree.

"This is stupid."

Or… what did Kiba used to say?

"This blows!"

Yeah, that sounded better.

Kakashi was lounging in his chair, choosing not to acknowledge Kurenai stealing a quick peck on the lips from Asuma, and perked up slightly when he felt his three Genin approaching him. He checked his watch.

5:09.

"Barely made it, but barely is all the same anyways. You two, Hanzo and Yuki," this was a reference to the two main characters in the most popular romance films in the world, and his goal was achieved when he saw the rapidly growing blushes on both of their faces. "the kiddos are coming, act age appropriately around my darling innocent Genin, please."

"Oh, shut it Kakashi." Kurenai quipped back, but there was no real bite behind her words, and Asuma grinned at the interaction between his two closest friends.

The three watched as Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura reached the grounds, carrying all of their materials, and a mutual aura of humor rose when Sasuke and Sakura fell to the ground, panting in exhaustion. It was worth noting that Naruto did not look winded in the slightest.

"Well done, you three. I was ready to go hunt each of you down in about… three minutes, if you didn't come back with what I was asking. Good thing you made it." Kakashi simply said, his voice laced with a hint of playfulness.

Naruto shrugged his shoulders and glanced at the other two Jounin. "Are we cooking for a party?" He asked, eyes shifting back and forth.

"A crowd, actually." The bearded one said to him, and the one with red eyes simply chuckled to herself. Naruto didn't understand the joke.

Glancing to his side, Naruto saw his two teammates come to a rise, Sakura with her hands on her knees, hunched over, and Sasuke attempting to catch his breath standing up. Naruto often forgot that people didn't have overbearing trainers since the time they could walk.

Kakashi grinned to himself under his mask. He knew that they would absolutely despise him for this next part, but it was good training for field combat; that is, training to fight while extremely tired.

Sasuke was still nursing his injury, but he wanted to make sure that the boy was ready for exercise under any circumstances. And, besides, Sakura wasn't terribly gifted at taijutsu, so this should be a good light exercise.

"Alright, since Naruto seems fine, I want Sasuke and Sakura to step in front of me."

The two did so. Asuma and Kurenai looked in knowing amusement, while Naruto simply stared, curious.

"I'm going to be a generous sensei and do all the cooking for you three, but that will take a few hours at minimum, so until then, listen up."

The grey-haired Jounin nodded at his two fellow sensei, and they started setting up a makeshift campfire. Naruto continued to watch.

"I want you two to spar. First to two body hits, no head shots or below the belts. Blocks do not count as being hit, it has to be a direct hit to the main body. Offensive ninjutsu is not allowed, defensive is, and finally, genjutsu is allowed once for each person, period. As in, you only have one use of genjutsu for all three rounds, if the third round is needed. Sasuke, no Sharingan. Ninja tools are allowed with the exception of kunai and shuriken. You two understand?"

Sasuke grunted, not in his normal 'woe-is-me' way but in a 'I'm-fucking-exhausted' way, and Sakura barely nodded, feeling a little better than her sparring partner and (not so) secret crush.

They made the Seal of Confrontation with their hands, and both hopped back a respectable distance.

"Begin!"

As soon as the word left his lips, the sole Uchiha of the village (publicly) burst from the spot he was standing, leaving slight cracks in the ground as he rushed towards Sakura, intending on getting his three hits and being allowed to rest. Sakura shifted her stance, ready to defend.

He closed the distance, and initiated his assault, attempting to sweep her legs, but she merely took a step back, and ducked as a roundhouse kick went sailing over his head, no doubt it would have hit his body if he didn't duck even more. Using his momentum from the sweep, he twisted his body around, his other leg rising up in an attempt to side swipe her, but Sakura raised her arm and blocked the kick.

Closing her hands together into a double fist, she brought her attack downward and attempted to clobber the boy but he jumped backwards, her attack harmlessly hitting thin air.

The two stared at each other, before Sakura rushed forward in a surprise initiation of offense and attempted to punch him directly on the chest, but Sasuke capitalized on her rash assault and shifted his body sideways, grabbing her outstretched arm and pulling her towards him, and with that move throwing the girl off balance, he used his free hand to jab her stomach, causing some spittle to fly out of her mouth.

"Point to Sasuke. Get back into formation."

Now, if Sasuke could use his Sharingan, he'd simply use it to cast a genjutsu, but seeing as Kakashi was smart enough to know that this sparring match would have been over if that was the case, this was a tough spot.

