Vengeful Sage

Chapter 13: Bumped Up to A-Rank!

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto…

It's been a loong time now, and sorry people; no excuse. Not even gonna try. No idea when the next update is gonna be.

Also, for the guest reviewer who was concerned about Makai being involved, no need to take it so seriously. It was merely a dialogue that will have nothing to do with the plot unless I change my mind sometime in the future. In that case, I'll warn you beforehand.

"Ready?"

"Hey, don't forget about me." Kiyomi called out as she ran up to join the standoff.

"Alright then. Let's begin."

Three sets of Sharingan blared into existence as the spar commenced, absolutely oblivious to the two other sets of eyes that stood hidden in the distance, judging the competence of the last scions of the Uchiha.

Sasuke was the first to make a move as the boy leaped down at his rival below him, careful not to lose his footing as he descended down the stone forehead of the Yondaime Hokage, eager to take out his frustration against the world on the blond before him.

Naruto however, was not one to allow his opponent the high ground without just cause, and so, seconds before impact, he shunshined over to the top of the Hokage monument, where he was joined momentarily by Kiyomi. Sasuke, on the other hand, was pouring all his efforts into overcoming his downward momentum, lest he should fall off the surface. He had anticipated a block or parry from the blond, which would have reduced his speed considerably, all the while unbalancing Naruto to give him less time to recover and respond to his second assault.

A sudden lack of decelerating impulse before him sent him stumbling down the mountain face, desperately grasping for any sort of handhold on the uneven surface. Finally having regained his balance after several crucial seconds of flailing wildly at the rocky cliff, Sasuke could not help but cross his arms to ward off the spinning kick that rocketed into his side, courtesy of his cousin. The two had teamed up against him as usual, hoping to knock out the 'cocky one' right from the get go. He of course ended up spread-eagled on the roof of the Hokage tower after having been launched off the face of the Yondaime.

He was offered no respite as he was forced to roll backwards and summersault into a standing position as what was most likely an Earth clone of Naruto slammed his boot down where his chest had been earlier. Naruto drew his tanto, unsheathing it from his back as he allowed Sasuke to settle into his stance. He was buying time, which only confirmed that it was a clone. The real Naruto was probably still somewhere on the cliff, battling it out with Kiyomi.

"Hey Broody… What's wrong? Where'd all that talk go?"

Sasuke lashed out with a snarl, releasing a hail of shuriken as he began moving, dashing this way and that, just as his brother- no, that man - had shown him - oh so long ago – never staying in one place long enough to become a target. He zigzagged his way to the clone, who seemed content with parrying all of his projectiles with his tanto, expertly weaving it through the flight of ninja weapons. Ever since Naruto had started using his Sharingan in conjunction with his tanto, his kenjutsu skills had grown remarkably. His strokes had become more refined, his movements more fluid, his sight ever sharper and his strikes and parries far more precise. Not a movement was wasted. He moved his tanto ever so slightly, just tilting it so that the shuriken ricocheted away, falling uselessly to the side.

Sasuke engaged the clone in a close up Taijutsu match, darting into his guard and going in for a knife jab to the abdomen, which the blonde evaded, leaping back a couple feet. The two clashed once more, Sasuke wielding a regular kunai to account for his opponent's tanto. Sparks flew as the weapons clanged against each other, once, again, and a third time. The rivals disengaged, glaring each other down as they took their stances for another bout.

Meanwhile, the real Naruto was involved in battling the third member of their newly formed squad. She was a ferocious fighter, and just about as skilled as Sasuke, though in a one on one contest, she would probably win just on experience and her smaller sized ego.

Kiyomi too was someone who had experienced loss at a similar magnitude as Sasuke. She had not only lost the only family she knew, including her older brother, parents and everyone else, she had lost her sensei as well, who also happened to be an Uchiha in the massacre. All of this on top of her Inuzuka teammate's crippling injuries in the previous Chunin Exams at Suna had left her quite depressed and gloomy, with Naruto and Sasuke as the only people in the world who she still felt close to and with whom she enjoyed being.

