Kakashi opened his eyes and took in his surroundings. He was in a room in bed. He then took a glance out of the window and saw water. That was when the door opened and Sakura walked in. "Kakashi Sensei, you're awake." He relaxed at the sight of his student, that meant that they were safe. Which means that this was Tazuna's house. Moments later Menma and Sasuke walked in.
"Sensei" said Menma. "Zabuza is still alive" he said. The kids tensed. "Are you sure Kakashi sensei?" asked a shaken Sakura. "Positive. Hunter-nins are supposed to take the head and burn the body of their target once they are captured. Luckily for us, I requested backup. So while I'm down, you guys will still be alright."
"Are you down, or are you just lazy?" Menma asked. Kakashi chuckled. "Normally I would be relaxed but this is an A ranked mission. I can't afford to be lazy" he said. "Who's backing us up?" Sasuke asked. "Your guess is as good as mine" the one eyed man replied. "I just hope they aren't useless" Sasuke said. "Relax, you don't have to be such a prick" Menma said.
"What was that?" "Guys calm down. Kakashi sensei needs to rest. We can't go to the bridge until backup arrives so I suggest we train" Sakura said. They all looked at her like she had grown a second head which caused her to blush. "W-what?" she asked. "Since when did you like to train?" Sasuke asked. "Yeah, all you ever cared about was Sasuke and trying to impress him" Menma said which got him a punch to the head.
"Even I can grow up you know? Lord Hokage really opened my eyes when we all fought. I didn't even put up a fight" she said looking down. "Well to be fair he's the strongest person in the village. He's the Hokage for a reason so you have nothing to be ashamed about" Kakashi said. Sasuke rolled his eyes.
"Yeah Sakura don't sweat it. We'll train harder to get better and one day we'll kick Broody's ass!" Sakura giggled at that. "Yeah Menma, maybe you're right" she said. There was a knock heard at the front door. The three genin pulled out kunai's and went to check it out. Once they opened the door, Sasuke immediately growled. "What the hell are you doing here?" he said.
"Why Sasuke, Lord Naruto requested that we come and aid your team on this mission" Lee said. "We don't need your help" he replied. "There you go acting all high and mighty. We barely escaped Zabuza, we could use the man power" Menma said. "That's the spirit Menma! Your flames of youth seem to be burning brightly" said Gai. "Whatever, just try not to slow us down" he said.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Lee defeat you in a spar?" questioned Neji. "Bushy brows kicked your ass?" Menma asked. "No, he just got lucky. Naruto didn't train me enough but now I'll mop the floor with him!" "Guys now settle down. Gai I'm glad that you're here, you could train my students along with yours while I rest up a bit" said Kakashi who was on crutches. "Ah, my eternal rival. You've seen better days. I assure you that my team's flames of youth will be more than enough to overwhelm Zabuza" Gai said.
"I sure hope so" Kakashi muttered.
Naruto sat at his desk with his head in his hands. The chunin exams were coming up and they were to take place here. He was sure all major villages were going to attend, which meant conflict was bound to happen. He'd have to instruct the Hyuga to act accordingly around Kumo shinobi. He didn't want to deal with the Raikage's mouth or Anoiki's stubbornness. At least he'd see Mei again. Hopefully she didn't take offense to his rejection. That would be awkward. And Rasa was a wild card.
He was allied to the Leaf but what exactly did Suna give them in exchange? Just what the hell did the previous Hokage do while they were in office? He groaned. "I'm so glad i rejected this death trap" an amused voice said. "Jiraiya, if we didn't need your spy network, I would make you a genin again."
"Now that's too far. Although, a super hot jonin sensei wouldn't be so bad. Can it be that Anko chick, she seems fun" he said pervertedly. Naruto shook his head, used to his friends antics by now. "Not that I don't appreciate your company, but why the hell are you here? You got any information on the akatski?" "In fact I do, I found out that they originated in the Hidden Rain."
"You don't think Hanzo's behind it do you?" Naruto asked suspiciously. "It's hard to tell but you know as well as I do that he wasn't one to form alliances with anyone let alone be interested in biju." "It's been over 30 years. I wouldn't put it past him. He was always creepy to me" Naruto said. "Aw still scared of the big bad salamander?" Jiraiya teased. "Considering at 15, I made him retreat when you and your teammates couldn't even make him budge, I'd say being scared of him is the least of my worries."
"Context, you didn't do anything special. You didn't fight at all. We did all of the work!" "A win is a win" Naruto said waving him off. "Whatever. The hidden sound is also participating in the exams. That village is relatively new and I don't even know who runs it." "I'm sure it's just some rich power hungry bastard. That village is the least of my concerns." "I see that Uchiha arrogance still resides deep in your heart."
