Wind Monk Banishment #4
Naruto: Wind Monk Banishment 4
Author Notes:
Because I have received several death threats for my introduction of cliffhangers, I felt it was imperative to finish this as soon as possible…well, I’m joking about the death threats, but seriously, I didn’t even plan to finish this until near the end of the month. I have at least 3 other eBook fantasy stories like Arcane Advent I’m working on and Paypal is being a pain in the rear, but I couldn’t part from the desire to finish this.
That being said, I demand a sacrifice (review) for every reader…mostly to tell me what I did wrong. I’m working on my writing skills and need an unbiased opinion.
Now, as I said, Naruto is not godlike. He has shape manipulation and his wind chakra, as well as his skills honed from training and stamina, but he fights smart. He will not use the Temple of Enlightenment with people who can see chakra or highly skilled chakra sensors since he’s keeping that as a last resort in his fight against Konoha, which also means his sensory skills have dropped and he can’t avoid everything thrown at him.
That also means that he can’t face two skilled opponents at once in close range. However, I want to point out that neither of them is fighting to kill, but to capture or escape.
Also, as many of you will note, when you read the part about the Monk Spade, think Sha Gojyo from Saiyuki and you get the jest.
Chapter 4: Team 7 Reunion
Outside the Safe House
“We are going to get shit for this if Gaara find out we’re going after Naruto…” Sasuke warned Kakashi.
“I know…” he sighed. “Legally, he didn’t say he was sheltering Naruto and we’ll assume that he’s not a citizen of Suna…”
“It’s kidnapping!”
“Get over it, duck-ass,” Sai chided Sasuke. “We’re ninja. We’re trained weapons to be used for whoever orders us and pays our leader. We kidnap, kill; whatever we’re asked. Just because the current and previous Hokage have been lenient on such request does not mean it doesn’t happen.”
“That doesn’t mean I like it…and my hair does not look like a duck’s ass!” Sasuke smacked Sai upside the head.
Sakura silently growled. “Sasuke-kun, if you want to, then think of it like the time he went to retrieve you and return the favor.”
“That was different and we all know it,” he argued. “He was banished and had the freedom to leave as long as he didn’t become a threat to the village. I tried to defect to a very sick missing-nin who assassinated Naruto’s grandfather-figure and wanted me for my eyes.”
The conversation was cut off as a tower of sand exploded outward with a pillar of white smoke rising up. From it emerged a twenty foot ferret that sat with its legs and arms crossed while smoking a cigar and carried an axe on its back.
Standing on top of its head was a very irritated Naruto who tapped his foot while glaring at the intruders with burning anger. Fuu was right behind him.
Sensei…no, Naruto? Kakashi looked up in awe at the resemblance before giving him an eye smile. “Yo! Good to see you Naruto!”
“Kakashi-sensei—and I use the term ‘sensei‘ loosely,” Naruto looked down on him. “May I ask why you are trespassing?”
Okay, I admit I probably deserve that, the copy-cat thought. “We were sent to inform you about a group hunting jinchuuriki down and escort you back…” he noticed the girl standing there matched the one from the reports. “…I take it you know already?”
Naruto nodded. “Yeah, we’ve already taken care of two of them, but unfortunately the smart ones keep getting away.”
“Yeah, gotta hate it when that happens,” Kakashi nodded in sympathy before sighing at the death glare Fuu was giving him. “Nice clothes, by the way.”
“I think so, I like the way resemble my father’s,” Naruto stated simply.
“How did—” Kakashi was about to ask, when Naruto cut him off.
“The fox and I are on speaking terms and I’m not such an idiot that I couldn’t see the resemblance. Neither were you, given you knew my mother and how close they were.”
“Naruto!” Sasuke made himself known. “The Hokage wants you back in the village. She didn’t add those clauses to your banishment, it was a civilian council member who got too full of himself and was put down.”
“She was drunk, she made a mistake, but it didn’t matter once she put her seal on those papers,” Naruto said as he looked at Sakura. “Judging by the killing intent that my former teammate is sending me, I can only imagine what the others would think of me now that the fox is out of the bag…so to speak.”
Sasuke glared at Sakura, but still spoke to him. “I know you don’t want to return, but I told Hokage-sama and the old pervert I’d bring you back. We won’t let anyone harass you, old friends included. Not all of them are against you and I know I’m the last person you would want to see but—”
“Despite the fact that you used my chest as target practice during our last encounter and tried to kill me, I don’t hate you Sasuke. At least you can see past the fox, which puts you ahead of 99% of the village. I can let a lot of things slide but not when comes to labeling me as the fox or trying to hurt me and my loved one because of it. That being said, genin probably shouldn’t be taught assassination techniques ever again.”
“In my defense, I was under his damn clan’s power,” Kurama snorted. “I loathed the fact that Madara enslaving me led to my first imprisonment, but you humans started it when my first container’s husband decided to start handing out my siblings and I like slaves! Why the hell do you think my chakra is so tainted when I’m not even trying to take you over anymore? Hatred thrives like a parasite on the ignorant and unclean masses—Hell, you could give me a run in the hatred department right now.”
“As for the bastards in the village, even if you did drag me in, the moment one of them steps out of line I will defend myself. They attack, I fight back. They try to kill me and I will kill them without a second thought. My days as everyone’s stress reliever are over; I will not walk into a lion’s den willingly unless I felt it was worth being torn apart.”
Kakashi sighed. “We’re not gonna be able to reason with you into returning to the village, are we?”
“Hell no,” he responded. “Before pinkie came along, I hadn’t received so much killing intent directed towards me from anyone but Akatsuki and a couple of missing-nin who made threats they couldn’t back up. I’ve had freedom these last few years, and for that I’ll thank Granny, but I will not go back to a village that would sooner see me killed for circumstances beyond my control or only see me as a weapon.”
“We’ve got our orders, dick-less.” Sai cut in, prompting Naruto to glare at him. “We will return you by force if necessary.”
Naruto glared at him before shooting a glance at Kakashi. “My replacement?”
The copy-cat nodded, before revealing his sharingan and preparing for battle. “Naruto, I’d rather not force you, but we have to bring you back…” he glanced at Fuu. “We’ll have to bring her along as well given she’s one of their targets.”
“You think I’d let you take her back?” Naruto’s pupils became slits. “To a village that would sooner rip out her demon, kill her, and stomp on her corpse?”
“If you’re going to resist then I’ll simply break every single bone in your body and drag you back in chains.” Sakura blunted stated.
“And since I’m getting on everyone else, let me ask this: What the hell did I ever do to you? I all but killed myself for you!”
“You hurt your teammate and dragged him back to the village injured!”
“He tried to defect to someone who was going to steal his body and I had to bring him back by force! I kept my promise at the cost of getting run through by an assassination technique and pile-drove into solid rock from the top of a waterfall—after being set on fire! What the fuck did you think was going to happen when two genin have access to A-rank techniques? You’re book-smart and rational; you should have known this…”
Naruto looked closely at her before grinning. “Unless you weren’t being rational…You’re still a fangirl aren’t you? This is because he won’t return your feeling so you vent on me like before, isn’t it?”
All the men present looked at her with a side glance. He wasn’t wrong.
“When are you going to get it in your head the he just doesn’t like you?” Naruto pointed out. “All you do is kiss his ass, can’t you tell that merely pisses him off further? Why the hell do you think we got along better with each other than with you?”
“I don’t think I was called out here for an emo drama,” the summoned warrior said. “In fact you’re pushing it by having me and brother away from home at the same time. Pops still wants to talk to you anyway…”
“I’ll speak with the Ferret Boss after this has been taken care of.” Naruto answered. If he screwed up and lost the contract, Kanna would kill him. “Fuu, can you deal with Sakura and the new guy?”
“Bring it,” Sakura snapped her gloves. “Let’s see what the demon loving whore can do!”
Snap. That was the sound of Naruto’s patience breaking.
“THE TIME FOR TALK IS OVER!” Naruto snarled before taking a deep breath and calming down to address the warrior ferret with respect. “Ono! I have given them the chance to flee and they have refused. I take it you won’t have a problem with assisting me.”
“As long as I never have to go through this again and you fork over that bag full of treats Pace was going on about…Honestly, what are you guys, twelve?”