Especially Naruto. With Sasuke falling into his sulky moods, Naruto was the one who held the two of them away from insanity, almost stupidly persistent in his joviality, never succumbing to the air of melancholy as he would show up every day, pushing for a spar.

Even now, where Sasuke was busy trying to prove he was as good as if not better than Naruto, Naruto would not let her feel like she wasn't part of the group, finding a way to engage both of them simultaneously. That was why she had petitioned to the Hokage to put her in a team with those two. That was why – when it came out that genin Uchiha could no longer live alone - she had decided she would be moving in with the blond, and she would drag Sasuke with her kicking and screaming. They were all she had left of her perfect world, a world that had been shattered by an otherworldly blast, and now she could do naught but try to gather the scattered shards.

Shaking herself out of memory lane, Kiyomi caught the smile that threatened to break out on her lips as she thought of the boy that now stood ten feet from her, waiting for her to come back from her day dream so they could spar. Rubbing the back of her head awkwardly, she took her stance.

"Ready to lose to a girl?" she called out.

"A bloodline wielding demon-eyed veteran genin girl who has at least a year of experience over me? Nah, never." He remarked with a snort.

"You're not gonna shut up on your own are you?"

"I'm not gonna grace that with a response."

With that, Kiyomi lashed out with a handful of Shuriken, letting them soar into Naruto's face, which he dodged almost immediately, but Kiyomi had only needed the split second to run through the seals for the jutsu she intended to use. Making use of her two- tomoed Sharingan to predict precisely where the blond would dodge to, she took a deep breath, lifting her fingers to her mouth as she let loose with a screaming fireball.

"Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu!"

Having predicted this would happen, as it was usually one of Kiyomi's normal opening moves, Naruto substituted with a log lying on the edge of the forest beyond, coming back into the fight with a drawn tanto. The girl too had drawn her kunai, and so the spar began in earnest, as the two moved into close range, swinging their respective weapons at each other while blocking the other's attempts. Soon however, it became apparent that Naruto would continue to dominate this fight if only due to his weapon's greater reach.

The back and forth continued for several minutes until Kiyomi began to slow, and Naruto landed a glancing blow to her waist. With a stifled moan, she jumped back to make some distance between the two, but Naruto wouldn't let her get away that easily. In a single leap, he closed the distance between the two and they were back to square one.

Sending all caution to the wind, Kiyomi turned her back to the blond and set out in the opposite direction at a full sprint, Naruto quick at her tail. In a matter of seconds, he had come within reach and front kicked her body into a nearby tree, but as she flew away, a fireball came flying in Naruto's face, forcing him to turn his attention to jumping out of the way. As Kiyomi fell to the ground below, Naruto was already upon her, sword pointed at her prone body.

"Yield!" He demanded.

Until his Sharingan noted the glow of chakra from her abdominal region.

"Shit! It's a fake."

He quickly leapt away as the scorching winds from the ensuing explosion slammed into his face, leaving darkened spots on his face where they had burned him.

'Thank goodness I closed my eyes, that explosion was far stronger than any ordinary explosive tag…'

Naruto took a ready stance as he used his Sharingan to scour the training field for his opponent. Hearing a rustling noise to the left, he created a shadow clone, which started bombarding that area with low level fire jutsu. In the meanwhile, the original searhed any further signs of movement, and stood at the ready, having already gathered the chakra necessary for his next move.

The moment his quarry showed up escaping from the line of fire, he instantly engaged with his tanto. Kiyomi made to block with her kunai, but in that moment, made the mistake that cost her the spar; she looked into the red eyes of a prepared Naruto. Instantly, she fell unconscious.

Having cleaned things up here, Naruto moved to finish up the fight with Sasuke as his clone hefted his teammate over his shoulder.

Down by the roof of the Hokage building, Sasuke was bent over huffing as he finally managed to get rid of that annoying-ass clone of Naruto's. Being an earth clone, it could weather far more punishment than the average ordinary clone could, and was also not too much of a chakra drain on its creator. The clone had inherited Naruto's creative mind (loathe as he was to admit to it) and kept him on his toes as he was forced to preserve chakra for when he fought Naruto, while the clone had no such compunctions.