Naruto flipped him off. That's when a knock was heard. "Come in" Naruto said. Jiraiya was instantly on guard. "What the hell are you doing here?" he asked aggressively. "It's a pleasure to see you as well, Jiraiya Sama" Itachi's monotone voice said. Jiraiya pulled out a kunai. "Relax your old perv, I asked him to come here" Naruto said. Jiraiya looked at the man like he was crazy. Naruto went through hand seals and sealed the room off. "There's no point in hiding it from you. We could use your help as well."
About 30 minutes later, Jiraiya held a stern expression after hearing the entire story. He took a deep breath before he spoke. "So you were ordered to massacre your clan. Now it makes sense why you're letting that one eyed bastard get comfortable."
"I don't advise you to let anyone else know this information. Outside of us three, only Hiruzen and Danzo know the truth." "What about Sasuke? You basically traumatized that kid for no reason. Wouldn't it be better for him to know the truth, instead of having him harbor hatred for you for something you were forced to do?" Jiraiya asked. "In hindsight, I admit my way of going about the situation was foolish but I felt that it was the most effective way."
"Nonsense kid. There's always another way. It's not my place to interfere on clan matters and I'm not going to but I'm just saying that you did that boy more harm than good" he said before leaving out of the window.
Naruto remained silent as he looked at Itachi. He could tell what Jiraiya said was getting to him. He had a way with words that could even crack the toughest shinobi. It made sense why he wrote books. Even if 99% of them were perverted. "It seems like he knows my brother" Itachi said. "Yeah he knows him a little. Despite his personality and habits, that guy actually cares for kids." "I didn't realize how bad it would affect him."
"He's fine. Still stubborn and a bit of a prick but he wouldn't be an Uchiha if he wasn't. He's on a joint mission right now. He just wants to prove himself" Naruto said chuckling. He smiled softly, his brother hadn't changed all that much. But he wasn't here for that right now. "About the Akatski..." Itachi began.
Days passed and both teams trained and took turns protecting the bridge builder. Kakashi was back on his feet too. Both teams were sitting at the table talking with the family when suddenly the little boy stood up. "How could you all sit here and act like everything is okay? None of you can beat Gato. You're all gonna die!"
"Nonsense young Inari, I assure you that with the combined effort of our flames of youth that we will take down Gato and rid the wave of struggle" Lee said. "You don't know what struggle is, none of you know what that's like!" he replied. Lee opened his mouth as if he wanted to reply but Menma did first. "Kid you aren't the only one who has struggled. News flash everyone has gone through something at some point in their life. But the difference is that while we all moved on, you still sit here and cry like a coward instead of doing something to fix it!"
"Menma" Sakura said trying to reprimand him. Inari ran out of the house and slammed the door. Menma stood up from the table and excused himself. Sakura and Sasuke were about to follow him but was told to sit by Kakashi. "That seemed to have struck a nerve in the boy. Surely the shinobi life isn't all that bad right?" asked Tsunami. "Well my entire family and my former team is dead, Sasuke's family was massacred, Menma was an outcast, Lee and Gai can't use chakra, and Neji is essentially a slave to his own family. So in a way, we all have had our own problems" he said.
"Kami, that's awful" she said. "Eh you tend to get used to it after a while."
Menma returned to the house later after meeting Haku. He had long since calmed down but was met with the sight of Tenten. "Where'd you go?" she asked. "I went to cool off and train. I wasn't gone for that long was I?" "No but your sensei wants to speak to you." He sighed. "Thanks." She nodded and went back to her room she shared with Sakura.
Itachi and Kisame made their way towards Kiri to capture the 3 tails. "Why aren't you dead yet?" Kisame asked. The question visibly confused Itachi which caused the bigger man to laugh. "You nearly killed your entire clan and one of the remaining members happen to be one of the strongest men alive. If he wanted you dead, you would be. Now I'm not the smartest person in the world but you know something I don't."
"Patience Kisame. We will see him one day" was all he said. Kisame grunted in frustration at that answer. Narrowing his eyes at the back of his partner.
Jiraiya was sitting in a tree with binoculars looking into the bathhouse. His nose was dripping blood but he was giggling. He was so enthralled with his thoughts that he didn't notice the new presence. "You know if she caught you again, she'd kill you this time." Jiraiya jumped slightly. "What the hell are you doing here Naruto?" Naruto sat down next to him. "I have to clear my mind. Being a kage is a lot of work and it's boring as hell. I never thought I'd say this but I miss being out in the field."