“Summoning!” Sasuke activated his sharingan and slammed his hands on the sand and a sealing array etched itself on the surface. A tower of smoke rose and then scattered with the force of great beating winds. A giant hawk scattered its brown plumes across the desert sky.
“Does everyone have summoning contracts now?” Naruto rubbed his forehead. I’ll have to do something about that before we can escape…
“Oh ho ho?” the hawk summon chimed. “Am I to fight the eldest child of the Ferret Boss? Are you sure you wish to fight me little ferret? You are aware that hawks devour your kind?”
A smirk etched its way across the large ferret’s face and it took the axe off its back. “Kid,” he addressed his summoner. “Screw the treats. I’m having hawk meat!”
“Sasuke and I will face Naruto.” Kakashi drew a kunai. “Sakura and Sai, you’ll capture his companion. Be aware she is also a jinchuuriki and take appropriate measures, but avoid any long term damage or lethal techniques.”
“So she’s actually a demon-whore?” Sakura muttered. “The villagers are going to love this. What next, they’ll have demon spawn?”
“…Even I found that in bad taste,” Sai said coldly.
“KILL—” Naruto muttered darkly before Fuu held him in her arms.
“No, Naruto…” she looked him in the eyes. “Don’t give into the hatred. You said we can’t risk going into cloaked states and you’re pushing it by getting mad. I’ll take care of the bitch, you stick with the plan.”
He nodded.
Fuu spread her wings and glided away with Sakura and Sai in tow.
Naruto put on his bracers and fingerless gloves, pulled out his seal rod, and created his Uzushio chakra blade once again before he leaped towards the pair rushing at him.
The warrior ferret and assault hawk gave out fierce battle cries.
The battle had begun among the desert sands.
(A/N: Right now, open another tab in your browser and go to youtube and read the battle portions of the story while listening to Thousand Foot Krutch – E for Extinction or Red – Overtake You. You will thank me.)
With Naruto
Sasuke started the battle off. He threw shuriken laced with lightning chakra. They flew in a bluish white arc towards the jinchuuriki and left a trail in the air.
“Wind Infusion:— ” the chakra blade was outlined in white wind chakra. Naruto swung the blade horizontally and released a white crescent slash of wind chakra. “Destruction Strike!”
The arc smashed the shuriken to pieces and forced the sharingan users to dodge. Sasuke slid underneath it, while Kakashi leaped above and pulled out several kunai that he threw at Naruto.
Naruto held his bracer in front of him. He put his chakra into the seals on it. A round shield of chakra emerged and the kunai bounced off. He watched as Kakashi made a hand seal.
“Earth Style: Earth Flow River!” a stream of mud appeared next to the copy-cat and he formed another set of seals. “Earth Style: Earth Dragon!” The mud took the shape of a dragon’s head and opened its mouth to fire globs of mud at Naruto while Kakashi followed up.
“Fire Style: Fire Dragon Bomb!” Kakashi somehow spit flames out from the front of his mask…without getting it burned. The secret is that he buys masks made from special silk woven by the Aburame clan that allows chakra through because of the fibers. The flames were merged with the projectiles and became flaming comets that darted towards Naruto.
Naruto slid forward as the same comets went overhead and landed behind him, burning the sand black and smoldering. He crafted the Rasengan and threw it into the air, revealing the chain attached to it. “Rasengan Flail!”
It aimed for the dragon and copy-cat next to it. Naruto channeled even more chakra into the chain to flow into the Rasengan. It increased its size to roughly half his height. “SMASH IT!”
Kakashi somersaulted away as it came down on the dragon. It spiraled into the mud and sand and threw up a wave of the two substances combined. Kakashi covered his eyes to avoid getting blinded by the backlash.
Naruto then focused on his other opponent. He had to work to keep track of them both so he didn’t get caught off guard. Sasuke was preparing his own assault.
“Chidori—” Sasuke’s hand was coated in lighting and he waved it in an arc. Dozens of lightning needles darted towards Naruto. “—Senbon!”
“Gale—”Naruto coated his free hand in wind chakra and did the same. Numerous wind chakra senbon shot forward. “—Needles!”
Thin bits of lighting and wind clashed in the middle of the battlefield and those the impacted wiped each other out while the two avoided those they missed. Naruto glanced over to the jounin…to see a giant sand man rushing to capture the jinchuuriki.
“Earth Style: Sand Golem!” Kakashi said.
“Since when can you do that?” Naruto asked while not breaking off his charge.
“Copied over 1000 jutsu, remember?” Kakashi chided his former student. “I’ve fought against Iwa and Suna ninja who’ve used the rock and sand versions respectively.”
“Oh yeah?” Naruto poured chakra into his feet and shot into the air with a boosted jump. Upon reaching the summit, began to spin while channeling wind chakra into his leg as he fell. “HARDLINER:— ”
The golem raised its forearm to block the impact with its hardened and compressed body. The moment the leg came into contact with it the entire thing burst as his leg tore through it. “—REVOLVING CUT!”
“Fire Style: Great Fireball!” Naruto looked over to see a fireball the size of a small house being crafted. It was literally turning the sand around Sasuke molten. Sasuke put a little force into it and it flew at him.
“Fire Style: Phoenix Flower!” he saw the tiny fireballs from Kakashi who was running at him from the side. The projectiles were arcing around and curving to attack him from behind using the sides near ground level. The only escape was to jump.
You can only dodge up and then I’ll use the Demon Wind Shuriken and wires to bind you, it’s over Naruto. Kakashi thought…Until he saw Naruto fire a Destruction Strike at him and snuffed out the only tiny flames that would make a direct hit before planting his blade in the sand and focusing on the bigger fireball. “Damn, he won’t be able to get out range of the attack!” Kakashi yelled as he avoided the strike.
“Shit!” Sasuke swore. They expected him to dodge. Once the fireball hit, it would swallow him before it erupted and left not even bones. “Look out!”
“UZUMAKI CUSTOM: FIRE SEAL!” Naruto pulled a scroll from his belt and unwrapped it before he held it in front of the flames and poured in chakra. The scroll had the mark of the fire kanji around a complicated array and drank the flames into the seal made of ink until the last drop before it rolled itself up.
Sasuke looked on in shock at a distance while Kakashi recovered and tried to rush in and get up close and personal.
Naruto reached for another scroll on his belt and switched his target to his former sensei. He tossed the new scroll and the currently-full scroll into the air and summoned a chakra chain barrier around himself. The first spat out a plume of flammable powder that poured out over the area…and then the Fire Seal scroll unleashed its content.
“God, I love jutsu sealing scrolls…” Naruto muttered, as an explosion engulfed the area. A sea of roaring flames overtook the sand and rose into a fiery mushroom cloud that belched smoke into sky. As the flames settled, Naruto couldn’t make out Kakashi among the scorched sand…
“Earth Style: Double Suicide Decapitation!” Kakashi’s hands popped out of the ground at Naruto’s feet and buried him up to his head while shattering his concentration on the barrier from shock. “That barrier’s weakness is that it can’t defend you against attacks from below. You fought well.”
“I’m working on that…” Naruto only smirked. “On similar note, do you remember that time you asked mom to show you how dad got used to using multiple Hiraishins?”
Kakashi noticed the spike in the chakra and jumped back as far as he could. Chakra chains burst out of Naruto’s body from every angle and knocked the sand from around him. Each one had a spear-tip on the end and they rose like a tidal wave from the jinchuuriki’s body as he stood.
Kakashi looked on with nostalgic sigh as the chains all coiled and flew towards the copy-cat spear ends first…Who proved how he was one of the fastest in Konoha with his eye active.
He dodged with flexibility befitting a ninja of his caliber; he blocked what he couldn’t dodge with the kunai in hand. At the end of the rain of chains, he stood unharmed as the sand spouts ceased. Ragged for air, but unharmed.
Naruto clenched his teeth and the chains faded away since he stopped wasting chakra on them. The more chains he made from his body, the weaker they were since he had to divide up the chakra for it. He didn’t expect to do any real damage, just get Kakashi to use up chakra on jutsu to defend himself or something.
It was the fact that he avoided or blocked it with a regular kunai of all things that irritated him! Hell, his dad had to jump repeatedly using his personal technique to avoid getting speared! It made great practice for him and a stress reliever for his mom.
