Chapter 16 - Retirement, Revenge and the New Team 7

Hokage Tower

Kakashi and co. returned to Konoha by the dawn. With the causality of Kohan, everyone returned safe and sound. After returning to Konoha, the first thing they did was to report to the Hokage. All six members of the team were standing in front of Hiruzen, who was smoking his pipe. Being one of the most confidential missions, it was not on any record, and hence there was no need for the written mission report.

"I see, so Kohan died in the battle against Orochimaru. But what was he doing there in the first place?" Hiruzen asked.

"We have no idea. Naruto just sensed him there out of the blue." Kakashi said.

"Well, can't do anything about that, can we? You guys should take some rest now." Hiruzen said.

"There is one more thing that I want to say." Kakashi said as he and Shisui stepped forward.

"Go on." Hiruzen said.

"We can't serve in the ANBU anymore. Please transfer us to regular Jonin ranks." Kakashi said. He had discussed it with his team during their return. And it didn't took long for others to understand the reason behind this decision.

"I saw that coming. And if ain't wrong, it is because of the last night Bloodbath, right?" Hiruzen said.

"Yes, Hokage-Sama." Shisui said.

"Well, is there anyone you would recommend to fill your ranks?" Hiruzen asked.

"I would recommend Itachi Uchiha to fill my place. And I would also recommend Naruto Uzumaki for the position of the Squad Captain of the Assassination Squad." Kakashi said.

"And I would recommend Koumi Hyuga to fill my place and Naruto Uzumaki to be the second in command of the ANBU." Shisui said.

"Are you two fine with being promoted to your recommended positions?" Hiruzen asked.

"If it is alright, I would like to lead the Defence Squad." Naruto said.

"Is there any particular reason for your decision?" Hiruzen asked.

"Yes. When I massacred the Chimamire Group, I realized that if we aren't prepared for such threats, we could also end up like them. Reduced to nothingness in a matter of few minutes. Hence, I would like to lead the Defence squad and protect the village." Naruto said as Hiruzen looked at Koumi for her opinion.

"I am fine with it." Komui said.

"Alright, if that's what you think then it is fine with me. I, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Promote Itachi Uchiha to the rank of the ANBU Black Ops Captain Commander; Naruto Uzumaki to the rank of Squad Captain of the Defence Squad as well as the Vice Commander of the ANBU Black Ops; and Koumi Hyuga to the rank of the Squad Captain of the Assassination Squad." Hiruzen said.

Orochimaru's Hideout

"Do you have a different plan for him?" Kabuto asked as he unsealed Kai from the scroll.

"Earlier I had planned to take over his body but now, I think he will serve his purpose better a weapon against Konoha than being a container for me?" Orochimaru said with a sinister grin on his face.

"Now that I have proved that I can use that power, would you like to implant those cells too?" Kabuto asked.

"No, I have got something more useful than that. Our old allies sent it for us." Orochimaru said as he took out a scroll which had a red cloud symbol on it.

"Wake up the boy, it's time to set the plan in action." Orochimaru said as Kabuto splashed some water on Kai's face, waking him up instantly.

"MOM!" Kai screamed in pure horror.

"Now now, what's done is done. We can't change the past." Orochimaru said.

"Where am I? Was that a dream?" Kai asked.

"That was as real as you are. Konoha destroyed your home and slaughtered all your brethren. And to be precise, a single kid, even younger than you, did that all by himself." Orochimaru said as Kai remembered face of his mother's killer. Soon he broke down into tears and agony. The feeling of being too weak to even protect his mother overwhelmed him.

Being the son of a prostitute, he was one of the most despised persons in the village. He neither saw nor learned the name of his father. He hated the fact that his mother had sleep with different men every night just to feed him. But even after all the hardship, her mother was the only one who was always kind to him. All that had him going was his mother, and now she was also gone. If Naruto's hadn't slaughtered the group, Kai would have been sold as a slave in the black market.