However, Sakura was beginning to realize something too.

Sasuke didn't have any non-Sharingan genjutsu at his disposal.

If that was the case, he'd have already tried, but seeing as she was focusing on the chakra and he wasn't attempting anything, she could use that to her advantage.

"Begin!"

Naruto was now sitting on the ground, watching his two teammates spar. He wasn't tired, not by a longshot, but if he knew Kakashi as well as he thought he did, then he knew that he was about to spar with one of the three Jounin present, then this could get ugly for him easily.

Sasuke shifted his feet and watched his opponent, his eyes steady and primed on her feet, watching to see her attack. Sakura huffed, and knowing he would wait her out, pushed her legs to their limit and launched her attack, throwing herself at him.

Judging from the last point, she knew not to overextend herself, instead attempting to hit him with short, rapid hits, using his fatigue to continue her assault. Sasuke was deflecting her attacks well, but couldn't find an opening to return fire, so he was walking backwards while blocking her hits.

"When did Sakura improve her taijutsu so much?" Kakashi wondered to himself, watching as she pushed the boy backwards, and his eye wandered to a rather sizable rock behind Sasuke, the brunette blissfully unaware of its presence.

While he didn't think Sakura was intentionally pushing him towards the rock, that didn't matter if Sasuke accidentally-

And before he could finish the thought, Sasuke's left foot stepped on the rock and it slipped out from under him, causing his leg to fly in front of him, and his face showed momentary shock as his body tumbled.

Sakura wasted absolutely zero time, and in a flash, had struck Sasuke's chest with a descending punch, his body crunching against the grassy ground, and he stared at her with a mix of anger, surprise and… respect?

"Point to Sakura. Formation."

To the side of the fight, Naruto was wondering as well where she learned this type of taijutsu from. While she was never really a slouch in hand-to-hand, she was not necessarily on the same level as Sasuke or himself, and that was putting it lightly. But the more he thought about it, the more it made sense, in the current moment,

Sasuke was tired beyond belief, and Sakura, apparently, had been practicing in the few days they had gotten back, so at the current moment, it was rather… cool, to see her improvement.

Sakura, however, began plotting in her head. If Sasuke relied on the Sharingan for genjutsu related endeavors, then maybe she could trap him in one and tag him that way. Of course, she had to cast it without him seeing the seals, so her hand drifted to her pouch, and she felt two smoke bombs. Maybe...

"Begin!"

Sakura rushed forward, just as Sasuke did, and she hastily attempted to jump backwards as a soaring kick whistled past her side. Sasuke was fighting pissed, and everyone watching could tell.

Sakura blocked a thunderous kick with her right arm and reached into her pouch with her left hand, gripping the smoke bomb. She jumped backwards and threw the ball immediately onto the ground in between her and Sasuke, and the boy had to cover his face as the smoke shrouded him. Unfortunately for him, he didn't notice Sakura form a seal with her two hands.

He immediately jumped out of the smoke and waited in position. He wasn't sure what her plan was besides being an immediate distraction, but he figured she was buying herself some breathing room.

Suddenly, he heard a war cry from behind him, and spun around as he saw Sakura charging at him, her face contorted into a snarl. She looked downright menacing.

Throwing a punch at her, he bobbed his head back and forth as she continued her rampage, but something didn't feel right. He couldn't sense Kakashi, or Naruto, or the other two Jounin in the area, when previously he could. Also, Sakura's face wasn't changing or moving in the slightest.

He continued to bob and weave against her, and seeing his opening, he struck his fist out, and instead of pushing her back, his hand went through her body, as if she was a ghost.

And that's when he realized it, just a little too late.

"Genjutsu, releas- ack!" Before he could finish his command, his body felt a sudden burst of pain from behind, and as he fell, the world around him shifted, and he could feel Kakashi's presence again. His body hit the ground.

"Match to Sakura!"

Sasuke sputtered into the dirt and twisted his body so that his back was resting on the grass, his elbows propped up behind him as he stared up at Sakura, who had a light grin on her face, her hand extended for him to grab. The boy scowled and slapped her hand away, grumbling to himself as he stood up and began storming away.

"Sasuke, stop walking." The Uchiha ignored this.

Kakashi glanced at Sakura's hurt expression and raised a finger, before starting his march to Sasuke.

"Sasuke, I said stop walking!"