Jiraiya actually put down his binoculars and turned to him. "What are you saying?" "I'm saying that I'm thinking about giving the hat to someone else. I can't sit in that office forever. It's for people who can't fight anymore and who are too old to do anything else." "But you've improved the villiage more in a few months than Hiruzen has in decades. I love the old man to death but you can't give him back the hat." "I'll never give him back the hat are you crazy? Besides, It's not like I people will invade us. I'm here, you're here, Hiruzen and Tsunade are as well."
"I mean I can't stop you Naruto. But I'm warning you that you'll be making a big mistake. Konoha was becoming great again." "Yeah yeah I know. But I said I was thinking about it." Jiraiya nodded and turned back to look at Tsunade but his heart dropped when she wasn't there. He heard knuckles cracking from behind him and he sighed. At least he got to see her naked one last time.
"What did i tell you about peeping on me!?" Tsunade shouted. He gulped. But before anything could happen, Naruto hugged her from behind holding her arms down. "Now now, Jiraiya is not at fault this time. He didn't even know you were there." "Let go of me Naruto!" "Not until you calm down." She tried to get out of his grasp but he was holding on for dear life. "Get out of here!" he mouthed at Jiraiya. He took the only chance he had and he darted out of the vicinity.
"You can kill him later. Get dressed and come with me" he said. He let her go slowly and she actually forgot how he felt until then. But the way he sounded, he left no room for discussion. She was still pissed but she reluctantly listened to him. After she got dressed, she found him at a nearby lake. "What was so important that you had to come and see me?" she asked. He turned to her and patted the ground next to him. She rolled her eyes and sat next to him. "Nice tits by the way" he said offhandedly. She blushed and whacked him across the head. "Fine, we need to talk about us" he said.
She snorted. "What us? There is no us anymore Naruto." "I'm talking about our child Tsunade." She stopped chuckling immediately. "What's there to talk about? My baby is gone" she said. "I'm not so sure about that" he whispered. He found his collar being grabbed violently. "Do not play with me right now" she said venomously. "Itachi gave me some troubling news. The leader of the Akastki is an Uchiha." "What? I thought you, Sasuke and Itachi were the only ones left."
"I thought so too. He told me that the man is portraying to be my father and that he helped assassinate the clan." "What!? Your father is dead. I remember the day we sealed his body into that wall." "And that's the thing, Itachi said he only had one eye that had the sharingan. He described the pattern to me and I- I vividly remember my father's eye when he would activate it. That guy is not him."
Tsunade's grip loosened. "You're lying. There's no way that it's possible." "We never brought back his body. The cave collapsed on him. There's little to no chance he survived but there's still a possibility nonetheless." "We have to go find him then" she said. "No, you'll stay. Jiraiya will go find him." "What? He's my son too. If he's alive, Im going to go look for him."
"No you're not Tsunade. You're too emotional and you'll only get in the way." "I don't care what you say Naruto. I'm going to go find Obito!" He didn't want to do this. He really didn't want to ruin what they had right now. "As your Hokage, I'm ordering you to not leave this village until further notice" he said. Whatever she was about to say, died in her throat and her eyes softened. "Tsunade look, I didn't want-" " Save it Naruto. You know I thought you changed. I really did but what you just said hurt me far more than what you did 15 years ago."
She stood up without even turning to him but Naruto could see the tears dropping down her face. "Goodbye Hokage Sama." She walked away leaving Naruto with his eyes closed. "You know Obito acted just like you and her at times" Jiraiya said. "Well that's the power of genetics. But if he's really the leader, then he's turned out to be more like my father and we can't have someone like him walking the Earth again."
"Well how will we do this?" "Well first we have to eliminate the common denominator for all of our problems." Jiraiya nodded and they headed for the forest of death.
Danzo sat in his bunker going over the plans he had for the near future. He didn't trust Naruto nor Hiruzen. He didn't live this long by being a fool. In a world where most die young, the elders are the the people you should fear. He took precautionary measures to be safe. "You know I've never actually been down here. It's all dark and gloomy" said a voice. Danzo jumped out of his seat and dozens of root anbu surrounded him. "Jiraiya what are you doing here?" "I should ask you the same thing. Didn't Sarutobi sensei ban ROOT?"
Danzo chose not to reply to that. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave." Jiraiya sat down at the table ignoring the anbu surrounding him. "You know it's time we have a little chat." He slid some documents across the table. Danzo looked at him with curiosity. "What's in the folder?" he asked. "These are the files of the Akatski. Don't try to play ignorant, I know you know who they are." "And what's the point of this? None of my anbu are capable enough to face off with an S rank missing nin."