“…Yeah… ” Kakashi huffed. “You really do take after your mother…”
Naruto decided to focus attention back to the matter at hand and noticed that Sasuke…was gone?
There was a shadow growing on the ground, the crackling of lightning, and a small tap of foot against the sand. He rolled to the left and dodged a slash coming at him from the rear. Getting on his feet once again, he extended a chain from his hand back to his sword’s rod and retrieved it before clashing with Sasuke while streaming wind chakra.
The blades sung as the two clashed with streaming lightning and wind. They danced the dance of swordsmen until Naruto put a little space between them before he went into a rotating back side kick. Sasuke wasn’t concerned at first. And then his eyes saw Naruto channeled wind chakra into it…
“HARDLINER: GALE KICK!” Sasuke raised the flat of the chokuto for defense. The wind chakra enhanced kick connected. He went skidding to the side before he recovered and flipped further back while Naruto focused on his other enemy.
Naruto held the blade perpendicular to the ground and extended it towards the incoming copy-cat, who twisted into a crouch and threw a kunai that was blocked by Naruto’s bracer. He then focused his attention to his former teammate.
If I can hit I can paralyze him…Sasuke aimed at Naruto’s stomach to avoid anywhere else that might have been potentially fatal and launched the spear of lightning. “Chidori: Sharp Spear!”
Naruto dropped to his knee and held his right bracer in front. His wind chakra was siphoned into the seals on it. They formed a chakra shield infused with the element that was superior to lightning.
It stopped the assault and Naruto batted it away before he stood and launched a spear-tipped chakra chain from his free hand’s palm while infusing it with wind chakra as well and Sasuke prepared to knock it away with his blade in one hand.
“Sasuke, don’t—” Kakashi tried to warn him but it was too late. The moment the lightning streaming blade tried to cut through the wind chakra infused spear end that was heading toward it with a greater velocity, the blade was separated from his hand in a violent backlash from the force.
“You’re mine!” the chain coiled around his torso at the arms and Naruto pulled it with a strong jerk. The Uchiha flew towards him.
Naruto’s arm extended and caught him midair just below the neck. The maneuver clothes-lined him while avoiding accidentally crushing his larynx. He spun around like a pinwheel before he face-planted while Naruto charged Kakashi.
“Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!” Kakashi created seven clones that rushed at Naruto while he pulled out a military ration pill to regain some of his chakra.
Naruto eyes flashed red. Using his own jutsu against him…Kakashi of all people…It was an insult he wouldn’t let pass.
“KAKASHI!” his blade reformed into the Monk’s Spade. Naruto performed one of the routines he went through and the crescent blade and spade danced a waltz of death. The clones were swiped out of existence by the translucent chakra blades. Naruto swung again and the crescent blade detached from the body—attached to the chakra chain.
“I do believe I pissed him off…” Kakashi muttered to himself as he ducked to avoid the chained blade and flipped backwards to avoid the horizontal strike as Naruto closed the distance. He was pushed back further when Naruto spun and extended the crescent blade with a chakra chain once again, sweeping the area.
Naruto’s assault stopped when he felt several sharp pangs as Chidori Senbon littered his back. He fell to his knees as the electricity in his body began to hinder his nerves. He barely managed to look back at his former teammate.
“You let your anger affect your judgment,” Sasuke huffed from his firing position after retrieving his sword. He rushed at Naruto from behind and Kakashi did so from the front.
Naruto roared and flooded his system with wind chakra, pushing out the invading chakra and gathering it into his free fist. That fist of his glowed with an awesome power. It told him to defeat them. He slammed it into the ground and discharged it into the ground.
“HARDLINER: GALE CRUSHER!” the discharged wind chakra howled as it tore through the sand. The sand beneath him expanded like a balloon before it exploded out and sent all three of them flying from being near the epicenter of the blow. They all landed on their feet, a good distance from each other.
Naruto allowed his rage to subside before it could cost him in this battle again. Wiping the blood from his mouth from being at the dead center of his own attack, he broke off into a sprint at his opponents while shifting his weapon back into a blade and activating the bracer on his free hand to form a shield.
With Fuu
“Naruto…” Fuu muttered at hearing his screams at his former sensei before turning back to her own problem.
Sai soared after her on a larger ink bird while Sakura pelted her from below with explosive tagged kunai. Smaller ink birds carrying explosive notes flew towards Fuu and detonated when they got to close in an attempt to force her to land from the shockwave of the explosions. Fuu was mildly annoyed.
“AGAIN WITH EXPLOSIVES!” Fuu yelled. “I JUST DEALT WITH A BLAST ELEMENT USER A FEW DAYS AGO!”
Okay, fairly annoyed.
Fuu ascended until she was with her back to the sun while Sai followed and was blinded by the glare. Fuu made a certain set of seal while splitting her attention on gather chakra into her lungs. She faced Sai below and smirked.
“Hidden Art: Hiding in Scale Powder!” she exhaled the powder and a blinding light took away their sight. The wind eventually blew and the powder was blown away…to reveal dozens of Fuus. “Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!”
Sai reined his ride and flew off as a good portion of the Fuu clones chased after him. Pulling out his brush and infusing it with chakra, he performed his Super Beast Imitation Drawing and drew up several more ink birds with sharp beaks and had them dart at the clones. On impact with clones, both were dispelled.
“CHA!” Sakura charged at the incoming clones. Right hook; back spin kick; upwards kick; She struck each clones as they came at her from the front.
The clones split apart at the realization and took a different pattern. They summoned the Water Slicing Blade and closed in on her from all angles. Sakura pulled out several kunai with explosive tags and tossed them all around her as she jumped.
The tags exploded as her foot met one of the airborne clones and kicked off it. She threw a kunai at one to her left while stepping on another to go higher while dispelling them. Using the airborne clones as steeping stone in the sky, she threw kunai at the ones out of her range until there were no more after her and she began to fall out the sky.
“Need a lift?” Sai swooped in on his ride and she landed on it. He took charge and began to pursue the original Fuu again, who looked over her shoulder and smirked…before vanishing in a puff of smoke.
“BEHIND US!” Sakura yelled as the original came forward with far more speed and two Water Slicing Blades in hand. Sakura tried to use explosive kunai along with Sai suicide diver birds but Fuu literally cut through them and darted past them with extra chakra in her wings before the explosions went off.
Sai grabbed Sakura and abandoned his ride as Fuu’s blades drew a blue arc in the desert sky and cut through it. Sakura threw down an explosive tagged kunai at the sand and it ruptured. It threw up enough sand to smother the flames and give them some cushioning.
They landed on their feet a bit shaken but fine otherwise.
Fuu began to dive towards them, but the world inverted. Fuu found herself heading to the ground head first out of control. Before she impacted she flipped upright and flapped her wings before gently landing and withdrawing them.
“Fuu-girl, be careful! You still haven’t recovered from the chakra poisoning and if you try to fly on your own—” Choumei’s warning was interrupted as Sai charged in with his tanto and clashed with her.
Fuu blocked with one blade and tried to thrust the other, but the pale boy rotated and avoided it while shooting her a side kick. Fuu was pushed back and slid on her feet. She noticed a shadow on the ground and leaped back as Sakura came in from above and smashed the ground with her fist, throwing up a tower of sand in the process.
It doesn’t seem like she can continue to fly…In that case, I can capture her. Sai thought to himself before he dumped all his chakra-laced ink onto the sand. “Ink Flush!”
Strings of ink swelled and squirmed to her as she backed away. They entrapped her and wriggled over her caramel-skin. She yelped as they hoisted her off the ground while Saukra and Sai rushed in.
“Ew!” Fuu lurched at the feel of ink on her skin and created another two shadow clones that cut her free. One clone avoided Sai’s tanto only to meet Sakura’s fist, while the other and original found themselves with their backs against the wall of compound they were staying at with the ink abominations reformed and closing in. They shot each other a glance and started making hand seals.
“Water Style: Water Trumpet! / Lightning Style: Wave of Inspiration!” Fuu and her shadow clone called as they unleashed a combination jutsu. “Collaboration Jutsu: Spout of Thunder!”
The water and lightning instrument captured and evaporated the rampant ink. A kunai hit the clone and dispelled it as Sakura approached with her fist chambered. Sakura’s fist missed as Fuu dodge rolled…and went straight into the safe house.
