Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"When a man has nothing left, he is the most dangerous." All eyes in the war room turned to the young strategist. "This is his only weakness. We will win this war by using this weakness. Get out if you believe otherwise." The young strategist looked at the general with pity in his eyes. He knew their planned actions would be the end of their village.

Once the strategist left, the general continued with his plan. "While he is on the frontlines, we will send a bomber into his home. Fua, is your student still hidden within Konoha?" The black-haired Iwa Nin nodded his head. "I will send word and have her infiltrate."

With the strategy coming together, a screaming man ran into the room. "It's been called! We've signed a treaty with Konoha!" The general grew disgusted and looked at the messenger pigeon going out the window to instruct Fua's student to attack.

A quick nod towards Fua was reciprocated, and they moved on, accepting the treaty on the outside.

A few weeks later*

Cheers rang through the village hidden in the leaves as their newly appointed Fourth Hokage gave his inaugural speech. "For the third time in our village's history, we have weathered a war that might've spelled destruction. I am proud of everyone in our ranks and grateful for those we lost."

There was a slight moment of silence for the deceased before he continued, "We must look forward to the future of our great village and the future of our children. Thank you all." More cheers muted the man's thoughts as he walked back towards his wife.

The two interlocked arms and left the stage, heading towards the Hokage's office. Even though he was just inaugurated, there was already work to do, and he planned on being diligent, unlike his predecessor.

As they were walking back, Minato noticed someone standing at the fire symbol in the cemetery. "Kakashi has had his team weighing on his mind for months. I want to help him. " He whispered to his wife. "Kakashi needs something to keep him busy, darling. Let's try to find that and see if it helps."

Minato agreed with a nod and just before they could reach their destination. They stumbled across a little boy, no older than five years old, sitting on a bench alone. Kushina felt something spark within her as she looked at the boy and moved close to him, crouching.

"Hey, sweetie, where are your parents?" The boy loomed up, his dark eyes piercing through his blonde mop that could be considered hair. "They died in the war." A chord in both adults' hearts got strung before they sat beside him on the bench.

"Do you have any family?" Minato questioned, using the softest voice he could muster. "Just me. I was in the orphanage, but that's no family." Minato took a breath; he understood the feelings that orphanages gave off.

"What's your name, sweetheart?" The boy gazed at Kushina, a small grin growing on his lips. "Naruto," Neither of them understood the grin but went along with it. "Well, Naruto, would you like to come with us? I have some ramen in my office."

Naruto smiled at Minato and jumped up with them. The three walked along to the office, Naruto holding both of their hands in the middle. Back at the bench, a small bit of blood dripped onto the ground.

Inside the bush behind the bench sat a shallow grave, where a certain Iwa apprentice was laid to rest with her throat slit and a stained kunai beside her.

Two years later*

"Naruto, baby, it's time for the academy!" Kushina's shouts rang through the home of the Namikaze family. The redhead stood in the kitchen with her apron on and breakfast cooking. Sitting at the bar was her husband, reading a newspaper.

A bustling Naruto came bounding into the kitchen, greeting his family while taking his seat at the table to begin breakfast. "I heard you and Itachi were going to try the genin exam today. You two will do perfectly fine."

Through his food, Naruto smiled at his father. "I heard it's just the clone jutsu and then an evaluation? Is that true?" Kushina eyed her husband, and he knew that if he said anything, the spatula she had would be going toward his head.

"I don't know, buddy, they usually change it each year." A silent nod from Kushina told him he was safe. "Ah, well, with Itachi's great fireball, he'll pass. I wish we had a clan technique like that."

Minato sighed. "That's the thing, we just don't have any jutsu that weak." The spatula flew through the air as Kushina started talking to her son. "Baby, jutsu isn't what you need to be a good shinobi. Your mentality and allies make you a good shinobi. Go ahead and get to the academy now."

After a hug, the young boy ran off, and Kushina glared at her husband. "You know very well that Mikoto is my best friend, and you insulted her like that. Plus, that insulted him too." Minato rubbed his head. "It's not an insult, it's just that our jutsu aren't beginner-friendly. I can't go teaching him the flying Raijin or the Rasengan yet because they're too powerful. Plus, we don't even know his affinity."

Kushina rolled her eyes and looked out the window to see Naruto running along with Itachi. On the street, the two boys joked about how the test was going to be easy. Normally, Itachi wouldn't joke, and he'd be dead serious all the time, but he felt like he could express his childishness around Naruto.

"I wonder if they'll put us on the same team," Naruto said, his hands on the back of his head. "I doubt it, they split up the first and second to balance the teams. Plus, we're younger than the normal graduates."

Itachi loved pointing out how he was smarter than the blonde, but if it wasn't for his parents' help, Naruto knew he would be lower than second. Sure, he was smart, but some things were confusing for his undeveloped brain.

Soon, the two reached the academy and entered the testing room they'd been assigned. They were the smallest in the room and the youngest by far. "We still don't compare to Kakashi Hatake," Itachi mentioned while they waited. "He's a different type of person. I once asked him for help on throwing kunai, and he said he just did it perfectly the first time, so he didn't have any pointers."

