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.
Chapter 80
'It has been quiet for a while.' I thought as I closed my eyes and found myself in darkness. I had never seen it from this perspective before, whenever I closed my eyes I would see golden ones belonging to the one who resided within me. Now nothing stared back at me but complete darkness, I did not want to open my eyes as I found peace in the abyss.
'Gaara, Gaara.' I kept hearing a voice calling out to me, I knew that voice from somewhere but I could not put my mind on it as I felt too relaxed. Was this sleep? I had to think because I have never felt it before.
'Naruto Uzumaki.' I wondered when the beating I received came back to me like a lucid feeling. He is strong I had to admit seeing as he could hurt me so easily, my sand defense could not react to him in time because he was just that fast and my sand armor came undone by a simple hook.
Somehow in the silence, I felt myself floating I found I did not care. I began feeling energy return to my body and this euphoric feeling left me. There were voices close by I could Identify one as Temari's.
'Temari.' I realized like a surprise, my older sister. I never thought about it for a long time without anger, then again I never had time to think too much because of the constant noises in my head.
"I do not want to lie but we cannot help you. As it is I'm the only person in my team who is active." Her voice said and I wondered who she was talking to, the thought of a random stranger didn't send my mental fortitudes haywire with bloodlust and I felt conflicted by that.
"Your Auburn teammate seems like he can handle himself, why not wake him up." A male voice asked with such blandness I found myself annoyed by it. Still, no bloodlust came to me, did they do something to me? Why was the One Tail so quiet?
'Gaara, Gaara.' Who was that calling me? "Gaara is-is not so stable." Temari's voice said and I felt hurt at her words, not anger but sadness at my older sister saying that about me. I could now feel my body, the strength was returning to me, maybe this is what they called a 'nap'.
"His been through a lot, and life held him a terrible hand. I-I wish I could take his place."
'Temari…' I did not know she felt that way, she wanted to help me? But she hates me she does not talk to me like she talks to Kankurō, I see the fear in her eyes whenever she……..
"His just lashing out, and as his older sister it's my responsibility to protect him but failing every day takes its toll on you…..sorry for going off-topic." My heart was beating heavily in my chest and it was not in anticipation of killing someone. It made me feel guilty, like I was committing a sin and I balled my fists.
"Troublesome, it is okay." The male voice said before they noticed me moving.
"G-Gaara!" Her voice carried that fear again as I pushed myself up into a sitting position and reluctantly opened my eyes to be greeted by the sight of her crying face far away from me. I got annoyed at the person who stood there recognizing him as Shikamaru Nara, another finalist.
I placed my hand on the floor and pushed myself up and onto my feet, it was still quiet maybe I could talk to her normally. 'Gaara, Gaara….' I ignored the voice echoing in my head and took a step toward my sister.
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Temari was scared when Gaara woke up and stood on his feet, she expected him to be full of bloodlust after what had happened to him but he seemed conflicted instead. It was so obvious in his expression, like looking at a baby pulling a face. She almost laughed as she cried but kept her tongue and leaked tears instead.
On her side was Shikamaru Nara standing there lazily but Temari saw his tensed form, it meant he wasn't too lazy to want to survive any sudden attacks.
"Temari." She waited for it, instinctively waited for the threat to follow but what came instead was….
"Temari." Was he calling her? She didn't know but she replied just in case he was.
"Y-yes…" Temari grimaced when she stuttered out those three later words and stood still as Gaara kept on making his way to her. When he reached her he looked at his hand and then looked at hers which shook a little, she was scared but also confused.
Shikamaru took several steps away from them slowly and was joined by his teammates. Gaara after a few more seconds grazed her hand with his own and Temari noticed how soft and warm his hands were. Then he held her hand softly and stared up to look her in the eyes. Temari for the first time saw light in her brother's eyes, the type he had as a kid when she held him.
"Are you scared of me Temari?" Gaara asked and Temari just stared at him, almost going tearful when she truly saw her brother after so many years. "You don't have to take my place, I-I am fine." Temari began leaking tears at her brother's words, he was not threatening her or blasting her with his killing intent.
"I, Gaara, is-is that y-you?" Temari asked trembling, if this was the Tanuki playing a joke she would die. That monster could not play with her heart like that.
'Please be him.' She prayed inwardly grabbing the soft hand in her grasp tightly. When Gaara looked at her confused for a second and then nodded Temari took a chance and tried to wrap him in a hug, if she died she would rather that than discard her real brother.
Temari smiled as she cried openly when she felt Gaara's shorter frame wrap his arms around her back in an awkward hug. Temari after a second pushed away and looked into her brother's eyes.
