The Last Remnants of The Great Sage (Patreon)

Long Authors Notes incoming!!!! (Sasuke, Pairings, Power levels, Tree Climbing)

Jeez, this has been a LONG time coming. I’m sorry for leaving this in the dust for so very long. The annoying part is that I’ve had most of this written already for a very long time, even if I heavily edited some parts. As you may know if you’ve kept up with me in my other fandoms, I was just really burned out on Naruto for a long while. The epilogue of the series was just…blergh. I went more than a year without even visiting the section. Thankfully though, my interest was renewed and I started having story ideas again. I’m really interested in putting together a “Gamer” style fic, since those are usually some of my favorites. Unfortunately, as I started planning I realized that holy shit they’re so fucking complicated to put together.

To those of you who have already guessed the deity…looks like I made it too easy. ;-; Oh well, it’s most likely going to be out by the end of this chapter anyway.

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Now, one reviewer pointed out that Naruto with his clones should have already finished tree walking. You may have been right, were this canon Naruto. In canon, when he was first starting to do leaf cutting, he had four times Kakashi’s total chakra. This Naruto has TEN times Kakashi’s chakra, and he hadn’t even startedTree Walking until now. His control issues are FAR worse than canon ever was.

But on that note, I think the biggest struggle for me in this story will be keeping the power spikes consistent. This is made worse by the fairly inconsistent (IMO) power levels throughout the manga and the absolutely gigantic power spikes that ended up happening after Konoha’s destruction. Naruto was so weak for so long, then became a badass over some really tough Sage Training, then became friends with Kurama and I thought that would be it. It was done. That was the strongest anyone would be and – since Kishimoto had a hardon for the power of friendship – Naruto would just do his ninja-Jesus thing after a hard fight with Tobi.

And then fucking Madara shows up dropping meteors, we find out that Minato was NOT the strongest Hokage ever (despite his SS rating) because holy shit, Hashirama. And then we find out that, lol, it was all a lie and Kaguya fucking Ōtsutsuki appears to fuck shit up. All in the course of a couple days. We had to rewrite the power rankings about a dozen times in the last arc.

So knowing what will come in the future… It’ll be fairly difficult keeping the characters from becoming too strong too quickly. All three members of Team Seven – hell, most of the Rookie Nine – have MASSIVE potential and I’m certainly not going to be twiddling my thumbs on their training like how canon was. It’s impossible to do so. The first chapter already establishes differences. Like I mentioned last chapter, the final version had to be redone just to remove some of the strength I gave Naruto. I want my characters to be strong – far stronger than they were in canon period by period – but I still want good, exciting action. It’s going to be a rough balancing game for sure.

For this chapter, we’re starting off with a time-skip from the end of the last chapter. Training montages are cool and all, but they manage to really bloat up a lot of stories. We had one last chapter, so we’re mostly skipping it this time around. If something important happened during the two months, it’ll be revealed. In flashbacks. And as you’ll see, they’re not dramatically labeled as FLASHBACKS.

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I imagine Sasuke’s first scene will likely annoy a few of you, so let me get some preliminary stuff out of the way; Remember that Naruto can FEEL hatred because of Kurama and that he’s perfectly aware of an in contact with him. Karin was able to feel Sasuke’s chakra get darker and more hateful, and Naruto can feel the emotion itself. It makes him feel oily and disgusting – almost rancid, as if he’s swimming in sewage – and with it basically being Sasuke’s defining trait – you can be damn sure he’s less inclined to take Sasuke’s shit than he otherwise would be. Naruto’s personal thoughts on the matter will of course be expanded on in future content, but that was just a small taste of his personal thoughts and philosophies. I debated for a while whether or not I should keep the scene, because to you guys it might seem like it’s coming out of me and not him.

Sasuke on the other hand seems to be much quicker on going off the deep end than in canon – and without Orochimaru’s hickey to boot. He had the same frustrations as in canon, only this time Naruto has MUCH faster progress and is actually more confrontational, which definitely doesn’t help.

You can be sure Sasuke won’t continue to be the seeming buttmonkey of Team Seven. As stated, I hate bashing. I can barely stomach reading stories with them most of the time, so I wouldn’t want to force you to read about it in my stories. This chapter should be a major wake up call for him and should be the end of that for at least a long while.

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On the subject of pairings: There will be pairings. Sorry if you wanted none, but that isn’t going to happen. Please don’t comment about how cliché a pairing you dislike is. I don’t mean to sound condescending, but frankly, I don’t care. I care about whether or not it works in-story and whether or not I feel like writing it. Whether that means Hinata or some filler girl no one cares about or a bloody harem like most of my other stories, you’ll just have to deal with it if you want to continue reading. I’ll be writing what I feel works and there isn’t really much anyone can say to change that one way or the other. At the moment, nothing is set in stone and I’ll see where the story goes.

I just don’t get the RABID hate some of you put on these characters. It’s insane. You waste so much time and energy bashing a character and making your story quality go down. It just isn’t fun to read when you turn a character like Sasuke into a disgusting caricature of himself. Hell, you invent a fake fucking civilian council just to make Naruto’s life even shittier while having them jerk the ‘underserving’ Sasuke off and licking his asshole. It just boggles my mind. It honestly does. If you don’t like how a character is, fucking work with them. MAKE them likable. It’s called character development people!

As one final note, I began getting annoyed at referring to Inner Sakura as such about midway through this chapter. Outer, regular Sakura will be Sakura. She will begin calling Inner Sakura ‘Saki’ in this chapter.

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WARNING: The chapter has a fairly dark segment. There is a graphic scene during Sakura’s solo portion of a C-Rank mission. It is a small portion. All the same, read at your own risk.

Sorry for the really, REALLY long Author’s notes. I had a lot to cover in them.

And now, on with the show.

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“Where the hell am I?” Uzumaki Naruto was rather irritated. His milk was spoiled – which he actually noticed for once – and so he’d needed to go to bed hungry. The day had been absolutely sweltering, and his air conditioner had decided it would be a perfect day to give up the ghost. He was tired from training all day, sweaty…

And some asshole had thought it would be funny to drop him into a bloody sewer.

“I will have my vengeance.” The twitchy blonde thought miserably as he walked through the darkened halls, treading water as he went. “Least it doesn’t smell.” He groused, looking this way and that, trying to find a manhole to kick out of the way so he could get out.

But there were no manholes. Hell, this didn’t look like any sewer he had ever been in. Hey, don’t knock it! They were great prank escapes routes, and with industrial shinobi scent remover, he wouldn’t even smell afterwards! But this sewer was strange. It didn’t smell. There were pipes running all along the walls, and it even felt vaguely mazelike. Some of the pipes were far larger than the others, giving off a weird duality.

And the whole damn place seemed to be lit with a reddish-orange glow that was kind of irritating to the eyes after a while. He grumbled irritably as he took a right at a T-junction. He realized the light seemed a little brighter here than it had been. He perked up, thinking that he had finally found a damn exit and he raced forward.

He was disappointed. The room he emerged into was cavernous. It was extremely big, square, flooded, and the entire thing was just a showcase for the giant gate at the other end. He blinked, walking forward cautiously. “The hell is this giant gate doing he-EEP.” He froze in shock as a giant, angry red eye opened in the darkness behind the gate.

It blinked, focusing on him. A terrifying set of pearly white fangs gleamed in the dark. The set of features began to move, getting closer to the gate. Burning red wisps of energy crackled and flew throughout the beast’s fur, as it stalked closer to the gate. It’s burning red eyes were locked directly on Naruto, as he trembled. Behind the beast, nine red tails twirled and danced hypnotically.

Nine. Tails. Naruto’s terror grew. He trembled, ‘The only thing in this world with nine tails is the Kyuubi…’ His thoughts trailed off, as he worked through that fact. ‘But…but the Nine-Tails is dead.’ His shaking intensified as he realized what that meant. The only thing it could mean…

“AHHHHH! GHOST!” Uzumaki Naruto ran screaming in the other direction, arms waving helplessly in the air. He hit the wall in his panic and flopped uselessly to the floor. Sputtering as he spit out whatever the hell got in his mouth, he raced to his feet and out of the cavernous room, “GHOOOOOSSSSTTTTT!”

The Kyuubi blinked as it beheld its newest Jinchuriki run away like a headless chicken, babbling about ghosts. It blinked again, “The fuck?”

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Naruto snorted awake as Kakashi puffed into view, “Good morning, my cute little minions!”

Naruto yawned loudly as the man greeted them. He chuckled inwardly, ‘Look at me getting all nostalgic.’ He waved, “Sup, scarecrow? What are we doing today?”

Kakashi eye-smiled at their group, “Well, it has been almost four months since I first took you three in. In all of that time, we’ve concentrated on training you all up for field work.” The three students perked up at the words, “Well today, you are officially beginning your duties as Shinobi. We will be starting missions today.”

“Finally.” Sasuke grumbled, “All we’ve done is train for the past two months.” He smirked, “I was getting kind of bored with all of it.” Sasuke had grown roughly half an inch, and had swapped out his old blue shirt with a black number.

Naruto rolled his eyes, “Don’t get too wet, princess.” Sasuke threw a dirty look at him as Sakura flushed, “We’re a rookie team. All we’re allowed is D-ranks until we get more experience.”

That brought a heavy scowl to Sasuke’s face, and even Sakura looked irritated. “Cha! Even I was hoping for some action.” Her eyes were a darker green than usual, a clear sign that her older persona was currently in control.

Now that had certainly been a surprise. When the team met up for the first time since that first training session, Sakura had shocked them. Her looks hadn’t changed, but she seemed less…glamorous. Her eyes held a spark that Naruto hadn’t found there before, and she’d been almost as eager to train as he did.

They had even been suspicious at first. There were times when she was faster…stronger… and she’d even fallen off trees at times, something she’d never done before. Yet at other times, her chakra control and intelligence had seemed to skyrocket, and after three weeks she had even displayed the ability to use a rudimentary chakra scalpel! Half of the time she seemed to eye Sasuke as helplessly as she’d done in the Academy, and the other half she got touchy-feely with Naruto. She really liked those muscles.

It was Naruto who had cottoned on to her changing eye colors. When he’d seen the change in person, he had commented on it, and Sakura had finally come clean regarding her…other half and how they had come to a…understanding. Sasuke had merely shrugged the whole thing off and walked off, frankly uncaring. Naruto on the other hand, had grown rather fond of both halves of the pinkette. Especially when she helped him prank Kakashi.

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“Good afternoon, Mebuki-san.” Naruto smiled pleasantly when Sakura’s mother answered him at the door, “Is Sakura-chan in?”

Mebuki smiled in return, “Why yes, she is. Sakura-chan!” She called over her shoulder. A distant ‘what’ sounded from inside the house, “Naruto-kun is here looking for you!”

Naruto’s ears quirked as he heard a thumping from inside the house, as Sakura obviously climbed the stairs to meet him. She took her mother’s place at the door and grinned at him, “Hey Naruto, how are you doing?”

“Oh, same old, same old.” He quirked a grin, “I actually dropped by to request something.”

She blinked, “Request something?” She tilted her head, “What exactly? Sorry to say, I don’t quite think I can help with anything that you can’t already do.” She said apologetically.

He waved her off, “No, not ninja business.” He gave her a wicked grin, causing a chill to run down her spine, “I’d like your help pranking the scarecrow when he shows up tomorrow.”