Itachi laughed a bit until he got pulled up to do his clone jutsu, which he, of course, did flawlessly. Up next was Naruto, and as he stepped up, an unnatural amount of nervousness hit him. The instructor noticed and smiled at the boy.

"You can do it. We're all rooting for you." Taking a deep breath, he performed the jutsu, and fortunately, it went without a hitch. "Good job," The instructor whispered as the next student came.

After the entire room had completed or failed the exam, the instructor gave an announcement. "Okay, guys, congratulations on completing your genin exam, and to those who did not, you can try again soon, but please exit the testing site."

Taking a breath, the instructor began to explain the next step. "Lord Fourth has enacted a new second part of the exam for this class. Everyone here will be placed in their teams, and they will have two weeks to learn a C-rank jutsu that fits their affinity. Failure to learn will result in a reset back to the academy for another class."

The young genin looked at each other and smiled in excitement, their voices becoming loud. Naruto looked at Itachi. "Well, I guess you get a free pass, don't you?" Itachi shrugged and pointed back at the instructor as he began naming teams.

"Team 2, Itachi Uchiha, Tenma Izumo, and Shinko Inari. You will be under the command of Yūki Minazuki." The two boys looked at each other. Itachi was right that they wouldn't be on the same team. By the time Naruto tuned in again, he barely heard his name. "And Naruto Namikaze. Katsumi Uchiha will command you."

The blonde turned to Itachi and raised an eyebrow. "Did you hear what team I was on?" Itachi sighed. "Team 6, I didn't pay attention to your teammates, though." The little blonde's saving grace was two genin running up to him. Well, one ran and the other was dragged.

The girl dragging the guy extended her arm for a handshake. "Hi, I'm Yori Tao. It's nice to meet you." Naruto shook her hand out of courtesy and assumed this was his team. "Behind me is my brother, Minu. You are a genius to pass the exam this early, aren't you?"

Naruto groaned internally. He had hoped his team wouldn't be like that. "Don't pressure the kid so much, Yori. Let's go meet our sensei." With a sigh of relief, he followed the two up to the instructor, who had a card with their sensei's location on it.

"Ah, team 6. Katsumi is at the hospital right now because she got called in, so I don't have a card. Just head to the front desk and say you're looking for her." The three nodded at their former instructor and set off toward the hospital, stepping into their new lives as shinobi.

While they walked, Naruto studied his new teammates. The two were most definitely twins as they had the same gray hair and green eyes. Honestly, the only difference he could see was that Yori had long hair in a bun while Minu just had short hair.

"So what affinity do you have, Naruto?" The blonde shrugged at his fellow male. "I've never checked." Minu almost stopped walking. "Really? Your father is the Hokage, and you've never checked your affinity? Did they teach you any jutsu?"

"No, well, not really. They just helped me with the stuff the academy gave out." Their conversation would've continued if they hadn't entered the hospital. Questioning the nurse, they learned that their sensei was in the fourth room to their left once they went up one flight of stairs.

Once they reached the room, Naruto saw a familiar face through the window. Kakashi was inside the room, sitting at the bedside of a woman he had never seen before. Judging from the monitor, the woman had a slightly elevated heart rate. Giving a knock, all heads turned to the children before Katsumi opened the door for them.

"There they are, my genin team," Katsumi said in a light voice as if a loud sound would hurt the woman in the bed. With a better view, Naruto began to recognize just who the woman was. "He does look like Sensei's son."

Naruto smiled. "You must be Rin," The brown-haired woman smiled back. "Did your father tell you a lot about me?" Naruto shrugged. "Mostly Kakashi, he would bring you up whenever I hurt myself, and he had to patch me up."

The masked man shook his head. "This one has a mouth, watch out for it. Aren't you three going to introduce yourself to your new sensei?" Yori realized her rudeness and turned to her new sensei with a bow.

"Hello, I am Yori Tao." Her brother followed suit, and Naruto did as well. "Well, I am Katsumi Uchiha. "I'll start by asking you some questions. Who wants to become a medical-nin?" Surprisingly, Naruto raised his hand.

"I would, but can I ask why we are in this hospital room?" Yori gave a glare to the blonde, who ignored it. The answer to his question came from his side. "That's because I am going to be working alongside you as a Special Jonin."

The three turned and saw Rin standing up from her bed, for the first time in years. "Not until you can stand properly." Kakashi refuted, helping his teammate stand. "Well, she has two weeks, Kakashi. Now, kids, follow me." The newly formed Team 6 left the room, leaving the remnants of Team 7 behind.

"Are you sure he's adopted?" Rin questioned, using Kakashi's help to get back into bed. "I was there when they found him. Plus, I think we would've noticed that Kushina was pregnant all those years ago."

Rin looked puzzled. "He's an exact copy of them. How could he be adopted?" Kakashi sighed. "We looked into it, and his real parents are shinobi who died in the war. He even has records in the orphanage."

