Hey everyone! If you recognize my name, then you'll know that this isn't exactly my neck of the woods.
"Well, Xolef, why are you writing a Naruto fanfic all of a sudden?" you may ask.
Well, it's because I love One Piece.
To elaborate, I've been trying to get euphoricimage to read the damn thing. We reached an agreement in which he'd read One Piece if I wrote one fic of his choice.
Here we are. If it helps, the instructions were really vague and most of this really is something that I wanted to write. Naruto's great too, after all.
If you want character material for what's-her-face's appearance, I'll link a quick doodle that I made in the AO3, spacebattles, and questionable questing versions of this publication.
X
The Valley of the End. This was where it all began.
Two figures stood across from each other, both as powerful as they were young. A boy and a girl.
Her silky black hair was tamed by a ponytail cascading down her back. Her intense gaze, amplified by the bright colours of her dojutsu, fell in and out of sight as the wind made her lengthy bangs flutter across her face.
His skin was tanned, darkened by countless hours under the sun. His blonde hair, usually too wild to control, was matted down to the whisker-like markings on his cheeks by blood and water.
Their faces and bodies were battered and bruised. Tired as they were, there wasn't an ounce of chakra to be shared between them. Their extended battle had taken its toll on them both.
Neither had reached the end of their teens and yet the weight of the world had already been placed on their shoulders.
Somehow, the world beyond this moment felt inconsequential.
They had done their duty. The word was saved. The Fourth Shinobi War had ended.
Now, all that there was left to do was to find a resolution to the turbulent emotions that had plagued them for well over half a decade. Whatever the outcome may be, they'd be sure to accept it.
Even if that outcome spelled death.
There was no more energy to waste on techniques made to slay gods. In the girl's hand, a condensed mass of electricity had taken form. In the boy's, a spiralling sphere.
Chidori.
Rasengan.
The irony was not lost on either of them. They hardened their hearts and met in the middle of the clearing one last time.
"Naruto!" the girl screamed. All her regret. All her pain. All her rage. Everything else had to be put aside as these were the places from which she had drawn her strength until now.
The boy, on the other hand, drew strength from his heart.
His feelings. His memories. His bonds.
As the final impact drew closer, all of this was laid before him.
"Sasuke! I love you!"
"Eh?"
What collided were not deadly ninjutsu, but two foreheads. The pair crashed into each other, then the ground before toppling over onto their backs.
At the center of a battle-scarred landmark, two teenagers lay next to each other, blushing furiously as they stared up at the sky.
They refused to look at each other as the mortification would be too much. Surely, what had just transpired could be put into words another day.
X
Ch.1
X
In a rental villa at the edge of the Land of Fire, a plump young man dressed head to toe in expensive cloth and priceless jewels sat comfortably at the head of a long table. Idly admiring the rings shining on his fingers, he waited for his guest to arrive.
There was a knock, and his gaze lingered in place while his ears perked.
The servants opened the doors to the room. In came a figure accompanied by a pair of plain-looking shinobi– either chunin or jonin, if their flak jackets were any indication. They stepped back near the walls while the one accompanying them stepped forward.
The young man clasped his hands.
"Lord Hokage! It's a pleasure. Please take a seat."
Hatake Kakashi offered the man a slight smile. He held his long, flowing robes out of the way so that they wouldn't get caught on the overly elaborate chair.
"The pleasure is mine, Your Excellency. Let's get right into business, shall we?"
The son of the foreign Daimyo returned the smile politely. His servants gathered around the table and handed both dignitaries documents highlighting matters to be discussed.
Kakashi was quick to grab the closest sheet of paper and skim its contents, his eyes lazily tracking from side to side.
"…Ah. I'm afraid this is too much. While I appreciate that you hold us in such high regard, our village is primarily a military force within the Land of Fire. A trade agreement is one thing, but no amount of money can buy our routes, let alone legal authority over our forces. Not even our own Daimyo has this much control over us, Sir."