"I only managed to save you. It was your mother who asked me save you first." Orochimaru said.

"Would you like to take revenge from Konoha?" Orochimaru said.

"No, I will take revenge from the killer of my mom. I will make him regret the day he was born." Kai said.

'Not exactly as I planned, but if his target is that brat then he will eventually tangle with Konoha.' Orochimaru thought as he licked his lips. "That's good. I shall train you myself then."

Later that Night

Naruto was sitting on the roof of the ANBU headquarters with Itachi, Shisui and Kakashi.

"Hey Naruto, I think we need to talk about something." Shisui said.

"About what?" Naruto asked looking at the crescent moon.

"Don't you think you are slowly losing your humanity. You haven't even met your friends since the day you joined the ANBU." Shisui said.

"Don't you think you are slowly losing your humanity. You haven't even met your friends since the day you joined the ANBU. You split the skulls of living people like nuts. You killed everyone so indiscriminately as if their lives didn't even mattered to you." Shisui said.

"That was the order I was given. It was kill or be killed. If we hadn't killed them last night, there won't be a fire country today." Naruto said looking at Shisui with the corner of his eyes.

"We are not asking about your professional opinion. What do you feel about it as yourself, not a ninja of Konoha." Itachi said.

"How do I feel about it? I feel the burden of 31 thousand 4 hundred and 23 lives on me. I feel guilty for killing them. I have now come to regret being a ninja. I despise myself with every fibre of my being. I cannot forget the eyes of the people I slayed last night. Though most of them had the same eyes as us, the eyes of a killer; some of them were just as innocent as an infant. Heck, there were infants in the crowd." Naruto said.

"I- no We are not humans, we are just killers who kill for self preservation. We are the same humans who preach about peace and yet crave for war at the same time. We are the same humans who slay each other over petty things that hold no true value. Even now, the genocide of Kirigakure, people are killing each other because they don't understand Kekkei Genkai. Do you think that this humanity?" Naruto said. "You heard about the last surviving member of that Ice release clan? She was brutally murdered by her husband whom she loved so much just because he found out that she had a Kekkei Genkai. Some say that they even had a child, god knows what had happened to him. Is this also humanity? Is this the peace, we so called pacifists fight for?"

"Are you saying that there is no hope for peace? That humans can't live together without spilling blood?" Itachi said in a serious voice.

"Hope is a word that holds no true meaning. Balance is what keeps the world going. Something bad is needed to balance out the good. One of them can't exist without the other. And Peace is a balance between good and evil." Naruto said.

"If a powerful person says to stop something, won't you follow him?" Itachi said.

"That is nothing but a childish notion. It is another aspect of humanity, there are somethings, for which people would rather choose to die for than letting it go." Naruto said.

"I see." Itachi said. His whole ideology was shattered by a few lines from Naruto. He always thought that if he became the strongest then he could have brought world peace all by himself. But the fact that there are somethings that people would rather choose to die for never occurred to him.

"How would you bring peace?" Itachi asked.

"We are at peace, are we not? And to maintain this peace, the balance should be maintained. Either this or there is another way, a bloodied way. That is to conquer the whole world and identify ourselves as one. But in that path, millions of lives will need to be slain. What would you choose?" Naruto asked but he never got an answer. Itachi just nodded in agreement.

"There is one more thing." Kakashi said as Naruto knew what was this about.

"When?" Naruto asked.

"Do you mean 'what'?" Kakashi asked.

"When did you learnt about it?" Naruto asked as his Sharingan flared to life with a crimson glow. Kakashi and Shisui knew this already but Itachi was in pure shock and confusion.

"How do you have a sharingan? Did you steal it from someone?" Itachi asked.

"I wouldn't fall so low to steal someone's eye just to gain power. These are my very own eyes." Naruto said as his eyes reverted back to normal.

"But how could you possess a sharingan?" Itachi asked. "You are no Uchiha."