She leaned back incredulously, “Wait what? Me? Help with a prank? Why would you ask me of all people?” She had been rather straight-laced back in the academy.

Naruto laughed, “All that you would need to do is have a good Henge and some decent acting.”

She shrugged demurely, “Well. Okay I suppose.” She smiled, “What brought this on?”

Naruto chuckled and crossed his arms, “You know how Scarecrow sent me off to someone else for my Taijutsu?” She nodded affirmatively, “Well, the person in question is without a doubt, the best Taijutsu user I‘ve ever seen. And I’ve seen the Old Man sparring before when I was younger.” He caught her inquisitive look and clarified, “The Hokage.” Her eyes bugged out at his name for the strongest man in the whole Leaf.

“Wow, he must be really good.” Sakura exclaimed, ignoring the ‘Old Man’ comment for now.

“Oh he is.” Naruto punched his fists together, “It’s only been a couple days, but I already feel stronger. His training is really effective.” He grinned, “The only thing is…he’s rather…intense.”

“You’re calling someone intense.” She deadpanned.

“Well, how about…eccentricthen?” The way he pronounced eccentric made Sakura think she may be better off just saying no.

Her older self though – who was currently at the helm, so to speak – had other ideas, “Oh?”

Naruto looked rather triumphant at her interest, “Let me describe a small bit of Gai-sensei. He’s about Kakashi’s age and loves bellowing at the top of his lungs about ‘youthful flames.’ When training, he sets increasingly ridiculous challenges for himself to complete if he fails the previous one. For example, if he fails to run five hundred laps around Konoha on his hands, he’ll strap a thousand-pound boulder to his back to climb the Hokage Monument. With one hand. And if he fails at that, he’ll run to Suna on one leg and back on the other.” Sakura was growing increasingly paler and her face was growing more and more incredulous with every word. Then Naruto went in for the kill, “Oh, and he has a mini-me.” Sakura choked, “Who does the same shit he does. Oh, and they like to…hug.” Sakura started laugh-coughing helplessly, “And when they hug, a supposedly unbreakable genjutsu of waves crashing against a cliff-side in the sunset appears behind them.”

Sakura waved him off as she started giggling helplessly, holding her sides, “Ahhahaha, oh my poor ribs. Ow!” She grimaced as she wiped a tear away, “You poor baby.” She purred/giggled at him, “Having to deal with that.”

Naruto chuckled, “Yeah, but he knows his stuff, and getting the shit kicked out of me by his mini-me will only help me grow to match him.” He clenched his fist, fire in his eyes, “Soon.” He said diabolically.

Sakura rolled her eyes, but had a grin on her lips, “So, what’s this prank you want to pull?”

Naruto grinned back, “We’re going to dress up and imitate them for Kakashi. Gai called him his ‘Eternal Rival,’ so he must know him pretty well.” He bent at the waist, leaning closer to her and his grin growing, “So Sakura-chan, how do you feel about gigantic bushy eyebrows, bowl-cut haircuts, and skintight spandex unitards?”

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Naruto grinned at the girl, even as she tossed him a wink. Kakashi coughed, “Naruto is right. Until a certain quota is filled, the village will not allow rookies like you on certain missions.” He grinned evilly, making Sakura and Sasuke twitch minutely, “And that is why, for the next week we will be doing missions sun up to sun down. I want your twenty D-Ranks done and posted by this time next week at the latest.”

Sakura groaned, “Boring. I want action.”

“Oh you’ll get it.” The gleam in Kakashi’s eye was rather worrying.

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“This is Scarecrow. Report. Over.” Kakashi mumbled dully.

“This is Orange. No sign of the target. Over.” Three guesses who.

“This is Princess. I’m going to murder Orange. Over.”

A giggling was heard from over the coms, “Shouldn’t have let Orange do the naming then, princess. Over.” Sakura paused, “Oh, and I have the target, I suppose. Why we have to catch a cat is beyond me. Over.”

“Now, now-” Kakashi sounded distinctly more amused, “This is an important mission, Pink Ranger.” Sakura growled over him, “The Daimyo’s wife would be most displeased if we didn’t return with her precious Tora-chan.”

Naruto’s incensed mumbling came through on the radio, “Oh, she’ll get him alright. Him and a damn explosive tag hidden up his ass.” Naruto did NOT like that cat.

“Eww.” Sakura wrinkled her nose, “Who would you ever stuff something up a cat’s ass? You have something you want to talk to us about, Naruto?”

Sasuke saw his opportunity for some revenge, and called out, “It’s okay dead-last. You can talk to us about it. We won’t tell anyone. Other than Kiba. Maybe Ino.” Who, of course, would let the whole village know.

“Laugh it up.” Naruto grumbled, “Just remember I know where both of you live.”

Before the three could descend into ribbing and ripostes, Kakashi cut in, “Naruto’s unhealthy appreciation of cat’s backsides aside-” Kakashi had not been aware that you could actually hear glowering, “We have a target to catch. Move in!” He ordered.

The three Genin dove into the bushes, Naruto at the lead. Tora had been sitting calmly, licking himself and waving his tail gently. He let out a beatific ‘Meow?’ in question as he saw Naruto and Sasuke dive out of the bushes at opposite sides with their hands stretched forward to catch him. Three feet.

One foot.

An inch.

A wild hissing and maniac yowling rang out in the clearing as the cat turned into a whirling dervish of death. The scene could have come straight out of a cartoon as a cloud of dust and claw swipes engulfed both boys. Their squeals of pain rang out through the clearing. When the dirt settled, Sasuke was lying horizontally on top of the larger blonde. Both were covered in scratches, and Tora himself was sitting on top of the pile, calmly licking itself. “Meow.”

Kakashi shook his head in bemusement as Sakura scooped the cat up, “You two are lucky this Demon Cat is well known for turning experienced Chunin into mincemeat, otherwise we wouldn’t be going on C-ranks for a loooong while yet.”

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“Well done, Team Seven.” Hiruzen Sarutobi looked over at the three Genin standing before him with their teacher. “With that, you have completed your twentieth mission. Congratulations.”

Naruto smirked and crossed his arms, “Did you doubt us, old man?” Beside him, Sakura shook her head at the fact that Naruto not only would call the strongest man in the whole village that to his face, but also be allowed to.

“Show some respect, Uzumaki.” Umino Iruka was the Chunin currently assigned to the mission room, and he did not take too kindly towards Naruto’s words. “That is the Hokage you’re speaking to.”

Naruto rolled his eyes, “He was the Old Man long before he ever was the Hokage to me.” He stated, “You couldn’t get me to show respect in the classroom Iruka, and you’re not having much luck now.” The man in question glared at him heatedly.

The two had never been close. Iruka could barely overlook the Kyuubi hiding inside of the boy during the Academy, and Naruto’s total disregard for order, respect, and the classroom hadn’t endeared him much to the blonde. That he would often skip class without a care in the world and perform so poorly had practically sealed the deal.

Sarutobi sighed and dipped his hat, “Be that as it may, Naruto-kun, do remember decorum when next to foreigners.” He had a glint in his eye, “I would hate to have to give you some remedial lessons. Personally.”

Not a single person in the room missed the shiver running down Naruto’s spine, and there were smirks abound when he tried to write it off. Kakashi cut in, “Well, as promised, we’re now done with D-ranks. Permanently.”

Iruka’s eye bugged slightly, “Permanently?” He coughed incredulously, “Kakashi-sama, I don’t mean to doubt your teaching capabilities, but they’ve only been out of the Academy for just over two months. Surely a slower pace would be more beneficial.”

Naruto barked out a laugh, “Slower? You haven’t been in the mission office all week, so I guess you wouldn’t know.” He grinned slyly.

Sasuke smirked, “We’ve completed all twenty of our missions in the past five days for the sole purpose of moving on to harder missions. The previous two months have otherwise been all training sun up to sun down.”

“We’re ready.” Sakura threw in with her tongue out and a peace sign up.

Iruka leaned back in shock, and Kakashi stepped up, “And frankly, Iruka-” Kakashi gave the man in question a gimlet eye, “-with how utterly wrong Naruto’s file was out of the Academy, if you were doubting my teaching abilities I would be offended.” That felt almost like a physical blow to the Chunin, who prided himself on his teaching ability. Iruka could only gape, “With that, I’d like to request a C-Rank mission for tomorrow.”

The Hokage smiled, “Good to know my orders were followed.” Iruka’s head snapped to his left in surprise, “Very well, a C-Rank for Team Seven.” He said officially, “You will be travelling southwest of here, towards Mutsu. Recently, they’ve been having a big bandit problem. They’ve been sacking convoys and have even grown bold enough to attempt some kidnappings. We’ve been hired to take care of them.” Hiruzen tossed the scroll regarding the mission at Kakashi, “Now, the client doesn’t care whether we capture or kill the group, so that will be your prerogative. I take it you accept?”

Kakashi nodded and pocketed the scroll, “Right, meet at the gate tomorrow at seven packed for a two day round trip.”

“You got it!” Naruto smiled. And with that, the group broke for the day.

Iruka hesitantly looked over at the Hokage, “Wrong file? May I ask how?”

Hiruzen smiled pleasantly, “Oh, who knows.” He eyed Iruka, who suddenly felt very, very small. “All I can tell you is that – come next term – the academy will be going through some…changes, shall we say.” The Hokage’s voice may have been pleasant, but not even a blind man could mistake the steel in his eyes, “Food for thought, no?” Iruka swallowed heavily and looked away.

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“Hoh, quite a big camp we have here.” Naruto said softly. He was sitting up high on the branches of the biggest tree in the camp. It was directly in the middle of it, and a fire was burning just a few feet away. One of his legs was hanging off the branch and his arms were cushioning the back of his head against the bark of the tree.

“You know.” Sasuke said conversationally, “I’m not sure ‘blatantly jump into the middle of the camp and lounge on the tree branch’ was what Kakashi meant when he told us to be stealthy.” He was sitting a branch above Naruto himself.

Naruto chuckled, “I painted the entire Hokage Monument in bright, lurid colors and not a single person noticed until after I was already done and long gone.” He shot Sasuke an unseen easy grin, “Stealth is the last thing I need to be lectured on.”

“I didn’t know stealth involved talking at reasonable volumes either.” Sakura chuckled from her own branch to his upper left.

Naruto waved her off, “These idiots don’t have a care in the world. It’s barely seven and most of them are drinking like booze is being outlawed. I bet I could walk in and join their party and they wouldn’t even realize I wasn’t supposed to be there.”

Kakashi stared dully down and cut off the bantering, “So, you’re up, Naruto.”

Naruto closed his eyes for a few seconds, before blinking them open with a ‘hey, would you look at that’ look on his face, “Huh, I guess they’re not complete idiots. This is actually only one of three camps. There is another one a hundred-and-fifty meters to the south and another two-hundred-and-twelve meters to the northeast.” He smirked, “And there’s more. There is a single decent chakra signature in this camp and in the one to the south. Other than those two, who are probably wannabe bigshot Chunin Nukenin, there are about sixty men in each camp. The one to the northeast has only about thirty, and several people who are terrified and hurting. Those must be the kidnapped people.”

Kakashi groaned at the information, “Nukenin and hostages huh?” He groused, “Well you’ve certainly inherited your mother’s luck, Naruto.”

Sakura turned to him curiously, “What do you mean, Kakashi sensei?”