"What happened to you?" Temari questioned and Gaara felt he owed her an explanation, when he looked at Kankurō's sleeping form behind him he resolved to explain to him as well. Gaara began recounting to Temari the day it all changed, beginning with the story of their uncle Yamoshi.
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Neji stepped out of the corner he hid in after Hanabi ran past said corner and narrowed his eyes in concentration. He could not fail now or everybody would know his secret, he would either be killed, imprisoned to be used as a front-line soldier in times of war or he could escape and become a missing ninja.
He followed the Hyūga Heiress through the streets of Konoha which were buzzing as many watched the exams from a projector on the stadium wall. There were random betting booths for people to bet on their favored contestants. Neji did not care for the Chunin vest anymore, he had too much going, too much anger brewing.
Hanabi entered a crowd of people and Neji frowned losing sight of her, he entered the crowd as well making his way past people while squeezing himself through tight places. He could not go by rooftops or he would be noticed by sentinel Ninjas, stepping out of the crowd, Neji saw Hanabi in the distance turning a corner.
He picked up his pace and reached the same corner quickly only to see nobody there and realize it is a dead end. He activated his dojutsu and bared his teeth when he saw in the distance Kō going from rooftop to rooftop heading back toward the stadium.
Neji immediately gave chase, it was confirmed now. Kō knew or suspected something but for him to do this he had to have somehow found out Toneri's plan to have him kidnap Hanabi. Neji was making ground as he gained on the two, Kō held Hanabi-Sama under his one available arm.
Neji scratched his neck where his scar lay feeling phantom pains and knew that Kō had one as well. It seemed they were marked by fate's avatar, the villain of the leaf village who was defecting if Neji read the mood correctly.
In a burst of speed, Neji was right behind Kō as he was in the process of jumping to another rooftop. Neji prepared to attack and Kō turned around to defend as he brought his leg in the way. Neji blocked the tenkentsu in the young adult's left leg and his landing on the rooftop became a stumble as Hanabi held him tightly and screamed.
Kō quickly stood up after unblocking his tenkentsu and placed Hanabi behind him on the rooftop as Neji landed a few feet away. The retired Chūnin was still recovering but knew he had to act if he wanted to protect the little princess.
Kō quickly moved in just as Neji did the same he sent a palm forward to the boy and was shocked to find Neji grabbing onto his hand and twisting it over his head as he gave Kō his back before striking the tenkentsu in his arm and finally dislocating said arm with his shoulders.
"Agh!!" Kō screamed in pain.
"Kō!!" Hanabi cried out to her sister's caretaker who collapsed on his feet in pain.
"You don't have to do it Neji!" Kō cried out in anger at the boy who fell from grace, the Hyūga knew that Neji was being controlled by Toneri. He did not have to be a genius to see it happening, almost every Hyūga found them interacting absurd.
"Whatever he is forcing you to do, do not do it. Hiashi-Sama already suspects him of your grandfather's death!!! After the exams, he will be taken for questioning!!!" Neji stopped in his tracks and looked at Kō with horror in his eyes. If they questioned Toneri he will reveal the truth, Neji felt his heart rate increase.
'I need to leave.' Neji thought urgently and tried to turn around and run but another Hyūga landed in front of him. It was the Jōnin Tokuma Hyūga.
"Neji Hyūga, by orders of Hiashi-Sama you are being detained until further notice." Tokuma spoke up, face bland and emotionless.
Neji balled his fists and understood he was fucked.
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Sasuke landed a few feet from his teammates and looked to Hinata who was in the process of explaining something to Naruto. He approached them in a walk, hands in his pockets and a cool frown on his face.
"Ugh yes, they are now all seated together. Shino, Lee, Shikamaru, Gaara, and Temari. Kankurō is still down." Hinata spoke and Naruto nodded in understanding.
"So they are ganging up on us making it a numbers game." Naruto deduced looking serious and Sasuke was still trying to put his finger on what it was about the blonde that changed. Naruto barely gave him a glance at his arrival before continuing, it annoyed Sasuke.
"I didn't think we would be the ones being ganged up on but surprises tend to surprise you." Naruto voiced and Hinata giggled as the blonde scrunched up his nose in thought. "Since Gaara is up again we will need to fight him close to a body of water." Naruto grinned and looked at the lake close by.
"Here then?" Hinata asked and he nodded. Sasuke simply listened trying to be as silent as possible, he would just wait for the opportunity to present itself.
"They are moving back to the mountain." Hinata revealed and Naruto nodded before making the cross seal. In a puff of smoke, there was nothing but leaves rustling in the distance. Sasuke balled his fists and Hinata looked at him with her Byakugan eyes.