The wall cracked; then the entire building before it literally imploded and begun falling to pieces as Fuu landed some distance away after a chakra burst jump.
“…You are aware we need her alive, right?” Sai deadpanned when Sakura landed next to him.
With Naruto, Kakashi, and Sasuke
Ohhh…Gaara (and Kanna) is going to be pissed, all three of them thought at the same time as they watched the building finish its collapse.
“Training with Granny?” he asked Sasuke and the Uchiha nodded. “Have fun explaining the building to her. Gaara and Kanna liked that one.”
Naruto nailed Sasuke with a sharp Gale Kick into the defensively held chokuto. It cracked the blade and sent the sharingan user skidding while he jumped back.
“FUU, WE’RE LEAVING NOW! PLAN B!” Naruto unraveled two new sealing scrolls from his belt. It rained a downpour of concussive-based explosive-tagged kunai towards the two sharingan users. They covered their eyes from all the sand being thrown up.
“The sand…he’s trying to blind us while he gets away!” Sasuke said…only to be surprised when he heard a voice from right behind him.
“True, but first I need to deal with your summons,” Naruto was standing back-to-back with Sasuke.
Sasuke swung the blade backwards as Naruto ducked and spun, one arm thrusting forward while the other held the chakra blade. The chakra blade finished snapping the chokuto in half while Naruto’s hand unleashed a palm strike to his abdomen. On impact a sealing array etched itself on Sasuke’s body as he was knocked backwards.
“TRIPLE CONTRACT SEAL!” A loud pop was heard as the hawk summoning vanished in poof smoke.
“Damn!” Ono swore. His body was covered in bleeding gashes, but he was grinning with the cigar in his mouth still lit despite the barrage of winds he endured. “Next time we settle this hawk!”
The ferret summoning vanished afterwards.
“NARUTO!” Fuu called from on top of a giant black and white striped desert beetle that had taken to the air. Naruto shot a chakra chain from his hand and it was caught by the beetle’s mandibles as they took to the skies. “Go, Nebi-sama!” she told her beetle summons.
“As you wish,” it responded as Naruto climbed on top of its head.
“Naruto…” Fuu leaned against him. “I know you don’t like to carry typical ninja weapons and I didn’t see you pick any up in the store when we went shopping. So how did you get all those weapons and tags?”
“I made the tags and scrolls since I only wanted concussive damage instead of heat damage from the explosives,” he told her while rubbing the back of his head. “Before we left Suna, I may have ‘borrowed’ some weapons and the flammable powder from Kankuro’s room since I figured his puppets would have a ton of stuff like that. I left him about a million ryo as compensation and a note even though I didn’t take nearly that much. I don’t like to steal anymore unless I have to like in my childhood, but we were pressed for time…”
“…I love you Naruto, but were you really a monk?”
“Not all monks are saints.” Naruto argued. The Eight Wind Spades had discipline and control, but that was while on the job. Off the clock…
“Well, I’m sure Kankuro won’t mind seeing as you did need them…” Fuu pat him on the back.
With Kankuro
Kankuro sat on his bed counting the money left behind after reading the note in place of his missing weapons. He licked his lips as his fingers nimbly took count of the currency. When he finished, he smiled.
“Naruto should rob me more often!” he giddily exclaimed. “I can afford everything he took, a new puppet with the works, more war paint, and all I can drink at the watering hole next to Gaara’s Office!”
With Kakashi
“We need to go after them,” Kakashi looked at the fleeing pair. “Can either of you summon or draw?”
“I’m out of ink,” the pale teen responded.
“I can’t summon…” Sasuke said. “This seal he put on me…besides, I used a lot of chakra in our fight. The only reason you haven’t dropped is because you ate that pill…and I need a new sword!”
“It can’t be helped…”Kakashi sighed, before making another shadow clone and summoning his faithful nin-dog.
“What do you need Kaka—” the nin-dog picked up an old scent. “Naruto?”
“Yep!” Kakashi went over the battle before asking him to chase after Naruto’s scent with his shadow clone. Pakkun nodded before he started sniffing again. “Pakkun, what’s wrong?”
“There’s two ferret scents as well.” Pakkun told his summoner. “One is gone…long gone from the house…or what remains of it, while the other is mostly centered around here, probably the one that fought.”
Kakashi thought about it for a few moments and summoned another hound and sent it after the second scent. Pakkun and the clone then took off in the direction of the beetle. The original looked at his team.
“Kakashi, what now?” Sasuke asked. “You do realize Naruto is more than likely going to maim your clone unless it’s a lightning one.”
“The clone will go with Pakkun and track those two and try to reason with them one last time before they get too far away,” Kakashi told Sasuke. “The second nin-dog will track the second scent since I don’t think either one of them was fighting too hard. Naruto didn’t even attempt to kill one of us…At least until I used his old jutsu…He took that personally.”
“Then should we wait for his response?” Sai asked.
“The rest of us will head back to Konoha…and avoid Suna,” he mentioned offhand as he looked at what remained the building. “I’d suggest we get out of the Land of Wind very fast or Gaara will come after us and I’m not fighting him in a desert.”
“Ugly should really learn some self-control…” Sai muttered. He woke up on Kakashi’s back several hours later nursing a headache.
With the Kakashi Clone
“My apologies,” the summoning addressed Fuu. “I cannot maintain flight any further.”
“And he’s still chasing us…” Fuu looked at the ground to see Kakashi’s clone and Pakkun chasing them. “The dog is cute though…”
“This is fine,” Naruto told her. “Race should be there by now and it’s only a single shadow clone. Let the summoning rest…and don’t call Pakkun cute. He doesn’t like it.”
“Alright,” she nodded. “Nebi-sama, please lower us and return home.”
“I only wish I could aid you further…” the summoning said as it landed and then vanished in a plume of smoke.
Naruto pulled out his seal rod and crafted the blade.
“Now, Naruto,” the clone said. “I know I can’t beat you as a clone and I didn’t mean to insult you by using your old jutsu. I only wanted to talk about you two about returning…You’ve learned a lot over these four years…”
“No thanks to you! Everything I’ve learn had to come from my time away from Konoha or the Kyuubi’s memories!”
“You can’t trust the Kyuu—”
“Shut up Kakashi!” Naruto snarled. “The fox has been more honest than most of the people in my life! Did you know that the fox has been sealed in the Uzumaki starting with Granny’s grandmother, Mito Uzumaki? That my mother was the second container? That she was attacked as she was giving birth to me and that led to the fox being unleashed!”
Pakkun and the clone stayed silent. This was information that they could tell would be valuable and it would be better to let him vent his frustrations.
“Shizuka-nee taught me after I beat her because of that stupid promise Pervy Sage made to that Nadeshiko kunoichi! The monks and samurai taught me shape manipulation and chakra control! I learned my clan’s techniques to an extent with Great Auntie Mito and Mom’s memories! Jiraiya at least taught me the Rasengan, even if he was a horrible godfather for not checking in on me more often!
“But you? You only taught me the fucking tree-climbing skill, and you barely taught Sakura a damn thing before I left!” Naruto snarled. “You doted on Sasuke and ignored the two of us! You condemned both of us to die! We only survived because of the fox and luck!”
“I was hoping to appease Sasuke and slowly teach him the benefits of teamwork so that he didn’t fall prey to temptation,” the clone sighed. “He also reminded me of a younger me. I made a mistake and I’ve been trying to amend it ever since then.”
“Too late! You knew my father’s technique and could’ve taught me or you could’ve told me the secrets of using shadow clones like you are now before they had already taken my jutsu from me—and then you of all people flaunt it in my face! You could have directed Sakura to Kurenai-san so she learned to actually be useful in a fight and I didn’t have to keep protecting her! You could have done a hell of a lot more as a sensei!”
“Naruto, I—” the clone tried to reason but, Naruto was too far gone.
“You knew what I felt like as an orphan, wanting to know who my parents were or to know they cared about me! Tormented by those damn villagers day in and day out with no comfort but a monthly visit from the Old Man, Iruka, and a few others out a village of thousands! ONLY TO FIND OUT WHOM MY FATHER AND MOTHER WERE! TO FIND OUT THAT GRANNY IS ACTUALLY A DISTANT RELATIVE OF THE UZUMAKI AND ME! THAT JIRAIYA IS MY GODFATHER!”