Kakashi snorted, “Naruto’s mother Kushina was utterly famous for being the first person ever to be permanently banned from taking part in C-Rank missions by Hokage-sama.” Naruto stifled a chuckle, “C-Ranks she took had a tendency to go to hell quicker than she could say ‘Dattebane.’”

This time Naruto couldn’t stifle the laugh, “She had one of those too? I used to say ‘Dattebayo’all the time!”

Kakashi shook his head while the other two Genin snickered, “Well, This has officially become a B-Rank mission if we’re going to be meeting enemy ninja. So team, what’s the call?”

Naruto waved him off, “We continue it of course. We’re here anyway and they might up and move if we don’t take em down tonight. Besides, they have hostages and even the smarter Sakura-chan has more chakra now than those chunin.” Sakura grinned at that, “We’ll hit them all at once. I’ll take this middle camp. The Princess can take the southern one and Sakura-chan can take the northeastern one. I think the hostages might respond better to a girl, unfortunately.”

Well, wasn’t that a way to drop the mood like a stone in a pond? Kakashi nodded, “I’ll be keeping watch to make sure you all can handle yourselves. Go.” Without a word, Sakura leapt away with a hard look on her face. Sasuke simply vanished in a burst of speed.

A minute and a half passed, before they heard Sakura’s soft but furious voice over the coms, “I’m ready.” She said stiffly.

Naruto cringed at the amount of wrath he could hear in her voice. “Oooh boy, maybe I should have taken that camp. Sakura-chan is pissed.”

Sasuke’s voice came up next, and he calmly called out, “I’m good here. Whenever you’re ready.”

Kakashi quirked an eyebrow at Naruto, who merely got up from his sitting position and began walking on the branch towards the middle of it. When he reached his spot, he crouched down and nodded over at Kakashi, who had taken his lounging spot. Kakashi sighed, “Mission Start.”

Naruto leapt. Golden chakra enveloped him on the way down, instantly alarming the men below. Before any of them could even react, Naruto impacted in between them like the fist of an angry god.

A thunderous crash echoed through the forest, as the earth cracked and groaned and dirt exploded into the air in massive clumps. Instantly, the camp erupted into panicked screams and scrambling men.

Half of the camp was taken out instantly with Naruto’s comet maneuver. The ones who were knocked unconscious were the lucky ones. They didn’t have to deal with the pain. Others weren’t so lucky. They were left moaning piteously in pain, crippled with broken limbs and lacerations from flying pieces of rock.

Naruto grinned as he broke his fist free from the ground. He drew himself upright and clenched his hand in front of him, the knuckles popping and cracking loudly, “Housekeeping!” he called out with a maniac grin plastered on his face. Up in the trees, Kakashi facepalmed.

Naruto transformed into his tiger form and raced out of the impact crater, much to the shock of those coherent enough to see it. Instantly, three more men went down with screeches of pain, terrified tears rolling down their cheeks as Naruto left deep lacerations on their bodies with his claws.

He transformed back into human form just in time to catch a sword blade with his fingers. The man who had swiped wildly at him gaped at him with huge, bugged out eyes as Naruto tore the sword out of his grasp and knocked him right out with a simple cross. “Wimp.” He muttered. Another three men came at him, armed as well. One was dual wielding katana like an idiot, one had a hammer that was clearly too heavy in his hands to be of any real use, and the last had a staff.

Naruto dodged the hammer’s wild downward swing and trapped it with his foot. The staff came next with a thrust. He inclined his head back, letting the head of the staff pass by his face. He grinned in interest as his hand lashed out and grabbed onto it. With a yank, the smaller man was ripped right off his feet and into the larger hammer wielder. The two went to the floor, but not before Naruto righted himself and smashed both men in the head with his newly acquired weapon.

He jumped back from the katana’s wild double slice with a grin and spun the staff in his hands experimentally. The man roared in anger and charged wildly. With a single mighty swing, the cheap swords in his hands broke from the force of the impacting hard-wood. Shards of crappy, rusted steel flew as its user gasped in shock. “Lights out, bitch.” Naruto laughed as he thrust the butt of the staff directly into the man’s skull. He winced as he heard a crack and the man crumbled like a marionette with its strings cut.

Naruto whirled around as a furious, bellowing roar echoed throughout the trees, “Who dares!” The speaker – a drastic understatement anyway you sliced it – was a bear of a man completely covered in bulging muscles. He looked every bit a thug, with black hair and a square face. His jaw was huge. He looked kind of strange, to be honest.

Naruto whistled, “Well, you certainly look like a meathead.”

The man roared in rage, “How dare you! Do you know who I am!”

“A meathead?” Naruto guessed innocently, sending the man into hysterics, “Never seen ya before, ya blockhead.”

The man howled and punched the floor, twice. The ground heaved as he hauled a massive boulder from the dirt, “This will teach you to mess with Daimonji you fucking rat bastard!” With a grunt of exertion, the hulking man threw the massive boulder at the decidedly smaller blonde.

Naruto quirked an eyebrow and ran some chakra through his new staff in an attempt to toughen it up a bit. With a grunt of his own, the staff smashed into the chunk of stone and cracked it into a thousand pieces. When the dust had settled, he was revealed to be unharmed, much to Daimonji’s shock.

Well, he was unharmed. His new staff wasn’t. He glared at the cracked wood in his hand in disgust, “Flimsy piece of shit.” He grunted as he tossed his broken staff aside. He glared at the meathead standing in front of him in surprise, “I was still testing that you asshole.”

Daimonji grunted, “Who do you think you are? I am Daimonji! I was a powerful ninja of Iwa known as the Demon Mountain before I went Nukenin! I’ve eaten tiny fucks like you for breakfast!” He roared at the blonde.

“Powerful ninja!” Naruto exclaimed in surprise. He shivered in fear, “What rank were you when you left? Academy Student?” He started laughing at Daimonji’s increasingly red face.

“Rargghhhh!” The slab of meat yelled incoherently and charged, his every pounding step shaking the ground. “DIE!” He spat as he threw a massive cannonball of a fist forward, aiming to squash Naruto like a bug. Naruto grinned and turned his body to the side, leaning back and letting the punch sail by him. His two arms whipped into action. He used his right hand on the inside of his punch – which had already been slightly overextended – to grab the bear-of-a-man’s wrist and force it even further forward, throwing the man off balance and preventing him from pulling back. His other arm?

His other arm rammed right into the huge man’s straight elbow with crushing force.

Daimonji howled and sank to his knees in agony as his arm was shattered right at the elbow, bending completely in the wrong direction. Blood spurted as his bones sliced a vein and were forced straight through the skin. But Naruto wasn’t finished.

Grabbing the screaming man’s head, he jumped and drove a knee straight into his sternum with a roar of his own. Immediately, Daimonji ceased screaming and started rasping as the air was driven from his lungs and his ribs cracked. His usable arm clutched helplessly at his chest, clawing as if that would help him breathe. Naruto snorted, “Demon? Oh please. You’re no demon. You’re barely even practice.” A hard right knocked the man completely out, flattening his nose and breaking several of his upper teeth. The man crumpled to the floor sideways

He drew himself up to his full height and cracked his fingers loudly, “So, anyone else want a go?” The twenty four other men who were still standing in the clearing gulped as they watched one of their bosses go down as if he was a newborn fighting a tiger.

Clangs rang through the forest as weapons dropped to the dirt in droves, the men putting their arms up in surrender. Naruto pursed his lips while nodding slightly, repeatedly. “So, you give up then? Good, good.” His impassive look dropped, a dark glint in his eyes, “Tell me, when your kidnapped victims asked for mercy, did you give them any?” Everyone still conscious froze as if the chill of the underworld itself had seeped up through the ground.

“I didn’t think so.”

The cries for mercy from the loudly squealing bandits was the last thing Kakashi heard as he jumped away to go observe his other students.

-]|[-

Sasuke observed the men below him silently, Sharingan activated. The past two months had not been kind to the revenge-obsessed teenager.

Once, Sasuke had been the top dog. The highest grades the Academy had seen in years… Unbeaten in the Taijutsu ring… Lauded for being able to perform a C-Rank fire jutsu as a student… He had thought himself well on the path of his ultimate goal. His revenge.

Those days were long gone. The Bell Test had been an eye opener for the young Uchiha. The following weeks had been…enlightening. Sasuke had been the best of the group at the start. He was the best-rounded, and the most skilled. Sasuke had been assured of his superiority upon defeating Naruto in the sanctioned spars Kakashi had held. The older boy was seriously strong, but he was not skilled. Naruto had not gotten a finger on Sasuke and had taken many a hit, before Kakashi called the match.

His ego restored despite sore fists, Sasuke had gone forward, business as usual. By the second week, it had rapidly become apparent that the status quo would not hold. Whoever was training Naruto in Taijutsu must have been an utter genius at the art. A three minute victory became a five minute victory. His Sharingan’s awakening had stemmed the tide. Sasuke could predict Naruto better now, and move accordingly. But it had only delayed the inevitable. A five minute victory turned into a ten minute victory.

A ten minute victory turned into an utter struggle as holes in the blonde’s defenses shored up, as rock-pulverizing kicks and punches began connecting… It didn’t matter how much Sasuke was expecting it – which, to be frank he usually wasn’t. Naruto’s style wasn’t. It had no rhyme or reason. He switched between forms on the fly, being completely unpredictable but for his Sharingan’s battle sense. And the blonde began getting faster too. His insane healing allowed him to train in ways even most ninja couldn’t.

Three weeks and a half ago, Sasuke had been defeated.

Sasuke moaned pitifully as he crashed to the dirt, holding his bruised ribs. He growled and turned, trying to scramble to his feet to continue the match, even as his stomach groaned and protested at his movements. He slumped back down, “Sasuke-kun has been incapacitated! Naruto is the winner!” Sakura called out somewhat in disbelief, waving her arm at his opponent’s direction.

“No!” Sasuke spat out, almost vibrating in anger. “I can still fight!” He tried pushing himself up, but his vision swam for a second and he faltered.

Kakashi walked closer, shaking his head, “No you can’t.” He said flatly, “You can barely pick yourself back up. This match is over.” He said with finality.

Naruto placed his hands behind his head and squinted cheerfully, “Good match princess!”

Sasuke ground his teeth with rage as he climbed to his feet. “Why!” he spat furiously.

Naruto’s eyes opened and he looked curiously, “Why what?” He said, all traces of humor gone. “I’m getting real sick of your attitude princess. You’ve been prickly for weeks.”

Sasuke snarled and stomped closer to the blonde, “Why are you getting so strong so quickly? Why were you able to catch up to me?” He spat, “What’s your motive?”

Naruto looked unamused, and his smirk was rather sharp, “Why don’t you ask what’s really on your mind, princess? Go ahead. Say it. ‘Why are you stronger than me?’” Sasuke snarled and jumped forward, lashing out blindly. A casual backhand from Naruto caught him square in the face and sent him tumbling into the dirt.

“Naruto! Sasuke!” Sakura shouted out reproachfully. Naruto merely turned an eye in her direction, before looking back at Sasuke. She turned to their teacher, “Kakashi-sensei! Stop them!” She pleaded.

Kakashi closed his one visible eye and sighed in exhaustion, “Please stay silent Sakura-chan.” He said tiredly.