"I would like to know that too. But if I had to guess, I would say that I got it from my mother side, as there are some rumours about a female Uchiha falling in love with someone from the Uzumaki clan, a few years after the Second Great Ninja war. Sometime later they had a daughter whom they sent to Konoha on Mito-Sama's request." Naruto said. "Now, when did you learn about it?" Naruto asked eyeing Kakashi and Shisui.

"I noticed it when I and Lord Hokage came to your house, around 7 years ago. And Shisui noticed it last night, when you used Kirin on Orochimaru." Kakashi said.

"I see. So, have you told sensei about it?" Naruto asked.

"He already knows. We both saw it and he later verified it during your training. Guess, that genjutsu of yours, despite being powerful, can be dispelled upon stress." Kakashi said.

"Well, I had started to feel guilty about hiding it from you all. It is a relief that you already know about it, though I was planning to reveal it soon." Naruto said.

"Could you show your sharingan again? I might be hallucinating but I thing I saw 6 Tomoe instead of 3 in each eye." Itachi asked as Naruto activated his sharingan.

"You aren't hallucinating. I do possess a pair of six tomoe Sharingan. But I don't know why, so don't ask me." Naruto said.

"Hm, that's weird. Does it give you any boost or something like that?" Shisui asked.

"Nah, It's just like the normal one." Naruto lied. In reality, his Sharingan was way more powerful that any ordinary sharingan. Even Naruto was unable to use it to it's full potential.

"This is too much of a single day to digest." Itachi said.

"Well, you were the one who asked for it." Naruto chuckled. "What will you do next, now that you know that I possess a Sharingan?

"What do you want, Naruto UCHIHA." Itachi said.

"Thanks, but I will keep the Uzumaki name. As for what I want, Uchiha clan leader and the elders have to right to this information too. You can tell them." Naruto said.

"Well, as you wish." Shisui said.

The next day Itachi informed Fugaku about Naruto's Sharingan. Fugaku then invited Naruto to the newly build Uchiha Compound to see Naruto's Unique Sharingan for himself.

Six Months Later, Hokage's Office

The word about Naruto's Uchiha heritage never got out. The only people that knew this little secret of Naruto were Hiruzen, Itachi, Kakashi, Shisui, Fugaku and Mikoto by extension. With the exception of them, not a single soul in the village had the faintest thought about Naruto's Sharingan, not even Danzo.

After Naruto became the captain of the Defence Squad, he literally reformed the whole defence mechanism of the village in just six months. Being a level 9 seal expert, Naruto swarmed the village with countless seals and barriers ranging from the basic ones to the most advanced ones. The village was now protected by a five-layer dome barrier that could be activated only by Hiruzen and Naruto at a moment's notice.

What couldn't have been done in ages, Naruto had accomplished in half a year. The village was now safer than ever. But another assignment waited for Naruto, as he entered the Hokage's Office. Sunagakure's Jinchuriki was now a gennin and was supposed to participate in next chunnin exams which will be held within Konoha 9 months later. But bringing a Jinchuriki of another village into Konoha was something to be wary of.

"You are to spy of the Fourth Kazekage's son who is the Jinchuriki of One Tails as he will be participating in the next Chunnin Exams. You have to confirm that he doesn't lose the control of the Tailed Beast." Hiruzen said.

"As you command, but shouldn't this be a task of the Threat Suppression Squad?" Naruto said from behind his fox mask.

"Yes, but you are better suited for this type of work. You will have to report back in 7 months" Hiruzen said as Naruto nodded before vanishing.

Otogakure

Two figures were walking down on a rice field. Both of them were wearing a black cloak with Red cloud symbol on it. One of them was carrying the infamous Samehada on his back while the other one had covered his face with an orange mask with a spiral pattern on it. Suddenly countless snakes started to come out from the rice field and started to take the from of a human, that soon turned out to be Orochimaru, but this time, his skin was literally white.

"I see that you have accepted my little gift." The masked man said.

"Your? I thought that Pein-San sent me that." Orochimaru said.