Hearing the sounds of battle quieting down from the Hokage Mountain, the earth clone realized that it wouldn't have to hold out for long. It let loose with reckless abandon; it's only purpose to wear down its opponent before the original came to wrap things up.

"Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu!" (Fire Release: Dragon Flame Technique)

Letting out a searing torrent of fire, the clone didn't wait to see what became of Sasuke as he followed it up with one of the most powerful wind techniques he knew (credits to Danzou for that one).

"Futon: Hageshi Kaze!" (Wind Release: Torrential Wind)

A tornado's worth of ruthless gale-force winds blew upon the fiery conflagration that ensued from his previous jutsu, carrying the all-encompassing flame to the four corners of the rooftop, in addition to blowing off the metal railing lining the edges of the building. Moments later a violent crash announced the breaking off of the spiral staircase leading to the top.

'Oops! At least I'll be dispelled long before the boss finds out…'

Sasuke had so far been fighting cautiously, preserving as much chakra as he could for the actual fight, but getting his arms charred from the intense fire techniques had left him short of patience. Going through the motions for a low power but insanely quick and widespread lightning jutsu, Sasuke lowered both arms to the ground as he channeled chakra to his palms.

"Raiton: Kaminari Saji!" (Lightning Release: Lightning Surge)

Electricity raced from where his palms touched the ground in all directions, leaving no avenue of escape for the Naruto clone as it flowed up its body, the shock causing it to dispel.

As Sasuke took a couple moments to recover, his rest was interrupted by the figure of the blond menace himself standing on the Yondaime's head.

"Wow, Sasuke… You finally beat my clone." Naruto made his presence known as a clone appeared, carrying the prone form of his cousin.

"Don't get too cocky, Naruto. I'm only getting warmed up!" Sasuke replied. That superior smirk that the Jinchuriki carried was frustrating beyond belief. The fact that he could usually back it up didn't serve to make things any better.

The blond leapt down onto the rooftop, sheathing his tanto as he assumed his stance, feet wide in the Taijutsu style that he had developed with Shisui, and later perfected with Danzou. Both boys were raring to go until they stiffened, sensing a familiar Chakra signature showing up.

"You're early…" Naruto remarked.

"Well, I decided the two of you had done enough damage to the Hokage Tower for one day…" He deadpanned. "Hasn't even been three hours since the team was formed and already, you'll be paying thousands of ryo in damages."

"I deny all responsibility for this. It was entirely duck-butt's fault." He pointed at his teammate.

"No matter. Let this be a lesson in teamwork then."

Both boys' faces paled at the thought of what that meant.

"Kiyomi's on the team too, right? So does that mean…"

"Huh, someone talking about me?" She sat up groggily, steadying herself with her arms.

"Yes of course, the folly of the individual is the folly of the team. Those that abandon their teammates are worse than scum. If it's actually worth so much to you, maybe you'll think twice before going at each other's throats around valuable property next time." Kakashi's trademark eye-smile did nothing to quiet the phantom groans that each of their wallets gave.

"Anyway. Meet me at training ground 7 in five minutes so we can get down to business." With that, the masked ninja poofed out of existence. He was quickly followed by three sets of poofs, one for each of the genin as they arrived at the designated location momentarily.

"That was fast…" said Kakashi, looking up from the orange little book he was reading I wasn't expecting you for another couple of minutes – Oh who am I kidding, this is the sister and apprentice of Shisui of the Body Flicker I'm talking about here, along with their third wheel of a sidekick."

"Oiye!"

"Anyway, now that you're here, let's all introduce ourselves."

XXX

The team test had not been what he had expected. The three genin were anything but. Each of them possessed power and skill to rival a newly promoted chunin at the very least, and that became apparent quite vividly in the opening moments of the test.