"That's the first time I've ever heard you doubt your shinobi." Jiraiya chuckled. "Just open the folder. There's some really important information that I'd rather not say out loud." Danzo grunted but opened the folder and was thoroughly impressed with all of the intel gathered on the group. There were pictures of every single member and their strengths and weaknesses as well. "You see, a group like that requires an even stronger leader. Someone who is capable of battling multiple high class ninja simultaneously. His name is Pein and he's from Amegakure."
He didn't miss the subtle twitch of his finger. "I also know that you were in contact with several Leaf enemies. Most notably Orochimaru and Hanzo." "So your spy network isn't just for perving on women. So what if I was in contact with several members?" Jiraiya laughed. "You don't get it do you? The common denominator to all of these problems are you. It's time to go Danzo." He immediately gave a signal and hundreds of anbu surrounded Jiraiya. Danzo stood up and turned his back and began walking away. "Try not to take forever" he told his men.
In the darkness he was retreating to, red eyes opened and Danzo's heart dropped. He started moving back into the light as Naruto came in to view. Clad in his black armor with a sword. "What's going on here?" "Don't act surprised. You knew your skeletons were bound to come out of the closet" Naruto said. Danzo immediately activated the sharingan in his eye and used the kotoamatsukami on Naruto. Naruto froze and Danzo smirked.
"Now, kill Jiraiya" he said. He turned to Jiraiya and the man didn't even look concerned. Just as he turned back around, his arm was sliced off. He screamed in pain and gripped the stub where his bandaged arm once was. He couldn't use the izinagi now! "Why are you all just standing there? Get them!" Danzo ordered. None of them moved though as if they didn't even hear him. Naruto saw the arm that was filled with sharingan and he was disgusted but even more enraged.
He appeared right in front of Danzo and ripped out the sharingan in his head. He clapped his hands and every root nin perked up and drew their swords. They turned their attention toward Danzo who was drenched in blood and was trying to get away. "Jiraiya let's go" Naruto said. The last thing they heard before exiting the genjutsu was a pain filled scream.
Jiraiya shuddered once he came back to reality. "That's some genjutsu you have there." Naruto stared at the downed body of Danzo. His arm and eye removed and his body littered with holes. He dropped to a knee and began breathing heavily. "Are you okay?" "I'm fine. It's just been a while since I've used this." "What's next?"
"To confiscate all of the evidence and look into it. Kami knows all of the things this cripple has done." "Right"
Team 7 and team Gai made it back to Konoha. With the combined efforts of Kakashi and Gai, Zabuza stood no chance. His apprentice was also slain. Neji, Sasuke, Menma and Lee were too much for him. But the genin would be lying if they said the mission didn't give them a new perspective on the shinobi life. Especially Sakura. She realized that she would need to take being a kunoichi seriously. She wasn't always going to have back up and when she did she was going to need to pull her weight. Tenten offered to help her out whenever they were free too and she happily accepted.
As they made it to the Hokage office, they saw the Hokage going over some documents with Jiraiya of the Sannin. "Reporting a successful mission Hokage Sama" said Kakashi. "Good job" he replied. "Lord Jiraiya, what are you doing here? I thought you didn't enjoy being trapped in an office" asked Gai. "I don't but your Hokage urgently needed my assistance." Naruto ignored him. "Alright alright I have something to tell you all. Normally your sensei's would discuss this with you in private but there's no point."
He pulled out 6 sheets of paper and handed it out to all of them. "Chunin exams? What's that?" asked Menma. "It's an exam that genins take to see if they're worthy of a promotion" Neji said. "Bingo. I personally nominated you guys along with team 10 and 8." "No offense Naruto Sama but I think we should've discussed the exams with our teams individually" said Gai. "I sparred them and gauged each of their skills, if I didn't think they were ready, I wouldn't have nominated them."
"Will there be ninja from other villages competing as well?" asked Tenten. "Of course Panda-Chan, every major hidden village is competing this year. So that means you're all going to have competition." Tenten blushed at the nickname and glared at the giggling Menma. "Yosh! I-" A hand was placed over his mouth, courtesy of Sakura. "Not now Lee" she said. "I'll give you time to think over it and discuss it with your teams. If there's nothing else to discuss, I'd like to speak to Sasuke alone." As they left the room Naruto looked at Sasuke.