"Shino has bugs observing us." The Hyūga Heiress told the blonde and he squinted his eyes in concentration before nodding. He looked to Sasuke but after a second thought better of it and looked to Hinata instead.
"Can you eliminate them?" He asked and she nodded in the affirmative before conjuring up her Katana from her seal and dashing to random places in the clearing to cut down on the insects spying on them.
"Are you going to work with us or not?" The Uzumaki began with a neutral tone.
"I am here, am I not?" Sasuke answered the question with a question of his own and Naruto gave Him a long look before agreeing with the Uchiha.
"Hinata suggested you fight Gaara together, with her water nature and your lightning nature, you will be able to severely harm him." The Blonde began and Sasuke reluctantly nodded but every second he stood there he wanted to put a Chidori down Naruto's throat.
"And you." The Uchiha Genin asked and Naruto stared at him for a long moment before answering.
"I will stall the rest of them until you are done with Gaara. Then we can take them all on as a team." Naruto regaled the plan and Sasuke didn't like that they thought him too weak to take Gaara on his own. In the distance, they heard an explosion and Naruto blinked before making the cross seal once more, again only smoke appeared.
"After that?" Sasuke asked and Naruto blinked in confusion. "After we take down the competition," Sasuke explained, his cool frown losing its coolness with every second he stood still with the blonde.
"We fight of course." Naruto grinned confidently and boasted. "You won't know what hit you." Sasuke's eyes flashed red and Naruto's eyes narrowed at the anger to flash in his eyes.
Sasuke proceeded to remove his headband and tuck it away in his pouch before pointing at his forehead with a thumb.
"You won't even be able to scratch me." Sasuke told him confidently before turning around and walking away. "Hn" he finished and Naruto shook his head but still smirked at the Uchiha's back as he walked off.
'I also want to beat you Sasuke.' Naruto thought with eagerness, it was here they settled the score. It's been a draw every time they fought with limitations now there were no boundaries that couldn't be crossed.
Naruto looked at a certain strain of hair on Sasuke's head that blew, unlike the rest.
'I'm so badass tstststst.' Naruto inwardly sang in conceit as he left his spy on Sasuke's head. The second clone he summoned was fast moving henged strand of hair that attached itself to Sasuke immediately.
"Hime! Team 7 beatdown is a go!!" Naruto told Hinata who was just returning from cutting down the last of the insects spying on them. She smiled and nodded at him and he just got lost in her night-like eyes, not knowing he punched her in the gut with his feelings.
'Man…. Hinata Hyūga.' Naruto thought and Hinata blushed red before she giggled in happiness, thinking all that love was for her.
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'What monstrosities.' Rasa thought as he sat in a room full of his enemies. He looked at the painting of the first Hokage fighting Madara Uchiha and the Nine-tailed fox. Then he thought about how close he was to that man a few minutes ago.
'Will it mean anything if we win this invasion.' The fourth Kazekage found his hands rubbing together in an old habit he built when he was restless. He couldn't be in this room, he should be with his man and trusted advisors coming up with another plan of action.
'Monsters.' The Kazekage thought while staring at the portrait of the three legendary Sanins but more specifically it's prodigy Orochimaru, Hiruzen's prodigy. Rasa watched While Hiruzen Sarutobi tried to snake his way into an Alliance with the other nations as he once did them.
"I, instead would want to talk about these Taya tags." A, cut inside the conversation of peace talks like a knife and changed the subject.
"Ah yes, yes. Something interesting indeed." Onoki said with a wonderful smile on his face. The little Namikaze brat was defecting, when Onoki heard of the Graffiti on the Stone Monument he had made a wish. That Konoha would get a taste of their own medicine, that the boy meant every word he wrote down.
Hiruzen never raised kids, he trained them how would he know the signs of a child venting.
There was something personal in every word the blonde wrote on the Hokage's faces. Onoki was old, perhaps out of all the Kages sitting around the table, he knew Hiruzen the most. During his youth, he was a monster, as cunning as his master and just as prodigious in performing Ninjutsu of all kinds.
But there was someone always in his shadows, making contradictory decisions that still got the leaf village the win but none of the blame.
Danzo Shimura, a master manipulator, and sweet talker, doesn't take his default exterior as his only character trait. He also has a golden tongue and Sharpened sword in hand to execute a deal. The Shimura clan was always a clan of stalkers and scammers.
A Hokage and his Shadow. Onoki heard Shisui Uchiha was sent to the fire capital with direct orders from the monkey. They were probably back on talking terms and that was bad news for anyone wanting to stay close.
"I believe the child is selling it privately." A, spoke up again before looking to the Hokage.
