A/N: Naruto will be a bit OOC in this story, in that he will not be an idiot. Also, the graduation age for a genin is 15 instead of 12.
Summary: After the sealing of the Kyuubi, Naruto is entrusted to Master Roshi to succeed him as the next master of Kame-sennin martial arts. After 15 years of learning under and being raised by the legendary martial artist, he returns to the hidden leaf village to start his shinobi career.
A/N (2/10/2011): This story won my little poll, so I'm going back and revising the old chapters before I post the new one. Some of this was from when I first started writing on this site, so it really sucked. Grammar, spelling, a lot of stuff just awful! I have certainly come along way since then.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, DBZ or any other elements used in this story
A Change in Destiny
X-X-X-X-15 years ago-X-X-X-X-X
The recently reinstated Sandaime sat in his office wondering what to do about his current predicament. His successor had sacrificed his life in order to stop the attack of the Kyuubi by sealing the beast into his newborn son. The boy's mother, the previous container for the beast, had died while aiding her husband in the sealing ceremony, leaving the infant an orphan. The elders were pressuring him to mold the boy into a weapon to protect the village as other villages had done with their own demon-containers. He would not stand for the molding of a child into a weapon, especially this one. "If Tsunade was still around I could entrust him to her, Jiraiya despite being the godfather is in no position with his activities to take care of him. I may have to pass him off to a trusted caretaker for the time being..." he thought to himself. The door to his office suddenly slammed open jarring him from his thoughts.
"Ha-ha! Hey, there Sarutobi! How's it shakin you old monkey!" yelled a bald old man sporting a beard even longer than his own.
"Roshi? I thought you never got off the island anymore? Besides, if I do remember it correctly, you out date me by several decades," retorted the Sandaime. "But on to more important matters, why are you here?"
Master Roshi adjusted his glasses and adopted a more serious tone, "The boy, the son of Minato, you will entrust him to me for the time being. I will raise him and train him, he is the one to be my true successor."
The Hokage raised an eyebrow at this declaration, "Why would this child be able to complete the training, that not even his genius of a father could finish?"
A wide grin spread across the turtle hermit's face, "With nine-tailed fox inside of him that boy has more power potential than anyone I have ever attempted to train. With the chaotic nature of the beast's chakra it will be difficult for him to manipulate and control the power as normal chakra, but if he were to master my arts and techniques, wielding such power would be child's play. Besides it would be good for him to grown up away from the village in this time of mourning. The people need to be able to move on from this tragedy and they won't be able to do so with a constant reminder around. Before he was even born, my sister proclaimed him to be the legacy child. And in my advanced age I need to pass on my arts before I kick the bucket!"
The Hokage sighed, "Fine, you have me convinced. I'll have an Anbu squad bring him to you in a weeks time so you can prepare."
"I just knew that you'd see things my way. Now, you wouldn't happen to know where I'd be able to get my hands on a copy of Jiriaya's latest work?"
"That's the real reason, you originally decided to make a trip out here, isn't it." deadpanned the Hokage.
The grin on the elder man's face said it all.
Sarutobi shook his head as he reached into his drawer and pulled out an orange book before tossing it to him.
"Hehe! Now for quick visit to the hot-springs before I head out..." exclaimed Master Roshi as he exited through the door.
X-X-X-X-Present Day-X-X-X-X
A blond teen stood crouched on the sand shores of a small island as he progressed through his morning exercises and katas.
After completing his workout, young Naruto turned to the skies and yelled, "NIMBUS!"
A yellow cloud streaked out of the sky and circled around to float next to the young man. The teen stood at 5'11 sporting a dark blue martial arts gi with orange trim and black boots. The back of his shirt displayed to the symbol of turtle hermit. A red staff was strapped to his back and one his arm is a tattoo of a turtle shell, the other a toad. He leaped onto on the cloud and turned around to face the house on the middle of the Island.
"Hey Grandpa Roshi! I'm taking off now! Be sure to come and visit sometime! I'll buy you one of Ero-sennin's new books!" exclaimed Naruto.
Roshi stuck his head out the window and replied, "You got yourself a deal kid! Send that old koot of a hokage my regards! See yah round Naruto!"
"Okay, later gramps!" replied Naruto before zooming off on the nimbus cloud.
"Man, I'm gonna miss that kid..well maybe.. now where was I, oh yes work it girls! One! Two! Three! And One! Two! Three! Heh-hey!" exclaimed Roshi as he went back to watching the workout program on the TV.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Hours later at the gates of Konoha, Izumo and Kotetsu were kicking back on gate duty watching the new paint on the walls dry.
"This is so boring man! We need some entertainment," groaned Izumo.