Though the Hokage wisely held his composure, the overwhelming desire to sigh and rub his tired brow still lingered. Was this fool even acting on his father's orders? They had barely spoken and yet the proposition was already hair-brained enough for the legitimacy of this exchange to be brought into question.
At least make it a little believable, no?
The Daimyo's son's smile was still plastered to his face for a few seconds longer. The man was either waiting for something to happen or simply didn't know how to take the outright refusal of a deal that he had yet to present.
Kakashi's eyes squinted shut.
My, my…
X
Two blades were swung, their dulled metal failing to catch the light. Their wielders glided across the rafters with steps so light that the wooden supports didn't so much as creak despite the awkward weight they were being made to carry.
Locked in combat, the shinobi's weapons never clashed. The woman's chokuto swung at the man's head, forcing him to dodge; he took advantage of his momentum and swung up at her arm.
Rather than flick her sword to redirect the enemy's katana, she forced herself to step out of the blade's range.
Yet again, they met in an exchange of blows. Yet again, one weapon did not catch the other. Yet again, not a single sound was made.
Those in the area below them continued their meeting, oblivious to the mortal combat taking place atop the villa's ceiling space. To the common eye, there was only a Kage, a daimyo's son, and their retainers.
This was how it should be.
A shinobi is invisible. A shinobi operates in the shadows. To be discovered would be worse than death itself.
The woman's lone visible eye hardened. Like a pinwheel, its crimson pattern spun hypnotically.
X
After penning in a few clauses of his own, Kakashi slid the paper back to the daimyo's son.
"How's this?" he asked. "This shouldn't cause any issues on our end and I'm sure there's more than enough to still benefit yours."
The larger man grabbed the sheet and did a commendable job of pretending to look it over.
"I'm not too sure, Lord Hokage. Maybe we can meet somewhere in the middle?"
Without so much as a twitch, Kakashi clenched his shoulders to stop them from drooping. The toll that this mindless back-and-forth was taking on his mind wasn't inconsiderable.
How did Lady Tsunade put up with this stuff for as long as she did? No wonder she didn't want anything to do with this hat. He certainly wasn't built for this type of role. Couldn't he give the position away already? How long was he supposed to wait again?
Kakashi smiled through his mask once more.
"Of course, of course. We can take as much time as you need."
Though I really hope that you give up on this sooner rather than later. The longer you stall, the more time you're giving yourself to act like a fool.
X
"Damn it! Why is Uzukami Naruto here!?"
A group of six rogue shinobi hung from the nearby trees. They were tense, all of them knowing that trying to hide would do them little good.
A blonde shinobi shuffled idly on his feet as he took a good luck at each one of them.
It wasn't like they were all from one village in particular and none of them seemed familiar to him, but they must have been at least jonin level, right? It didn't make sense for there to be so few of them, otherwise.
He channelled his chakra. He did his best to control his output, but any sensor worth their salt would still be able to pick up on his signature from a good distance. It was a good thing that Kakashi-sensei had him intercept these guys so far away from the villa.
Naruto cracked his knuckles, and his opponents took it as a signal to get a move on. Some rushed straight at him while the others tried to get around him.
He grinned.
As if it'd be that easy!
He didn't even move. Six shadow clones appeared in front of each missing-nin and buried spinning balls of pure condensed chakra right in their chests.
Without being given a chance to react, they were all sent cartwheeling backward, cratering the earth and toppling over trees as they made impact.
Proud of a job well done, Uzumaki Naruto wiped his brow.
As far as Shinobi went, he was far from subtle. Was he skilled? Sure, but he doubted that he'd ever be as good at being subtle as That Asshole.
He knew his own strengths and so did Kakashi-sensei. He was sure that this mission would go without a hitch.
"You guys should really think things through before you take a job, 'ya know. The war's over! The leaders of the hidden villages that you've all abandoned might've even taken you back… maybe. Or not."
He was wasting his breath. None of them were conscious to hear him anyway.
X
"Lord Hokage, wouldn't you consider–"
"Enough. I'm sorry, but I don't think we'll be able to come to an agreement today. I'll be sure to let your father know that things fell through."