The woman gave up. "Oh well, he's cute and seems skilled for him to be that young." Kakashi nodded and looked out the window towards the cemetery. "I would like to spend more time with him, but he reminds me too much of Obito."

Rin placed her hand on Kakashi's, but words didn't come. It had been years, but she couldn't talk much about his death; it still hurt too much. Outside, Team 6 met on the roof of the hospital. "So, I know your names, but I don't know your personalities. To fix this, we're going to share a little about ourselves. We'll just do one like and one dislike."

The children nodded. "I'll start, I like helping people, and I heavily dislike being late. You go now, Yori." The girl smiled. "I like reading and I don't dislike anything." "Well, what kind of books?"

The girl looked at her sensei with a gleam in her eye that Katsumi knew well from Kakashi. "Alright, well then. It's your turn." Minu sighed. "I like blades and I dislike the color yellow." Katsumi didn't seem to have any questions, so Naruto began. "I like knowing, and I dislike spiders."

Katsumi nodded. "I guess I got some pretty normal kids this time around. Normally, someone says revenge or something cringeworthy like that. Well, you all know what your second trial is, so I guess we'll start with this." The small pieces of paper from her pocket quickly found their way to the kids' hands.

"This is chakra paper, as you'd guess. You put your chakra into it and it reacts." The small slip of paper in her hand caught fire and burned up. Minu put his chakra into the paper without wasting a second, and they watched as it caught fire.

Yori followed suit, and her paper split directly up the middle. "So we got wind and fire. Luckily for you all, I know the perfect C-rank jutsu. Now, let's see what Naruto has." All eyes turned to the blonde as the paper between his fingers stayed the same for a few seconds.

Katsumi noticed the slight smile on his face and chuckled a bit. "Alright, actually do it now." Naruto's grin grew, and the paper between his fingers finally reacted with a crumple. "Lightning, wind, and fire. I believe we have a good mix of affinities here. Unfortunately, I do not have the lightning affinity, so I will have to find someone to bring in for you, Naruto."

The team nodded to their sensei. "We will start training tomorrow at training ground 6. Our start time will be 7 am; we will break for lunch at 12 and go home by 4. Until then, stay out of trouble." The children dispersed, and Naruto followed Katsumi back down to Rin's room.

Inside, Katsumi explained the situation to Kakashi, who shrugged about teaching Naruto. Rin noticed the sadness in Naruto's eyes and spoke up. "How about this? Instead of teaching him a C-rank lightning jutsu, I teach him how to use a chakra scalpel?"

Katsumi eyed the woman. "What makes you think he has the necessary chakra control for such a thing?" "Aren't you going to teach them tree walking before the Jutsu?" Rin shot back. Katsumi responded with a humph.

"You're lucky that you're a patient right now, but he needs a proper attack jutsu, not just a supplementary like the chakra scalpel." Kakashi coughed a little, gaining everyone's attention. "If he doesn't want me to teach him, then what about Minato-sensei?"

That didn't sound like that bad of a plan, so Katsumi walked Naruto to the Hokage's office to meet his father. "Minato, it's me and Naruto." "Oh, come in," The two entered to find Minato sitting at his desk fiddling with a pen.

"Your son here has a lightning affinity, just like you. Would you mind teaching him something? I asked Kakashi, but it seems Naruto doesn't want that." The blonde man chuckled a bit and looked at his son, who had a confused expression.

Minato knew what was on his son's mind. "You're wondering why she's speaking to me so casually, aren't you?" The young man nodded. "Katsumi is my old teammate from when I was a genin, so we've known each other long before I was the Hokage."

Naruto gave another childish nod, and Minato continued. "Anyways, I'll be happy to, but like I said this morning, I don't know any jutsu that is that weak. Especially when it comes to lightning, all of my jutsu are at least B-rank. Did you watch the chakra paper to see if he had a secondary element?"

Katsumi almost facepalmed. She forgot about that part because it's so hard to tell when a fire user has a secondary element. "Do you still have your paper, Naruto?" The little Namikaze produced his piece of paper, and all three looked puzzled for a moment when they saw that the paper was no longer paper; it was metal.

Minato quickly got up and moved towards his son. Katsumi produced another paper and handed it to him. The two adults watched the paper in his fingers as it crumpled from the lightning, and a corner crumbled away as dirt before the entire paper took on a metallic look.

Minato reached out. "May I?" The Hokage grabbed the paper and tried to bend it. "It's metal. You're more special than you think, my boy." Minato formed some hand seals, and a shadow clone appeared behind him.

"Let's head home; I have to see your mom's opinion." Putting his hand on both of them, they found themselves transported to the Namikaze household. Peeking around the corner, Kushina stood there with a raised eyebrow.

Her husband threw the paper to her, and she caught it. "Trying out a new type of shuriken?" Minato shook his head. "That's Naruto's chakra paper." Hearing the excitement in her husband's voice, she moved forward as Naruto did it again.

"Well, isn't that something? Don't get too cocky now, son. Having something special only makes you more of a target in the world of the shinobi. Look at me; my red hair makes me a target, and Katsumi's sharingan makes her one."