"So, how do you like the real world?" he asked the younger Uchiha. Sasuke grunted in annoyance. "I didn't get to do much this time. Kakashi and Gai destroyed Zabuza and Me, Lee and Neji killed his partner pretty easily." "And do you think you could beat either Zabuza or his partner by yourself?" Naruto asked. Sasuke thought about it. Zabuza was out of the question. Kakashi barely defeated him the first time. But Haku? He sighed. "No" he reluctantly answered.
Naruto nodded. "Are you going to participate in the chunin exams?" Sasuke looked at him like he was stupid and Naruto laughed. "Right right, oh holy Uchiha. Of course you'll participate." "How strong will the genin be from the other villages?" Sasuke asked. Naruto raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "How the hell am I supposed to know? I find out at the same time that you do. Are you scared?" he asked teasingly?
"Of course not. I don't fear any genin. I was just seeing what the competition is like." "Right right. Well i can tell you this, a lot of people will be gunning for you. Our name still holds a lot of weight and Kumo hates my guts so The Raikage will probably have his ninja aim for your team" he said. "What did you do that would cause them to hate you?" Sasuke asked curiously. "Well..." Naruto began
flashback
The Second Great Shinobi War was taking place and Naruto was in the Land of Lightning. His mission was simple, destroy any and everything. Jiraiya, Tsunade and Orochimaru were in The Land of Rain doing the same. They were probably going to battle Hanzo. Sakumo was in Suna. Most likely massacring their forces. Eventually he made it to Kumo's villiage gates. He stretched out his senses. There were many massive chakra signatures but the one's he was looking for weren't there. The Third Raikage wasn't there and neither was the 8tails jinchuriki.
He proceeded to infiltrate the village and made his way directly to the Raikage's office. He casted a genjutsu over the entire building and simply walked into the office and saw a man in his early 20s. The man looked like he was in a trance. Naruto walked up to him and gripped him by the throat and raised him into the air. He activated his 3 tamoe sharingan and spoke. "Where is the 2 tails?" he asked.
The man spoke robotically. "Under the village, sealed inside of the amber purifying pot." "How can I access it?" Naruto asked. "You need to go to the basement of the Raikage building and you need to bypass security."
Naruto deactivated his eyes and quickly slit the man's throat. The man never knew what happened. He steeled his nerves and began killing every person in the building while they were still under his genjutsu. With his armor coated in the blood of Kumo shinobi, he made his way to the basement. There were 3 guards posted in different areas, guarding the 2tails. They were given clear instructions, do not let anybody enter no matter what.
The guard stationed right in front of the pot watched as his comrade walked up to him. "What is it Dodai?" he asked. The man didn't say anything, instead he drew his sword and tried to slash at his partner. The man quickly blocked it with his blade. "What the hell are you doing!?" he asked. But Dodai still didn't reply. "Hey Kuro what the hell is going on?" came the voice of the third member. "Shoto something is wrong with Dodai. It's like he's being controlled" Kuro said.
Shoto and Kuro jumped out of the way when Dodai began glowing. An explosion rang throughout the underground bunker. Smoke and blood filled the air. The duo's eyes widened. What the hell was going on. That was when Kuro stiffened and stood up. "Kuro, we need to alert Raikage Sama when he returns" Shoto said.
When he got no reply, he looked up and his teammates face was the last thing he saw. Naruto came from the shadows, sharingan activated. He was starting to understand why the Uchiha were feared. The sharingan's genjutsu abilities were second to none. Kuro walked up to the pot and went through hand seals and slammed his hands on the ground. A sealing matrix appeared, and a circle glowed around the pot before fading away. He picked up the pot and handed it to Naruto.
Naruto took it and began walking out of the bunker before he paused. He turned around and blew out a gigantic stream of fire, incinerating the man and turning him into a pile of ash.
A chunin who was tasked with taking care of the civilians got a feeling of dread. He didn't know why but he just felt like something bad was about to happen. Just then the ground trembled violently. It was almost like an earthquake. He was at his house because it was day time and nobody was dumb enough to attack a village in broad daylight. Or so he thought.
He ran outside and his heart dropped. In all of it's glory stood the 2 tails in the center of the village. Multiple shinobi who were there all began panicking. How did it get out? Wasn't it being guarded by Kuro and his team? They didn't have time to ponder on that because the beast swung it's tails leveling several buildings in the process. "PUSH THE BEAST OUT OF THE VILLAGE!" a man yelled. His orders were quickly dismissed when the beast began forming a massive ball of chakra in its mouth and all of the Kumo shinobi paled.
The thing shot straight for the tower. "MOVE!!" a woman yelled. The Raikage building exploded and shinobi and civilians were sent flying. Some of them even being killed by the blast.