As Kakashi got up to leave, the daimyo's son lost his composure. The man shot himself out of his chair with a swiftness that belied his frame.
"W-wait! I'm sure that, uh… that is to say, if you wait a little longer…"
"I'm afraid waiting any longer won't change anything, Your Excellency."
It certainly won't make my head fall off my shoulders in the near future.
Unable to do much else, the daimyo's son and his retainers could only watch as the Hokage left the villa with his two guards in tow.
As if on cue, a dead shinobi –the missing-nin that was hired to assassinate Hatake Kakashi– dropped from the ceiling the same moment that the doors slammed shut.
The daimyo's son was too shocked to scream.
X
After having reconvened following the mission's success, the group consisting of the Hokage, two jonin, Uzumaki Naruto and Sasuke Uchiha began their trek back to the village.
"Seriously, what took so long? Was it that difficult for you? I took out si– twelve jonin-level guys in that time!"
"Am I supposed to find that impressive? There's such a thing as discretion, you bumbling fool."
"Hm? Sounds like an excuse to me."
"You–"
"Excuses~! Heheheh!"
With such a display before them, the Hokage's two guards were forced to watch on with disillusioned expressions as two of their village's most famous figures squabbled like children. Kakashi could only sympathize.
My students are morons. Fugaku. Minato-sensei. I've failed you both.
In the months following the war, the two didn't change much. The extent of those changes, in fact, was Naruto's switch to one of those newer elastic forehead protectors and Sasuke choosing to comb part of her lengthy bangs over her Rinnegan.
Kakashi expected a bit more of a change, actually.
Very little of him believed that Sasuke would elect to remain with the village following everything that had happened. Her contribution to the war went a long way in earning her a legal pardon, sure, but there was bound to be enough turbulence between her and everyone else –namely Naruto– for her to prefer to leave.
Obviously, he didn't know his student as well as he thought he did, as she did, in fact, chose to stay.
That had its consequences, but strangely enough, she and Naruto had been able to smooth over that five-year rough patch like it hadn't happened at all.
Somehow.
He was convinced that something had happened between them when they fought each other at the Valley of the End –something must have– but he never found it prudent to ask.
Mostly because he could guess what that "something" was.
Kakashi cleared his throat. Maybe it would be smart for him to say what needed to be said before this argument got out of hand.
"Naruto. Sasuke."
The two superpowered shinobi stopped mid-thought to look over their shoulders and back at him. They slowed their pace enough to find themselves on either side of him instead of at the front of the formation.
Unbeknownst to them, Kakashi was a little nervous.
There was a reason why he brought these two along for this mission, of course. Foiling a half-baked assassination attempt on his person? Sure, it was great to be cautious and all, but that alone was a poor reason to assign Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto to his protection detail. Anything more than an extra pair of respectable jonin was overkill, he thought.
In reality, he needed these two out of the village so that they didn't get angry and break something when he said what was about to come out of his mouth.
"A representative of the Land of Demons got in touch with me about a marriage proposal involving their priestess and Naruto. This was organized a while ago, apparently, so since we're already out and about–"
"Come again?"
Wow. Sasuke really took offense right away, huh? So much for sneaking that bit in smoothly.
"Well–"
"Naruto, explain," she tried instead, realizing instantly that her old teacher was going to try to deflect.
The boy's face lit up like a Christmas tree. His mouth flapped uselessly like a fish dragged out of water.
"I– I don't know what's going on either, 'ya know!"
"Liar."
One could practically hear the girl's Sharingan spinning in her skull. A Chidori crackled to life over her fist.
The other two poor saps that had been dragged along gave the two superhumans as wide a berth as possible. They were quite literally quaking in their sandals.
Kakashi felt beads of sweat trickling down his brow.
"Hey," he mumbled weakly.
Naruto channelled as much chakra as he could in order to defend himself pre-emptively. For a normal person, the feeling of someone like Naruto going from zero to one hundred in an instant was nightmarish.
