R-2-R Time. Again, Thanks to all reviewers out there :)
Imgonnadie, Rasengan89, lou2003us, ArcadiaKnight: Thanks!
roboguy45: Here ya go!
The User With A Name: Bit of a spoiler, but Naruto and Tenten's friendship will have its up's n down's, plus, he's not gonna tell her just like that.
SSJ3 Kyuubi Gohan: :D Glad I could make u laugh dude.
Gold Testament: True, but Naruto will have reasons to stay, at least temporarily.
Minniemousemom (x4), Alex2909 (x4): Thanks for reviews on each chapter! I wish there were more guys like u 2 out there, I'll be glad to get input on each chapter, helps me make a better story :)
Jariya (Anon): This story isn't in manga, n grow a pair
LOL (Anon): Pretty sure ur the same guy, well I'm glad ur done reading, that's one less douchebag reading my story :)
If I didn't reply to your review, my bad. On to the next chapter!
Naruto: The Wind Sage
Chapter 6: Strength and weakness.
It was night as Naruto and Tenten walked through the lit streets of Konoha towards the weapons shop that doubled as Tenten and her father's home. They walked silently side by side, just enjoying the each other's company.
As they turned a corner to the street where the weapons shop was located, Tenten glanced at Naruto for a moment before turning back to the road.
"Something wrong?" Naruto asked without turning his head.
Tenten sighed, "It's nothing."
Naruto shrugged and silence again descended on the pair as they neared the weapons shop.
"Looks like dad already closed up." Tenten said, motioning to the dark lower floor that served as the shop.
Naruto hummed in agreement as they came up to the front door.
Tenten opened the door and stood in the door frame and turned to Naruto.
"Say, Naruto, what were those rouge nin supposed to do, carry me back to the hidden mist?" Tenten asked.
Naruto stayed silent and looked down at his feet.
"Remember when I told you I killed them?" Naruto asked softly.
Tenten nodded slowly.
"Just before I did, one already had his zip down."
Tenten gasped.
"You mean, they were gonna-", But the words couldn't leave her mouth.
"Yeah…they were sent to capture and impregnate you. You would have been raped by all three and carried back to the mist." Naruto said in a strained voice.
Tenten trembled on the spot before hugging a surprised Naruto tightly as some tears escaped.
"Thank you, thank you so much, Naruto, oh Kami, thank you." Tenten said between her tears.
Naruto shook out of his stupor and hugged her back.
"Shh," Naruto said softly, rubbing her back, "It's ok, you're safe."
They stayed like that for a minute before parting.
Composing herself, Tenten pointed at Naruto.
"Don't be a stranger, Naruto."
"Trust me, I'll be around." Naruto said reassuringly with a smile.
"Remember you still haven't answered my question." Tenten said.
Naruto nodded slowly and turned to leave.
"Oh, where are you staying right now?" Tenten asked.
"I'm staying at the apartment complex next to the hot springs; the Hokage lent me a room there for now."
Tenten nodded.
"Goodnight Tenten." Naruto said.
"Goodnight Naruto." Tenten responded softly.
With a smile, Naruto left, while Tenten got ready for bed.
Knowing that there were would be night patrollers, Naruto decided to not use any jutsu, as to not attract any attention, and just walk to his new home, for now.
As he walked through the streets, images of the monsters began popping into his mind and the screams of the people who were those monsters rang in his ear.
'No…not this again.' Naruto thought while grabbing his head, but it only got worse.
He began stumbling as he walked and clutched his head.
'Get Out!' Naruto shouted mentally, but the images and screams just seemed to intensify.
Unfortunately, he was walking by a bar with a group of drunk men was just outside of it. Naruto's eyes were closed as he walked and he stumbled right into the group and toppled most of them down.
"Hey!" one of the drunks shouted in surprise as they all got up, "You must just want to get into a fight don't you!"
Naruto didn't respond as he continued to clutch his head.
One of the men pushed him into a wall and they all walked up to him.
"What?" one sneered "Can't even defend yourself?"
Naruto got a hold enough of himself to look up at the men while holding his head, except-
The men gasped and backed up as from the hood came illuminated red eyes.
"Get away from me…," a new, deeper and rugged voice came out of the hood.
