Story Arc 1: Rookie Team 7

Chapter 3: Gambling Town II

"Okay you three, this mission just got a little more tricky."

Naruto rubbed his chin as he nodded. "I agree, if the civilian can crack wood then he will certainly be strong enough to cause severe bruising, if not even break bones." Despite the nonsense that he was spouting his face was extremely serious, his teammates and sensei just shook their heads.

"Yes Naruto." Placated Kakashi getting a beaming smile out of the blond.

"But this was done with a Suiton jutsu, a rare and high-class one. I'm going to take a look around the surrounding forests and I want you three to look through the village, don't engage anyone that may be the target, come find me or flare your chakra so we can take them together. Understood?"

The three Genin nodded to their sensei. Kakashi sent lingering looks before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

"Okay," Started Sasuke not wasting anytime. "I think we should split up." Instead of waiting for the others to respond Sasuke just started walking away.

Naruto sent Sasuke a deadpan look before turning to his female teammate. "You want to split up as well?"

His eye brow developed a twitch when he turned to see his female teammates retreating form. 'So she won't even say bye or good luck, nothing… I'm surrounded by teme's.'

Disregarding his teammates apparent loner complexes Naruto started off in a new direction, he could see all the people going into gambling houses and some of the more grizzly ones going into the bars.

Tanzaku Gai was known as the third largest village in Hi no Kuni right behind Konoha and the capital, home to thousands of citizens and even more tourists. Three Genin couldn't hope to find anything without incredible luck. Naruto was told by the Sandaime that he had the makings of a sensor, apparently the Uzumaki were very talented in the art and he was beginning to develop abilities. While the Sandaime wasn't a sensor himself, he knew plenty of ways to train those abilities. You didn't train under a sensor of Tobirama Senju's caliber without picking up a few tips.

Naruto jumped to a rooftop and knelt down to concentrate. He held the ram seal and took in his environment, he could feel the presence of the occupants in the building bellow him. Two large men and a women, their chakra signatures were very small clearly civilian levels. As he continued to steady his breathing and concentrate, he could feel more and more people.

The last Uzumaki choked on his spit when he got to the gambling house on the corner, someone was here and their chakra was dense. Based on his lessons, dense chakra was a sign of concealment- packing your chakra together tighter and tighter conceals its' presence, or if your chakra was so developed that it was naturally strong. Whichever it was, Naruto needed to go take a look, he had neither the want nor the time to find his team.

As he got closer he could feel the chakra clearer and began to evaluate whether or not he should approach. Shaking his head and finding nothing wrong with taking a peak inside Naruto inched closer to a window.

Naruto looked into the gamboling house with narrowed his eyes, he knew who was in there, she was the most famous kunoichi in the world- Tsunade Senju. She was one of those S-Rank monsters, perfect chakra control and a fellow student of the legendary Shinobi no Kami. Her medical abilities were capable of healing any wound with minimal effort. Her chakra enhanced strength allowed her to crack mountains with a single punch. With the abilities to heal nearly any wound in seconds without much effort, being able to obliterate an opponent with a single punch and Taijutsu that was nearly unrivaled in the entire world. She was one of those S-Rank monsters that could turn the tides of an entire battle field by her mere presence. He knew this, because it has.

Naruto felt someone bump into him and he turned to apologize. "Oh I'm sorry! I was too busy thinking and not paying attention."

The women smiled, she had short black hair and a black kimono. She was carrying a pig that was looking at him with more intelligence than a pig should have, considering it's food. "It's fine, we're alright." She said gesturing to herself and the pig.

Naruto sent a slight smile at the lady before taking a deep breath. He was going to talk to the last Senju, he just had to meet her. Naruto tentatively took a few steps into the gambling house and watched as Tsunade lost spectacularly. What were the odds that a four of a kind of aces would beat the women when she had four kings, that was just amazingly terrible luck.

Naruto felt his heart beat thump faster and faster as he stepped forward. He noticed that all of their eyes were on him as he stood practically over the table sweating slightly. Closing his eyes and calming down Naruto took a seat and threw a wad of ryo at the table.

Tsunade nearly snarled at the blond when she saw his headband, so they were coming for her huh? She wouldn't let him have it easily.

"What's a little baby like you doing here?" Sneered Tsunade before taking a swig from a sake saucer with noticeable content in her eyes.

Naruto cleared his throat, "I happened to notice you and decided to introduce myself, my name is Naruto Uzumaki new Genin." Said Naruto before taking a look at his cards, two aces.

