I don't own Naruto or any of its characters, I'm just a fan I enjoyed the anime but I love the fanfics even more, they made me fall for the whole franchise.
(Flashback in the form of a dream...Underlined sentences indicate remembering a past conversation in a flashback.)
Chapter 70
"Mom Mom! I did it I did it, look look!" A boy about 7 years of age exclaimed happily while running toward his mother who sat on a bench reading a book.
"What did you do?" The mother asked with a sweet smile plastered on her face, a smile that spoke of love and affection.
"Look." The boy said jumping to perform a front flip, he landed on his butt and grinned up at his mother who gave a lovely giggle at what she probably thought was adorable.
"That's a good boy." The woman said with a smile kissing the boy on his cheeks. Naruto turned away from the display and looked to 6-year-old Hinata Hyūga, this was the first time they decide to go play at the park and they had only been friends for 10 months.
Naruto blinked when he found Hinata looking in his direction with a frown but when she was caught she readjusted her glasses and blushed looking away. Naruto shrugged and moved toward her and smiled broadly.
"Hey Hinata-Chan, do you think they are finished marking our tests?" Naruto asked eagerly, he was surprised he would want to know his written exam marks. Then again he was studying very hard with Hinata-Chan who helped him with the big words he did not know or explained equations for him, she was very smart the blonde had realized.
"My-my cousin use to g-go see his results on the same day of the exams, maybe w-we can d-do so as well" Naruto nodded at the plan but Hinata did not sound sure of it, The blonde was all about a plan of action but he liked a plan that came with confidence and assurance.
6-year-old Naruto in all his chibi glory with big deep blue eyes and a thick mane of unruly golden blonde hair dressed in what he assumed was cool ninja gear. A turtleneck sleeveless sweater revealing his small arms with an orange spiral in the center, a pair of burnt orange ankle-length pants, and black opened-toed sandals.
Walked up to Hinata Hyūga, his friend.
"Do You, want to go?" Naruto asked Hinata emphasizing whether she wanted to go. He stood directly in front of her looking her in the eyes, not acknowledging her reddening cheeks, and instead gave her his full attention.
'Because you are the best kind of smart, the never giving up genius and I know you will pass if you put your mind to it.' Naruto did not expect Hinata to say that last night. What she told him before they went to sleep on his bed made him blush in embarrassment and humbleness.
'It made me happy.' Naruto realized. 'I want to make her proud of teaching me.' Naruto kept looking into Hinata's big charcoal irises. The Cute chibi Hyūga heiress with a bob hairstyle with two fringes framing her face and a deep blush on her face wearing a baggy beige jacket, dark blue pants, and blue opened-toed sandals slowly began to feel the weight of what he was asking her.
'JUST WAIT HIME, I WILL SHOW YOU HOW I WILL PASS!' When you proclaimed something like that in the spur of the moment you had to know it was a promise from the heart. Naruto wanted more than anything for Hinata to see his marks so she knew she was the one responsible for them but if she did not want to go then maybe she didn't think he passed.
Naruto didn't know when but her opinions began to matter to him.
"I would like to see if our hard work has paid off Naruto-Kun." Hinata said seriously and in a tone of assurance not even stuttering as she stared up into Naruto's eyes unflinchingly even with the blush on her face. Naruto smiled broadly and took Hinata's hand in his own and marched toward the academy at 5 pm.
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"Hime." Naruto sighed when he opened his eyes and smiled up at the tent he slept in. He missed his princess and wondered how she was doing, Naruto grinned when he thought about how much stronger she would be when he returned.
'I wish you got to meet her, Mom. You would have liked her.' Naruto thought in sadness at the thought of his mother, the blonde did not know why he missed the redhead. Kushina Uzumaki to the blonde was a name and a picture but whenever he closed his eyes he thought he could hear her voice telling him most of the words of encouragement that ever came from his best friend.
"Im home." Naruto whispered to the wind and got out of his tent. He heard the sound of seagulls and pigeons closing his eyes to block the glare of the sun. He slowly opened his ocean-blue eyes and the sight that greeted him was a vast shoreline surrounded by a vast ocean with a new dawn breaking on the Horizon. Naruto stood on white sand and took a breath in before releasing it. He looked left and in the distance, he saw many seals doing what seals do.
"It is just as beautiful as the first time I laid eyes on it." Naruto didn't react and instead enjoyed the view of Uzushiogakure. Jiraiya audibly sighed next to the blonde who did not want to acknowledge him outside of training.