The boy nodded. "I would like to teach him some earth jutsu and see if it converts to the metal. What are your thoughts?" The woman nodded at Minato, who placed his hand on Naruto's head, ruffling his hair.

"This is how it's going to work, my son. You go with Katsumi during the day to learn the chakra scalpel, and when you come home, I'll work with you on Earth Spears." The boy didn't have to ask how he knew that and guessed Kakashi had said something.

"Okay, I'm heading back to the hospital. You guys have fun." Katsumi vanished, leaving the Namikaze family alone. "Let's get started then."

The next day, roughly 11 am*

Team 6 hung upside down in front of their sensei. "Just in time for lunch," Katsumi mentioned, sitting on a log and looking at the kids. "Ya'll can drop." One by one, the genin peeled off the tree and landed just below it.

"You all managed to get a good hold of the tree walking technique, I'm proud. Lunch is on me. What are your suggestions?" The sweating kids spat out dozens of restaurants as Katsumi tapped her chin.

"Onigiri sounds good right now, spicy tuna especially." It seemed they didn't have a choice as they followed their sensei to a convenience store for lunch. Once inside, the genin were pleasantly surprised by the food options, although they all grabbed onigiri.

By the time they got back to their training grounds, the onigiri was gone. "I believe each of you has sufficient chakra control, so we will begin our actual jutsu training now." The Uchiha produced some scrolls and threw them at the kids.

"Before any practical training, you must first understand the theory behind the jutsu. Each has a different way of completing the technique, and one must feel the proper nature chakra to complete it. Each of you sit down and get into the lotus position."

She walked behind the kids. "With every breath, you must feel your chakra nature. Yori, focus on the movement of the air in your lungs. Minu, feel the heat within your breath and the heat of your body. Naruto, feel the electrical pulses in your fingers as they twitch." Getting closer to Naruto, she whispered.

"Feel the coolness of your chakra like steel on a cool day and the rigidity of your bones." Inside Naruto's mind, he tried to feel the things his sensei said, but it didn't feel right. He could feel the electricity in his twitching fingers and even it moving up his arm, but the coolness was harder; he had to focus deeply to even begin to feel any coolness.

Getting an idea, the boy took a deep breath and felt the coolness of the air, which he followed throughout his body. Curious, he decided to pump his chakra around his body, following the coolness through his veins and into his muscles.

Going even further, he tried to balance the coolness with the twitching in his fingers, spreading his chakra to both. The boy opened his eyes and was almost blinded by the sparking of his hands. Adding to it, he looked around to find that his skin was now metallic.

Standing up, he lost his focus and the feeling of his chakra, reverting his skin and the electricity from his palms. Naruto looked around, hoping his sensei could help him, but only found a note that said they had gone to get food while he meditated.

The Namikaze shook his head and had an idea while holding the paper. Closing his eyes, he felt the coolness once more and pushed it through his fingers to the paper. When he opened his eyes, the paper was nothing more than dirt sitting in his palm.

He reached into his pouch and yanked a page from his notebook. Trying once again, he pushed the coolness to the paper and added the twitchiness of his fingers. His efforts seemed fruitful as the paper in his hand now had a metallic tend and durability.

A conclusion appeared in his mind; the twitching was electricity, the coolness was earth, and both resulted in metal. He could tell that his lightning affinity was the highest since it was so easy to find. His earth was a bit harder, but it felt natural once he felt the coolness. The metal itself felt as comfortable as the lightning, and he wondered if that was why he could use both at the same time.

Getting out of his thoughts, Naruto looked around for the scroll that Katsumi had left him. Finding it, he began to read. The scroll was about the chakra scalpel, and it detailed the feeling the chakra would have around his hand.

He tried to form the chakra and move it to the shape the scroll suggested, but it just wouldn't work. His chakra didn't want to be put in the position he demanded. "That jutsu requires more chakra control than you have, Naruto."

Turning, Naruto found his team walking up with some bags of snacks. The onigiri wasn't enough. "I gave you that scroll for you to try it, but your chakra didn't move like you wanted, did it?"

The Namikaze shook his head, and Katsumi continued. "For that jutsu, you need to at least master water walking, but we can handle that tomorrow. Go ahead and form a circle around me."

The young genin formed a circle around their sensei while passing around the snacks. "I want us to have a review every day. You guys, tell me what happened. We'll start with Yori. What are your thoughts?"

The little girl swallowed her bite of food and sighed. "I could feel the wind in my lungs and my breath, but I had to have my eyes closed, and it took a while." Katsumi nodded. "When it comes to first learning an element, you have to give it time. Everyone starts somewhere, and you've done the hardest part, starting."

Minu was next, and the boy just shrugged. "My breath is hot, but I don't feel how it could be hot enough for a fire." Katsumi acknowledged him. "Fire is one of the hardest elements to feel by yourself, but once you do, it pays off. Tomorrow, I'll start a fire so you can feel the heat whenever you meditate. Naruto, you're up."