Tsunade's face was completely unimpressed but she was mentally frowning. The kid seemed familiar but she had no interest in figuring out who he was. To her, anyone from that kami forsaken village was of no interest.

"So thats supposed to mean something to me?" Asked Tsunade, she didn't care if he was the Hokage, she wasn't going back to that hell hole. Not while she still had a heart beat.

They both flipped their cards and Naruto smirked before taking his winnings, this was nice. Kakashi doing all the work while he won some money in a poker game. Looking at his fellow blond's irritation he reevaluated the situation, hopefully she won the next one or else this place may become a pile of rubble.

Naruto noticed the black haired women that bumped into him whispered into the Sannin's ear and the living legend stood up to leave. Naruto grabbed all of his money and went after them, he couldn't let this meeting all be for nothing. Maybe he could get something out of the Sannin before they had to leave.

"Wait!" Shouted Naruto in the middle of the street towards the two women. Tsunade turned around with an annoyed look and the other women shook her head. She had seen many a person try to ask for something from Tsunade only to be harshly shot down.

"I wanted to ask you something, if I ever saw you, I promised myself that I would at least ask." Naruto pushed down the blush of embarrassment at all the attention he was getting by passerby's on the street.

"I want to learn your chakra enhanced strength." It was a bold request he knew that, but if this retired shinobi had no interest in returning to Konoha then maybe some of her jutsu could.

The dark haired women's jaw hit the ground after hearing the request, she tentatively turned to her master hoping that her lady wouldn't lose it. Shizune actually tried to learn the Chakra Enhanced strength, but her reserves weren't strong enough for more than two punches before she nearly destroyed her arm, making Tsunade deem the technique forbidden. That and Tsunade didn't like teaching anyone her stuff other than the black haired women.

"You got a lot of nerve," Tsunade marched over to the younger blond and grabbed the scruff of his shirt. "Why would I ever consider such a thing?" She snarled into his face, even to someone who didn't know the Senju's reputation she was intimidating. To someone like Naruto…

Naruto's fight or flight instincts were now primarily leaning towards flight, "I j-just thought that since we were s-sibling students you'd let me give it a shot." Suddenly Naruto fell from the air and hit his butt on the ground as the blond women stared at him as if trying to figure him out.

"What do you mean?" That crazy old monkey couldn't have taken another student, could he? He was like three hundred years old. She was also surprised that he was still active, that couldn't be good for his health maybe… No she wasn't going back.

"Sandaime-sama has been training me, as well as-" Naruto flew through seals before slamming his hand on the ground. A large puff of smoke erupted from the ground and it dispersed to reveal the Monkey King Enma.

"This better not be to ask what I think about some new jutsu brat! I get it you can weave hand-seals in a slightly different pattern!" Roared the Monkey King getting a sweat drop to fall from Naruto's head. One time did he summon Enma to ask what he thought of a Doton jutsu now he brings it up every time.

"No no, I was talking to Tsunade-sama! I thought that you would like to see her after such a long time." Replied Naruto quickly hoping to ease the situation. They apparently used to train together so maybe seeing an old friend would help out his cause.

Tsunade watched the entire exchange with shock, to think that Sarutobi-sensei would let someone other than family sign the monkey contract. If this blond was being trained by her sensei then that meant that they were sibling students, several decades apart but technically it was true. How… strange.

"Tsunade-chan, look at you all grown up. Still over extending your left arm?" Challenged Enma, the two of them were training partners for Taijutsu quite often during Tsunade's Genin days. Her teammates would rather sprint around the village one hundred times than spar with the Monkey King, while Tsunade was far more Taijutsu oriented and loved sparring with the ape.

Smiling slightly at her old friend/sensei, she inclined her head slightly. "Enma, whats with this brat why's sensei training him and why does he think I should teach him my strength?"

Naruto's face went from interested at the conversation to absolutely horrified, hopefully Enma won't take this personally. Glancing upwards Naruto saw the furious eyes of Enma glaring down at him.

"Enma you don't have to stay if you don't want to I'm sure your very busy—" A giant hairy fist smashed down onto Naruto's head getting a mirthful chuckle out of the blond Senju.

"You don't dismiss me brat! I dismiss myself! Did I not give you enough strength conditioning that you had to ask Tsunade for her specialty?! Wait until we train next brat, I'll make sure you're really strong." And with that the monkey dispersed in a puff of smoke.

"Good going Naruto." He chided to himself. It didn't help that the two women were chuckling at his misfortune, the dark haired women leaned down and touched his head with a glowing palm giggling the whole time. Naruto felt the pain leave almost immediately after her healing jutsu touched his skull.