The three had already decided that the bells would go to Naruto and Sasuke, since Kiyomi being a seasoned genin could not conceivably be sent back to the academy as their instructor had promised, and so it was the two boys that needed to prove their mettle and secure their spots as elite genin who were offered jounin sensei's, as opposed to the hundreds of genin who failed to catch the eye of an elite jounin such as Kakashi.

That decided, it became an exercise in teamwork, where they enacted several combo's that they had rehearsed time and time again against Shisui or occasionally even Ita – that man.

Kakashi felt irked. His attempts at splitting up his team failed miserably, and they had begun to work like a well oiled machine, no doubt the result of long training sessions together. Either they already knew the true meaning of the test, which was highly unlikely, as it was established tradition not to give away the secret of the bell test to aspiring new genin, or they were truly so selfless that they put the success of the team above their own. In either case, it seemed like he might actually have to pass them.

That was the hook.

Proficiency in a straight up Taijutsu fight, even though he was taking things easy on them, expertise at detecting and dispelling different types of low level Genjutsu, and a mastery of various elemental jutsu that no fresh out of the academy genin had any business knowing.

Line.

But things really came to a head when all three of them leapt out of the bushes they had been hiding behind. He'd already had a read on their locations before they broke cover, though Kakashi had to admit that their stealth was not bad.

"Maneuver Gamma!" Naruto cried as he came charging into the field.

"Roger."

"Roger."

Sasuke let loose with a hail of shuriken at their masked team leader, forcing him to dodge. Sharingan blaring, Sasuke knew exactly which direction Kakashi would dodge right before he did, and so he continued to pepper him with the ninja weapons, herding him to where Kiyomi and Naruto lay in wait. Naruto waited until Kakashi went past his position, and then launched himself at the masked nin from behind, going straight for the bells. At the same time, another Naruto jumped up from behind the first one and leapt straight at the man, tanto drawn.

Kakashi turned around at the last second, parrying the more imminent attack to his person with a kunai in his right hand, and blocking the following punch to his torso with his left. He lashed out with a devastating kick to the Naruto who had come into range of the bells, until it suddenly went up in a poof.

Kakashi's eye turned to the one he was engaged in a deadlock with as he saw the Sharingan set in his eyes.

"Nice trick. Distracting me with the original while a clone went for the bells. But not quite good enough though."

And then it was over.

The genjutsu only managed to keep hold for all of three seconds, before Kakashi realized something wasn't right, but those three seconds, in a shinobi battle, could mean the difference between life and death.

The illusion was powerful in that it didn't change much at all. It still showed the world as Kakashi had last perceived it, both of his arms engaged with blocking Naruto's previous attacks. What it didn't show was Kiyomi getting in position behind him slapping the third tag in place to complete the configuration for the three-corner barrier Fuuinjutsu that suddenly appeared around the two deadlocked shinobi.

Those translucent blue walls going up were the first thing Kakashi saw after having broken out of the illusion, having no time to escape from the rapidly forming prison. At least Naruto was trapped in there with him.

Poof.

Or not.

"Bravo, bravo. You seem to have trapped me. But you still do not have the bells." Kakashi taunted coolly. "How long will you keep me here before you run out of cha - ?"

He was cut off as a kunai whistled through the air, forcing him to dodge in the little confined space he had available.

"Pass us. Else by the time you get out of there, you'll have become a spike filled pincushion." Sasuke stated wisely.

And sinker.

XXX

Nobody ever said doing D-Ranks was fun. Particularly when the job entailed collecting all the dung some idiotic farmer's cows had laid out on their neighbor's porch and garden, and applying it as fertilizer to his fields. Especially when two members of the three man team had gotten used to far more exciting missions over the past year. The glares and And so it is that we find a trio of grumpy teenagers finishing up with a job that they would never again sign up for of their own free will.

"That's it! I'm sick and tired of this. This entire mission is bullshit!" Sasuke finally broke the silence.

"Well duh… that's what the client said. You're literally being paid to deal with his bullshit. What did you expect?" came the typical Naruto reply.

"Rose smelling bullshit maybe?" Kiyomi pitched in snarkily.