"Yeah, when was the last time that Naruto kid visited? He always livened up this place." replied Kotetsu.
"Remember when he paint bombed the market district neon green? That was classic!" exclaimed Izumo.
"Or how about that time he stink bombed the academy!" chuckled Kotetsu. "
"If he ever comes back here for good, the village will never be the same..." said Izumo only to be interrupted by a loud boom as a yellow cloud streaked overhead with a familiar blond teen riding on it.
"HEY KONOHA! GUESS WHOSE BACK FOR GOOD! MWAHAHAHAHA!" yelled Naruto as he soared over the gates. "Yosh! Nimbus onward to the old geezer!"
The cloud kicked into another gear and sped off towards the Hokage tower.
"If five naked hot-chicks decided now would be a good time to hang out outside the gate, the village would never be the same..." blurted Izumo. They both looked around for several seconds, but when nothing happened Izumo banged his head on the table, "Dammit!"
Kotetsu shrugged, "Hey, it was worth a shot in the dark."
"I think he's just what the doctor ordered for this place," commented Izumo.
"Yep, things are definitely looking up now!" said Kotetsu nodding in agreement.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
As Naruto darted across the skies above the village, he and the nimbus performed some barrel rolls and other tricks to the amusement of the people walking along ground who began to clap and cheer and his antics. Unknown to him he caught the attention of two particular Kunoichi eating at a dango stand.
"Is it me Nai-chan or did a blond hunk of man meat just fly into our village on a yellow cloud?" asked a drooling Anko.
"He looked like a younger looking Yondaime-sama..." muttered Kurenai with equal amounts of drool.
"Well as the two hottest kunoichi in village, we must claim this blond Adonis for ourselves! An opportunity like this only strikes once!" declared Anko.
"I agree!" exclaimed Kurenai, stunning Anko because Kurenai is usually the sane one who puts a stop to her man capturing schemes. Quickly Anko composes herself to take advantage the situation.
"Well then we must prepare to capture our prey. Let's head to my office down and T&I to find whatever information we can on this guy." said Anko before grabbing Kurenai and vanishing via shunshin.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
The Sandaime sat peacefully in his office, taking a moment to enjoy his favorite orange book. Suddenly there was a burst of wind in his office, sending all the papers on his desk flying. He didn't even look up from his book before speaking, "Ah, Naruto I've been expecting you. Grab the paper and forehead protector on the edge of my desk and report to the academy. You'll be assigned to your new team and meet your sensei today."
"I'm back in the village for my first day on the job and you won't even look up from your porn to greet me. That cuts me deep old man, real deep." deadpanned Naruto.
"Yes, yes, I am glad to have you back my boy, now move along. You're already running late. I'll treat you to dinner later." replied the Hokage still not looking up from his book.
"Free Food! You still rock gramps!" exclaimed Naruto as he grabbed the items off the desk. He tied the forehead protector around his right bicep before exiting out the window towards the academy. As soon as Naruto was out the window the Hokage looked up from his book toward the picture of his successor with a proud smile on his face.
"Good to have your son back eh, Minato? The will of fire is stronger than ever within him. You should be proud." commented the veteran village leader.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
At the academy, Iruka was currently announcing the teams for the newly graduated genins, "Now listen up people. These are your genin squads, Team 1...(skipping ahead avoiding all useless people), Team 7 under Kakashi Hatake is Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Namikaze, Team 8.."
"Excuse me Iruka-Sensei?" interrupted Sakura. "But who is our third teammate? There has never been a Naruto Namikaze in the academy. You must have made a mistake."
"There are no mistakes Sakura. Your teammate has been privately trained away from the village by his guardian, who happens to be a friend of the Hokage and several other high ranking village officials. The Hokage along with the council have certified and promoted him to the genin ranks."
"Oh..Okay then. Sorry." meekly replied Sakura.
'I don't care if where he comes from, as long as he's not dead weight. Got enough of that already...' thought a brooding Sasuke.
"Now continuing on Team 8 Aburame Shino...(A/N: The squads are the same the originals). These are your squads. Your Jonin senseis will be along to pick you up shortly. Good luck to you all." stated Iruka.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Two hours later, the other teams and Iruka had already left. Sakura and Sasuke were still sitting waiting on their other teammate and sensei. The two new genin's frustrations nearly boiled over as a masked silver-haired man walked through the door dressed in standard Jonin attire. The lazy looking man had his forehead protector slanted to cover his left eye.
"Team 7?" asked the man.
After they nodded he continued only to be cut off by Sakura shortly after, "I am your jonin instructor-"
"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN! YOU'RE OVER TWO HOURS LATE!" screamed Sakura.