Sakura looked shocked, “But-”

“These two have issues to work over.” Kakashi stated, lazily looking at the two boys, “Let them handle it for now. I’ll step in if necessary.” This confrontation had been months in the making. Naruto especially had started getting bits and pieces of the Massacre out of Sasuke, and it was clear that the more he learned the less he liked. But with Sasuke as the undisputed victor in their fights, the Uchiha had been utterly unwilling to even listen to Naruto’s opinions. Well he’d be listening now, even if Naruto had to break his arms and legs to get him to sit still.

Naruto walked forward, hands in his pockets, “I’ll tell you why I’ve passed you, Sasuke.” He stared at the crouching boy straight in the eye, “I’ve passed you because I’m not a little bitch.” Sasuke choked. “You think the world revolves around you and your grudge. It doesn’t.”

Sasuke looked like he was turning purple, “How dare you! Everything I do is to kill that man! To allow my family to rest in peace!”

“AND THAT’S EXACTLY THE PROBLEM, YOU FUCKING IDIOT!” Naruto roared, raising his voice in anger for the first time that any in the clearing had heard. “Don’t kid yourself Uchiha! You can’t lie to me any more than you can lie to yourself. You don’t give a damn about your family resting peacefully!” Sasuke choked at the blonde’s audacity. Sakura looked distressed, clapping her hands over her mouth and going wide-eyed. Even Kakashi was tempted to take a step forward, “You say you’re doing it for them, but you’re not. Family wouldn’t want to see family slaughtering each other!” He spat furiously.

Sasuke blurred and slugged him square in the jaw. Naruto barely budged and buried his own fist into his opponent’s gut, dropping him to the floor once more, “All you care about is your own gratification! If you truly wanted to avenge your family you wouldn’t care who did the deed! You would just want to know that he was taken down and brought to justice! But no, only you can kill him!” His tone turned mocking, “You don’t want your brother dead for your family to rest! You want to kill him so you’ll not be in his shadow anymore!”

Sasuke saw red. He was no longer thinking as he surged to his feet with his hands blurring into signs, “Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!” The massive fireball he spat raced towards the blonde, who simply roared, snuffing it out and blowing Sasuke back like a leaf and shaking the training ground with its intensity.

Sakura clapped her hands over her ears, “Kakashi-sensei! This has gone too far!” She yelled. But Kakashi continued to merely observe.

Naruto stomped forward, “Your hatred makes you weak!” He called out tauntingly, “Your berserk button is so large a blind child could hit a bullseye on it backwards!” He reached Sasuke and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, hauling him to his feet before burying a hard knee into his gut. Spittle flew from Sasuke’s mouth as Naruto dropped him harshly to the floor, “I can feel the hatred bubbling within you and it makes you so utterly blind. Just as all the intelligence in the world won’t help a man who is truly stupid, your little pink eye won’t help you if you refuse to see! You’ve grown infinitely stronger than you were three months ago and you can’t even realize it because you’re too busy throwing a fit over the fact that I did too!!”

All he got was a groan from the boy, who was trying to catch his breath, Naruto groaned himself and cracked his own neck, “Instead of being happy that you have a rival to push you, you’re whining like a damn brat! Tell me Uchiha, that technique you stole from Kakashi-sensei a week ago… How good are you with it huh? How close to mastering it are you?” Sasuke stayed silent, his face mulish even as he clutched his injured ribs. It was enough of an answer, “You haven’t practiced it at all, have you? You have a fancy new toy and you think that’s strength.” He said snidely, “I’m sure you’ve wondered why you could never copy my Kage Bunshin. I’ve shown you the hand sign more than once since you awoke your Sharingan.” He dropped Sasuke, who struggled to look up at him.

He smiled brightly, “You can’t copy it because I’ve gotten close to mastering it. Originally, it had two hand signs. By the time we convened  and had our Genin test, I’d already worked it down to the single cross seal. In a couple months, I’ll not only be able to use it with a thought, but eventually I’ll be able to spawn them already disguised with little smoke – if any – and at a fair distance from me! News flash Uchiha! You’re not going to have everything handed to you on a silver platter! Your little pink eye won’t make you strong because you are weak! Your parents were Jonin and Itachi killed them, didn’t he? All of the techniques they knew and their Sharingan were useless against him! Itachi was strong because he had a reason to be, and you can be damn sure that whatever reason he had for killing your family wasn’t to ‘test his capacity!’ Slaughtering little children younger than you and old men and women who can’t even walk without a cane anymore doesn’t test anything!”

Sasuke groaned and tried to struggle to his feet, but Naruto’s foot impacting on his back pushed him back into the grass. “You’re still the same child Itachi left behind! He ordered you to cloak yourself in hatred, and you’ve certainly done that! He was your precious big brother then and he still is now! You’re still following his orders to the letter!” There was a lump in Sasuke’s throat that he couldn’t seem to get rid of, and an absolutely awful chill had settled along his spine. Had he really just been following his brother’s orders?

“‘Cloak yourself in hatred.’ What a fucking joke.” Naruto spat to the side, “Turning hatred into strength. You’re a fucking idiot. Hate doesn’t make you strong. Hatred makes you obsess past the point of stupidity. He probably told you that garbage to amuse himself. To keep you weak. And you ate up every damn word of it. Your anger used to be a tool. Now you’re its tool! You’ve let it consume you! You tried to kill me with that fireball ya know?” Naruto said, his tone turning conversational, and – now that the ice had frozen his rage – Sasuke realized with a chill that Naruto was right. “All it took was one half-assed push and you tried to turn on a comrade. What’s next Uchiha? You going to follow in your precious big brother’s footsteps and go traitor as well?” The clearing was utterly silent now that the unthinkable had been put on the table. Sasuke looked like he had been slapped square across the face with a trout.

Naruto shook his head, sagging tiredly. “One day you’re going to wake up and realize that you’ve succeeded. And then what? You’ll have nothing. No one to celebrate with. No one interested in getting to know you after you burned them for years. Nothing that you enjoy doing. Nothing else to live for. Is that what you want to be remembered for? What you want your clan to be remembered for?”

Sasuke clenched his fists and stared at the dirt, squaring his jaw. His eyes were prickling.

Naruto squatted and pulled his head up by the hair, forcing Sasuke to look him in the eye, “You want to know why I’ve surpassed you Sasuke? It’s because my resolve is stronger than yours. It’s because I don’t fight for just myself. You? All you have is yourself, because you push everyone else away. And when you falter there’s no one else to pick you back up.” Naruto dropped his head and stood, walking away, “When I die, I’ll be able to look my parents in the eyes with a smile on my face and a song in my heart, knowing I’ve made them proud.” He stopped and turned back to the downed Uchiha, “Can you say the same, Sasuke?”

Nodding to a tired looking Kakashi and a crying Sakura, Naruto walked away from the training field. Nothing more was said for a long while.

Sasuke was jarred from his own memory as an earthquake seemingly rocked through the forest, alarming the men below him into a frenzy. Sasuke knew better. He closed his eyes and shook his head, “Idiot.” He muttered, before dropping from his perch and into the middle of the camp. During his free fall, he slipped his chokuto – sheath and all – out of its holder on his clothes and held it left-handed.

The second his feet touched the ground, he was off like a shot. WHAM. The lacquered wood on his sword’s sheathe cracked one of the bandit’s skulls open and knocked him right out. The cries of alarm from the bandits had him springing into action. Gripping the handle tightly, he freed his blade and cut three of the charging idiots across the chest with a single slash. With a flick of his wrist and a slight application of chakra, he cleaned the blade and sheathed it once more. His ears perked up as he heard the cracking of dry leaves behind him, and he rolled out of the way of a massive hammerhead which would have crushed him into jelly.

“It’s just one kid!” One of the bandits jeered.

“Get this little bastard and make him pay boys!” Another yelled out.

Sasuke’s eyes flashed, and before the men even knew what had happened, the boy was gone. He reappeared behind the conga line of bandits, blade halfway out of its sheathe. Slowly, he slid it home and it clicked. And as if that had been a signal, all twenty of the burly men who were staring owlishly at the space Sasuke had been standing in cried out in agony as cuts opened wide on their bodies. Blood spurted from the cuts as the men collapsed, foaming at the mouth. It painted the dirt crimson.

“Shit! The brat’s a ninja!” One of the men cried fearfully. He turned and ran, wanting to get as far away from this demon as he could. Frowning, Sasuke drew his sword again and took aim. Filling his blade with a little of his chakra so he could somewhat control it, he threw it. The blade left his hand spinning madly like a Fuma Shuriken. It was a whirling disk of death.

The spinning blade rapidly closed in on the terrified man and – with a quiet ‘shing’ – took him right off his feet. The man seemed to trip, impacting the dirt with his face and sliding forward, grinding his nose into the earth. Rolling around and revealing his scratched and scuffed mug, he looked down, not really realizing why he had fallen. He stared at his legs, not quite comprehending. Or rather, what was left of his legs. The blade had taken him at the knees, slicing both off cleanly. With mounting horror, he began to quake as he came to the realization that his legs were half gone. His brain shut down, having taken too much abuse to keep functioning.

The spinning blade had continued on its merry path of destruction, flinging blood off slightly, sprinkling the area. The man it was heading towards stared at it like a deer at a Katon jutsu. Thankfully, he was spared the ignoble fate of his comrade.

Less fortunately, it was via Sasuke materializing in front of him staring at the incoming blade with his sheathe buried in the man’s midsection. A sick crack rang through the clearing even over the screaming of the harried man, coming from his broken ribs. The sword sought its target and found it, sliding straight back into its home. The impact drove the sheath backwards slightly, imbedding it further into the abused man behind Sasuke. He collapsed in the dead faint with a bit of spittle flying from his mouth.

He was fortunate, as Sasuke’s senses screamed at him to move and he vanished in a blur of speed. Moments later, an angry blue lightning bolt tore through the space the two males had occupied, just barely missing the falling man’s head.

Sasuke reappeared facing the man, who wasn’t a meathead like the giant Naruto had faced. The man was tall and skinny with purple hair and a Hitai-Ate with the Kumo symbol gouged out. “So, you’re the pest that’s been running around ruining things for us.”

“One of them, perhaps. Though with the amount of challenge I’ve gotten, I’d say you’re more qualified as pests.” Sasuke retorted haughtily.

The purple haired man laughed uproariously, “Look at you. Barely have your headband and you think you’re a big shot.” He jerked his thumb at himself, “The name’s Hideki, feared Nukenin from Kumo! You need no introduction.” He licked his lips, “Not with those fancy eyes of yours. You’re an Uchiha.” He was almost salivating, “Oh, what a joyful day. The Raikage will pay top dollar for those eyes of yours, and you’ve dropped them right into my lap. He may even reinstate me into the ranks. No,” He had a mad look in his eyes, “With those, he’ll even make me a Jonin.”

Sasuke stared at him blankly, “It’ll be hard to perform your duties as a Jonin, I’m afraid.”

Hideki frowned, “Oh, and why is that?” Hideki blinked, and jumped back with shock when he realized Sasuke was no longer standing there.

A voice whispered in his ear, “You’re already dead.” Hideki whirled around in shock but he was too late. A brilliant fire blinded him as Sasuke drew his chokuto for the last time, its blade dancing merrily with intense, burning flame. The next thing Hideki realized was the acrid smell of burning flesh and the sensation of falling.