"It's…it's the kyuubi! It's back!" One shouted as all of the men ran screaming.
The kyuubi controlled Naruto left the area and went jumping through the trees until it reached Naruto's training spot. Naruto's body stood in the middle of the clearing as the kyuubi stopped controlling Naruto. Immediately Naruto fell backwards onto his back, his breathing labored.
"Huff…huff." Naruto slowly got his breathing under control.
'Well I guess we can tick that off your bucket list; make yourself look like a baby in front of drunk guys, I'm wondering if I still agree with my statement about you not being a complete dumbass.'
"Not now Kurama." Naruto said out loud.
The fox stopped with the joking immediately. Naruto called him by his name only when he was completely serious.
"There're getting worse." Naruto continued softly as he stared at the starry night above him.
"Naruto, you need rest." Kurama replied, "Staying up all night like you have been for the past month isn't gonna help anything."
Naruto sighed, "The screams just won't leave."
The kyuubi didn't respond, it knew Naruto needed to sort this out by himself.
Getting up, Naruto pulled out a scroll and unsealed a bamboo flute. Jumping into a nearby tree, Naruto closed his eyes and began to play softly. As Naruto played, however, the ninja tailing him disappeared.
(A/N: If ya wanna hear the song I have in mind that Naruto plays; youtube- okami waka's theme *Think of a slower version of it*)
Morning dawned on Konoha, and much less to say, it was not as peaceful as it used to be.
Tsunade frowned at the small stack of reports that she met on her desk when she walked in the office; each a disturbance report by relatives or friends of a drunk male who claimed that he saw the nine tails jinchuuriki last night or at least the red eyes of the fox from a person, but so far it seemed that no one took the incident seriously, as it came from a group of guys who were currently having a terrible hangover.
With a yawn, Tsunade motioned for 2 anbu and ordered them to call Kakashi, Naruto and Sakura.
Within 5 minutes, both Kakashi and Naruto stood in front of Tsunade.
Naruto yawned loudly and leaned against the far wall of the office.
'Crap, why did she call me, and why is Kakashi here?' Naruto thought. At that moment, Sakura walked in and greeted Tsunade.
'Oh great, the pink monkey's here too.'
"Now that you're all here, I've got a sort of mission for you three." Tsunade said with a smirk.
"Why am I here Hokage-sama? I'm sure that these two can take care of anything needed." Naruto asked, taking off his hood.
"Kakashi and Sakura have already been informed of it yesterday. You're here because in a sense, you are the mission." Tsunade explained.
Naruto already put the pieces together, but just to act a bit dumber, he continued with his previous, clueless persona.
Raising an eyebrow, Naruto scoffed, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means that the mission is to evaluate your current strength." Tsunade replied.
Acting as though he was weighing the factors, Naruto hummed out loud.
"And if I refuse wasting my time on this 'mission'?" Naruto asked carelessly.
At this Tsunade got up out of her seat and walked over to Naruto.
"May I remind you, genin, that now that you're back in the village, you're to follow my orders, so there is no option to refuse." Tsunade lectured.
At the genin comment Naruto began smiling madly while laughing a little, but it wasn't just any smile, it was a smile of a sly fox (O.o, unintentional reference there).
Everyone eyed Naruto carefully as his laughing subsided.
"So where are we having this…mission?" Naruto asked.
Tsunade turned to Kakashi questioningly.
"How about we have it at our old training ground? For nostalgia's sake?" Kakashi asked with an eye smile.
Tsunade agreed.
Still smiling in a very disturbing way, Naruto pulled his hood over.
"I'll be waiting." He said and disappeared, no smoke, no nothing, he just wasn't present anymore.
At this, Sakura, who had been silent the entire time, spoke up.
"How do we know he gonna be there?" She asked.
Tsunade smirked, "Did you see his face? He's probably waiting there right now for you guys."
"I'm gonna go get some supplies, meet your there Sakura." Kakashi said and left via shushin without waiting for a response.
Naruto lay on his back in the middle of the clearing of the old training ground looking up at the clouds as if he had not a care in the world when Kakashi appeared via shushin.
"Seems that the others aren't here yet." Kakashi said.
Naruto didn't respond, but took note of the statement.
'So other people will be here eh?' He thought.