He gave the two of them a bored look, "If you two had any sense of awareness you'd recognize that your teammate and I have been waiting for you on the roof for over an hour. To the roof now please." After he disappeared in a puff of smoke, the two disgruntled genins marched up the stairs to the roof where they found their sensei and teammate sitting across from one another reading a similar pair of orange books. They took seats across from their superior, next to their teammate.
"Now, that everyone is finally here we can begin with introductions. You know names, likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams, ninja skills, etc." stated Kakashi.
"Uh, can you go first Sensei?" asked Sakura.
"Very, well my name is Kakashi Hatake, I have a lot of likes, some dislikes, my dreams for the future aren't really relevant, and I have a lot of hobbies and skills," he replied with a eye smile.
"You didn't tell us anything except for your name!" yelled Sakura incredulously.
Naruto shook his head, "Let me translate that for you: my name is Kakashi Hatake, I like Icha Icha Paradise books, I dislike people who don't let me read my Icha Icha, my hobbies are annoying people by reading Icha Icha in public, and my dream is for there to be an Icha Icha Paradise movie."
"Ma-Ma, Naruto you're ruining my mysterious persona," chided Kakashi.
"You wear a mask, you don't need the whole vague speech thing," deadpanned Naruto.
"Do you two know each other already?" asked Sakura.
"No, we just happened to be neighbors at a Holiday Inn Express last night." deadpanned Naruto.
"No need to be an ass to your new comrades Naruto." scolded Kakashi. "Now, how about you Pinky."
"My name is Sakura Haruno my likes are...(looks at Sasuke then blushes and giggles), my dislikes are lazy perverted bakas! (glares at Kakashi and Naruto) And I hate Ino-pig! My hobbies are reading and medicine, and my dreams are..(looks at Sasuke and giggles and blushes again)."
'Great a fan girl,' thought the other three as they sweat-dropped.
"What about skills?" asked Kakashi.
"Um, I know the basic academy jutsu and a few simple medical ones." replied Sakura.
Kakashi nodded at Sasuke, "Alright, duck-butt head, you're up."
Sasuke showed no reaction to the jibe, "My name is Sasuke Uchiha my likes are too few to name, I have many dislikes, my hobbies are training, and my dream... no my ambition is to kill a certain man and restore my clan. My skills include the basic academy jutsu, my clans taijustu style, and some fire jutsu."
'Great an avenger, he may be talented be he needs to move beyond that mindset.' thought Kakashi.
"And last and certainly least, the devil's chief minion." declared Kakashi.
Naruto snorted, "I'm Naruto Namikaze the pupil of the great Master Roshi. Yeah, I just said I've learned under Master Roshi. Big whoop! Wanna fight about it? My skills are deeply entrenched in the turtle hermit style, however, I have incorporated some ninjutsu that fit with my style to keep myself well rounded. My likes are food and fighting tough opponents, my dislikes are people who annoy me or piss me off. My dream is to become the world's best martial artist."
'The most well adjusted one, and he's probably just as insane as his mother.' thought Kakashi.
"Very, well. That's it for introductions. Now that we all know each other we will meet tomorrow morning for a survival training exercise."
"Survival training, we completed that in the academy!" shouted Sakura.
"Well, this is far more severe than that, consider this a test if you will," replied Kakashi.
"You mean our real, genin test Kakashi-Sensei?" asked Naruto.
"But we just passed that in the academy!" exclaimed Sakura.
"That was merely a certification exam, showing that you mastered the academy teachings. You're real test will begin tomorrow at 8 am. It has a 66% failure rate. So meet me a training ground 7 tomorrow morning at 8 and I recommend not eating beforehand. You might throw up. " with that he disappeared in a puff of smoke.
The dark haired and pink haired genin looked to third teammate, only to find him leaping away across the rooftops already.
"Sasuke-kun you wanna..." started Sakura.
"No. Go away do something productive like get ready for tomorrow." snapped Sasuke.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
(A/N: Skipping the exam part, with a competent Naruto they pass easily. Many useless filler D-rank missions, building camaraderie in their unified hatred of D-rank missions.)
Three weeks later
Team 7 currently stood in front of the Hokage after completing, yet another monotonous D-rank mission.
"Well, let's see what other missions we have for you today, babysitting, walking the inuzuka dogs, lost cat..." however a shout interrupted him.
"No fucking way!" yelled Naruto, using his extending power pole to knock all the D-rank missions out of the Hokage hands and into the air in front of a large open window.
"Katon Goukakyuu No Jutsu!" yelled Sasuke as he launched a condensed version of the fireball, incinerating the D-rank missions to ashes before flying out the window. Sasuke looked away while whistling innocently as Naruto spoke up, "Sorry Hokage-sama, but it looks you're all out of D-rank missions and since we've completed the minimum requirements for a C-rank mission you cannot possibly deny us one after that brilliant display of teamwork."