“A suggestion for your next life.” The – to him – mocking voice of his killer rang in his head as he watched the rest of his body – which had still been standing for a few moments – begin to crumble to the ground, “If you fight a Doujutsu user…don’t threaten his eyes.” Those words would be the last thing Hideki would ever hear.

Sasuke turned and stared at the corpse he created. Now that the deed was done, he felt somewhat in shock. He realized that he had grievously injured most of the men there, but there was a conceivable possibility that they could survive. The most grievous injury was the man who lost his legs, and the blood loss could be stopped with a tourniquet.

There was no such ambiguity here. He had consciously killed someone. It was bloodless – the heat from his new Kaguzuchi having cauterized the body even as it was sliced. But there didn’t need to be blood. He began to tremble slightly and – seeing how he was quivering – the few bandits remaining seemed to gain a second wind and charged for him. They all crumpled, smashing harshly into the floor as their weapons impacted and piled on top of them.

A feeling of utter bloodlust filled the area as an unruffled Kakashi appeared, knocking them out with merely his presence. He calmly walked over to Sasuke, unconcerned about the unconscious men. He grabbed Sasuke’s shoulder gently with a hand, “Are you alright Sasuke?”

Sasuke seemed to start, looking into the lone eye of his sensei before looking back down. His trembling stopped, “Does it get any easier?” He asked, his voice tiny.

Kakashi’s hand left his shoulder and moved to his chin, bringing him to face his sensei. Kakashi stared at him with compassion visible in his one eye, “No.” He said honestly, surprising Sasuke, “And the moment it does become easy…that’s when you know you’re a monster.” He scuffed up Sasuke’s hair, “All you can do is deal with it when you’re safe. You learn to dull it during the moment, so that you can’t be caught off guard. But you can never get rid of it entirely.”

Sasuke took a deep breathe to center himself, “Thanks, Kakashi.”

Kakashi nodded, “Back to the middle camp with you. Naruto should be finished as well.”

-]|[-

Sakura was hidden well in the trees, observing the men partying madly below. They were loud, raucous and already very, very drunk. She also guessed that this was the ‘storage’ camp, seeing the line of tents in the clearing full of cut down trees. But what drew Sakura’s ire was not the obnoxious, drunk laughter coming from the men, but the crying women and children literally caged nearby and the feminine cries for mercy coming from the middle tent. As loud as the cries and smacking sounds were, they were almost drowned out by the other noises. But they weren’t drowned out. Someone was suffering in there and Sakura was building a full head of steam listening to it.

Her inner self Saki was ready to jump down and kick some ass, but Sakura had other ideas, “Sorry Saki, I’m going to start this one off.” There were twenty four men sitting there, meaning that six were missing according to Naruto’s info. She began putting hand seals together, “Nehan Shoja no Jutsu!”

Instantly, she felt roughly a third of her chakra vanish into powering the Genjutsu. This was one of the few wide-area ones she knew, and was rather unique in that it did not have a chakra ceiling. Most genjutsu began to become less effective the more chakra that was put into it, hitting a ‘ceiling’ and growing unstable to the point that even a complete novice could tell he had been put into an illusion. This one on the other hand, had no such limit other than how much chakra the user had. It could theoretically be used to put the entire world to sleep, is there ever came a time where someone with the monstrous chakra reserves to use it as such ever got interested in genjutsu. She truly hoped Naruto would remain uninterested.

Sakura on the other hand, only needed it for a small area. Instantly, white feathers began raining on the men below. The men were roused for a few moments, some even trying to get up, but the Genjutsu’s pull was too strong. One by one, the fell where they sat and slumped over, snoring. She smirked and jumped down, making sure to silence her footsteps. She stepped into the clearing and held up her finger to her lips, shushing the elated looking people in the cages. She strode forward towards the tents, touching bandits here and there in their vital tendons with a glowing hand.

One bandit, roused by the suspicious lack of loud activity, hurried out of one of the tents. He laid eyes on Sakura and the sleeping bandits and made to exclaim loudly to rouse his fellows. Saki didn’t let him. In a flash, she was in front of him, eyes a darker green as her knife-hand crunched into the man’s neck. Choking in surprise, he went down, unconscious from the blow. Saki grabbed his clothes as he fell back, gently lowering the guy to the ground. She didn’t want any of the other ones to be alerted. Luckily, the guy had been in a storage tent full of booze, and there was no one else inside.

Making sure that the tent was empty, she dragged him inside and dropped him. Sneaking to the next tent, she had to hold back from howling in rage. The occupants were stark naked for one. Two burly men were holding down a crying, equally naked woman. The woman was covered in scratches and bruises. One of her eyes was swollen shut and whatever makeup she had worn was long smeared. She was a mess and had a dull look in her visible eye, even as she cried out in pain.

The men didn’t care about her. They just cared for their own self-pleasure. The bigger man was between her legs and holding them open harshly enough to bruise. He was pistoning into her without a care. The other was just demeaning her, sandwiching his member between her breasts and occasionally slapping her.

Saki stared in horror for a moment, and a hysterically furious Sakura reasserted control, “Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu!” she cried out, tears leaking from her eyes.

Instantly, the men cried out in shock as their fantasy turned into a nightmare. The woman under them became grotesque, growing fangs in her vagina. The man who had been fucking her leapt back with a screech of pain and horror as his member was chewed off. The other man wasn’t much better. The woman’s chest burst open and scarabs and centipedes crawled out of her corpse and onto the howling man. He choked and cried as they began biting and burying inside of him, his voice growing hoarser by the moment as his mind tried to deal with the pain.

It was all in their heads. They leapt back, clutching the intact member and clawing at exposed skin respectively in horror. Sakura was merciless. Hands igniting fiercely in chakra, she swiped at their necks. Rather than cutting internally like a regular chakra scalpel, the technique gouged open their necks and spurted blood all over the linen of the tent’s floor.

The scum collapsed like marionettes with their strings cut, falling dead to the floor. Sakura rushed over to the abused woman, reaching a hand out shakily before flinching back. Tears leaked from her eyes as she stared at the dull look on her face. The woman shakily reached a hand out and whispered, “P…please…” She moaned, “Ju…st…ki…ll…me.”

Sakura dipped her head and clenched her fist. Hesitantly, chakra began wisping up in her hand one last time. She shakily moved it to the woman, looking to stop her heart and give her a clean death, at least. A hand grabbed her wrist, and she almost lashed out violently. She recognized the hand. She turned watery eyes to the concerned face of her sensei and leapt at him, clutching him like a lifeline and sobbing nearly hysterically. Her head nestled in the crook of his neck, Kakashi stood both of them up, hugging the girl tightly.

He eyed the abused woman, “Sleep.” He said, casting a genjutsu with his eye. It wasn’t a Sharingan genjutsu, but she wasn’t a ninja. A clone stepped out of his shadow, and wrapped the woman up in a blanket, gathering her up. Kakashi walked out of the tent into a scene of utter devastation. The earth was gouged. The first tent burned freely, engulfing all of the other tents. What men weren’t burned or sliced up were spasming as if their nerves were on fire. The evidence of Kakashi’s rage was a thing to behold, for exposing his precious student to such a thing. The cages had been emptied, more clones leading their joyful, relieved occupants to safety.

But Sakura didn’t see it. She was still sobbing, and Kakashi kept her head cradled so she couldn’t turn. He walked through the camp holding her with his clone holding the other woman as the flames from the other tents finally engulfed the last one. The clone rushed off at speed, running as fast as it could to the hospital in Mutsu. The real Kakashi and Sakura were engulfed by the shadows of the trees, leaving only the destroyed camp behind. The fire creeped, starting to lick at the tent containing the booze.

A massive explosion blew through the forest, wiping the camp off the face of the earth.

-]|[-

“You alright Princess?” Naruto asked the Uchiha. He was sitting on the largest bit of rock left from the massive boulder that had been thrown at him earlier.

The Uchiha in question was walking slowly, sword back at his side. He looked rather lost. “I’ll be fine.” He said shortly.

“How’d you like your first taste, Sasuke?” He asked solemnly, face closed off. Sasuke shot him a dirty look, “That’s the path you’re heading towards, you know. Only your goal isn’t a nameless face you can just try to forget.”

Sasuke ground his teeth and clenched his fists, “I know that.” He breathed out.

Naruto got up and clapped him in the back, “As long as you do. You may be a jackass, but you’re still my teammate.” He smiled weakly, “Let me know if I can help in any way.”

Sasuke looked surprised and looked away, “Thanks.”

“I do care, even if you might have thought I was just calling you out. I don’t like hatred.” Naruto said, “I was being serious when I told you I could feel your hate. It’s…disgusting.” Sasuke looked at him with shock, “You ever have to wade through a sewer? Because that’s what it feels like, Princess. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been able to feel emotions from others. Mostly negative ones. I’ve learned to tone it down since then…somewhat…” He sighed, “But because people are idiots and fear what they don’t understand, I felt a whole lot of negative emotions growing up. It’s hard to stay cheerful when parents pull their kids away from you and knowing that they’re doing it because of dumb fear.” He chuckled, “I suppose it was a good thing though. It made me know I wanted to be nothing like them.”

“I…I don’t understand.” Sasuke said, “Why…?”

Naruto laughed, “Like I said. I don’t care if people know anymore. I own that shit. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to tell you.” He grinned, “More fun for me that way.”

Sasuke’s glaring retort was interrupted when Kakashi appeared then, steering Sakura gently towards the boys. She was a mess. Her eyes were puffy and her light mascara was running. Naruto moved forward to them, and Sakura latched on to him like a vice. “I’m sorry Sakura chan.” His right hand was caressing her hair, the other holding her waist tightly, “I should have taken that camp myself. Left the bigger one to you and Kakashi.”

She pushed him back, shaking her head, “Don’t.” She said earnestly, “I knew full well what I could have seen there when you mentioned it and I went anyway.” She smiled weakly, “I didn’t complain then, and I shouldn’t complain now.”

Naruto sighed. He didn’t agree, but he wouldn’t begrudge her a show of strength, “Okay.” He smiled back hesitantly, and squeezed her one last time.

She let go and hugged Sasuke tightly. The boy didn’t react immediately, looking wide-eyed at the girl. He looked quite awkward as he hesitantly patted her on the shoulder. She snorted out a bit of despondent laughter, “You really are hopeless, aren’t you Sasuke-kun?” Sasuke looked helplessly at the other two males of the group, who only were smirking at him and his plight.

“Well, this mission was a disaster.” Naruto said, blowing air through his teeth.

Kakashi nodded as Sakura separated from Sasuke, “Indeed. But it was a mission we took and carried out to the end. I declare this mission complete.” Kakashi looked at all three of his students fondly, “Let’s go home.”

“Yeah.” Sakura looked at the ground, “I’m done with this hellhole.”

The pace they took back to Konoha was much more subdued than the pace they had taken out of it.

-]|[-

“I see.” Sarutobi sighed, exhaling a plume of smoke, “Must you take after your mother Naruto? Must you really?”

Naruto chuckled sheepishly, “Well I suppose we were begging for action.” He said weakly.

“And you certainly got it.” Sarutobi groused, chewing on his pipe. “Team Seven may have two days of mission leave. What you do with it is your choice. Sakura-chan, Sasuke-kun, I do recommend you speak with someone over your experiences. It was an especially nasty way to be exposed to the darker side of our world. You especially, Sakura-chan.”