Naruto shrugged as well. "I can feel the twitching in my fingers, but my chakra just doesn't move there like I want it." Katsumi laughed a bit. "Your chakra isn't moving there because you don't have any seals to guide it. You can't just push your chakra out and expect a jutsu; seals are a requirement when you begin. You need much more chakra control if you want to complete a jutsu without seals, such as the chakra scalpel."

The woman grabbed an ice cream from the bag and began to eat. "But overall, I think you all have made great progress in one day, and I am excited to see what you'll be capable of two weeks from now."

Team 6 soon cleared out, and Naruto started his way home, breaking off from the twins relatively quickly. He had something that he wanted to try, and he didn't feel like sharing. While he was walking, the boy tried to push the lightning and earth together to different places on his body.

By the time he got home, he could delegate the steel to one hand. When the boy entered his home, he found no one in the house; instead, they were outside. Uniting with his parents in their backyard, he wanted to question them, but his mother grabbed him before a word was spoken.

"C'mon, Naruto. We gotta do this quickly before Itachi gets here for dinner." Minato peeled his wife off the boy and calmly walked him away. "Don't feel rushed here, alright? Your mom's just excited to see her friend. I said we were going to work on Earth Spears, right?"

Naruto nodded. "It's a simple jutsu that requires only three hand seals: Snake, Rat, and Bird. Your mother will demonstrate." Both watched as the redhead formed the seals and slammed her palms into the earth, which produced five spikes of rock just in front of her.

"Whenever you move your chakra, remember the coolness of the earth and just try to push your chakra into the ground and then up." Naruto sighed; he was tired, and he just wanted to go lie down.

Flipping through the seals, he placed his hands on the ground and accidentally pushed both his earth chakra and lightning chakra into the air. Naruto soon found himself and his mother in his father's arms, a few feet away from where he once stood.

Minato had seen a slight flicker of lightning in the air and grabbed them both before anything could happen. Looking back on the previous position, Naruto found the grass to be scorched black and two small steel spikes were poking from the ground.

"Is everything alright?" Someone shouted, which Kushina recognized as Mikoto. "Yes, Minato's trying out new jutsu again." She shouted back. "Don't destroy the village within your first few years of being Hokage." Minato laughed a bit and let go of his family.

"We'll talk about this later. Let's go inside and eat for now." The older blonde turned to his younger counterpart. "That was good, buddy, but I think you need to lower the amount of lightning a bit."

Walking back into the home, Naruto went to open the door while his parents prepared the food. Whenever he opened the door, Mikoto immediately bent down and rubbed his head. "Hey Naruto, your father isn't destroying your backyard, is he?"

The boy chuckled awkwardly and decided it was time to change the subject. "Where's Sasuke?" He questioned. Mikoto smiled and turned to show the 2-year-old walking towards them, holding his father's hand.

"He's gotten fatter." Itachi chuckled at his joke, and Mikoto did a bit too. "That age is when you blow up with growth spurts, but let's head inside before it gets too dark." Naruto led the Uchiha family into the dining room, where Minato had just finished setting up the table.

Kushina rushed out of the kitchen and hugged her friend while Fugaku placed Sasuke in a chair. "How's your team?" Itachi questioned, letting the adults talk. "I have a set of twins, but they don't act very alike. My sensei is nice. You?"

"I have an arrogant boy and a considerate girl with an accent. My sensei seems to be a petty man, but I can't lie, he is a competent teacher." Naruto nodded. "Do you know what jutsu he plans on teaching you?" Itachi nodded and leaned in. "Don't tell anyone, but I already know the jutsu, and I'm just buying time. What about you?"

"Well, it's a bit complicated. Mom!" He suddenly shouted. "Can I show Itachi my new kunai set?" An "of course" came from the adults, and the two boys went upstairs. Once they got into Naruto's room, he chucked the now metal chakra paper at the Uchiha.

"A piece of steel?" Naruto held up a finger and closed his eyes. After a few seconds, the dark pigment started in his hand, and he outstretched it to Itachi. "I have a kekkei genkai." The Uchiha studied his friend's hand and flicked at it.

"Well, isn't that something? Just wait until I unlock my Sharingan. What affinities do you have?" Naruto grinned and closed his eyes again. A bit later, a small spark of lightning flashed between his metallic digits.

"I have Earth, too, but I don't know how to do that without destroying the house." Itachi whistled. "Don't show off too much now. You've only just begun." Naruto grinned and led his friend back downstairs.

The duo found their families prepared at the table and joined them. "So, I heard you're interested in the medical field, Naruto," Fugaku said, taking a sip of his drink. "Yeah, Katsumi-sensei said I will start learning medicine from her when I pass."

The Uchiha patriarch nodded, and they continued to eat in silence until it was time for their goodbyes. "I'll tell Katsumi she needs to take it harder on you." Mikoto joked as the door closed.

When it was just the three Namikaze, Minato tried to guide his son to the backyard again, only for his wife to stop him. "No, not tonight. Naruto needs to get to bed; it's already 9 PM." Minato sighed and nodded.

"We'll continue this tomorrow, son."