Kakashi walked over to tree and leaned on its trunk and took out his por- Icha Icha. About 15 minutes passed in silence when Sakura and Tsunade entered the training field.
"So you're gonna even tell me anything, huh Naruto?" Kakashi asked without looking up as the others came closer.
"I have nothing to say to you," Naruto said in the same manner, "Your sensei must be rolling in his grave, oh wait, he's in the stomach of the shinigami."
Kakashi's eye widened at the statement but held back a response as the others reached them.
"Are you both ready?" Tsunade asked the two when they arrived.
Kakashi closed his book and walked over to Sakura, while Naruto remained on the ground.
"Ahh, look at the clouds," he said absentmindedly, "Now I see why Shikamaru does this."
Tsunade cleared her throat, "Naruto, I asked if you're ready?" Tsunade repeated, eyebrows twitching ever so slightly.
"Mm?," Naruto mumbled and turned his head to the others, "Oh, you mean me? I've been waiting forever for those two to start."
Sighing annoyingly, Tsunade backed up.
"Fine, begin!" She announced.
Immediately Kakashi and Sakura backed up, excepting Naruto to charge at them straight off the bat, but he shifted not one muscle.
Growing impatient, Sakura threw some shuriken directly at Naruto's body, to which Naruto lazily rolled away and returned to his original position, his head resting on his hands, and he let out a content sigh, as if he was about to fall asleep.
Inside Naruto, Kurama woke up and seeing what was happening, laughed.
'Your toying with them, aren't you?' Kyuubi asked, eager to find out what Naruto was planning to do.
'Heh, for now, Kakashi doesn't have his sharingan activated; right now they're just feeling me out. They want a response. '
'So what do you plan to do?'
'I know they want to see my abilities, so I'm gonna use as least amount as possible.'
Meanwhile outside, Sakura was getting very impatient.
'Look at him,' she thought angrily, 'lying there as if we aren't any threat, as if he's so high and mighty, I'll show him just what this useless kunoichi can do.'
She was about to rush forward, but Kakashi head out a hand in front of her.
Thought's rushed through his mind that all stemmed from the simple sentence Naruto said minutes before.
'Alright then Naruto, let's see what you can do.'
Kakashi rushed forward, sharingan still under his headband.
Naruto raised an eyebrow as he sensed Kakashi closing in.
'Well, this is unexpected.'
Kakashi jumped and executed a lion's barrage on the spot where Naruto lay.
As his leg connected with the earth, it created a crater with a spiral crack and threw up dust and smoke. As the smoke cleared, Naruto stood right next to the crater as if nothing happened.
At this time, all the other shinobi of the Konoha 11 and their sensei's joined Tsunade who watched on. No pleasantry's were said, everyone's had 100% of their attention was focused on the fight. No one knew why the Hokage had called them, and except for Neji, Tenten and Tsunade, no one knew who Naruto was and while the others may have looked at all the participants, Tenten's eyes never left Naruto.
Kakashi spun around and launched a kick at Naruto's head, which Naruto ducked. Expecting this, Kakashi twisted his body in midair and using a Kunai, dove straight for Naruto's head, but Naruto simply stepped back and the kunai hit the earth directly in front of him. As soon as the kunai hit the earth, Naruto launched a kick straight into Kakashi stomach. Kakashi substituted and appeared behind Naruto, launching a low kick aimed at the back of Naruto's knees. Without looking back, Naruto did a backflip, his hand reaching for his sword.
'No… not yet.'
Placing his hands on summoning seals on both of his shoulders, he summoned two demon wind shuriken. Landing behind Kakashi, he launched both, one directly at Kakashi, the other at Sakura.
Just getting out of his failed kick, Kakashi sensed the wind shuriken quickly approaching and, using his momentum, kicked off the ground into the air, the weapon barely missing him. Meanwhile Sakura dodged the other wind shuriken and sent some kunai again at Naruto, which he lazily dodged.
As Kakashi was falling, Naruto jumped up at him. Kakashi pulled out another kunai to defend himself. Deciding it was time to up the ante, Naruto left wind chakra in his form as he sped behind Kakashi and delivered a kick before returning to his image. Naruto was just about to hit him, when Kakashi felt a jarring pain hit his mid back and he flew through 'Naruto' to the ground.