Sakura nodded, “Yes, Hokage-sama. I have already spoken to Kakashi-sensei and my teammates on the way home, but I think it will do me some good to speak to others as well.”

“You have a good head on your shoulders, Sakura-chan.” Sarutobi smiled gently at her, “Is there anything else you would like to discuss?”

“There is.” Kakashi stepped forward, “Naruto here seems to have found a weapon he’s rather taken to.”

“Hoh?” Sarutobi raised an eyebrow, wondering why such an insignificant detail was being brought up. Naruto himself looked equally confused.

Kakashi smirked, “He was quite enjoying his new staff before he broke it.” Sarutobi’s eyebrows shot up momentarily before he smirked, “It was unfortunately a rather flimsy piece of garbage. As the resident Grand Master of the Staff in Konoha, I don’t suppose you can recommend a good crafter?” His student’s eyes widened.

Sarutobi laughed heartily before scrutinizing Naruto. The blonde held his gaze without flinching. He smirked, before pulling up his sleeve, revealing an intricate tattoo with three circles with kanji in them being the centerpiece. He lightly touched the seal closest to his elbow, finger slightly aglow with chakra.

POOF

A cloud of smoke appeared and covered the Hokage. As it cleared, it revealed Sarutobi with a long staff in his right hand. It was a silver, almost metallic color. Black leather wrapped it in two locations, forming firm grips. Both ends were capped by flanged metal crowns. Sarutobi grinned at Naruto’s shocked look, “This is the Mushō Shingetsukon. It was the first staff I ever crafted myself. It served me faithfully for many years, before I moved on to bigger and better things. Hopefully, it will do the same for you!” He tossed it forward at a blistering speed, watching as it impacted into Naruto’s outstretched hand.

Naruto’s eyes widened in surprise as he almost was forced to take a step back and his arm started dipping, before he stopped it and forced it still, “It’s so heavy!” He exclaimed.

Sarutobi laughed, “Indeed, but not heavy enough to inconvenience you, I hope.”

Naruto smirked darkly, accustoming himself to its weight. “Not a chance.” He bowed, causing Sarutobi’s eyes to widen this time, “Thank you, Hokage-sama.”

Hiruzen snorted and waved him off, “None of that, brat. It doesn’t suit you.” Naruto looked up, “Consider it an apology for missing your last few birthdays.”

Naruto grinned and began spinning it inexpertly. He formed a small chakra chain and used it to secure his new staff to his back, “Thanks, old man.”

Sarutobi waved them away, before returning to his paperwork. “Not quite what I expected, but it was a much better outcome.” Kakashi said lightly.

“Oh yeah.” Naruto grinned, “I can’t wait to start learning to use this thing.”

“You can have Gai begin teaching you. He’s not as good with it as he is with his nunchaku, but he is fairly good with the staff. Tomorrow, we’ll be doing team sparring. Dismissed!”

“Sakura-chan, Princess, wanna go eat?” Naruto asked lazily. He was pretty sure that Sakura would, but Sasuke had never joined them before.

“Sure! Sasuke-kun?” Sakura asked half-hopefully, and half because she was polite.

Sasuke closed his eyes. ‘One day you’re going to wake up and realize that you’ve succeeded. And then what? You’ll have nothing. No one to celebrate with. No one interested in getting to know you after you burned them for years. Nothing that you enjoy doing. Nothing else to live for.’ Naruto’s words rang in his head. He sighed, “Yeah, I’ll go.” Naruto and Sakura jerked to a stop and stared at him, wide-eyed. He rolled his, “Keep staring like that and I’ll change my mind.”

Naruto grinned and hung his arm around his shoulder, weighing him down. He looked irritated, but Naruto was grinning and Sakura was beaming, “Keep it up Princess and I may upgrade you to Bastard.”

“What the hell kind of upgrade is that?” Sasuke and Sakura asked dully.

-]|[-

Time passed, and with it more C-Ranks gone bad for Team Seven, much to the Sandaime’s increasing annoyance. Naruto specifically was rapidly becoming as infamous in the mission office as his mother had been long ago. He, of course, tried to shift the blame onto Sakura with an angelic look on his face.

No one bought the act.

After a few months, something changed. “Wait, what?” Naruto looked bewildered and his partners were equally mystified.

“It is exactly as I said, we will be taking a week off from missions as well as team training.”

Sakura scratched her head, “But why? Are you going on a big time mission without us again?”

Kakashi shook his head, “Nah, nothing so serious. We’re having a bit of a…special event…shall we say.”

Sasuke blinked, turning somewhat interested eyes towards his silver-haired teacher, “The only special event I can think of is the Chunin Exam. But that isn’t for another two months.”

Kakashi chuckled, “No, no…think of this event as a…reunion.”

They looked clueless, before cottoning on. Sasuke smirked and Sakura giggled, “Oh, a reunion huh? Is it the kind of event where I get to hogtie a pig?” Saki clearly was in control at this point.

Both Naruto and Sasuke looked at her strangely. Sasuke wasn’t sure what she meant with the comment – having repressed his academy memories – and Naruto still wasn’t even in the loop. He barely went to class in his final year and even when he did, he was usually late. With him being two years older, it meant he hadn’t gotten to know much of his graduation class. Much.

And it annoyed him, “Oy! Someone mind clueing me in?”

Sakura took control once more and giggled, “Oh nothing. We’re just going to have a meet and greet with some…old friends.”

Naruto finally had that flash of realization and his grin turned vicious, “Oh, and I was having such a nice time without having to deal with dogs.”

Kakashi facepalmed and mumbled to himself, “Maybe this isn’t the best idea.” Clearing his throat, he spoke clearly, “Sakura is correct. You will be having spars with the other members of your graduating class. Hokage-sama is very interested in seeing how much you all have grown.”

Sasuke snorted, “They’ll have to have trained pretty hard to match us.”

Naruto grinned before smacking Sasuke upside the head, drawing a glare from the boy, “Don’t get arrogant Princess. We’re all very strong, but they’ve had just as much time to grow as we have. Don’t belittle them unless they earn it.”

Sasuke just hummed through his teeth and looked away.

-]|[-

Naruto was the first to the training grounds that they would be using for the next week. With how early it was, he could barely make out the features in the darkness. It was a fairly varied location, full of different fighting areas. There was a forested area off to one side, with a clearing with a single tree here or there in the middle. Off to the other side of the trees was a calm, crystal blue lake. There was even a small mountain nearby.

All in all, a perfect area to have this little contest. He made his way to one of the trees in the middle and relaxed in the branches. His presence in the grounds dimmed, and he began to calmly wait. As people slowly started to trickle in, he observed.

Sakura was the first to make it there – around when the light started peaking over the horizon – and he purposefully let out a tiny chakra spike. She didn’t even flinch in her walk, but her face lit up in a small smirk. She lay back against the tree and waited, eyes closed and humming pleasantly.

The next to make it was Shikamaru, oddly enough. “What a drag.” He yawned, falling onto his back and starting to doze off.

Sakura snorted, “How did your lazy bum get here so early?” She called out. She grew slightly irritated when, instead of answering, the sloth started to snore lightly. She rolled her eyes and settled back once more.

Slowly, more and more people started to trickle in. First was Asuma, then Kurenai. They nodded to Sakura before flopping down onto a boulder together, engaging in light conversation. Both Naruto and Sakura observed in slight bemusement as the Hokage’s bearded son started flirting with his coworker. Then Hinata Hyuuga arrived, poking her fingers timidly. Sakura sighed. If anything, the girl looked like even more of a mouse than she had been months ago, which was truly saying something.

The first incident occurred when Sasuke arrived. Ino had been waiting impatiently and – seeing her target – sprang forward with her arms spread and squealing out, “Sasuke-kuuun!” Just before she wrapped her arms around her prize, there was a blur. “Oh, did you miss me, Sasuke-kun?” She rubbed her cheeks against his, trying to mark him with her scent.

“A-ano. Ino-san?” The timid voice coming from her arms was decidedly not male and sexy.

Ino ‘eeped’ before springing off of Hinata, “Wha-what the hell Hinata!”

Hinata bowed her head and poked her fingers together and mumbling. Ino sighed, before searching out for Sasuke. He was sitting on the rock Hinata had claimed earlier, polishing his chokuto with a ‘don’t come near me’ aura surrounding him. Even Ino decided discretion would probably be advised in this case, and sat with her team before starting to bug the both of them. Hinata wavered there, poking her fingers together, before finally going off to find another seat.

By the time Kiba arrived – last – the clearing wasn’t so quiet anymore. “Yahoo! Looks like the gangs all here!” He had that wolfish grin on his face with his pet dog Akamaru on his head. He then looked around, “Hey, wait a second? Where’s the dead last?” He sneered, “Was he too scared to show his face?”

Sakura giggled while Sasuke snorted, “Too scared to show his face? Are we thinking of the same guy?”

Kiba barked out a laugh, “Then where is mister bigshot then?”

Naruto took that as his cue, “I’m right here, dog breath.” Several of the people in the clearing jumped as Naruto leapt from his tree and landed in front of Kiba. His hands were in his pockets and he was slightly slouched, yet he still had more than half a foot on Kiba. And as they took in his hard muscles and menacing grin, he painted a fairly intimidating picture. “What was that you were saying? Something about me being too scared to show my face?”

Kiba swallowed roughly, before baring his teeth in an attempt at intimidating. He snorted and looked away, crossing his arms, “Probably what you should have done, dead last. I’ll look forward to knocking that grin off your face.”

Kakashi rolled his eye, “And now that our measuring contest is finished-” Several of the girls flushed bright red and gave him a dirty glare, “-we can now proceed. You all will be fighting at least twice over the next week. For the first three days you’ll be fighting based off of draws.” Here, he unveiled a small box, “Each of you will write your names on a piece of paper while using a small amount of chakra. Your slips will be placed in these boxes and all you have to do is press this red circle with chakra. Your name will be removed from the pot and a single name will pop out for you as your opponent. After that, you all may fight who you wish on the last two days.”

Some of the people grinned in excitement, while others groaned. But all of them complied, and soon they had their first match. Sakura would be facing off against Kiba.

Kiba groaned, “Man, we got such an easy first round.” He slumped over in depression before walking forward.

Ino snickered and elbowed Sakura’s side, “Too bad for you, forehead.” She ribbed, “Taken out before you even get a chance to show off for Sasuke-kun. Maybe you should quit?” Sakura merely smiled gently while walking forward, completely ignoring Ino. The platinum blonde growled, incensed. “Hey, did you hear me forehead!”

Sakura stopped and looked over her shoulder, “Huh? Did you say something, pig?” Ino’s jaw dropped as the rest of the Genin snickered.

Kakashi pumped his fist in the air, with a single tear falling from his visible eye, ‘I did it! Minato-sensei! Are you watching me?’

Kurenai stepped forward, “Now, as this is to determine how well you all have grown over the past couple of months, you may use any tools you wish to. Your only restriction is that you do not inflict any serious injuries on your opponents! This goes for everyone here!” She said sternly, glaring at all of them. “If I or any of my fellow Jonin call a match, it is over. You will be disciplined if you do not stop. Is that in any way not understood?”

Both opponents squared off after responding affirmatively. “You should have listened to blondie!” Kiba chortled. “I won’t even need Akamaru for this one.” He held a fist up, “I’ll finish this in a single hit!” He boasted.

Sakura’s grin widened and her eyes flashed dark green. Naruto smirked off in the distance, ‘This will be good. Saki-chan is going to lay that mutt right the fuck out.’