"No. It was me. Now, do you have a plan about that?" The man said.

"Tobi, was it? I do have a plan, a full proof one. Are you two going to help too?" Orochimaru asked.

"Yeah, I will be more than happy to lend a hand. Both I and Kisame will participate." Tobi said.

"So, when are we going to do it?" Kisame asked.

"9 Months later, during the chunnin Exams. Akatsuki, Otogakure, and Sunagakure, all of us will invade Konoha at once with a combined force of 40 thousand ninjas and reduce it to a pile of dust" Orochimaru said licking his lips.

6 Months Later

Sasuke was sitting in his classroom along with the rest of the class. A new addition to the group was a girl named Rui Tachibana. She joined the academy after Naruto passed out. She had fair skin, blue hair and magenta eyes. [A/N: Rui from Domestic no Kanojo. Creating an OC is 'such a drag', so why not steal a character from other anime.]

"Team 7 will be Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno and Rui Tachibana under the jonin instructor Kakashi Hatake." Iruka announced.

With the absence of Naruto, the power structure of the academy changed in the past 5 years. The first change was that Sasuke passed the academy as the Rookie of the Year. And since he was being trained by Kakashi since the last five years, he was now equally if not stronger than Naruto when he had passed.

The second one was that, with Naruto out of picture, Sasuke had became the crush of every girl with the exception of Hinata Hyuga and Rui Tachibana. The two who had the biggest crush on Sasuke were Ino and Sakura. What started as a joke became a matter of rivalry as who will get Sasuke.

And that being the case, Sakura was on the seventh heaven as she got into the same team as Sasuke but she was unsecured too because he feared that Sasuke might fall for Rui, but she was happy nonetheless.

As for Sasuke, he was missing his only best friend whom he hadn't met in the last 2 years. Everything was all good the day before he was promoted to Jonin, but after that he was vanished like he never existed. He went to Naruto's home on several occasions to find out what happened but every time he did, he found the home empty. The only information he got about Naruto was from Itachi, and he just told him that they were on the same team and nothing else.

Rui had a stoic personality and had hardly opened up to anyone. She was no prodigy like Naruto and Sasuke but she honed her skills with hardwork.

1 month later, Mission Office

Sasuke, Sakura and Rui were standing before Hiruzen in the mission office to report their mission. All three of them were covered in dirt as they were assigned to work in the paddy field and help the farmers. They had been doing these excuses for a mission ever since they passed the academy and became a gennin. Now, they really wanted a 'real' mission.

"A job well done, team 7. Now, you can choose you next mission from… Catching Tora, Digging Potatoes, and Painting the fences." Hiruzen said.

"Hokage-Sama, can we please get a real mission, we've been doing this for a month now." Sasuke said.

"Yes, give us a real mission." Sakura added.

"A real mission, you say. Since you are close to completing 100 D-Rank Missions, I believe I can give you a C-rank." Hiruzen said as the three gennins brightened up.

"It is a simple escort mission to the Land of Waves." Hiruzen signalled a chunnin as he opened the door and an old man who, judging by the scars on his hands, must have been a carpenter or something like that came in. In his hand was a sake bottle, and he took a swig from it as he looked them over.

"What's this? They're all a bunch of super brats," the man said, a drunken blush on his face. "I wonder if they could even protect themselves."

"My team is more than enough to protect you from a bunch of thieves. Rest assured, we will protect you with our lives." Kakashi said as he put his hand on Sasuke and Rui's shoulder with Sakura between them.

"Well, if you say so. Anyway, I am the super bridge builder, Tazuna. I expect you to provide me super protection until I get back to my country and complete the bridge." Tazuna said.

"Okay, pack up your bags, we will leave for the Wave Country tomorrow early morning." Kakashi said.

Next Day

Sasuke, Rui and Sakura walked towards the south gate of the Hidden Leaf, Packed and ready. After reaching the gate, they found Kakashi and Tazuna waiting for them. Soon after meeting they left the village for the Land of Waves.