The boy felt his feet stop on their own accord, but he didn't turn around, electing to stare into the trees and the forest. He knew he was throwing a tantrum, but Goddammit he lost to Sakura of all people!

He didn't flinch when his sensei's iron grip was on his shoulder, but instead of the yelling he was expecting to follow, Kakashi simply led him a bit away from the rest, where they couldn't hear the following conversation.

Kakashi stopped the two of them and turned Sasuke around, not forcefully, or aggressively, but in a way where the boy had no choice but to acknowledge the man's gaze.

"What was all that back there?"

Sasuke crossed his arms in annoyance and turned away. Kakashi maintained his steely gaze, and the Uchiha felt his will crumble away into dust.

"I just- she cheated!"

The sun was descending above them, and the skyline looked beautiful, a splash of purple and orange, with a tinge of red thrown in. Kakashi simply stared at Sasuke.

"We both know there is no 'cheating' in a fight. What she did was perfectly acceptable."

The frown on Sasuke's face deepened. "If I could use my Sharingan, we both know I would have won without getting hit once."

Kakashi's visage didn't falter. "That may be true, but the fact is, you couldn't, and you didn't. Instead of congratulating your teammate on her clever tactics and hard-fought victory, you childishly stormed off."

The man let his words sink in. A moment of silence followed, and the two of them just stared at each other.

He decided to break the silence.

"Now, I know you better than you think, so I'm going to ask; what actually made you upset? It wasn't just Sakura winning."

Damn that man for knowing his students.

It took a moment for Sasuke to build the courage to say it, but he finally did.

"In Takigakure, it was Naruto saving me, twice. I didn't have the strength to help fight that bandit, and he did, ultimately killing him. I could live with that, as much as I hate to say it," He gulped his saliva, closing his eyes in frustration. "he has always had the advantage in taijutsu against me, even with my Sharingan."

"But Sakura? No way… she's from a Civilian family! She shouldn't be able to even touch me, and here she is, beating me in a fight! It's disgraceful! I should be stronger than her, hell, I should be stronger than Naruto, but here I am, being beaten by two clanless nobodies!"

Kakashi frowned at the harsh tone from the boy, but didn't refute anything, letting him get his anger out. It was obvious this was building for a while, and he knew better than anyone that expressing emotions was a healthier alternative compared to internalizing and exploding.

Sasuke continued to vent, expressing his anger at anything. At Kakashi, at Naruto, at Sakura, at his older brother, it was basically all spilling out of his mouth, and he couldn't stop.

It was constant, and Kakashi felt a twinge of sorrow at how much rage was kept inside the boy, but it was good that he was getting it all out now.

"You aren't mad at Sakura or Naruto," Kakashi said after the boy was finished. "you are mad that you think you are falling behind in your training."

Sasuke didn't say anything for a while, but nodded after a moment.

"That's understandable."

Kakashi sat down in front of the boy, and at his questioning glance, he motioned for his student to do the same.

"You are very talented, Sasuke, especially for your age. Why do you want to push yourself farther and farther? You have all the time in the world to train here."

His first inclination was to blurt out "kill Itachi", but he stopped himself. While that was most of it, there was more to it, deep down.

The night of The Massacre, sparring matches with Naruto, Takigakure, everywhere, really…

Sasuke Uchiha hated feeling powerless.

"I want… I don't want to feel helpless, sensei. I want to feel strong, to feel confident. I want people to understand how powerful I am."

Ah, Kakashi thought to himself, bingo. He cracked the code.

"And when you lost to Sakura, you felt weak?"

The boy in front of him nodded, unnaturally timid.

"Sasuke, I promise you, among other things, your team will never leave you behind. We are a team, and we'll grow together, we'll suffer together, but it will be together, okay? I made a promise to you three. We'll grow strong together."

Sasuke stared back at Kakashi, and hesitantly nodded.

"I'm going to apologize to her, and I'm sure she, and Naruto, have gotten bored waiting for us."

That sounded like a plan to Kakashi. Besides, he wanted to see where Naruto needed to improve.

After getting his ass beaten by the now-named Asuma Sarutobi, and getting his fair share of boar, Naruto Uzumaki was headed towards the Konoha mailing system, and it was late at night.

It was a simple letter, one he had written for Fū, but he hoped she'd appreciate it all the same.

He dropped it off, and nodded at the bored Chunin who scoffed and continued reading. And that was that.