"Look Naruto, I know we do not know each other, I also realize you don't like me much. I can understand you feel betrayed because the fourth Hokage sealed the Nine-tails inside you and the fact we all decided to look the other way and let you live with the consequences." Naruto listened to the toad sage, going so far as to turn his neck to the side to look up at the grizzly of a man. All the while his eyes had a bored stare like what he was hearing did not interest him.
Jiraiya pushed through when he saw those eyes, the toad Sage wondered if they made a mistake.
"Sensei made those decisions for your good and safety so that you could grow up like a normal gaki." Naruto scoffed and Jiraiya frowned hoping his words would reach the blonde.
"But I am not a normal kid." Naruto replied turning his neck to look back at the horizon. "I am an Uzumaki, one of the few of my kind, at the age of 4 I had Mid-Chunin level chakra reserves, right now I might as well have more than the old man." Naruto bent his arm at a 90-degree angle, palm facing up, and charged up his chakra.
"Add the fox to the mix and there is nothing normal about me, even in our day-to-day standards." The chakra leaking from the blonde's right hand suddenly began spinning with great speed gaining a spherical shape and shining so much like the sun-kissed ocean he was staring at.
"I heard your excuse and I did not like it." Naruto stated clearly and his Rasengan lost its shape, unraveling itself and began leaking into nature in a stream of chakra moving upward.
"Now drop it and let's do our jobs, mine is to get stronger and yours is to make me stronger." Naruto turned around facing away from the Horizon to stare at the ruins of Uzushiogakure, the sight still made him angry even 2 days after reaching the island.
«««««"»»»»»
"Root." Shisui growled preparing himself for a fight.
"I am not here to fight Shisui Uchiha of Konoha." The boy behind the mask said in an emotionless voice that annoyed Shisui to hear. "Danzo-Sama wishes to meet you." The boy informed.
"Riiiiiiiight………." The Uchiha rolled his eyes and scanned the boy's body language for a long minute before relaxing. "If you try anything, you will die before you can blink." Shisui warned while placing his drawn Kunai back in his pouch.
"I am well aware." The root agent replied in a monotone voice that could be traced back to mental, physical, psychological, and emotional torture. Seeing a boy a few years older than Naruto and Sasuke talking like that made the Uchiha sad.
'Hokage-Sama let a man like Danzo Shimura do this to people and get away with it all with a slap of the wrist.' Shisui thought while walking toward the boy who walked into the temple-like castle belonging to the Diamyō bloodline. Shisui realized that Orochimaru did the same for years with victims like Anko and an Anbu agent he has worked with before.
Why do the worst of them all only get a slap on the wrist?
The inside of the Castle temple was amazing if not overcompensating for something. Every painting hanging from the walls was at least as tall as 2 of the Uchiha who stared at everything with unprofessional eyes of interest and mischief.
'Imagine their faces if I pulled a Naruto on these paintings and wrote some funny things.' The Uchiha inwardly laughed and looked toward a particular painting of Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha Shaking hands while surrounded by their clansman.
'We were divided from the start.' Shisui suddenly lost his cheer and shook his head at the sad truth. The painting hanging on the left adjacent wall depicted Hashirama standing on one side with the Senju and Madara standing on another with the Uchiha.
'Where is that friendship Hashirama had spread to the world like a song during Konoha's construction.' History states that Madara and Hashirama's friendship could beat all odds and always is triumphant, like a fact. Those two boys from warring clans who laughed, played, trained, cried, and mourned together were nowhere to be seen in the two adults in the painting.
Shisui and the Root operative turned a corner before reaching a door, the root operative stopped in front of the wooden entrance and turned around to face Shisui who stopped and raised an eyebrow.
'Lord Danzo will be seeing you now.' The boy said still monotone. The Uchiha sighed and prayed everything turned out okay while he reached into his pouch and pulled out the missive from the Hokage of the Hidden Leaf village.
The boy stepped aside letting Shisui step forward and open the door to find himself in a tea room with Danzo Shimura sitting on a chair sipping from a cup. The Jōnin walked up to his mortal enemy.
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"Why did you want to come here Naruto?" Karin asked her cousin while looking around the ruins of her mother's home. The actual village only housed Collapsed buildings from shops to houses and apartments. The place looked abandoned and Karin did not feel at home.
There was evidence of a large-scale attack on the island. even after years like a standing earth wall that was scorched at the center.
"I thought you would want to see our homeland." Naruto said a bit confused as to why Karin would not be excited to be here. Naruto was hyped and excited wanting to reach the home of the clan head or some other important place where he could get some clues.