"Well brat as impressive as this was. I have things to do so leave me alone and never comeback." Both women disappeared in a flawless body flicker without a trace. Naruto groaned before walking off to find his teammates.

He recalls that he was supposed to be on a mission or something?

xXx

(With Kakashi)

Kakashi didn't like the situation that this mission has turned into. A Yugakure Jōnin was apparently kidnapping and likely killing civilians for kami knows why. His summons could only find pockets of chakra in the surrounding forests but nothing substantial and the enemy was a master of concealing his tracks.

'Maybe I should try to lure him to me? Make my presence hard to follow but not impossible. That way he might think I'm just over confident or arrogant rather than intentionally letting him find me?' Wondered Kakashi. He knew that this opponent was tough possibly even a monstrous S-Rank. He may have taken down enemies of that level but that was when he had a squad of ANBU watching his back rather than green as grass Genin to worry about.

'I'll have to handle this carefully.' Thought Kakashi before moving deeper into the forest leaving extremely subtle tracks that only an expert could hope to find.

xXx

(With Naruto)

'So… I have been searching this place for a good hour and nothing out of the ordinary. Who knows where the others are and to be honest I couldn't care less, they ditched me!' Whined Naruto mentally, just as he was about to continue on he heard the sounds of muffled yelling.

In the alleyway to Naruto's left a man was standing over a wiggling sack as he dusted himself off. He was easily six feet tall with short silver-grey hair and and a slight wrinkly face to show his age. He was covered by a long black cloak that seemed to blend into the shadows of the alley and he picked up the sack and there it over his shoulder. The Man effortlessly jumped to the roof tops and casually made his way to the forests.

'That's the guy! I need to follow and alert Kakashi-sensei!' Thought Naruto before summoning a small monkey that jumped up and and down excitedly as it chattered away.

"Listen! I need you to find Kakashi and give him this.-" Naruto handed the monkey a small scroll. "-do it as fast as possible please!" The monkey ran off as quickly as it could and Naruto jumped away to follow the man.

Naruto stayed back as far as he could while keeping the man in sight. He was nervous about his first confrontation but couldn't help the feeling in his chest showing his rise in excitement.

The man's movements were fluid and swift. Naruto couldn't outright keep up without alerting him to his presence so he was slowly losing ground. They were nearing edge of the village and getting towards the forests, Naruto may lose him if they enter the forest so he had to think of something fast.

Naruto's mind worked as fast as it could. If his opponent was as elite as Kakashi hinted at he would have eight to thirteen seconds of combat before he was overtaken, that was the longest he's survived in a spar against the Sandaime and it was best to overestimate his opponent rather than to underestimate. They were less than ten seconds away from the forest line and his monkey has been heading towards Kakashi for a bit more than thirty seconds, he shouldn't take much longer. Taking into account the time it would take Kakashi to unravel the note and find him, he would need to distract and hold the man in place for twenty seconds minimum.

'Good thing I can make a couple clones to cause confusion and I have the element of surprise.' Mused Naruto before making three clones all going in different directions already knowing the blonds plan.

Naruto's heartbeat picked up the pace and readied himself for combat. The man broke the forest line and Naruto's first clone began the combat by hurling three kunai with explosive notes attached at the man from above in the trees.

The second and third Naruto molded their chakra's readying a jutsu. While the real Naruto watched from a safe distance away.

xXx

He was being followed, ever since the alleyway where he captured his new bounty. Whoever it was had skill but was inexperienced in tailing, he couldn't get a read on whoever it was but he could tell they were behind him about thirty meters.

When his follower split his chakra he could get a better read. A clone jutsu such as that was the Kage Bunshin, and for them to have that much chakra they were of at least Jōnin level and where one Konoha shinobi was another few were backing them up. He would have to play this carefully less he lose his newest catch. His most valuable one yet.

As he broke the tree line he pushed chakra into his body in preparation. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up causing him to jump away, his instincts were well founded because the second he did the area he was standing on exploded.

Still in the air from a jump he saw an powerful looking Doton jutsu coming at him, obviously from a clone meaning there were at least two more attacks coming at him. Deciding on a plan of attack he dropped his catch towards the ground and launched himself towards his kunai throwing opponent while weaving seals.

His opponent came into sight and his eyes widened seeing that his opponent was some kid. How could a kid have such?…No! They didn't…

Not stopping his momentum he lashed out with a lightning fast palm thrust destroying the clone and releasing a highly compacted beam of water that sizzled as it flew, with the steam coming off of it, it was easy to assume the water was boiling hot.

