WHY I'M SO STUPID?
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or its characters.
It has been a year since Naruto left on his five year journey with Jiraiya and right now he was busy meditating, and he was thinking back to their visit to Suna.
Flashback . . .
Naruto were sitting in the Kazakage's office, having a little talk with Gaara, who was just filling in the spot until the council made it official. With them were Gaara's brother Kankuro and his sister, Temari, along with their sensei Baki and some lady named Chiyo, while Jiraiya was rolled up in a ball in the corner, nursing his privates since he was dumb enough to go into pervert mode on Temari only to receive a hard smash into the jewels when she swung her fan into them.
They were catching up, although Kankuro had a disappointed look on his face, although it was hard to tell since he looked a little beat up in the face, because he was there to bring the two guests over to Gaara, he saw how most of the female population were staring and drooling at Naruto, who was giving them a good view of his well formed body. It didn't help that when some of the academy girls tried to jump him, Naruto did a substitution jutsu, using him as the substitute. When the girls saw this, they started to pound the living daylights out of him, which caused Temari to breakout laughing.
Gaara decided to ask a question that has been bothering him since his defeat during the semi-finals, "Naruto, you said that we were so much alike, especially when it comes to our upbringing. I was wondering if you could explain it to me a little better?" When Naruto looked like he was considering his answer carefully, instead of opening his mouth, he raised his right hand and used one of his fingers to point at his whiskers. It took Gaara barely a minute to figure it out, "You're a container as well, aren't you?"
This caused the rest of the room to be shocked by this, while Naruto just nodded his head, "Yeah, and like you, it was done by my father, but for different reasons." He answered, "While your father was hoping to use you as a strong weapon, my father sealed a demon inside of me to save his village from destruction, and to do that, he sealed the nine-tailed fox, Kyubi inside of me the day I was born."
This definitely caught Chiyo's and Baki's attention, Chiyo's most of all, "Boy, tell me the name of your father." She ordered, wanting to confirm something.
Naruto just looked at her, before answering, "My father is Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage and Konoha's Yellow Flash." When he heard the same response he heard in Tsunade's office, "And I know what you are going to say next so don't bother. Anyway, we're here to discuss some more urgent matters."
End flashback.
They were able to get Gaara up to speed about Akatsuki and a few other things. They didn't leave entirely unscratched, or at least Jiraiya didn't since just as he recovered from one pain, he got another when he got slapped hard by Chiyo due to the fact that her brother has become badly influences by the Icha Icha books.
Right now he was just focusing on keeping his chakra under control before the Kyubi made itself known, "Hey kid, I sense some familiar figures heading this way, one of them being the person you are looking for." He said.
Naruto sniffed the air and recognized one slightly similar to Sasuke's, "Thanks for the heads up Kyubi." He said, before getting back onto his feet. Just as did, he quickly formed a shadow clone and had it give the pervert the heads up.
When the clone was out of the area, two cloak figures jumped into view, one looking like an older version of Sasuke, while the other looked a sushi reject. "About time you guys showed up." Naruto started saying, while getting his sword out, "What happened, did shark-face here kept getting hooked by some dumb fisherman?"
Kisame was looking a little pissed at the moment because for some reason, even with his sword, people are still able to make cracks about his appearance, "Keep it up wise guy and you'll have to answer to my little friend here." He said, while patting the handle to his sword.
Naruto just decided to ignore him, while turning his attention towards his main target, Itachi, "I thought I let you know that Sasuke no longer wants to kill you, but to welcome you home with open arms." He said.
Itachi was no where near expecting that, "Why would Sasuke give up his revenge for his clan especially since it was done by his own brother?" He asked, sounding a bit angry.
"Because I had a nice little chat with him about some things that just didn't seem to add up, especially when it came to you. After I had Sasuke clear his head enough to think about the past, plus the fact that his own brother was being used in the same way I was, as a scapegoat to take all the blame for other peoples' misfortunes." He explained.
Before he could continue, they were interrupted by a loud panting sound, so they turned to see Jiraiya being led by Naruto's clone, which was using the Sexy Jutsu to get his attention. What happened next, nobody saw coming: Kisame took one look, and just like Iruka and the Third, he got knocked out by a massive nosebleed. Itachi took one look and shook his head at his partner's action. "For somebody who can challenge a god without breaking a sweat, you really are pathetic."
Naruto on the other hand, "You better disappear now before he gropes you." He ordered the clone. It quickly nodded and disappeared. When it did, Jiraiya shook his head a few times to get it back into the focus, "Welcome to the land of the living."
"You do know you interrupted some very important research." Jiraiya said, looking like a little boy whose play time got interrupted.
"You do know what Tsunade would do to you if she found out that you let Akatsuki capture me because you were too busy doing your 'precious' research." Naruto said, causing the man to go extremely pale at that thought, "Anyway, I need you to go keep shark face busy while I go at it with Itachi."