Coughing could be heard as a kunoichi pushed a door off of her. Even through all of the smoke, she could still see the giant blue cat. Where was Raikage Sama? she thought desperately. That was when she looked into the cats eyes and she gasped. "The sharingan" she muttered fearfully.
She then finally noticed the man atop of the beast and her eyes widened. "Madara" she whispered. Wait Madara is dead, then who is this? She wondered.
Naruto gazed at all of the death and destruction he caused. He'd be lying if he said he didn't enjoy it. He never liked Kumo, especially after they had a hand in killing Tobirama. He was going to enjoy watching them suffer, they were at war afterall he mused. He watched as the cat blew out massive blue balls of fire. The screams of terror and agony rang and Naruto could honestly say that he was one sick individual. He blamed his father though.
After a while he was getting bored of watching them scream and not fighting back. These jonin were fodder compared to the Leaf. He decided to give the Raikage a parting gift. The beast put its head to the ground allowing Naruto to jump off. He surveyed the damage he did and thought it was a job well done. He saw a man crawling, desperately clinging on to life. He stomped on his back and grabbed him by the hair. The man screamed in pain. He slit his throat and let the blood drip on his hand.
He then drew the Uchiha fan on a nearby wall with the blood of the man and even put his name at the bottom. He turned back to the cat and sealed it back into the jar. He tossed it aside as if he didn't care. The 2tails was nothing compared to the 9tails.
Flashback end
Sasuke looked at Naruto shocked. To infiltrate a village singlehandedly and destroy it with their own tailed beast is nothing short of legendary. And to think he did all of that with only the base sharingan. He would never admit it out loud but he gained a little fear over the man in front of him.
"Quite the opposite of the peaceful old man you're used to huh?" Naruto asked jokingly. "Do you regret it now?" Sasuke asked. The question caught Naruto off guard. Even after all these years, he never once questioned killing. His father instilled it into him at an early age and he grew up in a time where it was kill or be killed. But thinking about it now, to say he regretted it was a massive understatement. "Yeah looking back on it, I do regret it. At the time I was young and they had previously had a hand in killing The Second Hokage. I was quite fond of him, and like you, I had nothing but vengeance on my mind.
But those innocent civilians didn't deserve death. I admit I got carried away but there's no point in crying over it now" he said. "Do you think Kumo will ever retaliate? Even after all of these years" Sasuke asked. Naruto looked thoughtful but then shrugged. "They can try but it won't end well for them." "And you call me arrogant" Sasuke retorted. "Well that's because I can back my arrogance up. You got beat by a kid with a green jumpsuit and a bowl cut."
Sasuke's face curled into a scowl as he left the room. Naruto just laughed at the boys expense.
When Sasuke caught up with his team, he saw a small boy being held up by his collar by a teen wearing a black cat suit and face paint. Menma was getting ready to attack and Sakura was right behind him. A sand genin, he thought.
That was when he chose to make his presence known. He flicked a small pebble at the teens head causing him to drop the boy and turn his attention to him. The blonde next to him looked at him as well. "What did you do that for?" asked the teen getting angry. "You were about to assault the Third Hokage's grandson." They stiffened at that. "I was about to kick his ass" Menma said to Sasuke. Sasuke scoffed and the small boy came up to him with stars in his eyes causing Menma to sulk.
A swirl of sand appeared and a small redhead appeared. The two sand genin froze. "G-gaara" said the boy. "Kankuro shut up or I'll kill you" he said. The boy now named Kankuro stepped back with a bead of sweat rolling down his face. "You're here for the chunin exams?" asked Sakura. Gaara ignored her and turned towards Sasuke. "You, what's your name?" he asked.
"It's common courtesy to give your name before asking for someone else's" he replied. Gaara didn't even show emotion. "My name is Gaara of the Desert" Sasuke nodded. "Sasuke Uchiha" he replied. "And I'm Menma Uzumaki and she's Sakura Haruno" Menma said hugging an embarrassed Sakura.
Gaara didn't even acknowledge the two as he continued to stare a hole through the Uchiha. "I look forward to seeing you in the exams. Mother wants your blood" he said before walking away. His siblings following right behind him. Sasuke stared at the spot where the redhead retreated. That kid was dangerous.
Naruto sat looking at the unconscious form of Sasuke. Specifically the mark on his neck. The second faze of the exams passed and team 7 was attacked in the forest of death by Orochimaru. Rage couldn't even begin to describe what Naruto was feeling. He made a promise to protect Sasuke. The boy was practically his son and that damn snake marked him like he was his property.