That’s a whole lot of anger the kid has…Pakkun thought.
“TO FIND OUT HOW THE VILLAGE SPAT ON MY FATHER’S DYING WISH!” Naruto’s fox features became more defined. “HOW DARE YOU EVEN THINK OF TRYING TO BRING ME & FUU BACK TO THAT HELL-HOLE!”
“Naruto, that’s enough!” Fuu wrapped her arms around him in hopes of calming himself down. “You’re letting the hatred take hold of you!”
“Now, kit,” Kurama chimed in. “I’m all for giving in to the hatred and everything, but it serves no benefit now and will only shorten your moderately higher than normal lifespan…on a shadow clone. At least go for the original!”
Naruto growled as his features began to recede. “Make no mistake Kakashi, I want nothing to do with the village. The few who were kind to me have my eternal gratitude for keeping sane all this time, and the only reason I’m telling you this is because Granny deserves to know about her grandmother and you at least did your job every now and then, but if you ever flaunt the fact that you hindered my growth with the shadow clones, I’ll—!”
Naruto was cut off in mid-sentence when he and Fuu vanished in a flash of orange light.
“Wasn’t that…?” Pakkun trailed off.
“It looked like his father’s technique alright…” the clone closed his eyes and shed a tear.
“You know you’ll have to tell Tsunade about what he said, right?”
“I’ll tell her and Jiraiya-sama in private about his family…he won’t forgive the village…” the clone sighed.
“…Nope…” Pakkun stated coldly.
Land of Iron
Fuu and Naruto landed in the snow bank. As they wiped themselves off and Naruto put away his blade, they noticed a ferret in the snow with an orange bandanna and goggles over its eyes.
“It took longer than I liked, but I got here,” the ferret said. “Though I must say, I did not like going from a comfy room in a marvelous paradise in the desert…to a frozen nation.”
“Sorry, but thanks for the drop off Race…” Naruto gave him two bags of treats. “You really are the fastest of the group. One of those bags is for Ono, share the rest with your siblings, and tell the Ferret Boss I’ll be in touch soon.”
“No problem,” the ferret took the bags. “Dad just wants to talk about the Toad Boss. They go way back before an incident involving a white-haired pervert and the previous contract owner for us ferrets.”
Pervy Sage, just what did you do during your travels…Naruto wondered as the summoning vanished, before he saw Fuu shivering. Naruto summoned a fur long coat from inside one of his body seals and draped it around her. His warmth flooded her body and she pulled him in close for a kiss.
“Sorry about before…” Naruto told her after coming up for air. “It’s just the thought of you in the village, going through the crap I went through, after I learned everything…”
“It’s good to vent Naruto, but don’t lose control…” Fuu tightened her grasp. “Remember what Mito told your mother. Love balances the hatred. If you lost yourself…if I lost you…”
“I won’t…” he trailed off. “I’ll stay by you and Kanna…no matter what.”
“So,” she spread her arms out to the winter land of snow. “What do we do now?”
“Konoha can’t move on us here, but I have no intention of staying forever,” Naruto told her. “I want to see one of my sensei here to improve my skills, maybe learn to shape chakra shuriken, add the wind element to the Rasengan, apply an explosive seal on contact, second element, etc…Plus, I haven’t been kicked out of all their casinos yet for winning too much.”
Fuu sighed. “At least wait until we’re about to leave before you get us ran out.”
Naruto chuckled, before slamming his fist into his palm. “I need to send a message to Gaara and Kanna about what happened.” Naruto pulled out the contact scroll.
“Can you send one to Shibuki and tell him I’m okay?”
“Sure.”
With Gaara and Kanna
“To think that Naruto gave us this much money to build his clan’s village back up in secrecy…” Kanna said in Gaara’s Office, accompanied by both of his siblings. “I should go visit him and Fuu later today…”
“How much?” Temari looked at all the zeros in log. “Holy Father of Ninjutsu! How did he get that much?”
Kanna answered. “The goddess of gambling loves him.”
“Yet anytime something can go wrong with him it does,” Gaara pointed out. “Look at his mission history.”
Kanna and Gaara’s contact scrolls changed color to indicate they received a new message.
Kanna looked at her contact scroll. “Well, there goes my plans for today. Now I have to work around my schedule to go to the Land of Iron.”
“Matsuri is not going to be happy…”Gaara read over his scroll. “She liked that place. I’ll need to write to Naruto about the contractors and the estimated time for the project to be carried out without drawing attention…also, he’s says he’s sorry about robbing you Kankuro, but apparently it came in handy.”
“When you write back to Naruto, tell him I said he’s free to rob me whenever he wants if he’s gonna compensate me like this!” Kankuro held his new puppet dearly as he exited the room.
Temari looked confused. “Do I…?”
“He had a bad date not too long ago involving his war paint, alcohol, and some words I’d rather not repeat but had Shukaku in a laughing fit.” Gaara deadpanned. “He’s getting better.”
“I’m gone for a few days and all hell breaks loose from S-class criminals to Kankuro’s battle between love and war paint…so what did the short stack say on his message scroll?”
“He’s not short anymore, in any department—” Kanna started, but Gaara cut her off before it got into too much information territory.
“Apparently Kakashi found the safe house and the pink-haired, ex-teammate of his was studying under the current Hokage…” Gaara covered his ears as a precaution and prompted Kanna to do the same. “You’ll have to cancel those plans you had to take the Nara up there…and I’ll have to cancel my plans to kill him afterwards.”
Temari’s screams of anguish washed over all of Suna.
In her defense, it was a VERY nice place.
In Konoha
Shikamaru was playing a game of shougi with Asuma while Kurenai and their child watched on. He suddenly tensed and looked left and right.
“Something wrong?” Asuma asked.
“I feel a disturbance,” the Nara muttered. “As if a thousand shrieking Harunos were praying for mercy to an absent god…and then suddenly silenced by the slicing of wind…at the same time, I feel as though the shadow of death hanging over me has been lifted. Beyond Troublesome.”
Kurenai looked at her husband. “Wasn’t Kakashi’s student on a mission to Suna?”
Hokage’s Office – Days Later
The council meeting had just let out not too long ago.
“I can’t believe they tried to get me label him a missing-nin for just defending himself…” Tsunade pushed opened the door with a flick of her fingers. She must have been angry since it cracked the wall when it slammed into it. “Though I am surprised he managed to fend two sharingan users off, summon a warrior ferret, save both the Kazekage and the Taki jinchuuriki Fuu from Akatsuki, and still managed to get away from all of you with a flying beetle.”
“Judging from that look on Danzo’s face, he’ll probably try to find some method to gain control of both Fuu and Naruto since neither one belongs to a village and both are pretty skilled.” Jiraiya sat on the windowsill.
Kakashi silently walked in after them and shut the door after Tsunade ordered ANBU out.
“Alright Kakashi,” Tsunade sat behind her desk and activated a privacy seal. “I know you left out a lot of things at the council meeting—not that I blame you—but considering the very strongly formal worded letters I received from the Wind Daimyo and the Kazekage that essentially said ‘Fuck you,’ along with a repair bill, and a death threat to my apprentice, I feel obliged to some answers.”
“Well, you essentially ordered a kidnapping of a person they went out of their way to unofficially protect and it escalated to the point that your apprentice demolished a very, very nice piece of property they seized.” Jiraiya bluntly stated. “Did you not see those photos? I could get any woman I wanted if I took her there!”
“Tsunade-sama,” Shizune made herself known. “It would have been better to try a gentler method of persuasion.”
“I told Kakashi force was a last resort!”
“Negotiating was never a choice; not for me, Sakura, or Sai,” Kakashi sighed. “He was pretty considerate to Sasuke all things going. He doesn’t even hate him for the whole ‘assassination technique to the chest thing.’ It was the rest of us he has a problem with.”
“How bad?” Tsunade asked while feeling the headache coming.
“Well, he was irritated that I hindered his growth by not telling him how to use clones in training, and Jiraiya-sama had made a promise to the predecessor of the Nadeshiko warrior who taught him some of those techniques—”
“I can’t believe that kunoichi from Nadeshiko held me to that promise and made Naruto face her successor,” Jiraiya scratched his head. “I mean really, that was years ago and he was my student technically. But considering some of the skills you mentioned he used against you it makes sense.”