Kurenai looked between the two and raised her right arm. Sweeping it down as if chopping the air, she yelled “Begin!”

Kiba took off rapidly, closing the distance between him and his opponent extremely quickly. He certainly had improved since the academy. Too bad his attitude hadn’t. Perhaps if he had been more observant, he would have noticed the eagerness in Sakura’s eyes.

Saki waited till the last second, before moving so rapidly her formed blurred. Suddenly, Kiba was flying past her starting location, arm stretched out with Saki behind him. Even as he corrected his overthrowing blunder, he turned in an attempt to knock the girl out.

Crunch

Saki’s fist dug so far into Kiba’s face that it deformed. With a yell of exertion, Sakura sent Kiba packing. He hit the ground at speed, flipping ass over teakettle before going further and flipping back onto his stomach. Kiba’s vision swam and he was seeing two of everything. He tried to get himself up but his arms wobbled and he fell back down. “Guh!”

“Oh dear.” Saki said airily, “Are you alright? You don’t look too great down there on the floor, Kiba-kun.” Kiba was still struggling to get to his feet. “Who was it that was going to be down in a single blow again?” Her smirk was vicious.

Kiba finally made it to his feet but wobbled slightly before he regained his composure. He spat out the blood that had filled his mouth and glared at his pink-haired opponent. He growled, his pupils dilating, “Still you, bitch.” He got on all fours and growled, “Shikyaku no jutsu!” Immediately, his nails started sharpening into claws and his features became more animalistic.

With a howl of rage, he launched himself forward, “Tsuga!” He began to spin, turning into a whirling dervish of claws. Saki dodged the technique and kept watching as Kiba came at her, over and over again.

‘Saki-chan. Let me take over!’ Sakura told her older self.

Saki’s eyes widened as she dodged, a mite slower than the last time, ‘Are you sure Sakura-chan? I can take him.’

‘Yeah. I figured his little dance out.’ With a grin, her dark green eyes brightened. She waited patiently as the tornado of claws came closer and closer, gouging trenches into the earth. Sakura’s hand lit up light green behind her back. This time, when Kiba passed by her, she struck. Sticking her hand directly into the danger, she seemingly was rebuffed as the attack continued on. The wind surrounding the technique was powerful enough to knock her onto her back, but not enough to injure her. She calmly got to her feet and smirked at her opponent.

The tornado began to wobble and slow down, before it dissipated entirely leaving only a spinning, howling Kiba clutching his left ankle. He hit the floor and went into a tumble, spinning across the clearing before finally hitting a rock. His back bent as he impacted and spittle flew from his lips, before he crashed down and did not move again.

Sakura smirked, “He won’t be getting up again, and even if he did I cut his left Achilles. He’s done.” She announced.

Kurenai shook her head in disbelief before calling it, “Winner, Sakura!” She said quietly, but in the almost silent, disbelieving clearing she may as well have screamed it. Sakura walked back to the rest of the Genin with her head held high, looking only to her grinning teammates. She bumped fists with Naruto before taking a seat next to Sasuke, not saying a word to any of the others.

“Good job, Sakura-chan.” Naruto grinned at her.

“As if there was any doubt?” She said mock-haughtily.

“What the hell was that, forehead?” Ino looked punch-drunk. She was just in utter disbelief. What the hell had happened to her old rival?

Sakura blinked and looked nonplused, “I trained.” She said flatly, “Better hope you did as well, otherwise our fight may be a bit boring.” She shrugged and turned away, rather displeased with her former friend’s reaction.

And unfortunately for Sakura, the next match ended up being Ino against Shino. Predictably, that match went…well…predictably. Ino was too much of a pampered princess currently to fight Shino on eve ground. She had no method of locking him down to use her Shintenshin no Jutsu. As soon as Shino managed to get some of his Kikaichū on to her, she went down, practically foaming at the mouth.

No one was really sure if that was from her tiny chakra reserves being drained or from her being touched by bugs.

“…” Sakura slapped a hand to her face, “Jeez…”

“Good old Ino.” Naruto snickered, “Some things just don’t change, eh Princess?” He drew some weird looks from the other Genin who weren’t used to the nicknames.

“Pathetic.” Sasuke snorted.

Sympathetic was not a word to be associated with Uchiha Sasuke.

Sakura crossed her arms, “Man, I’m not even looking forward to fighting her now.” She pouted, “She’s certainly stronger than she used to be. Faster too. But her attitude is the same.” She shook her head, “She has a ways to go.”

The thoughts were also echoing in Asuma’s head. He was rubbing his head sheepishly while Kakashi stared at him with that one, nonchalant eye. It was worse than any glare. Soon, Sasuke fought Shikamaru and trounced him,. Shikamaru was brilliant in his attempts to trap Sasuke with his shadow, but Sasuke kept pushing him to the point that he couldn’t settle down to plan properly.

Kurenai shook her head, “The last match for today is… Akimichi Choji against Hyuuga Hinata!” A small ‘eep’ was heard from the girl in question.

Naruto grinned, “I’ve heard good things about the Hyuuga’s Taijutsu. This should be a good match no?”

Sasuke nodded, his Sharingan spinning into existence, “We’ll have to see if it can match Choji’s brute power.”

Sakura smiled, “Hinata was one of the top girls in the academy. She wasn’t too far behind you, Sasuke-kun. Should be a good match.”

‘No.’ Naruto’s eyes sprang open as he heard a voice he hadn’t heard in a few weeks.

‘Hoh, you’re awake Kurama? How was your nap?’

He heard a rumble, as if the great fox in his head was stretching, ‘Wasn’t bad.’ He admitted, ‘But you three are wrong. This match will be quick.’

Naruto quirked an eyebrow, before looking at Hinata and Choji, ‘What do you mean? Hinata was one of the best Kunoichi according to Sakura and Choji is no slouch either.’ Both of them were in standard ready stances, and looking prepared.

He heard the great fox inside him snort, ‘Only nine of your class made it to Genin kid. Being one of the best Kunoichi when the rest of the riffraff are civilians more concerned with their looks isn’t hard. Now feel.’ He closed his eyes, before they snapped open after only a few seconds. Fear. Hesitance. A complete lack of confidence. An almost crushing sense of self-doubt… ‘You see?’ Kurama rumbled in his mind.

‘…What the hell happened to her?’ He asked silently, clenching his fists. He had never been close to the girl, but that didn’t mean he didn’t care. She was a comrade. A fellow Konoha Shinobi. He didn’t like seeing people like this.

‘She has been like this for a long time.’ Kurama sighed, ‘Or she was in the few glimpses I cared to take on the days I happened to be awake and you happened to be in class.’

‘And you never told me?’ Naruto asked in irritation.

Kurama snorted heavily, ‘She’s your classmate, not mine. You have the exact same Emotion Sensing ability I have. I thought you knew.’

‘No.’ Naruto thought heavily, ‘I didn’t.’

But their musing was cut off by the start of the match. Choji started the match off with a Kunai duel, which Hinata easily managed to avoid with a single Kunai of her own. Then they engaged in Taijutsu. Choji was clearly the stronger of the two, but likewise Hinata was the more skilled. For every glancing blow Choji landed, she delivered three.

But she may as well not have landed them at all. They had no power behind them. Every strike had nothing at all in them. She was fighting on autopilot, and her hesitance was proving as detrimental as he feared.

Soon, Choji gained the upper hand, surprising Ino – but not Shikamaru – that he was capable of using his Bubun Baika no Jutsu. With the extra size in his right arm, Choji pierced her defenses and knocked her clean off her feet.

Naruto could feel that she was still awake. She was in pain sure, but not an overt amount. She could still fight. But she didn’t. She lay there, from the moment she was knocked down to the moment the match was over. Only then did she ‘struggle’ to her feet.

Naruto’s gaze sharpened and he walked over to his sensei, “Oi scarecrow.” He said lowly. Kakashi looked over lazily, which vanished when he saw the seriousness in his student’s eyes, “I fight her tomorrow.”

Kakashi’s eye widened, “You do, do you?”

Naruto didn’t take his eyes off her, “Yeah. I know for a fact that you three rigged that box so I couldn’t fight Ino.” Kakashi stifled a small smirk, “I’m asking you to make a small adjustment for me tomorrow.” He eyed Hinata, who had gotten to her feet and walked back over to her rock, with her head held down, “I want to try to help her. She’s a comrade, and even if I know jack about her, it’s painful to see a comrade like that.”

Kakashi sighed, “Fine. Just don’t beat her into the floor like you did to Sasuke.”

Naruto snorted, “The hell do I look like? The Princess?” He tossed over his shoulder as he walked away.

Kakashi addressed the Genin, “Right, today’s matches are over. Be back here, same time tomorrow everyone.”

“Oi, Hinata!” Naruto called out as she started walking away. She stiffened in surprise, before turning. Naruto could see the defeat in her eyes, and it wasn’t something he liked looking at. He waved her over.

She timidly made her way to him, “Ah…y-yes Naruto-san?”

“I’d like to talk with you. Let’s go find somewhere private.”

Hinata blushed brilliantly. That sounded a bit like a date request. She didn’t quite know how to react. “A-ano!”

“Great!” Naruto didn’t let her finish, before clapping a hand on her shoulder. The both of them vanished, one silently, the other with a squeak.

“Hey!” Kurenai yelled. “Kakashi, what is your student doing with Hinata?”

Kakashi eyed her in disappointment, causing the more inexperienced Jonin to flinch, “What is he doing? Your job, I’d wager. You coddled that girl too much.”

Kurenai flushed, “Where did they go?” She demanded.

Kakashi waved airily, “Who knows?” he vanished in a plume of smoke of his own. Kurenai grit her teeth. That was all she could do.

-]|[-

The two of them reappeared miles away. The top of the fourth’s head was one of his favorite places in the village. Somewhere that he could think and relax and just take in the sight of his village. Hinata stumbled and looked a bit green, “I…”

Naruto steadied her, “Easy now.” He had a light grin on his face, “First time being taken side-along in a Shunshin?” She nodded, and looked like she immediately regretted the action, “Well you’re certainly doing better than I did. I threw up right on the Hokage’s white robes.” The dizziness had lessened somewhat, so Hinata couldn’t help but let out a little giggle. “Sit.” Naruto said, plopping down himself. The timidness had returned and she avoided his eyes. They sat in silence for a moment, as Naruto worked out what he would say.

What, he didn’t plan things out. What did he look like? Shikamaru? “A-ano. Wh-why am I here, Na-Naruto-san?” Hinata finally broke the silence and asked her question.

Naruto ignored it, “What’s your dream, Hinata-chan?” Her face blazed red. How forward! He didn’t know her nearly well enough to be that familiar with her! “Why do you fight?”

The question doused her in ice, “I…” Under his relaxed gaze, she licked her lips, “I…I don’t think I know you well enough to…”

“Hinata.” He cut her off. Quite rudely too, “Why did you insult Choji?”

She gasped, “I! I would never!”

“Wouldn’t you?” He raised an eyebrow in her direction, “Then why did you throw your match? I know damn well you didn’t give it your all. If I was him, I’d be pretty damn hurt to know that you let me win.” Her head dipped and tears prickled in her eyes. She couldn’t do anything right! She really was a failure.