"Given that the stupid cows ate up half the garden, I wouldn't be surprised if it actually did smell of roses."

Sasuke tossed the final piece of dung into the fields as he breathed a sigh of relief, aching to go anywhere but here. As if on cue, Kakashi showed up right in their midst, his eyes not looking up at all from his apparently very interesting smut.

"Well done, team. Let's go collect our payment and the next mission for the day." Kakashi spoke in that sing song voice, intimately aware of how torturous the very thought was.

"Please, no more D-Ranks!" Sauke moaned. "I'll die if I have to do a single D-Rank more."

"I must say, I agree with Sasuke. We've already completed over 40 missions. This is getting ridiculous." Kiyomi added with a whine.

"Do you share the same sentiments, Naruto?"

"Most definitely."

"Well then, you may present your case before Hokage-sama."

XXX

The next morning, we find five people walking out of Konoha's main gate – Konoha's Team 7, their sensei (who was surprisingly only 3 minutes late as opposed to his customary 3 hours) and an old man named Tazuna – a bridge builder from wave who needed a shinobi squad to escort him back to his home. Suspicious as that was (given he apparently came to Konoha alone and had no business there in the first place), the genin team nevertheless had jumped at the opportunity to finally do a C-Rank mission after having slaved their way through a month's worth of grueling but unexciting and mundane D-Ranks, barring of course, the horrible experience that was doing a joint D-Rank with Team Gai of all people, which consisted less of useless chore completion than it did a monstrous physical endurance regimen, specialized genjutsu resistance training (we all know which one) and last but certainly not least, learning how to periodically and spontaneously disconnect their fragile minds from their audio sensory perceptions, lest they be damaged from excessive exposure to the Springtime of Youth.

Setting the record for fastest completion of the capture Tora mission and the scathing glares and suspicious looks that now not only Naruto, but also Sasuke and Kiyomi had received from the local clientele had been the highlight of these missions.

As if to add to their misery, the same villagers who had once sung praises of the surviving Uchiha prodigies now looked at them with looks of scorn and deep-rooted suspicion. Upon snooping around while under a henge at Kakashi's behest, the two public and one secret Uchiha had discovered the cause.

Rumors – rumors that had stemmed from the general population's mistrust of the Uchiha ever since the devastation caused by the Kyuubi, and had developed ever since the Uchiha massacre. Rumors of rebellion, of a plot to turn against Konoha.

'How the hell did that get out?' Naruto had thought to himself.

Even among the surviving Uchiha, only he knew that there was such a plot, and that too due to his close association with Danzo in the past.

'Someone deliberately leaked this!' He finally decided that he would get to the bottom of this, sooner or later, and when he did, they would pay.

It wasn't bad enough that Konoha had screwed his family over first by withholding their help until all was lost and Uzushiogakure had fallen, then at his parents' death, where anyone could have stepped forward and volunteered themselves to be the sacrifice for the jutsu that sealed the Kyuubi, or even volunteered their own child for the sealing – all the while spouting bullshit about how only an Uzumaki could hold the Kyuubi.

The Sandaime Hokage could most certainly have stepped up to the task, his days had passed him by, but in his selfishness, Naruto had been left an orphan. As if that wasn't enough, he went ahead and revealed his status as a Jinchuriki to the entire village, letting him bear the brunt of the emotional torture that the village continued to pile upon him to this day.

But it didn't hurt him any more. He had steeled his heart long ago. Now, it only furthered his resolve. It only acted as a reminder that he did not have a place in this rotten village. That he would have to forge his own way in the world.

He was denied a family right from the get go, and even Kakashi, who would have become a brother to him, was put under a genjutsu to keep him away.

And then when he thought he might have gained some semblance of a family among his long lost relation to the Uchiha clan, Konoha brought it all crashing down to the ground without a second thought. Danzo had so shamelessly asked him to kill his teacher and the one who he was as close as he could have been to, and it was then that the first thoughts of defecting came to Naruto's mind. He had run, run and run, until he found him, already on the verge of death, breathing his last so far from help that he knew all was lost. And then, Shisui had all but ordered him to take his eye to Danzo, to make sure he didn't make him an enemy, else his days in Konoha would be numbered.