The clone was hit by the jutsu and instantly dispersed into smoke. The third clone, still building chakra was sliced in half by the man's kusarigama.

xXx

'Holy hell! They're already gone that was barely a few seconds! I need—' Naruto jumped out of the way of a widely arching kusarigama that nearly pierced his throat.

Not stopping for a second Naruto created another team of clones that shot into different directions to try and get around his opponent for an attack on the man's blind spot.

Naruto pushed his chakra outwards and latched onto a branch at his eight o'clock to try and throw his opponent of guard. The instant his replaced himself the man was forced to dodged three Fūton jutsu that obliterated the tree he was standing on.

Naruto landed by the sack and was instantly alerted of the memories of his clones untimely end causing him to lose faith in his ability to hold the man off while waiting for Kakashi. Before the man was close enough to attack Naruto he jumped out of the way of something and started rapidly swinging his weapon around seemingly having a battle with the air surrounding him.

Naruto looked confused for a moment before hearing someone land next to him and let out both a sigh of relief and a groan of worry. He was happy for support but he was hopping for Kakashi.

"Naruto is this the—"

Naruto held up his hand to stop her from continuing. "No talk time plan now! He's extremely fast and skilled likely Kakashi-sensei's level. We have roughly thirteen more seconds until Kakashi gets here so keep him in that jutsu while—"

Both Genin turned their heads towards the sack that was violently shaking, Naruto tackled Sakura to the ground as the bag caught on fire.

"ARG!" Came the familiar sound of aggravation.

Naruto smirked and got off of a slightly red Sakura and watched as Sasuke padded himself off and made sure he wasn't on fire.

"So, he captured you…" Commented Naruto.

The blond's eyes widened as a kunai was aimed at his throat. "You won't speak of this." Glared Sasuke with his bloody red eyes. Wait!

"Sasuke, your eyes! You unlocked your sharingan!" Congratulated Naruto. This meant that their spars were going to get a lot more interesting once they finish their mission. The mission!

"Good, I was worried that you didn't posses your clan's kekkei genkai. Now you'll be worth ten times the money." Came a deep voice. The three Genin turned their eyes towards the source of the new voice and saw that their opponent was out of the Genjutsu and completely fine.

The three genin could only see a blur coming at them from the man's arm, Sasuke managed to realize it was a kusarigama and went for a kunai in his pouch. Naruto and Sakura were trying to process what was happening, before they could another blur intercepted the flying weapon and landed in front of the three genin.

"That was a close one huh?" Came the cheerful voice of their sensei getting sighs of relief from team seven.

The kusarigama was pulled back into the man's arm as he took a ready stance. "Kakashi Hatake, elite Jōnin, bounty of 150 million ryo dead or alive, triple if the Sharingan is intact. It seems this is my lucky day."

Sasuke had a look of realization on his face at those words, he'd been wondering why Kakashi created a jutsu that only works with a sharingan when he wasn't an Uchiha. It would seem that he somehow possessed one.

Kakashi pulled up his headband to reveal the scarred flesh and glowing blood red Sharingan that spun hypnotically. "It's been a few months since I looked in the bingo book but I don't think I recognize you, care to introduce yourself friend?"

The man didn't respond only blasting off of the ground towards Kakashi with unreadable speed for anyone in the clearing save for Kakashi.

Naruto turned to his teammates with a raised eyebrow. "So I guess we should back sensei up? I can't really tell whats happening can you guys?"

Sakura shook her head. "I can hear it but they're only blurs."

"Same." Grunted Sasuke, he didn't expect to be all powerful with his kekkei genkai but he didn't think he'd only get marginally better. He doubted either of them were as strong as his brother and here they are fighting at a level he couldn't even see. It was disheartening to realize that he was still so far away from his brother's level.

"I got an idea guys," Said Naruto with a grin. "Now here's what we're going to do."

Author's Note

Short Chapter? Yes. Take way longer to post? You betcha. Am I sorry? Mmhm.

Sorry for a lack of updates in my Naruto stuff, but I have a Harry Potter story that had taken all my creative ideas away (still kinda is if I'm honest) and I was running with it as the ideas flowed. In his Pocket is the title if any of you are interested. I'm 1k into chapter 5 for this story as an update to my progress here.

So overall Naruto and co. are confronting Kazan, who is a shinobi from one of the movies I think blood prison, obviously I made him stronger and varied his abilities but he use a kusarigama in the movie.

Sasuke got his sharingan, Sakura helped and Naruto met Tsunade, although it didn't really help anything.

Not sure what's coming next for an update, I may upload one of my new stories or update Different Beginnings.

Peace Out!