"Tell me about this device." Hiruzen sighed thinking 'damn you Naruto!' As he cleared his throat and took a breath ready to deny them the privilege of information. There was a knock on the door and everybody stopped talking before it opened and Jiraiya of the Sanin walked in.
"Hokage-Sama, a moment." The Sanin said with a bow, knowing to not make a fool of himself in front of enemies, those things were reserved for friends and family.
"Excuse me." Hiruzen stood up using the table to push himself up in a show of old age but no one bought it, just like nobody buys Onoki's back problems.
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"What is it Jiraiya…" Hiruzen questioned and Jiraiya began pacing left and right.
"I don't know how you convinced me, this was a bad idea. I should have known everything would go to hell!" Jiraiya finished with a yell and a curse. "Fuck!, we're screwed.." Hiruzen placed a hand on Jiraiya's shoulder and gave him an understanding smile.
"What is it Jiraiya-Kun, take a breath." At his words, Jiraiya took a breath and calmed down before revealing his revelation.
"He knows every little secret the leaf village owns, haven't you ever wondered how he learned the shadow clone technique? An Uchiha can learn it using the Sharingan but any normal ninja would need to read the scroll." Jiraiya paused there and Hiruzens eyes widened in realization.
"Of sealing." Hiruzen immediately jumped back to the day Naruto painted the Hokage monument and stepped foot in his office for the first time in restraints. 'Did he do all of that to gain excess to my office?' Hiruzen did not like what was going on anymore.
"So he read the scroll of sealing what does that have to do with you panicking like this?" The third asked getting a little annoyed when Jiraiya began pacing again.
"Root was involved in Whirlpool……" Jiraiya paused and looked at his sensei's face before growling. "What is it you don't do?!" Jiraiya asked in anger almost putting his hands on the man who raised him like a son.
"They were simply there to offer aid but they arrived too late." Hiruzen explained and Jiraiya growled pulling the extra mask Naruto gave him back in Whirlpool village.
"Then why are there dead root officers there." Hiruzen sighed and shook his head.
"You are going off-topic Jiraiya, what does Naruto Know?" Jiraiya blinked and realized he was going off-topic. He stopped pacing and looked his sensei in the eye.
"He knows Minato is his father." Jiraiya saw Hiruzen take a visible breath in and stepped back. "He always spoke it out loud but we were too occupied to hear him. He practically demanded the Rasengan like it was his birthright, then learned it like it was in his DNA." Jiraiya saw Hiruzen take another step back now looking wide-eyed.
"Already." He asked shocked that Naruto already mastered the jutsu.
"He is unlike any student I have ever trained Sensei. His progress is insane, his strength is already at a level that he could kill any high-level ninja if caught off guard, and he punches like Tsunade hahaha…." Jiraiya gave an uneasy laugh at the thought of his old teammate and Hiruzen felt a pang of guilt but that was a secret even Jiraiya did not know.
"Right now all he needs is experience but that would be null and void very soon." Jiraiya did not know what to call Naruto's training regime he was everywhere in Whirlpool in a literal sense. He had clones performing the tree walking and water walking exercises every day for the whole day, for the month.
He fought himself every chance he got and countered his own moves in different ways so he can be better at his brawler-like fighting style. Naruto can already cut down a Boulder with his wind nature and is working on fusing the Rasengan with his wind release.
"Sensei in three years we won't be able to do a thing to him yet alone when he reaches his prime." Jiraiya was looking Hiruzen straight in the eye as he spoke. "Ma said his chakra is different, heavy and bright, like a sun and every day it moves ever closer to show us how big and hot it truly is." Hiruzen took his pipe out and lit the tobacco inside to take a puff to calm his nerves.
"Honestly after this event he is walking out that big gate. Only the most extreme of measures will stop him." Jiraiya told the old man seriously before placing a hand on the third's shoulder and walking out of the room to give him time to think.
"Oh, God." Hiruzen whispered looking at the peach-colored ceiling above.
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Shikamaru watched as a medic-nin came forward to collect Kankurō's sleeping form, the siblings left were talking, and after a few more minutes of talking Temari looked at him and gave a nod indicating her brother was in on the plan. Shikaku decided to assume the boy had a multiple personality disorder until he was done with the troublesome exams.
"Then let's move." Shikamaru ordered and they all nodded. Lee took off running with Shino, and Gaara made a sand platform that he made levitate. Temari joined him with the aid of his hand and they flew up to perform their part of the plan.
"Troublesome." Shikamaru thought when the crowd went wild again at the sign of action. He wondered why he felt like a storm was coming, Naruto defected the village, and the blonde was always doing crazy things but this was insane.
'What are you plotting.' Shikamaru wondered finding himself without an answer for the first time.
An
To be continued.