Then came the hammer that buried the final nail in Konoha's coffin. The Uchiha massacre. He had seen how hours had passed and not a single Konoha ninja had approached the Uchiha District to see what was going on. Not a single effing soul. And then how quickly Danzo seemed to take advantage of the situation to recruit the remaining Uchiha children into his little army.

He knew why the third kept Root in existence. Because he had an image to maintain. Because his false image of kind grandfather hid the true visage of ruthless dictatorship that he truly possessed. And so, Danzo had an open playing field to strengthen his power base.

There were still so many pieces to this puzzle that he didn't quite comprehend, but what he did understand was that he had little to no friends here, and he had no intention of begging for the village's friendship.

Naruto was knocked out of memory lane when a scream echoed out from behind him. He instantly turned around to see a pair of attackers wearing breathing masks reducing Kakashi-sensei to paste, and then moving on to Kiyomi. By the time he drew his tanto and turned on his Sharingan - which was hidden behind a set of Fuuinjutsu enhanced lenses he had designed to make his eyes look blue even when he was using the Uchiha bloodline – Kiyomi had already kicked away one of them and gone off in pursuit while the other engaged Sasuke. He himself stood by the client, waiting to see what would happen.

In a pincer move, the pair – who were connected by a long chain that extended from a gauntlet on each of their arms – abandoned their respective opponents and made for Naruto and the bridge builder. When they had reached a distance of three meters, Naruto drew a readymade sealing tag from his hip pocket and slammed it onto the ground with his left hand, holding a ram sign with his right as he channeled chakra to power the seal. Immediately, a wall of reddish orange flames sprang to life between them. The two masked assailants were offered no warning as they ran headfirst into the flames, screams of agony escaping their bodies as their front sides were burnt badly before the relatively low powered barrier came down, depositing the badly scorched bodies on the forest floor before the blond.

They would be scarred for life, if they survived. Just then, Kakashi strolled out from behind a tree like he was taking a walk in the park.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Kiyomi exclaimed. "You're okay!"

"I'm glad to see you weren't actually taken out by this riffraff."

"Who are they?" Sasuke asked, curiously.

"Naruto. Can you identify these two?"

Naruto thought for a moment, then placed his index finger on a spot on is upper left forearm, and in a cloud of smoke, a thick book the size of a dictionary appeared. Flipping through the book expertly as if he knew it like the back of his own hand, he opened to the correct page, and after comparing their pictures with the real deal, began to recite from the book as if he knew it completely by heart.

"Gozu and Meizu, dubbed the Demon Brothers. Rogue chunin from Kiri. Low B-Rank threat. Worth 2 million ryo a piece, alive. Wanted for information on the whereabouts of Zabuza Momochi, who they are known to work under."

"Zabuza? Then I fear that this mission just got far more dangerous. Team, your first C-Rank mission may just have been bumed up to A-Rank!"

And Cut

OK, guys, don't kill me. It's been a long time, and I hear there was a false alarm too, that said I had updated. Sorry for that. I'd been really busy with exams, and now my whole day goes by in a blur-inducing internship. I don't know how I squeezed out the time to write this, but I think it was one or two of those reviewers that said they wanted more, and bang, I'm on my laptop.

And I seem to have a problem with making things come out much lamer than they sound when I think them up in my head. It saddens me, really.

Anyway, if you enjoyed the chapter, let me know. If not, well, you might as well go ahead and enjoy the rest of the summer, whatever few days may be left of it.

I'm out.

Own Jutsu:

Futon: Hageshi Kaze (Wind Release: Torrential Wind)

A-Rank Wind Technique. Sends high powered torrents of wind blowing across the area, in the form of a wide area twister, combing both the blunt force and cutting sharp characters of the wind element.

Raiton: Kaminari Saji! (Lightning Release: Lightning Surge)

B-Rank Lightning Technique. Sends a current of electricity racing across the ground in all directions.