Ten days later*

Team 6 stood at their training grounds, lined up in front of their sensei. "Today is the day that you three become genin." Reaching into her pouch, she produced three forehead protectors. "It is tradition for my genin to have different forehead protectors than the rest because you are different."

As she laid the protectors on the ground, she continued talking. "These forehead protectors are white; in honor of your new beginnings as a genin. You three may have learned your jutsu to be recognized as a genin, but you have yet to pass my exam."

Looking up, her Sharingan spun to life, and the three genin were thrust into their genjutsus. "Which one did you decide on?" A voice said, walking up from behind the paralyzed genin. Katsumi smiled and gave a wave to Rin.

"I am relaying the memory that caused me to get my Sharingan." Rin felt the tint of sadness in the woman but chose to move past it. "Of course, I changed it to their team instead of mine," Katsumi added.

Inside the mind of the genin, they were simply walking on an escort mission, forming a diamond pattern with Katsumi taking point. Out of nowhere, the civilian they were escorting slowed and started to grab his stomach.

"Sir, are you okay?" Naruto questioned, moving towards the man. "I'm okay, kid. I think I pulled something." Katsumi moved over and motioned for the man to lift his shirt. "I can heal a pulled muscle pretty quickly. You guys spread out and look out for anything."

Naruto turned his back, and a sudden wave of force knocked him forward into a tree. Groggily standing up, the blonde clutched his head and saw a pool of red where the two adults used to be.

Looking for his team, he found one of them in the bushes. "Yori, are you okay?" Rolling the girl over, he found a kunai in her chest. Taking a breath, he looked for his remaining teammate. "Looking for him?"

Twisting, Naruto found Minu being held by an Iwagakure shinobi. Without hesitation, he threw a kunai at the shinobi and rushed, managing to get Minu free. Another kunai was embedded in the Iwa shinobi, and Naruto turned to Minu, who lay on the ground.

Getting closer, a plume of smoke overtook the boy, and another Iwagakure shinobi popped out, slashing at Naruto, who barely dodged.

In the real world, neither Rin nor Katsumi noticed the red eye now in Naruto's right socket. Whenever the blonde started gasping for air and fell to the ground, they both looked surprised. "You must have a natural resistance to genjutsu, Naruto," Rin said, walking closer.

Only whenever the boy looked up did they finally notice the one Tomoe Sharingan in his right eye. "Oh, that's interesting." Katsumi noticed the confusion of Rin and decided to chime in. "Naruto is half Uchiha; his real mother was a Uchiha."

Rin looked at the boy and took a deep breath; he reminded her more of Obito by the day. "Can I get that forehead protector now?" Katsumi chuckled and nodded. "Go get it, you've earned it." The blonde swept back his now-wet hair and walked over to the forehead protectors with a bit of a wobble.

He felt a tingle behind him whenever he reached down to get his earnings. "Watch this," Katsumi whispered, throwing a shuriken at the boy. Naruto spun and caught the weapon barehanded, his hand the same color as the metal.

"You've developed it wonderfully," Naruto sighed and tied the protector around his right thigh. "Interesting placement, I would've covered that big forehead." Katsumi joked, earning a bit of a laugh from Naruto.

"Can I get a moment to calm down before the jokes start?" Katsumi nodded and let the boy go sit on a log. "He's just full of surprises, isn't he?" Katsumi chuckled, "You're just mad he stopped trying to learn the chakra scalpel to focus on his kekkei genkai."

"Are you ever going to tell the team?" The Uchiha shrugged. "When they get out of this genjutsu, yeah. They'll find out eventually." Over on the log, Naruto stared at his feet. His mind was blank, and he didn't want any thoughts.

He knew that the life of a shinobi wasn't easy, but making him watch all of his friends die was a bit much. Whenever he finally got his senses, he found his teammates hugging each other and crying.

They weren't shinobi, they were siblings, and he wasn't going to let them be broken apart like that. "What you just experienced is the worst-case scenario of your life," Katsumi shouted, getting everyone's attention.

"The life of a shinobi isn't glamorous; it's dirty and emotionally difficult. What you all just experienced was my first mission after I became a chunin. I am the sole survivor of my team, and I live with my decisions every day."

The woman looked over at Rin and earned a nod. Rin here watched her teammate get crushed by a falling rock while saving another. There are only two ways to avoid these situations: quit being a shinobi or become strong enough so the worst-case scenario never happens."

She took a deep breath and gave one last ultimatum. "Pick up your forehead protector and vow to become strong, or walk away and return to civilian life." After a minute of talking between the siblings, they joined the blonde with their forehead protectors.

"See, they know how to wear it properly." Katsumi joked, seeing both of them covering up their forehead. Once the forehead protectors were secure, Katsumi gathered them all up. "I apologize for putting you guys through that, but you must understand the dangers of being a shinobi. If you'd allow me, I would buy you all your first uniform as an official Konoha shinobi."

The three kids looked at each other and then at their sensei, giving a solemn nod. "Okay then, before we go, Naruto has some things he needs to share with you two." The siblings turned to him and raised their eyebrows.