'Heh, everyone's gonna wonder how I did that one, good thing only Tsunade knows about my speed, or at least what I told her…or did she tell them about it?' Naruto thought as Kakashi got off the ground and Sakura rushed forward.
Naruto landed on his feet and stayed perfectly still.
'Let's see what you can do.'
Sakura's right hand glowed with chakra as the distance between then closed quickly. Seeing this, Naruto raised as eyebrow, that glow was very familiar, seems she had training from Tsunade.
Sakura threw her fist forward, aiming for Naruto's face. Naruto leaned to his right, the fist hitting nothing but air. Gritting her teeth, she launched another with her left hand, this time it hit, except it went through Naruto, except another Naruto had dodged it. Astonished, Sakura jumped back to take a wider look.
There were two Naruto's, one moved, the other trailed behind the first and faded. (Think of Matrix :))
At this time, Kakashi rushed in, except this time, his sharingan was showing, gleaming, leaving a red trail behind him that was seconded only by the blue lightning in his hand sending trails of sparks behind him.
Naruto made a shadow clone which went after Sakura. Turning to Kakashi, he made two hand signs and held up his palm.
"Wind arts;" Naruto whispered, "air pulse; cannon."
Air blasted seemingly out of Naruto's palm and hit Kakashi. While the force of the wind didn't stop him from approaching, the wind chakra that was infused in the blast weakened if it not completely stopped the lightning blade. Summoning another wind demon shuriken, Naruto flowed his chakra into it and chucked it at the approaching Kakashi.
The shuriken flew at insane speeds and closed the distance between them in an instant. Even with the Sharingan, Kakashi barely had time to react and slid under it, the shuriken cutting his gravity defying hair in half as it passed and flew into the trees behind.
Kakashi jumped back to Sakura as the action ceased and they stared at each other.
'He has barely attacked us, what's he planning?' Kakashi thought as his hand felt his hair.
Sakura had a frown on her face. 'He isn't fazed at all by anything we do. How can we catch him off guard?' She thought as she began thinking ways to do so.
The kyuubi sighed, 'Maybe I should be sleeping, this is pointless, why don't you just attack and finish them?'
'Hold on, I'm gonna prove a point.' Naruto said.
Naruto did the cross hand sign he used countless times, he didn't need to use it, but it was part of the act.
Kakashi and Sakura were on their guard as smoke enveloped Naruto. When it cleared, 5 clones stood with Naruto, each holding a wind demon shuriken.
Simultaneously, all threw the weapons at the two opponents, who quickly dodged without much trouble.
"Ha!" Sakura scoffed, "Again with shadow clones, Naruto? You haven't learned anything new have you? Always relying on shadow clones, without them, you're nothing."
Tsunade's eyes narrowed at this. What was Sakura planning? She normally wasn't the one throwing words at her opponents, but either way, this wouldn't end well.
What Sakura failed to notice was that the shuriken that missed her and Kakashi transformed into clones of Naruto, each bearing another wind demon shuriken, which they threw back at the duo. It was only because Kakashi pulled her out of the way that she wasn't hit by the weapons. Again this repeated and soon Sakura and Kakashi where surrounded by clones wielding a wind shuriken.
'Interesting strategy, Naruto.' Kakashi thought as he began formulating ways of getting out of there, until-
A laugh broke through the air. Kakashi's eyes widen as he heard the laugh that came from Sakura.
Her laughter slowly died done before she spoke. "I knew it, you can't do anything. What are you doing Naruto? These lame attacks, always on the defensive. Why don't you grow a pair? Oh wait, you're probably deformed or something. Where your parent's crippled vagrant civilians? Or where they poor excuses for shinobi who most likely tripped onto some kunai and killed themselves? Either way, they would have been so proud that their son made it to be a genin, at least he made it further than they did."
Everything was silent as Sakura's rant ended. Kakashi was staring at Sakura in shock, Tsunade was also equally shocked. The other's looked on in silence, not sure what to expect.
Meanwhile, Naruto hadn't moved a muscle since Sakura spoke. Inside, the kyuubi wide awake now.