"No, no don't get me wrong. I am happy to get this opportunity but I don't know, my mother never mentioned the place before." Karin explained with a frown. When she readjusted her specs Naruto smiled remembering another person who once wore glasses.
"Ncooh! Look at Karin-Chan looking so cute!" Naruto gushed like a big brother and jumped a little to reach Karin's head to ruffle her hair.
"Hey! Stop that!" Karin exclaimed with an angry embarrassed blush. The redhead raised her hands to her head and brushed her de-shelved hair back.
"Tssssttt." Naruto chuckled mischievously finding his pranks on Karin were making her react to him more naturally and she showed her true personality. She was kind of scary looking when she wanted to be.
"Maybe she did not want you to see it like this." Naruto ventured a reason for Karin's earlier question and the girl nodded thinking that might be the case. The redhead sighed and spied Naruto from the corner of her eyes and Jiraiya behind them with her sensory powers.
"Yes maybe." She said.
"Hey, Perverted guy! While I was in Wave Country last month I saw symbols around from the Uzumaki Clan. Why is that?" Naruto asked the man behind them and Karin waited for Jiraiya's answer having noticed the same while there 2 days back.
"Uzushio or The Land of Whirlpools was home to the Uzumaki Clan, the foremost experts of fuuinjutsu. Before the hidden villages were formed, the Uzumaki Clan created Uzushiogakure by taking small clans and families who wanted no part in the war under their wing and increased their power base." Jiraiya told the two young ninjas in training while they marched deeper into the ruins of said village.
"They had a strong alliance with their distant relatives, the Senju, but chose to keep the island nation as their home rather than move to become a part of Konoha. The Uzumaki were essentially the rulers of the Land of Whirlpools and Wave country was their bread and butter." The Toad Sage finished and Naruto hummed in thought before it hit.
"Agh, stupid clones." Naruto groaned before shaking his head and continuing. "Wave Country was a place of business and commerce for the Uzumaki Clan." Naruto realized and Jiraiya nodded his head in acceptance of the deduction. Wave country's proximity to the mainland made it a good trading spot for Uzushiogakure.
"Cool." Naruto thought with a big grin when he realized Wave Country was already back in Uzumaki hands. Karin found what she heard interesting and thought that being on the island of Uzushio might bring her closure.
"That mask does not look like any Anbu I know." Karin stated running toward a mask partly buried in the dirt. The redhead squatted picking up the mask before straightening and showing her companions. Naruto raised an eyebrow seeing a plain white porcelain mask he did not recognize but Jiraiya's eyes widened in shock at the significance of the mask.
"Let me see that kid." Jiraiya said while approaching Karin and taking the mask from her hand before examining the accessory closely.
'Root?.' Jiraiya pondered and looked around the ruins of Uzushiogakure realizing something he never noticed before. There were signs of fighting but the Sage saw no weapons scattered around the battlegrounds, as well as no bodies laying around, not even a skeleton.
'This cannot be good.' The Sage thought while stashing the mask away. Did root agents have something to do with the Uzumaki Clans' destruction or did they come around after it fell to clean house?
Special reports state Konoha-Nins were not in the vicinity of Uzushio during the attack. Jiraiya would not put it past Danzo to do both. The toad Sage did not notice Naruto giving him a very serious look.
"How were they destroyed?" Karin asked Jiraiya as she grew interested in her people and homeland.
"Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!" In many puffs of smoke that had Karin squirming on her feet and feeling bothered. A battalion of clones was summoned by the blonde Uzumaki.
Jiraiya panicked when he thought of what Naruto planned to do with all those clones. He already had another 60 clones training where they sat up camp. Jiraiya opened his mouth to speak but the clones were all gone in a Shuushine leaving the once crowded area spacious again.
"They were attacked by cowards." Naruto said to answer Karin's question while he looked up to the morning sky above. His people were strong, there was no way they could be reduced to an endangered bloodline without someone knowing it was gonna happen.
«««««"»»»»»
"Stop calling me that." Sasuke Uchiha coldly spoke while dodging a roundhouse kick to the neck. His two tomoe Sharingan eyes scanned every twitch in his opponent's muscles but still missed the twitch that came before Kakashi Hatake suddenly had both his legs wrapped around his neck and twisted.
Sasuke felt his world turn and his neck pop in 7 different places before he met the floor on his left side. Crashing hard on the grassy landscape they were sparred.