Now… where to next…

If you asked him what his biggest regret in life was, he wouldn't have been able to give you a straight answer.

Or even if it was the second biggest regret.

Or third… or even fourth…

But… he knew somewhere in there… Naruto Uzumaki was there.

Obito Uchiha watched as Itachi Uchiha plunked his former eye into a small vial of green liquid, the preserving agents surrounding his former organ and keeping it safe.

His 'new' eye, if you could call it that, was some regular Sharingan from the night of the massacre, and it would be his new eye for the few minutes he had left before his death. The aching of the operation was dull, at least when compared to the pain he felt all the time.

The younger of the two turned to him, his neutral, cool gaze not betraying any emotion. In his hands was a tantō, and he knew his time was dwindling down.

"Obito, the operation is finished. I am ready whenever you are."

Obito Uchiha had a lot of regrets in life. His grandmother… Rin… Kakashi… Minato… and now, Naruto…

He was only mortal, after all.

"Itachi, give me an honest answer… What is your opinion of me?"

The Uchiha blinked, a momentary flash of surprise washing on his face, and in a flash, it was gone.

"I think you are a cold-hearted monster who attempted to play God with an innocent boy."

And with that answer, despite how harsh the words were, Obito couldn't help but chuckle under his breath. It was refreshing to hear brutal honesty.

And it was all true. He was a monster, and he did attempt to play God with Naruto, and the boy had paid the heaviest price for it: his innocence.

He was most likely going to whatever form of eternal punishment the afterlife had to offer. It was what he deserved, after all.

"Thank you, Itachi… I must admit, I regret how I treated the boy."

Itachi didn't offer a response, and Obito continued.

"I was overridden with guilt, having killed Minato and Kushina, and I thought the best way to try and stop the Akatsuki, and Madara Uchiha, was by turning Naruto into a superweapon. Stupid, right?"

It was rare for Obito to talk so freely, and he hadn't done so in years, at the least. So, why was he doing it now? Because he knew that Itachi wouldn't repeat any of this? Or was it because this was his final chance of earthly repentance?

His soul was corrupt, this much he knew, but it wasn't like Itachi's was any better.

"And now Naruto is nothing but a soulless puppet, a weapon building up, and this is the final step of my plan. He's free from me after this."

But that wasn't the truth, and Itachi knew it. Naruto may be free from him physically, but the emotional and mental scars might never go away. In fact, they probably wouldn't, no matter what.

"I hope that he can forgive me one day."

"You are confident that Naruto is ready to go alone? With no guidance from his precious master?"

Obito snorted at Itachi's blatant disrespect. It was obvious the man had no love lost for what was about to happen, and it was also apparent that Itachi was thinking of what if it was Sasuke instead of Naruto.

If any parent knew of what Naruto had been through, it would be considered horrific, years and years of therapy at the minimum. Obito beating him, the constant and terrible training sessions that left Naruto crying until the tears ran out, the constant worrying and stress on a small child - it was a wonder that Naruto was even sane at all.

But, truth be told?

"No, I'm not confident. I'm scared shitless, Itachi. I don't know what's going to happen now, and I don't know what's waiting for me on the other side… I don't want to die."

The room was silent, just for a moment.

"But I believe in Naruto… that he'll be able to defeat Pain, Konan, and even Madara if he is revived… If anyone will be able to do it, it'll be him, with his Rinnegan and the Nine-Tailed Fox. I have no choice but to believe in him…"

Itachi unsheathed the tantō. The two let the silence linger, neither breaking it.

"Are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be, I suppose."

The man struck, and the world had one less Uchiha heartbeat.

Obito felt darkness. He felt… nothing. He wasn't tired, and he wasn't in pain. In fact… he felt… younger?

He opened his eyes, and was shocked to see the distantly-remembered sensation of his orange goggles obscuring his view. He hastily removed them and glanced around. It was a hazy fog surrounding him, and he felt the floor and the walls shifting in place, as if he was in a mirage of smoke and cloud.

It wasn't unpleasant, and it was oddly… pink?

And, taking in the environment for a few seconds… he heard a rather familiar set of footsteps approaching him, and he glanced up.

"R-Rin?"

Rin glanced down at him, her smile genuine, and Obito couldn't help but smile back. Her hand was outstretched for him.

"Earlier than expected, Obito. Let's go, we have so much to catch up on!"

And he took her hand into his, and together they went.