"And just how do you think I should do that?" He asked, thinking the boy is trying to insult him.
"How about using your Sage mode?" He answered while walking towards Itachi.
Jiraiya was looking angry at this suggestion, "You know how much I hate using that, it'll scare the girls away if they ever saw me in that mode." He said.
Naruto got about twenty feet away from Itachi, before he stopped, "It's not like they were showing interest in you in the first place." He said, causing the hermit to flinch at that blow to his pride, reminding him that, like his father, was getting most of the girl's attention, "Besides, before I left, Tsunade was kind enough to give me some old pictures of you that I can show around if you don't cooperate."
Jiraiya gave him a curious look before his face went pale, "Not the . . ." He started to ask before receiving a small smirk from the blonde, "Find, I'll fight him, and I'll only use Sage mode if I have to."
Naruto then turned his attention towards his opponent, "Shall we?" He asked before they both got into position.
* * *
Back in Konoha
Sakura was doing her rounds at the hospital, when two of the regulars appeared. Holding each other up on their shoulder were Kakashi and Sasuke, looking like they just came back from a war. This was starting to become a regular thing since the two's meaning to the words 'holding it back' is completely different from her own. She just shook her head, "I swear, I thought Naruto was bad when it comes to training before he pulled off that mask of his."
Kakashi and Sasuke, both placed their free hands to the back of the heads, and gave a slight chuckle at this. Ever since that day when they were allowed to get a good long look at the real Naruto, and some of the things he said to them, they started changing for the better, except for maybe Shino since he literally has bugs crawling all over the place, Sasuke being among the biggest since he started to become more open with others.
"Well since I no longer want to kill my brother anymore, right now I just training to see what I want to do sometime down the road." Sasuke said.
Sakura nodded at this. All their friends were doing the same, even finding love, while the only thing she can do is keep working as a medic–nin while waiting for Naruto to come back from his trip, "And you're not by any chance looking for more excuses to be late for your dates with Shizune now are you?" She asked her old sensei.
Kakashi was about to answer before a voice he knew too well answered for him, "He better not if he knows what's good for him." Kakashi was scared stiff just as Shizune walked out from behind the pair, "I'll take care of this one." She said, before dragging the poor jounin out the door by his ear.
Both were laughing at this, ever since the rest of the group became Chunins, they've been busy as of late. Karin came walking in, laughing, just after she saw the famous 'Sharingan Kakashi' being treated like a little boy who stole a piece of cake. She calmed down enough to say "Sakura, the Hokage wants to see you, so why don't you go ahead and leave this one to me."
Sakura nodded and left. Just before she reached the door, Sasuke called out to her to say something, "Sakura, you really need to start letting go of the past if you really want to make things work between you and Naruto. That's why Naruto is the way he is now, instead of letting the past control of his life, he chose to take control. It's thanks to that which allowed me to become what I am today."
Sakura didn't even answer as she started her journey towards the Hokage's office. She knew what Sasuke said was true, it's just that she can't seem to understand why she's having trouble letting go of hers. 'Why can't I move on while everybody else is having a nice happy with somebody they love. Even Lee and Shino have found somebody.'
'Maybe it's because you've been realizing that you've actually had a good thing right under nose and by the time you actually look, it was gone.' Her inner self said.
Sakura was angry at that, 'Well what do you expect? I was too busy trying to get the attention of the boy that was every girl's dream.'
'Dream is right.' Inner Sakura countered, 'Except that as soon as Naruto proved himself to everyone, the fan girls decided to switch to him, and that's when you finally started to wake up to reality.'
Sakura didn't say anything back because she was already nearing the doors leading towards the Hokage's office. She gave a light knock on the door, to which she was granted entrance through."
* * *
The duel between Naruto Namikaze and Itachi Uchiha was at a stalemate. Itachi was surprised that this boy could keep up with him, even when he is just using the regular Sharigan he still got some good size bruises. He was even more surprised when Naruto started to use the Fourth's signature move, the Flying Thunder God Technique. "Okay Naruto, it's time for me to bring this to an end." Itachi said, activating his Mangeyko Sharingan, "Tsukuyomi."
Everything changed, with the world going black, with the exception of a blood red moon in the sky. The only thing that wasn't black was Naruto, in a grayscale color, who was bound to a T-shaped block, while Itachi was holding a sword. "In this world Naruto, I have complete control, so what would feel like days of torture, would only last a few moments. When I'm through with you . . ." He started saying before he got hit by Naruto's fist, canceling the jutsu. When he recovered, "How did you . . . what in the hell?" Itachi yelled out after looking into Naruto's eyes
"Since you decided to up the ante, I might as well do the same." Naruto said, his Rinnegan eyes staring right back at Itachi.
Well, decided to throw in a two parter. Sorry it took so long to update, it's just that there are some moments when I want to write, but sometimes I feel too lazy to do much. Read and Review. Sorry if this seems short to you, but even writers have their off days.