"Ma ma, Duncan Mac Duckass is that not your name?." Kakashi Hatake teased the Uchiha while he held him in a lock hold and applied pressure in such a way that any sudden movements would snap the boy's neck.
"Hn." Sasuke grunted even in pain revealing he had a Kunai in his hand that was located next to Kakashi's feet. The copy ninja gave the boy an eye smile that somehow informed him he had to look behind him. The Uchiha looked behind him and Sure enough, another Kakashi Hatake stood in the distance, the one holding him down popped in a cloud of smoke a second later.
Sasuke coughed while using his hand to push away the smoke before he rolled out of the vicinity. The Uchiha raised himself from the ground and faced the man, the legend, the copy ninja himself Kakashi Hatake of the Sharingan, borrowed but that was just details.
"Did the dobe put you up to this?" Sasuke asked looking relaxed outside the leaf village, like all his problems stayed there because all his problems lived there.
"Mmmh, did you say something? I was occupied." Sasuke sighed wondering if the twitching in his left eye would be worth it in 2 weeks. He decided to rather turn around and look at the orange-haired girl who has been following them around
"Why are you following us Sasame?" Sasuke asked the girl who had her head peaking behind a tree. The girl jumped in shock at being caught and quickly hid behind the bark. Sasuke sighed and shook his head in disdain.
'I forgot they stayed around these parts.' Sasuke thought still staring at some strands of hair blowing in the wind revealing the girl's location.
Sasame Is from the Fūma Clan, in the history of the Uchiha clan, the clan members inbred amongst each other, their bloodline is what created the Uchiha of the leaf village, able to Utilize the Sharingan. The Fūma clans ancestry begins with Uchihas who married outside the clan.
The Land of Rice Paddies is one of the minor Elemental Nations that border the Land of Fire and is home to the Fūma clan. During the Third Shinobi World War, the Daimyo of rice paddies tried to conquer the former Land of Woods, sending the Fūma and other Clans against the Ninjas from Taki.
After much fighting the Fire Daimyo was convinced by Kusa that the former Land of Woods should be kept alone ending their little war. Now Rice Paddies housed a Hidden Village called Otogakure, the Village hidden in the sounds.
The new hidden village was somehow being sponsored directly by the Diamyō who had filed for bankruptcy.
"What are you Leaf ninjas doing here!?" The girl questioned in a shout from behind her 'hiding' place not seeming to remember the raven-haired Uchiha.
"Go deal with her My cute little Genin…..Mmh it rolls off the tongue pretty smoothly, cute… little…. Genin. Cute….little…….." Sasuke simply walked away not ready for his senseis torture. During their travels to Rice country, Sasuke had asked (cough demanded) that Kakashi teach him the Chidori.
That conversation went bad and his punishment was Kakashi Hatake being annoying.
"Don't you remember me Sasame, it's me Sasuke." Sasuke said approaching the tree slowly. The girl peeked her head out and looked at the Uchiha not recognizing him.
"Your not Sasuke-Chan, your ugly." The girl informed like a fact and Sasuke's brows furrowed, he heard Kakashi exaggeratedly turn a page behind him. The Silver haired man did not even care.
"You use to call me ghost whisperer because I spoke in my sleep." Sasuke reluctantly reminded the hidden girl, Kakashi scoffed when he heard that, and the orange-haired girl all but laughed her heart out.
"Mwahahahahaha haha!!! Madara Uchiha's ghost whisperer. hahaha." This is the reason Sasuke liked to solve problems with his actions because of idiots like these who make being nice seem like a punishment on your his end.
The Orange haired girl wearing a hat with two long fringes that reached her waist while framing her face stepped away from her hiding place cracking up in hysteria while pointing at her distant cousin she use to visit back in Konoha when her dad was on business there.
"Duncan Mac Duckass, the ghost whisperer." Kakashi tried it out and liked the sound of it. Sasuke groaned, he was not about to hear the last of that name it seemed.
AUTHORS NOTES
5 days(second phase)
———Preliminary rounds ended on a Friday———
(Day starts with Sasuke on chapter 50)
(Day ends on the night of chapter 58)
——Saturday was the dinner at the Uchiha's——
(Day started on chapter 59)
(Day Ends on the night of chapter 64)
———Sunday was the day at the Hospital.———
One week(Total)
———Monday was the day of departure———
(Day Starts with Sasuke on chapter 65)
(time skip comes after chapter 66)
One week later
Chapter 67 (begins 2 weeks after Chunin exams.)
———A week after Sasuke's departure———