His sharingan activated subconsciously and he began leaking killing intent. There was a preliminary round set to take place in a few minutes. Sasuke would be able to compete as long as he didn't use the seal. Which was why he was in here waiting on Kakashi. That was when the man appeared and before he could speak Naruto did. "Containment seal. Wake him up and send him back out before the prelims begin" he said. Kakashi just nodded dumbly as he watched Naruto leave. Naruto returned to the group of shinobi who passed the second faze. Hayate was explaining the purpose of the prelims but paused when he felt the presence of his Hokage.
Everyone felt it. Naruto walked in with an aura that screamed danger and nobody dared to say a word. Gai looked on concerned at his longtime friend. He had heard about what happened to Sasuke and team 7. Hiruzen on the other hand looked guilty because this was all his fault. Orochimaru should've been dealt with long ago. But everyone kept their attention on Naruto as he spoke.
"Hayate already explained the purpose of this part of the exams. Your names will be randomized so when your name is called be ready. Killing is forbidden and if any of you" he said looking directly at the Kumo team who was staring at him with a little more intensity. "Kill or do unnecessary damage to your opponent, I will handle you myself" he said dangerously. Nobody dared to speak. It was borderline uncomfortable.
At the corner of his eye, he watched as a silver haired boy exited the arena. He had a konoha headband on but he's never seen him before. He knew the face of every ninja in his village and that boy was not from here. He silently created a clone and it went to follow the teen.
Sasuke walked back into the arena looking a bit drained but he would be okay. That was when he and a Sound genin were selected to battle. "Just in time Sasuke" Naruto said. Everyone else made their way back up to the stands and Naruto purposely sat away from everybody. He did not want to talk right now. But just his luck, Kakashi came over with an expression that looked like he seen a ghost.
Sasuke stared across from his opponent. The boy didn't look to be anything special. He didn't even need to use chakra to beat him but he looked up to the stands and frowned. Naruto wasn't even paying attention to the match. Was he that weak to a point where he didn't even care to watch!?
"What is it?" Naruto asked. "He was just here" Kakashi said. Naruto's sharingan immediately activated, completely forgetting the match at hand. Kakashi put his hands up to stop Naruto. "He's gone. Long gone, it was a clone" he said. Naruto did not deactivate his eyes but he took deep breaths. He was trying to keep his composure. Orochimaru was another thing on the long list of fuckups of Hiruzen. He was beginning to see why Danzo did so much shit behind his back.
He gazed at the older man who couldn't even look him in the eye. He looked at Kakashi who slightly flinched at his expression. "I will look after Sasuke's training for the month. You can take Menma because Jiraiya is out on a mission. Train him properly because he's going to need it." "And what about Sakura?" Kakashi asked. Naruto gave him a look that screamed 'are you kidding me?' But that seemed to ease the tension. "She's not the combat type. I can tell that much. But her chakra control is something to take into consideration. I was going to get Tsunade to help her out."
Kakashi nodded at that. He then patted Naruto on the shoulder before returning to the other jonin sensei's who were obviously watching their interaction. Just as Naruto returned to the fight, he realized that Sasuke had won and he missed it. He cursed himself but there was no point in crying. He would have more than enough time to spend with the boy.
The exams continued. Menma beat Kiba convincingly shocking everyone aside from Naruto, Hiruzen and team 7. Sakura and Ino put on what Naruto liked to call a snooze fest. It wasn't either of the girls faults though, they used every technique they knew. They were okay at best for genin but Naruto wouldn't settle for that.
Shino showed incredible skill with the use of his insects. He defeated a kumo genin and Naruto felt a bit better because of that. Hinata got absolutely trashed by Neji. The boy was about to strike her heart but Naruto reacted far quicker than anyone in that arena could've and he appeared in front of Neji and allowed the attack to hit him. Neji gasped at that but it wasn't because he hit him, it was because it didn't do any damage. He gazed into the cold eyes of Naruto and he backed away instinctively. He was declared the winner and Menma vowed to avenge Hinata.
Shikamaru defeated a sound kunoichi with relative ease. The Kumo jinchuriki defeated Chouji with ease. Oh yeah he knew that she was the holder of the 2 tails. He was sure the biju was cursing at him in the seal. Temari beat Tenten, Kankuro had to fight Gaara but immediately forfeited causing Gaara to frown. Lee was given the bye because he was the last to be selected and he didn't have an opponent.