“Now that I think about, what were you doing at that village in the first place?” Tsunade glared at the pervert.
“That was only the tip of the iceberg. Naruto knows about his heritage and to say he was pissed would be an understatement,” Kakashi sighed. “He knew I was his father’s student, his mother’s identity, Jiraiya was apparently his godparent, and Tsunade-sama is a distant relative.”
“How…?” Jiraiya looked in shock.
“The fox told him…apparently Kushina was the previous host of the Kyuubi and Tsunade-sama’s grandmother, Mito Uzumaki, was the one before her. Through sharing their memories, he managed to recreate Kushina’s Chakra Chains and sensei’s Flying Thunder God technique to an extent. My hound tracked a ferret’s scent to the Land of Iron days after it first appeared…with Naruto and Fuu’s scent and no trail beforehand.”
Kakashi then went on about Naruto’s rant and his birth. Shizune dropped her clipboard; Jiraiya nearly fell out the window; Tsunade’s jaw dropped at the revelations.
“We. Fucked. Up!” Jiraiya summed everything up. “If Naruto knows all that then he has every reason to not want to come back. He even knows what happened on the day of the attack when none of us do…”
“If you had told the council that they would’ve lost it,” Shizune shook her head. “He has too many ties to the village by blood alone to let him leave. He’s literally a walking representation of Konoha’s history…”
Jiraiya licked his lips and went into thought. “We’ll have to inform the next group we send after him about the techniques, but this does not bode well. Either way, Iron is off limits for the moment, given how fast the fighting will escalate and the samurai, so we’ll have to wait for them to move again.”
“…What are the chances that we can convince him to return somehow using his girlfriend?” Tsunade rubbed her forehead. “What if we offered asylum to Fuu since she’s technically one of Akatsuki’s targets and he’s obviously attached to her?”
“Well, the chances might have been higher if Sakura didn’t call his apparent girlfriend a ‘demon-whore,’ tell him she was going to drag him back in chains, and try to kill her rather than capture according to Sai’s report—” Tsunade broke the desk in half at that declaration “—and Gaara probably has already done so unofficially anyway.”
“Damn it Sakura!” Tsunade sighed and had Shizune leave to get another desk. “What if we try to convince the sand brat or his council that it’d be safer here for them?”
“Not likely,” Jiraiya added in. “According to the reports they helped him against Akatsuki and they like him. Not to mention the Wind Daimyo likes him too and he was in service to her…in more ways than one. Both of them have been released from their villages, so we can’t legally argue for them.”
“So basically we have to forcibly kidnap him back to his own village,” Tsunade covered her eyes and pulled out a bottle of sake from the broken desk. They couldn’t blame her at this point.
“To be frank,” Kakashi looked down. “He’ll probably be happier outside the village with Fuu. If we try to bring him back by force, he won’t go easy on us again. He said he didn’t hate Sasuke, but he’s livid that neither I nor Jiraiya took care of him more when he was younger, and he flat out hates 99% of the population here and the feeling is the same on the opposite side. I’ll admit I screwed up and I’m trying to amend things, but it may be too late.
“And God help us if the girl gets dragged into this…” Kakashi added. “Naruto nearly went into a cloaked state at the mention of bringing her back here. I think he can understand that she’s a kunoichi and may get hurt in the line of duty, but when it comes to how jinchuuriki are treated and Konoha…let’s just say that getting blasted by Itachi’s Tsukiyomi was more merciful.”
“Princess I know how you feel but Kakashi has a damn good point and—”
“I know its selfish Jiraiya!” Tsunade slammed the bottle on the broken desk and shattered it. “I want him back since he was like a little brother to me—No, he’s actually related to me, and if it were up to me I’d let him be happy elsewhere as long as he stayed in touch like I did. But how long until things escalate even higher?
“When—not if—but when other villages find out there are two jinchuuriki—two of the strongest by tails I might add—wandering around, they will come after him if Akatsuki doesn’t, just to make up their lost strength and hell will break loose to the extent it might start another war. He’s gotten skilled, but how long until they all gang up on him or whoever is bossing around these Kage-level ninja in Akatsuki jumps into the fray?”
“Naruto, Gaara, and Fuu won’t see it that way.” Kakashi ran his fingers through his hair. “Gaara basically called us out on not informing them or any other village about Akatsuki in the first place and it nearly had his village destroyed. He pointed out how we only cared about protecting Naruto as a village weapon while the other jinchuuriki would be rounded up.”
“I never said he was a wea—”
“You don’t but the elder council does,” Jiraiya interrupted. “Let’s face it, jinchuuriki get the short end of the stick and Gaara is right about that. But from the position of a military leader, having someone else steal your rival’s ultimate weapon is a blessing as long as they don’t turn it on you.”
Tsunade sighed and went deep into thought. Her breath grew shallow. Headache did not even come close to this. It almost seemed like she had fell asleep until her eyes snapped open and she made her decision.
“Jiraiya, work with Kakashi and list everything we know about Akatsuki in a file to be sent to all the other Kages, before we send a team to go get Naruto.” Tsunade declared. “The sand brat was right and I’m sure the elders and Danzo probably won’t complain since it would keep Konoha safe in the long run. They do many horrible things but they care about the village.”
“And the next retrieval team?” Kakashi asked.
“They are going to be breathing down my neck if I don’t go all out…former teams 7, 8, 10, team Gai, as well as their jounin-sensei but replace Kurenai with Yamato, and Jiraiya will personally go after Naruto once the time is right…add Iruka and Shizune as well since they might be able to reason with him. Just in case things truly go SNAFU, I’ll have the Fourth’s personal guard on hand to use Flying Thunder God to transport me there as well.”
“Overkill much, Princess?” Jiraiya asked rhetorically.
“I wouldn’t go this far normally, but Kakashi said he nearly entered a cloaked state on the mention of returning them here and given we will have to force them both back, I have to deal with the very real possibility that he may completely snap and go full blown Bijuu. Yamato can help repress the chakra if Kakashi can slip the necklace on him and you can seal it, all of that combined can hopefully restrain them and bring them back.”
She pointed to Kakashi. “Go and inform those who will be involved. We don’t know when we’ll run across Naruto again but the moment we get confirmation we are going full force.”
He left in a body flicker.
“And once he does get back, hellfire will rain and we both know it,” Jiraiya sighed. “The elders and Danzo won’t be stupid enough have his Bijuu transferred to another host since at least Naruto can defend himself, but they’ll need some method to enforce loyalty on him. A seal probably won’t work since I looked at the one that Naruto nailed his former teammate with before I removed it…it was like the one his mother taught Minato and that space-time technique like his father’s most likely uses seals too—he’s probably a seal expert, if not master at this point.”
Tsunade bit her lip. “You’re probably right. Depending on the condition we bring Naruto and Fuu in, Yamato will most likely have to have them bound and restrained in a hidden location. I’ll be damned before I lock him up in a cell for defending himself but I’ll probably have to use the Senju complex as a form of house arrest and restrict the knowledge of his capture.”
“And Gaara will be pissed off.” he gently reminded her. “And Spring, Moon, and Wave…and Taki’s leader probably. The only reason they haven’t cut off agreements and trade with us is because of politics.”
“Jiraiya, I know,” she sighed. “But short of him willing walking through those gates, someone is going to get pissed off regardless. At least this way they can be pissed off and he can be safe rather than in Akatsuki’s hands. If sensei had enforced punishment against those who broke both the spirit and word of his law, if the people weren’t so prejudiced, if you had checked on him more often, if I hadn’t been drinking when I stamped those papers, and if Kakashi had taught him more we probably wouldn’t be in this situation.
“But that’s just it—we can’t correct the past. I may drink myself into the ground later for this, but at least the two of them will be alive long enough to hate me. That’s the price I paid for taking the hat, I can’t play favorites too often and keep everyone happy…”
Jiraiya walked up to her and rubbed her back. “How about we go out tonight and drink so you can unwind?”
“I’m not sleeping with you Jiraiya,” she said preemptively. “I’m too damn depressed and I might lose control and break you in bed.”