"Sasuke, calm down! I really don't know what's–"
"Why are you getting so defensive? Have something to hide?"
"What? No!"
The girl didn't take the denial at face value, obviously. Susanoo's ribcage began forming around her person. Matching the escalation so as not to die on the spot, Naruto started channelling his Tailed Beast's chakra.
Kakashi's bodyguards were out of sight at this point. The Hokage's eyes slowly widened as he realized what was about to happen.
"Hey. Hey… hey, hey, hey, hey–"
X
X
"Hey, Sasuke… before we fight, you better put on your forehead protector."
The twelve-year-old girl glared at her teammate with seething anger in her eyes. It was not an expression that belonged on the face of a child, let alone directed at someone who was supposed to be a rival.
A friend.
"…My forehead protector? I don't need it. You won't be able to land a single scratch on me, Naruto."
The boy got angry. She was missing the point.
"A scratch?" He repeated incredulously. "You think this is about a fucking– you dumbass! We're both shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village! We're equals!"
Sasuke laughed.
And laughed.
Her head tilted back and her shoulders started to shake.
"You seriously think that? You really think that you and I are on the same level? Don't be stupid."
Honestly, Naruto didn't come here to start a fight.
Or, well, he did, but the point was, he was looking forward to being able to fight Sasuke seriously after all this time. Since they were kids, the opportunity to prove himself against her had eluded him and has been all that he ever wanted. This was finally that moment. He was happy, and if anything, it was his hope that it would bring them closer together, not push them further apart.
But now…
Now, he was actually angry.
"'Same level'? No… I've surpassed you!"
At that moment, all of Sasuke's ugly insecurities bubbled to the surface.
When she called Naruto to this rooftop, it was supposed to be confirmation.
Confirmation that he hadn't surpassed her.
Confirmation that she wasn't stagnating.
Words weren't necessary anymore. Within moments, they were fighting.
Shadow clones and asinine tricks against talent and fire jutsu.
So absorbed were they that neither noticed their sensei or Sakura watching them. Not until the conflict escalated.
Chidori.
Rasengan.
Sasuke growled.
You've had this up your sleeve this whole time, huh?
Sakura was yelling at them now –saying something about them going too far– but neither of them was listening.
"Naruto…!"
"Sasuke!"
And suddenly, before their justu could collide, before Hatake Kakashi could grab them and pull them apart, the very fabric of reality ripped apart in the space between them. For all their anger at that moment, neither Naruto nor Sasuke could avoid stopping in their tracks and having their jaws hit the ground.
Kakashi's eyes widened. He jumped back and pulled Sakura along with him while Jiraiya, who was hiding somewhere nearby, appeared to grab to troublemakers and lift them out of ground zero.
Through the rift came two figures before the bend in reality disappeared as if it were never there to begin with.
A man and a woman.
"So? What happened to 'I love you, Sasuke!', huh? Empty words go a really long way, don't they?"
"I did mean it! You're acting stupid!"
"I'm acting stupid? It's not like you've brought it up since then or anything, what else am I supposed to think?"
"You didn't bring it up either!"
"Of course, I didn't! I was expecting you to bring it up!"
"Hah!? But– hm?"
The argument between the two mysterious figures fell apart the moment they realized where they were.
Or rather, where they weren't.
"Hey, Sasuke," spoke the man, grabbing the attention of his… companion? "We're in the village somehow, aren't we?"
The woman whipped her head back and forth, clearly alert and confused in equal measure. Her eyes widened once she noticed that they had company.
"Sasuke? What's–"
The man cut himself off.
White as a sheet, as if he had seen a ghost, he stared at Jiraiya. The larger man stood a ways away, blinking owlishly, with the young Sasuke and Naruto held under his arm. After having heard the newcomers' argument, the two kids were as red as cherry tomatoes.
Sakura, who was with Kakashi, wasn't fairing much better than her two teammates. Kakashi himself was about as speechless as Jiraiya.
Decidedly, neither camp knew what the hell was going on.