Naruto watched as Anko and Hayate explained how they would have a one month training period before having the third part of the exams. Everyone picked a number and matched up against each other. The matches were
Menma Uzumaki vs Neji Hyuga
Shikamaru Naara vs Temari of the Sand
Yugito Nii vs Shino Aburame
Gaara vs Rock Lee and the winner would face Sasuke Uchiha
After everyone got their matches, they started to disappear. Sasuke and Menma were walking up to Kakashi to see how the training schedule would work. "Congratulations boys, I'm very proud of you" he said. They both nodded and had expecting eyes. Kakashi still held his usual nonchalant look. "I will be training Menma" he said. That surprised them both. "So what about me?" Sasuke said getting a bit upset. Kakashi just eye smiled. He pointed at someone behind them.
They turned around to see Naruto and they jumped. "Broody what the hell!" Menma said. Sakura slapped Menma on the head. "It's Hokage-Sama" she reprimanded him. "So you're going to train me?" Sasuke asked hesitantly which Naruto nor Kakashi missed. "Is that a problem?" he asked. "No, just take me seriously this time" he said. Naruto nodded at that and turned to Sakura. The girl looked disappointed in herself. Which wasn't a bad thing at all. She was growing.
"Pinky" he said. She didn't mean to look up when he called her that but his voice held so much authority. "I will have Tsunade put more effort into your training okay?" She nodded and it seemed to put a smile on her face. He turned to Kakashi, "remember what I said." The cyclops saluted and Naruto rolled his eyes.
Just as he was about to leave, he paused. His clone just dispersed. "Gather up the jonin sensei's and all other jonin and meet me in my office" he said. Kakashi didn't question him, he'd find out eventually. He just sighed and turned to Gai who was doing whatever Gai does and Lee was right along with him.
He slowly approached the duo to let the bigger idiot know about the meeting.
Naruto was sitting in his office waiting for all of the jonin but that was when Hiruzen chose to make an appearance. He was the last person Naruto wanted to see right now. He would rather have a drink with Orochimaru than to see this man right now. It was funny, really funny. He would laugh if he didn't have violent thoughts running through his head. Hiruzen chose to sit right across from him but he didn't speak. Naruto simply raised an eyebrow not saying anything as well. He had nothing to say to the man, so if he wished to have a conversation, he'd speak first.
"I know you felt his chakra signature. Why didn't you kill him?" Hiruzen asked. Naruto just smiled, a truly empty, emotionless smile. "Because if I were to fight that snake, I'm not sure if i would be able to control myself."
"How is Sasuke?" the man asked after a tense silence. "He's fine, Kakashi sealed the mark off." Hiruzen nodded and stood up and began to walk away.
"You know Hiruzen, you've been around for a lot longer than I have but not once have you been man enough to make the right decision. At least from what I've seen." Hiruzen stopped and looked down. "You gave me the hat because you couldn't take the guilt anymore, not because of your age. Hell that little bastard in Iwa is older than you and he's still going strong.
I let a lot of shit slide by me because I didn't care enough. You let the Uzumaki clan be destroyed and forgotten, you let the old cripple roam free for decades, and he murdered my nephew and stole his eye, you started the third war, and that led to my son dying and basically ruining my life. You let Orochimaru do what he pleased and then let him escape. You couldn't keep your promise to Minato by protecting his boy and having him be seen as a hero for saving all of your sorry asses. Hell you then forced me and my clan to live on the outskirts of the village because you all thought that we had something to do with the kyubi attack. And then you ordered them to be massacred by one of our own" he said chuckling.
"But I let all of that slide. And when I came back to the village and took Sasuke in, I vowed to myself that I would protect him. I promised that he wouldn't have to endure the evil that this very village contained anymore. And for a while I kept that promise to me and to Itachi" he whispered. "But that was until someone who you should've killed 20 years ago popped back up and marked my boy with a damn seal! My boy!" He yelled. You are responsible for Sasuke being marked like he is an animal! You raised and trained that sadistic power hungry piece of shit!
And I'm just supposed to let you roam around here and walk free like nothing is wrong?" Naruto's eyes were bloodshot red, not because of his dojutsu but because of pure anger and malice.
He took a deep breath before continuing. "There is an invasion being planned by Orochimaru and the Sand villiage. I'm having a meeting with the jonins to discuss further action. I'm going to kill Orochimaru, I can promise you that but let me make something very clear Hiruzen. I've already forgiven you for what you've done to Menma. You have to worry about Jiraiya when it comes to him... but Sasuke. If Orochimaru or any more of your fuckups just so happens to even look in Sasuke's direction, I'm going to kill you. Am i clear?" he asked with a daring tone.
Hiruzen didn't even face him but he nodded and left. Naruto just stared at his desk before driving his fist into it, shattering it into pieces.