"I know it's hard to believe because I bear such a resemblance, but I am adopted. My real parents died during the war, and the Fourth Hokage adopted me. My real name is Naruto Gao, and I am half Uchiha."

The blonde flashed his one Sharingan and continued. "Along with my Sharingan, I have another special ability." He placed his hand out and turned it into steel. "Whenever I mix my lightning chakra with earth chakra, I can turn my skin into steel like this."

The twins looked at each other and shrugged. "It's all good, doesn't mean much. You're still our friend, Naruto." Minu said, shaking hands with the metal. Naruto scoffed, and they began their trek to the store.

Along the way, there was a lively conversation as each of them had a newfound respect for the other. Once they arrived at the clothing store, it seemed Katsumi already had an order in place for her team as the clerk went into the back immediately.

"I hope it's not some cheesy outfit," Minu said, getting a hit from his sister. "Katsumi-sensei is very fashionable," Rin laughed, but let it continue. A few moments later, four boxes came out of the back.

"Four?" Yori questioned. "It's for me." Rin interrupted. "My old clothes don't exactly fit, so I needed a new uniform." Katsumi passed out the boxes and pointed at some changing rooms. "Be back quickly, I'd like to have our first mission done today."

Within a few minutes, Team 6 stepped out looking fresh. Rin, of course, had on the standard Konoha jonin uniform, but the genin were a bit different. Each one had on something similar but with a few minor changes.

The base was the Konoha uniform, but they had an addition of green forearm bracers and shin guards. Replacing the flak jacket was a thinner vest similar to the ANBU of the leaf, but green in color.

On each of their left sleeves was the Uzumaki swirl, and for Naruto, there was a Uchiha fan on the right. "Now we look like proper shinobi," Katsumi said through a smile. "Let's go get our first mission."

Team 6 jumped into action, hoping to put their mark on shinobi history.

Chapter Text

"Second, once again, Naruto." Itachi joked, poking the blonde with his elbow. "Not quite, Itachi," Minato said, sitting in his chair and looking at Team 2 and Team 6. Team 2's sensei, Yuki, narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean, sir?"

"Well, as you know, we decide the top genin team based on a combination of the number of missions completed and the client's reviews from each mission. This year, both team 6 and team 2 matched their scores, so there was a tie for the first time ever."

The Hokage let the kids celebrate for a bit before continuing. "As such, I have two propositions for you to pick between. First, we could have the teams duel to assert the top team, or both teams can share the throne. Senseis, please step out of the room and let the genin decide."

Yuki scoffed under his breath and opened the door, allowing Katsumi to exit. "After you." Once the two were gone, the genin began to discuss among themselves. "I say we fight, I have some new weapons to try out," Minu said, nodding at Naruto.

Yori shook her head, "Ignore him, we should share it." Minato smiled at her comment, and after a bit more discussion, he called upon the teams for their answers.

"Team 2 has decided to share the podium," Itachi said, earning a nod from Naruto. "Team 6 agrees. There's no reason to fight." Minato looked at the two teams and nodded.

"Very well, as the top teams, there is a reward." Reaching under his table, he produced a wooden box that was almost as long as his desk and just as wide. Popping the locks, he opened it and spun it around.

Inside the box were six neatly placed swords with bandages wrapped around the hilts. Naruto and Itachi knew the blades well, but it was obvious the others did not. "These high-grade katana are often supplied to our higher-ranking shinobi. I wanted to give these to the rising genin as a sort of constant reminder to reach the level to deserve the blade."

The blonde stood up and grabbed one of them out of the box. "It is up to you if you'd like to utilize the katana or merely keep it as a trophy, but if you'd like to learn the blade, then I will set up some lessons for you."

Minato handed off the blade in his hand to Yori, "I especially expect a lot from you, young lady. Your way of thinking is what I want in my shinobi corps. You'll be a great strategist one day." He raised his voice. "Senseis, you may return."

In walked the two adults, with Katsumi first of course, and Minato took his seat again. "While you distribute your rewards, I'm going to give some information about your mission as the top genin team."

The Hokage grabbed a scroll from his desk and rolled it out. "As the top genin team, you have been tasked with guarding the Daimyo during his yearly visit to our village. This is a great honor among any shinobi, and I expect each of you to be on your best behavior. Your mission will begin tomorrow morning at 0600. Sensei, I will give you the detailed information to relay. You're all dismissed except Itachi and Naruto."

After everyone else had left, Minato looked at the two boys with a smile on his face. "You two have made your families very proud." The blonde leaned forward to Itachi. "Don't say anything, but your father was nearly jumping for joy when I told him about your achievements." Leaning back, the man took a deep breath.

"Naruto, the crest on your right arm has brought up some concerns." The blonde furled his eyebrows. What was the issue? Seeing this, Minato waved his hand dismissively. "Nothing serious, but a few Uchiha have brought up that you should know the fireball jutsu if you wear that crest. Now, I know you don't have that affinity, but I'd like for you to try. Itachi, if you wouldn't mind, I'd like you to try and teach him the jutsu during your mission. In return, you can learn the blade from Kushina, if you'd like."