“I was talking about going out as old friends,” he chuckled. “But what a way to go…”
Elsewhere in Konoha – Several Hours Later
The Konoha 11 had gathered and been informed about their pending mission by Kakashi and Naruto and Fuu’s techniques. Hinata left afterwards claiming to be tired, while Kakashi left to speak with the others participating, minus Neji.
“I was not aware there was a beetle summons.” Shino said blankly. “I believe I would be greatly interested in meeting this Fuu.”
“I wonder if Naruto could teach me how he made those tags and scrolls?” Tenten mused. She had an interest in seals as well as weapons. “That slashing technique was decent sounding too…maybe I should go to Iron and learn from a samurai.”
“You just had to piss off Temari, didn’t you Sakura?” Shikamaru addressed the kunoichi. “Just to let you know, she’s gunning for you now.”
“Chill Shika,” Chouji ate a few more chips. “At least now Gaara won’t kill you.”
“Sakura, are you alright?” Ino asked. “You’ve been awfully quiet…”
“When are you going to get it in your head the he just doesn’t like you?” Naruto’s words echoed in her head. “All you do is kiss his ass, can’t you tell that merely pisses him off further?”
Sakura shook her head and chuckled at Ino to drive off the thoughts before addressing her crush. “Sasuke-kun? Would you like to go get dinner with me and Ino?”
Sasuke shook his head.
“Are you still thinking about what he said before the fight?”
He nodded. “Sakura, not a damn thing Naruto said was wrong. I understand him better than you do and he has every reason to hate this village or try and burn it to the ground.”
“Is he still under that genjutsu?” Kiba asked, and Akamaru barked at him. “I wasn’t being rude!”
“For the last time, I’m not under a fucking genjutsu!” Sasuke yelled.
Lee looked at Sakura’s depressed face before speaking. “Sasuke-san, do not let the demon’s words linger—”
“If he was really a demon, then do you think he would have lasted thirteen years here as Naruto Uzumaki! You’re all so fucking stupid it’s not funny! Not one of you has a good reason to hate Naruto Uzumaki even if you have a reason to hate the fox! We’re lucky he hasn’t snapped after everything he’s been through in this village!”
“He had the old Hokage and both Sannins’ favor,” Kiba argued. “How bad could he have had it?”
“On his birthday when he was six, the—” a hand covered Sasuke’s mouth.
“As much reason you have to be vocal about his defense,” Neji spoke up from behind him. “I’m pretty sure that information is classified and I am technically obligated to bring you in if you finish.”
“Fine,” Sasuke said once Neji removed his hand. “But I’m going to call them out on all their stupid flaws right here and now.”
“Feel free,” Tenten, Shikamaru, Chouji, Shino, and Neji all replied in perfect unison.
He pointed to his teammate. “Sakura, you are by far one of the worst of them all considering the sheer number of times Naruto has saved your ass only to get hit! You do know that he could have had you arrested on nearly a hundred abuse charges by now? Hell, even Jiraiya gets better treatment from Tsunade! And you actively antagonized him and tried to turn his girlfriend into paste!”
The Inuzuka was next. “Kiba, he beat you with a fart, while his chakra was mostly sealed by Orochimaru in the forest! If you’re still angry that Hinata liked him over you, then you’re thinking with the wrong head again. Even after years of stirring in hatred, she still sees you as little more than friends and that won’t change since she’s devoting her time to training.”
Followed by the Green Beast. “Lee, he bought Tsunade back and got you healed. You owe him your entire career. As I’m sure Gai has told you repeatedly, quit going along with Sakura’s blind hatred because you like her, it’s—” he actually struggled to say these last words “—un-youthful!”
Lee actually gasped in shock.
“Ino, you’re as bad as Sakura because both of you are acting like fangirls instead of thinking. You two are responsible for both Lee’s stupidity, and the fact that you keep trying to bully Chouji into joining your lynch Naruto group. Let me be clear, after all the shit I have listened come out of your mouths about how I was ‘critically injured’ after I actually tried to kill him, and led to Chouji and Neji nearly dying for their parts in my retrieval, I am tempted to castrate myself just so no one tries to push me into a CRA or arranged marriage with you two!”
He turned to the Hyuuga. “Neji, when you see Hinata, tell her Naruto honestly didn’t know she liked him. He’s gone through a hell you can’t imagine where the closest thing to love he had was a fangirl who constantly beat him. It’s a miracle he’s maintained a stable relationship with his current girlfriend—or even the fact that he’s not a sociopath.”
“I’ll try, but she hasn’t even been listening to me anymore…” Neji shook his head. “Let me be frank, the elders took great effort to color her using hatred—to the point I believe it is only the little kindness she has left that is preventing her from using the caged bird seal every time I bring it up. She nearly hospitalized her sister in a sparring match earlier today because of what her father told her about the council meeting and the other jinchuuriki.
“Unlike these fools who have truly ignorant reasons to hate Naruto on a shallow level, she may be too far gone to reason with.” Neji shot a murderous glare at Ino and Sakura. “The elders may have been wearing her down, but hearing from Naruto’s crush about how bad he was and harping on about it put the final nail in the coffin! It doesn’t help that you two taught her how to incorporate chakra scalpels into her fighting style either! I can only pray that she doesn’t have a mission where she runs into either one of them alone or she will try to kill them at the cost of her own life!”
“In that case you’d better hope she doesn’t,” Sasuke told him. “I’ve been where she’s going before and it screws you royally no matter what. If her only goal in life is now to kill Naruto, then once she does and if she’s still alive, she’ll be no better than a living puppet, not moving on her own strength but the whims of others.”
Sasuke gave Shino and Kiba a final glance before he walked out the door. “If you truly care for her as teammates, you’ll get her some help before she ends up going down the path I went.”
Shino nodded.
With Kakashi
“You’re kidding…” Iruka said with his mouth wide. “He actually held you and Sasuke back…while not trying to kill you!”
“Without the Kyuubi’s chakra?” Yamato asked for confirmation.
He and the other adults of the capture group had been gathered by Kakashi.
“Until I inadvertently insulted him, yes,” Kakashi admitted. “He pushed back Sasori of the Red Sand from the info Sai picked up, and the unofficial reports on Akatsuki from Suna to all the villages also indicate that Sasori had up until then used the Third Kazekage as a puppet. The report also listed Hidan, who has some kind of immortality thing, sealed away even though they didn’t say by who.”
You could hear a pin drop at that moment.
“Impressive.” Yamato summed it up.
“Weren’t his hands sealed so that he couldn’t use ninjutsu?” Asuma asked.
“Not all ninjutsu uses seals,” Kakashi reminded him. “Plus, he’s beefed up his taijutsu, weapon use, and chakra control to a level that many of us would be hard pressed to match. I may have him beat in ninjutsu, but he’s got me in stamina. Gai might have him beat in taijutsu, but Naruto fights smart and would probably find some way to seal you the moment you touched him. Asuma, he infused wind chakra into a sword made of pure chakra and his body to face off against Sasuke’s electric attacks.”
“…Are we really dealing with the same person who used to run around in an orange jumpsuit and spam clones like they were going out of style?” Asuma wrapped up their thoughts.
“He’s a bit…darker, but same person,” Kakashi confirmed. “Not to mention his partner is also a jinchuuriki who took out another S-class criminal that stole a forbidden art and had the blast element. Also, she can fly.”
“Truly…” Gai gave his signature pose. “THEIR FLAMES OF YOUTH BURN BRIGHTER THAN EVER!”
“The point is he was holding back in order to escape, not kill.” Kakashi prepared to wrap the meeting up. “The operation to bring him back is to be taken seriously, even with all of us, Jiraiya, and Shizune going.”
The group nodded and began to disperse before Kakashi walked over to Iruka.
“Kakashi, I’m not an idiot,” Iruka told him. “Simple power isn’t why I was bought in. How bad is it that you need me to go after him?”
“I can’t give you all the details, but Naruto has a lot of rage issues when it comes to returning here,” Kakashi flat out told Iruka in private. “You are one of the few people who may get a pass and can reach him.”
Iruka closed his eyes and nodded.
With Sasuke
“Hey,” Sasuke said as he entered a certain eatery. “Ayame-chan, can you give me Tomato Ramen?”