Naruto’s eyes widened slightly as her emotions started spiraling in a dervish of self-reproach and loathing. She felt like she just had no hope. This hadn’t been his goal at all! He lifted an arm and flicked her on the nose, “Ow!” She clutched her nose, pale eyes prickling. He stared at her, wondering what in the world had happened to the poor girl. He was actually not sure about how he would proceed. She solved the problem for him, “Ano…” She hesitated, “Why…why?” She wasn’t sure what to ask, but he understood.

“Because you’re hurting.” He said simply, “I’ve never seen anyone get so down on themselves like that before. What happened to you, Hinata?”

“I…” She closed her shiny eyes. He was…concerned for her? She couldn’t remember anyone being concerned for her before, “…I’m…I’m a failure.” She said miserably, “N-nothing I ever d-d-do is good enough. I-”

Naruto could feel her emotions darkening once more, “A failure to who?” He asked gently.

Tears started spilling out, as did her secrets, “M-my father…my clan… everyone…” Naruto moved closer and started running his hand up and down her back soothingly, “I-I’m supposed to be the Hyuuga heiress…but everyone says it should be my s-sister. She’s so much younger b-but I always lose to her. I…I’m just always a d-disappointment!”

Shiiit…This was very much a family issue. “Well, prodigies do exist you know. Maybe she’s just really talented in Taijutsu. Why should her skill mean you’re a failure? You were one of the bent Kunoichi in the academy…or so I’ve heard.” He grinned sheepishly, “Not like I attended much last year.”

Hinata shook her head despondently, “She’s five years younger than me.” She said lowly, “S-so I know how it looks like…to my clan when she beats me.” She hugged her knees, “I know that! I just…I don’t want to hurt her… I don’t like hurting people.” She finished lowly.

Naruto’s gaze hardened, “Being gentle is one thing Hinata, but you’re hurting her AND you’re hurting yourself with your actions.” She blinked at him in shock, “If you don’t give it your all and they replace you as heiress, then your clan has a weaker leader. If she goes through life without feeling pain and only winning, then she isn’t going to grow. When she goes out in the field with her team years from now and encounters a difficult situation she may not have the strength of will to move past it. And all the while you’re only hurting yourself.” Hinata looked so utterly stricken she looked like a ghost. He clapped his hand on her shoulder, “Being gentle is an amazing trait. I wish we had more people like you in the world. Maybe then we wouldn’t have been on the third of our World Wars.” Her expression turned to wonderment and a heavy blush started staining her cheeks. No one had ever said something like that to her, “But there’s a time and a place for everything. You’re never going to get stronger if you don’t move forward, and you can’t protect anyone if you aren’t strong. The only one you should want to better yourself for is you. Not your father. Not your sister. You. If they’re getting personal training, then you need to train harder. So that one day if they falter, you’ll be able to pick them up.”

She stared at him, almost with stars in her eyes, “H-how…how can you be so confident?”

He laughed, “Why should anyone believe in me if I don’t believe in myself?” He stood, “Everyone in the academy thought I was a failure. If I paid attention to any of those jackasses, I wouldn’t be where I am now. If they don’t believe in you then you damn well prove them wrong.” She stared at him in awe. He cracked his knuckles and stretched his back out, “So I’ll ask you again Hinata-chan…why do you fight? What is your dream?”

She looked down, before staring up at him, “To…to reunite my family as one, and do away with that h-horrible seal!”

He grinned, “Then you need to fight for that dream with both hands!” He gave her a hand and helped her to her feet, “Now, you and I are going to fight tomorrow.” Her eyes shot open in shock, “I better see some fire in those pretty eyes of yours tomorrow Hinata-chan, because I’m not going to go easy on you.” Her face flamed red again. He walked towards the edge of the Yondaime’s head and waved carelessly over his shoulder, “See ya.” And with that, he stepped off and plummeted down to the city below. Hinata scrambled in shock to the edge and watched him fall, sighing in relief when he didn’t go splat.

-]|[-

“The first match of the day shall be… Uzumaki Naruto vs Hyuuga Hinata!” Kurenai shot her student a worried look. Maybe if Kakashi hadn’t done that rant months ago, she would have dismissed Naruto now. But yesterday’s events were making her antsy. She gave her precious student a worried look as she walked forward, only for her eyes to go wide. Hinata looked…different. She had a spark in her pale eyes that Kurenai hadn’t seen in years. Not since Hanabi had beaten her in an official spar and her father had verbally torn strips off of her.

He grinned at her from his place at the other side of the clearing, “Those are some nice eyes.” He had his hands in his pockets and his grin widened as he saw her cheeks momentarily gain some color. “Let’s have a good match, eh Hinata-chan?”

“H-hai!” She took the Jūken stance.

Off to the side, Kiba was crowing to everyone in earshot, “Hah! Poor dead last. Hinata’s going to tear him a new one. I’ve never seen that look in her eyes before.”

Sakura shook her head in disbelief, “You’re such an idiot Kiba. Weren’t you paying attention yesterday?” Kiba snarled angrily at her, “You haven’t seen anything Naruto-kun can do.”

“Kun? Since when is Naruto a kun, forehead?” Ino smirked, “You giving up on Sasuke-kun?”

Sakura rolled her eyes, “I’m not even looking forward to fighting you anymore pig. You clearly haven’t grown up at all.” Ino’s jaw dropped, and the other’s turned to her in surprise.

Kurenai finally brought her hand swiping down, “Begin!” The veins around Hinata’s eyes bulged as her Byakugan activated.

She immediately cringed and almost closed her eyes, “S-so much! So bright!” Naruto’s dense golden chakra was churning inside his chakra system, and it was bright to the point that Hinata had to focus extra-hard to dim it enough not to go blind.

Naruto grinned, “Here I come!” He charged forward at a blistering speed, fists coming out of his pockets as he engaged Hinata. His fist screamed through the air with enough power to pulverize stone, and Hinata sprang into action. Her right arm smacked into Naruto’s wrist and knocked the attack off course. Her own silver chakra lanced out of her arm through one of her Tenketsu and went through the boy’s arm.

But Hinata gasped as she back-handsprung away, “N-no way!” Naruto grinned at her again, his form starting to be shadowed by the golden chakra that was now visible around his body. Everyone in the clearing who hadn’t seen his visible chakra before – everyone not on Team Seven – gaped in shock. Hinata bit her lip. She wasn’t that great at making her chakra lances through her extremities yet. She hadn’t been able to make it sharp enough and Naruto’s chakra was so stupidly dense that it had deflected her Poke of Doom around the Tenketsu she had aimed to close. Instead, the lance had torn through his muscle, yet even as she watched, it was already healed.

She definitely needed to put in more work in on using the Jūken from other less-used Tenketsu. She would probably only be able to close his with her fingertips. She rushed forward, determination in her eyes, and engaged. Silver chakra flew past Naruto in bursts as her palms went past him. She dodged a fist and used her hands to stop his knee.

Or at least she tried to. Instead she would herself lifting up into the air and flipping over him with her hands screaming in pain. Naruto placed his foot back on the ground, and tried to spin around. He grimaced as his leg didn’t want to fully cooperate, and he wobbled. He completed the turn just as Hinata landed, blowing on her aching hands, “Damn, that actually hurt.” Despite his words, he was grinning as he massaged his thigh right above his knee.

Hinata’s jaw dropped as the two Tenketsu she had managed to close just burst open again, “No…no fair!” She cried out, “H-how did you do that?” She was back to biting her lip. Was his chakra really that dense that he could just force his Tenketsu back open? She would have to close a lot more of them at once in the same area to keep them closed. Or that’s what she figured at any rate.

“Do what?” he grinned and cracked his neck, “Let’s kick it up a gear, shall we?” Her eyes bulged as his chakra started condensing rapidly at single points on his arm. It was almost like he was going to solidify it. She had no idea how right she was. She ‘eeped’ in shock as he tossed his arm forward and a massive chain with a spear-head shot towards her. She dodged rolled out of the way and her Byakugan allowed her to see the chain piercing through the ground like butter. It ignored all obstacles in its path as it changed course in the earth and shot towards her. She leapt out of the way and sliced her hand sideways, chakra blazing. Her silver-coated hand sliced straight through the chain.

Naruto grimaced in shock for the first time, “What?!”

Hinata landed as the broken link crashed into the dirt and threw up a plume of smoke. The chakra evaporated as the rest of the link retreated into Naruto. She smiled for the first time as she saw that she had just taken out a massive chunk of his chakra from breaking that chain. The smile turned into a light grimace as she realized how much of a relative term that was. He’d lost more chakra than she had to use in three days and he still had more than everyone in the clearing put together. “S-sorry N-Naruto-kun. The Jūken can destroy any c-constructs made of chakra.”

Naruto frowned, “Right, except my chains are supposed to be able to absorb chakra. Man, that Jūken of yours is scaaary.” She smiled despite herself, surprised at that information.

She put on a brave face. She had to win now, because she was pretty sure he’d win out in a war of attrition, “Y-you are within my range of divination!” Kurenai – who had been watching the young girl perform as if she was an utter stranger – gasped in shock, “Hakke Sanjūni Shō” She raced forward as Naruto sharpened his gaze, “Two Palms!” Naruto bent his knees and somersaulted right over the girl while forming a hand seal. His staff appeared in his hand with a burst of smoke. Hinata didn’t flinch as she whirled around, “Four Palms!” She ducked her head under the staff’s swing and nailed Naruto twice in the chest, “Eight Palms!” Naruto grimaced and swung his leg for a sweep, which she made the mistake of jumping over. She managed to get five pokes to connect with his leg, but the staff caught her across the stomach and sent her stumbling back.

Hinata rolled away, clutching her stomach and gasping for breath. She scrambled to her feet and rolled out of the way as Naruto crashed down. Her movements were noticeably shaky as she rasped, “Sixteen palms!” Her fingers found their marks on his arms, closing all eight of her desired Tenketsu. “Thirty-two palms!”

“Not this time!” Naruto yelled with a grin, “Kage Bunshin no jutsu!” A hapless clone appeared in front of her and took the brunt of her strikes. Naruto fought through the pain in his leg enough to throw a kick at her as the clone vanished. She crossed her arms to block and Naruto – even in pain and weakened from the Jūken – still managed to put a lot of power into it. The air was knocked out of her again as his heel smashed through her guard and sent her rolling to the floor.

Kurenai interfered, “I believe that’s enough! I’m calling this one in Naruto’s favor!” That looked like a damn hard hit.

Naruto smiled as he gathered the pained girl in his arms, “Damn good show Hinata-chan.”

She smiled weakly as she was clutching her stomach and breathing heavily, “Yo-you think?”

Naruto laughed, “That was a better workout than I usually get. Your Taijutsu is no joke. Keep at it! I’d love to spar with you again.” Kurenai watched Hinata’s face and a gentle smile grew on her lips.

“Going overboard again, huh Naruto?” Sakura asked dryly as she placed her green hand on Hinata, “Jeez you idiot. You cracked her ribs.” Hinata moaned as the soothing chakra healed her injury.

Naruto set her down gently and rubbed his head sheepishly, “You know I’m not good at holding back.”

She snorted, “You broke our damn training ground. I’ll take a cracked rib.”

“What the hell was that?!” Kiba demanded.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, “What was what?”

“That!” The feral-looking boy growled, “How did you beat Hinata?! You were the dead last!”

Naruto stared at him blankly, “You really don’t pay attention, do you mutt?”