"How dare you two, attempt to bully your way..." yelled Iruka before the Hokage raised his hand silencing him. He puffed on his pipe before speaking.
"I've seen many demands for higher ranked missions in my years, but none as creative as that one! " declared the Hokage with a smile. "Besides I've been waiting for you to speak up. I have C-ranked escort mission, that should suffice in your opinion Kakashi?"
"Yes, Hokage-sama." replied the masked man, not entrenched in his book for once.
"Then bring in the client." ordered the Hokage.
In stepped an old man wearing a white brimmed hat and drinking sake.
"This is the bridge builder Tazuna, you will escorting him back to his home in Wave country." informed the Hokage.
"Yes, I am the super awesome bridge builder Tazuna. You will have the privilege of escorting me home." declared Tazuna.
"More like the super drunk bridge builder, man you reek!" retorted Naruto while holding his nose.
"Naruto, don't insult the Client. Now pack for a two week long mission and meet up at the gates in two hours." ordered Kakashi.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
After gathering the needed supplies the team met at the gate with the client at the appointed time and departed the village. While walking Sakura pestered both Kakashi and Tazuna with questions about Wave Country and why the mission is necessary. Naruto strategically interrupted at times with questions that are actually relative to the mission. Sasuke listens for important information, but remains silent as they walk along. After some time the group passed by a puddle in the middle of the road. Behind them two men in metallic masks and gauntlets with a chain emerged from the puddle. They both wore mist forehead protectors with a scrath across the front signifying they were missing nin. The two proceeded to encircle Kakashi in their chains before ripping him to shreds.
"ONE DOWN, AND THREE TO GO BEFORE THE OLD MAN!" they yelled before proceeding to encircle Naruto in the chains as well.
Sakura froze at the site of their sensei being destroyed, while Sasuke jumped into action by throwing a kunai at the chains, but he was too late as they reached Naruto first.
"LOOK OUT!" shrieked Sakura.
The chains proceeded to take out Naruto, however, to everyone's surprise they passed through him as if he was never there.
"Shit, it's an illusion technique! Where's the other guy!" yelled Gozu.
"Right up here!" yelled Naruto has he came down from up above. He swung his extending power pole at the gut of Gozu, knocking him backwards and forcing him to collide with his brother. He then swung down over their heads knocking them both out cold. Sasuke threw two kunai through the chains of the assailants which pins them to a tree. Kakashi then decided to make himself known by jumping down from trees above while clapping.
"Nice job you two. Those are chunin caliber opponents, the C-ranked Demon Brothers." he announced.
"Kakashi-Sensei! Thank goodness you're alright!" exclaimed Sakura.
"He used substitution and hid to figure out their target." commented Naruto.
"It was completely obvious." stated Sasuke.
"Do you think that little of your Sensei?" asked Kakashi.
Sakura blushed, embarassed at panicking too much.
"Now, since our client paid for a C-ranked mission, which is protection from bandits, I want to know why there are ninja after him." stated Kakashi with an evil gleem in his eye as he turned to face Tazuna.
Tazuna started sweating bullets before deciding to spill his guts to the group about the situation in Wave Country. He attempted to manipulate them with a sad story about his grandson, but they didn't take the bait.
"We'll since you lied, we are well within rights to leave you here and cancel the mission." announced Kakashi.
"But what about the people of Wave Country, my daughter and my grandson. So cold hearted as to deny a poor boy his grandfather?" pleaded Tazuna.
"While we are well within our rights to decline the mission, we won't." stated Naruto.
"You won't?" inquired a hopeful Tazuna.
Sasuke let out an indignant snort, "What he's is trying to say, that this mission guarantees a fights against a strong opponent and he can't back down from a good challenge. And neither can I."
"And as lazy as Kakashi-sensei appears to be at times, he has his own pride too." added Naruto.
"Well if you all think we should go, then who am I to stop us." said Sakura.
Kakashi adopted his patented eye-smile, "Well, since my genin are all in agreement we should proceed. I'll send a request for backup once we reach Wave Country, since this mission rank is being upgraded."
Tazuna bowed to the shinobi before him, "Thank you so much for your kindness."
Naruto rolled his eyes, "You shouldn't thank us old man, you just got lucky. We're not doing this for you, just for the promised good fight. Between me, the mute, and even our lazy sensei we couldn't possibly retreat from a challenge. Our honor demands it. Any other squad possessing an ounce of sanity, would have dumped you here, sob story or not."
(2/10/2011): Chapter 1 Revision
This chapter has been cleaned up a lot. And do I mean a lot, so now onto the next one. Wooo-Whooo!