“Coming up,” the brown-haired chef said from the kitchen. The Tomato Ramen was a creation that came about as of one of her trips out of town and much like Naruto would swear by Miso Ramen, he would bow to the Ayame’s creation.
The Ichiraku family duo were on pretty good terms with Sasuke, along with his other old friends since after learning everything Naruto went through he saw how they were his light in the darkness. After he got on his knees and apologized, they hit it off pretty well. Plus, Ayame didn’t try to kiss his ass all the time like fangirls.
That’s wife material right there.
“I heard you laying into your teammate from the street when I was passing by the building…what was all that about?” Teuchi asked.
“…We ran into a certain blonde with whisker marks our last mission,” he told him; Ayame dropped her ladle. “I can’t give you the details, but if you keep your ears open I’m sure one of the stupider clan members from the council will say something.”
“Like those rumors that he was working under the Wind Daimyo—” Ayame was cut off by Teuchi before she could get into it.
“…How is he?” Teuchi asked.
“Happy,” Sasuke told them. “He doesn’t want to come back, he’s afraid of having the same thing happen to the girl he’s with and would probably kill himself trying to protect her. There are too many people against him and too much crap has happened for him to forgive the village as a whole…He’s also gotten smarter and stronger.”
The two of them could only smile at those last words.
With Hinata
The demon found himself a bride…the voice whispered inside her head. He never loved you or looked at you.
“Shut up!” Hinata told the voice.
He used you…He’s tainted you in the eyes of everyone and left you to suffer…You’ve tainted the clan with your naivety. There’s only one way to cleanse the taint…Kill him with your own hands…
Unbeknownst to Hinata, her father was leaned against the wall outside her room. He had arranged for Inoichi to give her an evaluation not too long ago and for the first time he feared that he went too far. Apologizing on her mother’s grave may not be enough anymore.
The voice was a manifestation of the mental abuse she’s accumulated…that he’s allowed to go unheeded. Never-ending whispers in her mind that represent the words of the elders and the other villagers…including himself.
She needed help…but for the Hyuuga, appearances and traditions are everything. Just having Inoichi figuring out the problem was pushing it. Mental instability in the next heiress would upset the balance among the clan, but it was part of the drive that made her stronger…
He walked away wondering if it truly was worth sacrificing his daughter for the clan by feeding her insecurities.
In Ame
“Pain,” a paper angel fluttered from below a tower in the infinitely raining nation. “The body has arrived.” She placed a paper coffin in front of him and removed the sheets covering the face.
“Your contribution toward peace is appreciated,” he told the corpse as lightning flashed and revealed who it belonged to before he performed a jutsu on it. It was the body of Yugito Nii, the former jinchuuriki of the Nibi.
“Set it with the others Konan,” Pain addressed his angel.
She laid it with the other dead jinchuuriki bodies that Pain gathered and preserved using a jutsu.
More Notes:
As you can tell Naruto has a lot of anger hidden beneath the surface when it comes to Konoha. Since there are too many fanfics that go into details, such as A Month as Naruto Uzumaki by Angel of Snapdragons, I’m not going to waste time by going into it. You guys can put two and two together or go by your own worse case scenarios…
To be blunt, he dislikes Akatsuki as a whole, but he hates Konoha as a whole on the same level as Tobi, who is the cause of all his problems, and Orochimaru, who killed his grandfather figure. Those few friends that kept him sane were all that stopped him from burning it down.
Tsunade has many justifications for wanting Naruto back. Not all of them are fair…or moral, but she has a legitimate reason, as if you have two walking masses of destruction around without belonging to a village, they are very high profile targets and a war may start over them.
Sakura…yeah, I ramped up her fangirl attributes to her not facing up to her own responsibilities when they were on a team…That being said, I refuse to make her a weakling who gets her butt kicked for no reason. I will not compromise a fight scene for silly reasons like that.
As for Hinata, I said it upright she snapped after all that happened. When you mentally break someone they don’t come out unscarred. She’s much more competent in a fight and will actually be a threat. Power has a price and sanity is the currency, just ask Sasuke after he killed Danzo in the manga and anime. You know that creepy smile.
I was thinking about actually having her use the Caged Bird Seal, but at that point it would be a line I’m not willing to cross. Of all the things in the series, I find that seal to be an abomination. For all of you, who are hoping she sees the light in her fight with Naruto, don’t count on it anytime soon.
I’m a Naru-Hina fan (Nothing against Sakura either), but not in this story and there is no harem (3+ Girls) as I have said. I’ve got half a mind to follow Scorpion’s Disciple and Scorpion’s Masterpiece (Read this when you get a chance) and kill her off, but it would serve no benefit. I have much bigger plans for her. *Insert Evil Laugh*
As for that whole SNAFU thing…that’s gonna happen…eventually…
Sorry Yugito fans, it had to be done. I needed a reason for all the nations to take Akatsuki seriously and now they only have 1 each minus Konoha and 2 wandering around. That’s conflict bait. Bee is a bit more necessary in eventually controlling the chakra of the Bijuu, so he gets a pass…
Next chapter will be “Recalling the Jinchuuriki” for a reason and there will be a time skip of about half a year to a full year. But don’t expect it anytime soon. I have crap to do and writing fan fiction may be fun, but a drain on time and therefore money.
Plus, I’ve still got to update Advent of the Spiraling Ninja later.
Non – Canon Jutsu:
Wind Infusion: The act of adding wind nature chakra to a chakra construct.
Gale Needles: A variation of the Chakra Needle Technique utilizing shape manipulation and wind chakra.
Hardliner: Gale Crusher: Naruto gathers a large amount of wind chakra into his fist and discharges it on impact. (The lines that came before it were off G Gundam’s Shining Fingers…I had to do it)
Hardliner: Gale Kick: Naruto infuses wind chakra into his foot for a powerful blow.
Hardliner: Revolving Cut: Naruto’s version based off of Shizuka’s Nadeshiko version. He covers his leg with wind chakra and delivers a falling kick.
Chakra Shield: Unlike a puppet’s chakra shield, Naruto uses a seal and shape manipulation to do so.
Triple Contract Seal: Removes control summoner has over any summoning like the regular version, but adds prevention and canceling array to send the summoning back and prevent the summoner from summoning until it is removed.
Earth Style: Sand Golem: Allows user to create a large humanoid creature composed of sand that can be made from preexisting sand.
Uzumaki Custom: Fire Seal: A sealing method that absorbs flames, similar to Jiraiya’s Fire Sealing Method, but customized for Naruto’s inability to use hand seals.
Canon Jutsu:
Lightning Style: Wave of Inspiration: The user generates a large amount of lightning from their hands which can be passed through conductive materials. (Dog-Boar-Ram-Rat)
Water Style: Water Trumpet: Water jets out the user’s mouth with force. Named because of how the hands are held at the mouth. (Dragon-Tiger-Rabbit)
Chidori Sharp Spear: The original Chidori is shaped into a spear or blade and launched.
Chidori Senbon: A variation of Chidori that relies on speed by using shape manipulation that are aimed at the enemy and increasing the amount of chakra used can increase the number of needles.
Earth Style: Earth Dragon Bullet: Creates a dragon from mud to fire spheres of mud. (Ram-Horse-Dragon)
Earth Style: Earth Flow River: Creates mud and can do so underneath opponent to throw them off balance. (Tiger)
Earth Style: Double Suicide Decapitation: The user hides underground and drags the object of their attack underneath to rob them of their freedom.
Fire Style: Phoenix Flower: Creates a volley of small fire balls that can be controlled by using chakra. Mostly used as a distraction. (Rat-Tiger-Dog-Ox-Rabbit-Tiger)
Fire Style: Fireball: Chakra kneaded inside one’s body is converted into fire and expelled from the mouth as massive orb or flame thrower. (Horse-Tiger)
Fire Style: Fire Dragon Bomb: The user exhales a flame breath from their mouth that combines with Earth Dragon Bullet. (Tiger)
Ink Flush: By directly pouring out his ink instead of drawing, Sai can create a large amount of creatures like a nest of snakes to attack the target. If destroyed, they can reform making struggling pointless.
Super Beast Imitating Drawing: Sai draws objects in ink on his scroll and the moment he removes the brush the drawings come to life.
Twilit Dreams Circle 
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