'Come on Naruto, you aren't gonna let this brat get to you, are you? Everything that's coming out of her mouth-'
'is complete crap.' Naruto finished, 'She can't even throw insults properly, what a joke.'
'So you aren't gonna react to what she said, right?' Kyuubi asked carefully.
'She said mom and dad where crippled vagrant civilians.' Naruto responded slowly.
Kyuubi's eyes widened.
'So yes, I am.' Naruto finished.
Back in the outside world, Naruto began walking towards the pair.
"You say my parents would be proud of me being a genin?" Naruto asked in a low voice.
Everyone was on guard now. All Naruto's clones dispelled as Naruto came closer. Sakura and Kakashi began backing up slowly as killer intent began leaking from Naruto's hooded form.
The air became completely still and dense with KI.
Naruto began pulling out his sword.
"Well then, let me show you what this genin can do."
As soon as the end of the blade left its sheath, Naruto blurred out. Fearing the worst, Kakashi blurred out and intercepted Naruto's dash with a kunai. They both blurred into eyesight where they met. On impact, Kakashi was pushed back, but managed to stand his ground.
"Naruto-" Kakashi began.
"Hatake," Naruto said in a soft, but deadly voice, "move".
As Naruto said this, Kakashi felt himself forcibly moved to the side by what felt like a large invisible hand grabbing his body.
With the path clear again, Naruto again blurred out towards a very scared Sakura. Said girl made a mad dash to her right, trying to avoid Naruto's blade. She almost dodged, but Naruto's sword still left a gash in her left shoulder.
Naruto sped into a tree trunk, appearing as he landed on his feet on the side, then blurring out again as he sped back for another jab at Sakura.
'Kid…' the kyuubi warned in his head loudly.
'I know Kurama.' Naruto grunted mentally as he increased his speed.
In what seemed like an instant, Naruto appeared in front of Sakura, his blade extended sideways in front of him, blocking an emerald blade that was meant to cut Sakura vertically in half. It was held by a grey hooded figure, but the hood didn't hide the smile that plastered on the person's face.
'Sora?! Gotta get Sakura out of here.' Naruto thought quickly.
Using wind chakra, Naruto left his image with the sword and grabbed Sakura and rushed over to Tsunade, dropping her in front of the Hokage on the ground.
'I haven't forgotten about you, Haruno.' Sakura heard him whisper as another gash appeared on her right shoulder and Naruto returned to his image.
To the naked eye, it seemed like Sakura just appeared next to Tsunade and Naruto didn't move at all.
"Using your speed as usual, eh, Naruto?" said a male voice coming from the grey hood, "Your sword moved by a millimeter."
"Heh, nothing less from a former wind sage, eh, Sora?" Naruto asked, their swords still crossed.
The man only shrugged in response. But Naruto felt his opponents' sword twitch.
"So, about that former part-,"
Naruto was cut off as Sora's sword glowed crimson and the resistance on Naruto's sword tripled. Instantly realizing that the sword would cut his sword and him in half, Naruto channeled wind chakra into his sword, making it glow bright silver and matched the resistance. The wind picked up violently as the two swords trembled in their wielder's hands before the force could not be contained and the two flew backwards, a strong gust of wind emanating from where they had contact. Both landed on their feet and skid backwards to a halt.
Sora cocked his sword on his shoulder, and glared at Naruto with an annoyed look, while Naruto looked back with a grin, but mentally was extremely nervous.
'The harbinger.' Naruto said mentally as he stared at the sword on the man's shoulder, 'It's stronger than my sword if I remember. Gotta do this properly, can't screw this up.' Back in the real world, Naruto continued grinning.
"Like I was saying, didn't I kill you about a year ago?" Naruto asked.
The harbinger glowed crimson again as Sora shifted in a fighting stance as Naruto's sword glowed silver on instinct.
Sora chuckled, "Yeah, but I got better."
And stop.
Yes, yes I took forever, but life doesn't work out the way ya want it 2 all the time. Thought this waz a pretty poopy chapter, I can't write fight scenes :\ but here we're introduced to one of the former members of the wind temple.
Anyway, that's all for now.
Ja ne,
-T.H.K. (Rewritten: 7/7/2014)
(Update: All previous chapters rewritten, chapter 7 in progress, expect it before the month is done ).