'Land of Waves, huh. If I ain't wrong, Itachi's Squad was on that mission.' Kakashi thought.

While they were on way, Kakashi noticed a puddle on the road and quickly got into an alert position. But as he was about to act, he stopped himself.

'This might be a good opportunity to teach them.' Kakashi thought.

As they passed the puddle, suddenly 2 ninjas came out from the puddle and cut down Kakashi into pieces with their chains. Sasuke had seen what happened and quickly took a fighting stance while the two girls, without processing what happened, took out Kunai and got into their stance before Tazuna.

Suddenly the two ninjas appeared behind Sasuke, ready to serve him the same fate as Kakashi.

"Now, it's your turn." One of them said as he threw the chain around Sasuke. But Sasuke quickly jumped before the chain could catch him and pinned the chains to a tree with a shuriken and a kunai. He then quickly formed a hand seal and inhaled to his full capacity.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!" Sasuke said as be blew out a big ball of fire that severely burned the two ninjas. But that attack was not enough to incapacitate the ninjas, as they detached the chain and quickly charged at Tazuna, completely ignoring Sasuke.

"Stay behind me." Rui yelled as he made a set of hand seal.

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough." Rui exhaled a powerful gust of wind that was strong enough to send the Ninjas flying and slammed then to a tree. Suddenly, before the ninjas could move, they found themselves tied to the tree with a thin wire.

Kakashi then appeared before them rolling the trip wire that he had just used to tie them. "How are you still alive?" One of them asked as Kakashi pointed to the place where they had supposedly killed him. Instead of body pieces, there were small pieces of wood.

"Why did you scare us like that?" Rui yelled, almost about to cry.

"I am sorry. I wanted to see, how will you three react in a situation like this." Kakashi said as Rui pouted. "By the way, how to you know Wind Release Jutsu."

"Oh that, a masked man taught me this while I was training in the forest, some 8 months ago." Rui said.

"A masked man? Where did you met him and how did he look like?" Sakura asked.

"Well, he was wearing a fox mask and had white hair. He was around the same height as me, slightly taller. And I met him in the forest past the Hokage tower. There was a pond nearby and someone had built a house there too." Rui said as she finished thinking.

"Um, I guess that wasn't a forest. You were training in Naruto backyard, that you mistook for a forest. And the person you met and the one who taught you this jutsu was actually Naruto himself." Kakashi said.

"What!? You actually met Naruto?" Sasuke asked.

"Hey, I don't even know who he was until now?" Rui defended.

"What's he doing nowadays?" Sakura asked being completely oblivious about Naruto.

"Last time I heard, he was out of the village on some mission." Kakashi asked.

"I see. I will make sure to meet him once we return back." Sakura said.

"Now, Tazuna-San. I believe you have some explanation to give." Kakashi said.

"What are you talking about?" Tazuna asked.

"You see, these ninjas were after you. So you have lied to us. Now would you explain why you did this?" Kakashi asked.

"I am sorry. I couldn't afford to pay for a higher level protection. Land of Waves is on the brink of devastation. If I don't build the bridge, all of us will starve to death." Tazuna practically begged to Kakashi.

"Go on." Kakashi said.

"The one who seeks my life in the shipping magnate Gatou." Tazuna said but Kakashi's face remained emotionless as he knew where this was going.

"You mean Gatou of the Gatou Transport?" Kakashi asked.

"Yeah. He came to our country some 15 months ago. He was trying to take over the transport system of our country so our Daimyo tried to stop him. And just a year ago, his whole family was assassinated along with the children. The two sons of the Daimyo had their heart plucked out of their body. No one inside the estate made it out alive." Tazuna said as Kakashi's eyes widened.

'Plucking out hearts, so this was Naruto's doing. I don't know where did he learnt such a brutal move, but it is really inhuman.' Kakashi thought.

"Who would do such a thing?" Sasuke asked.

"Gatou controls the sea of the land of waves now. And for such a island nation like the land of waves, the one who controls the sea controls everything. But he fears one thing, and that is the bridge. If the bridge is complete, then it will end his monopoly. And I am the bridge builder." Tazuna said.

"So that's it. Since you in charge of building the bridge, you are standing in the gangster's way." Rui said.

"If you end the mission here, then there will be no bridge. They will assassinate me the moment I enter my country." Tazuna said.

"But don't feel bad about that, ofcourse my sweet little grandson will be upset, he'll cry." Tazuna said making Team 7 feel guilty themselves.

"Ah well, it's not your fault. Forget it." With this he added salt to the wound.

"Well… I guess we have no other choice. We will keep guarding you." Kakashi said.

"Thank you, I am very grateful." Tazuna said. 'I win.'

"Alright, Sasuke, you go with Tazuna. And Sakura and Rui, you two stay here with me for a bit." Kakashi said.

"But-" Sasuke said.

"Don't worry, we will join you shortly." Kakashi said.

"Okay." Sasuke said as he went off with Tazuna.

Graphic Content [Skip if you want]

"Now, you two." Kakashi said as he looked at Rui and Sakura. "Take out your kunai and kill them." Kakashi said pointing at the enemy ninjas who had a terrified look on their face.

"But-" Sakura said.

"No if and but. It is an order. You will have to kill others eventually. Now, do it." Kakashi said. "And if you don't do it, you will be stripped off your Shinobi duty."

The two beamed up upon hearing the last part. They had a kind heart and didn't wanted to kill someone but if they didn't, they would be dropped from the ninja program. The dilemma was too big for them to handle, but they had to make a decision.

"I am sorry." Rui said to the ninja before she sliced his throat.

"That cut is not deep enough. Do it again." Kakashi said. Blood was spurting out from the ninja's throat and that made her feel disgusted. "If you don't do it, he will suffer even more." Kakashi added.

Rui then shakingly placed the kunai at the Ninjas throat and slowly sliced it open, taking her time as the blood coated her hand. After spraying blood for a few seconds, he finally died, terrifying his partner to the extent that he passed out himself.

"Kakashi then molded some Water Release chakra and splashed it on the face of the passed out ninja. "If you tell me who sent you, you won't suffer like your teammate."

"Zabuza Momochi, he was the one who sent us." The ninja said as he was already terrified enough.

"I see. Now then Sakura, it's your turn now. Stab him in the crown of his head." Kakashi said as he again molded some water chakra to wash off the blood on Rui's hands.

"But-" Sakura said.

"Do it. If you won't kill him, he will kill you." Kakashi said. Sakura the shut her eyes and stabbed the ninja where asked. Blood sprayed all over the place but Sakura jumped away just in time. He died the moment the kunai entered his skull, so Kakashi kept his bargain.

"Why did you make us do that?" Rui asked.

"Because you would have hesitated later as much you two did now. And next time, you probably wouldn't have any time to think and would be the one to die there. So, knocking out the fear of killing was necessary. You fight to kill, not to just damage. We are not noble saints." Kakashi said. "Now then, let's get going."


Author's Note

This was just a transition chapter between two arcs, hence it took so long to write it. Now that the secret about Naruto's Sharingan is revealed, he can use it a bit freely now. And also I am going to change some events of the Konoha Crush Arc, so that's another thing. Also, just to mention so that you don't get confused, Kisame knows about Tobi and both of them are on a two man team from Akatsuki. Coming to Orochimaru, he is going to train Kai now, so there is another Sasuke[emo one] in making.

Now about Rui, after giving it much thought, I decided to use a character from another anime rather than creating an OC, as it is easy to imagine her. Also, she is going to one of the main cast so keep that is mind. I have kept her personality and other things the same as the cannon. When I was choosing Rui, I also had Shinobu Kocho(KnY) in mind but I settled for Rui.

Well, that's if for this chapter, see ya in the next one.