Itachi nodded. "I would've done it for free, but if I get to learn from Lady Kushina, then I will accept." Minato laughed, "Don't let her hear you say that now, she'll grow too bigheaded. Now, I believe this will be a great learning experience for both of you."

Knowing it was time to leave, the two Uchihas bowed and left. Walking down the halls, Naruto sighed. "Isn't it hard to learn a jutsu you don't have an affinity for?" Itachi threw up his hands.

"It's all dependent upon your talent, which I know you have. The way that I learned to feel my fire was to sit by a flame and breathe in the heat. I suggest you do that when it's possible. You'll have me answer any questions along the way, and Katsumi will also be there."

Naruto nodded, adjusting the new katana on his back. "Do you want to head to my house first?" Itachi shook his head. "Let's go to mine first to tell my mom I'm going over." The two boys set off for the Uchiha compound, and Naruto decided to ask some questions.

"Have you gotten your sharingan yet?" Itachi glared, "You know the answer to that question." The blonde cackled. "It's weird not being first, huh?" Itachi shook his head in amusement. "We both know that I'll master it before you anyway."

Naruto sucked his teeth, so Itachi knew he had him beat. "I bet I'll be better with the sword." Itachi pulled out his wallet. "How much, blondie?" The blonde pulled out his wallet and sorted through his coins.

"1,000 Ryo says I'll learn the sword quicker than you, and I learn the great fireball in less than four days." Itachi raised his eyebrow, "Four days is extremely short for someone who doesn't have the affinity." He laughed a bit.

"But for some reason, I think you could do it. I'll try my best to help you learn." Naruto smiled, and they soon arrived at the Uchiha compound, where Itachi explained the situation to his mom. "That's great, you two. Keep up the good work."

They left with a snack in hand, which was gone by the time they reached Naruto's house. The Uchihas decided to enter through the back and found Kushina already outside, sitting in a lotus with her sword over her lap.

She opened one eye and smiled heavily. "Congratulations, you two! You deserve it!" After ruffling their hair a bit, she pointed to the ground. "Sit, I want to teach you two something before we start practicing."

The boys copied the redhead and watched as she put one hand on the sword and put the other in front of her, forming the seal of confrontation. "When you hold a blade, you must remember that it is a weapon created for killing and nothing more. Go ahead and exude a bit of your chakras while gripping the blade."

The birds watched from the trees and fled as a cold wind swept through the garden. Naruto and Itachi had a new aura around them, one of aggression. Kushina laughed maniacally, "Those won't scare a fly in the real world."

A red glow overtook the woman, which caused Naruto to instinctively jump back with his sword prepared and his sharingan spinning. Itachi, on the other hand, was still, not moving an inch. "As expected of Fugaku's child. Naruto, come back and sit. You're going to be instinctively scared of my chakra, but you must keep yourself calm."

Slowly, he moved back, and it felt like he was fighting every fiber of his being to be that close to her. "Once you both have completely calmed down, we'll stop."

Two hours later*

Kushina let out a yawn and stretched her arms. "You very well. Naruto, it's not easy to fight your instincts that tell you to run away when your opponent is of a higher level, but it is a necessary component of being a shinobi. Itachi, you should know that there are times when you need those instincts. You two especially will one day rely too much on your vision, and when you don't trust your instincts, you will die."

Standing up, he beckoned the two up with the tip of her sword. "Copy my movements." The woman took a stance and sliced through the air four times in quick succession, taking a step with each. Taking a step back, she placed the sword horizontally in front of her in a block stance.

"Kenjutsu is a dance of give and take; get used to giving an attack and blocking immediately after." Giving a nod, both boys attempted to copy her moves. "Both of you tilt your body a bit more and bend your knees, the lower the better, but don't go crouching."

The two did it again, and she had yet another comment. "Too tight on the grip, loosen your hands, and use your experience in chakra control to stick your palms. This may be kenjutsu, but you are a shinobi, not a samurai. Again."

"Again"

"Again"

The same word was repeated over and over throughout the night, and the only reason it stopped was the blonde man who walked in. "Honey, how long have you been working with them?" Minato already knew the answer just by looking at the boys; they looked malnourished.

"Just about six hours, why?" Minato blew out a breath. "They look like they're going to collapse, sweetheart. Both of you come inside and eat dinner. When you're done, I'll use the hiraishin to take you home, Itachi."

The Uchiha nodded. "Thank you, sir." While the boys went inside, Minato talked to his wife. "Baby, you can't train them without breaks like that. They're just kids." Kushina cracked her back and nodded.

"I couldn't help it; they understood what I said without me explaining it, so all of the corrections were instant. Both of those boys have a bright future ahead of them." Minato smiled and went to walk back in, but got grabbed by Kushina.

"Naruto is starting to use steel more naturally. I told them to use the tree walking technique to hold onto the blade, and Naruto's hands had a tint of gray to them after a while." She moved closer, "Both of them will awaken both sharingan soon. Itachi is on the cusp, and anything will activate it."

Minato nodded. "Someone will most likely try to attack the Daimyo, so I'll keep an eye out when they come back." Kushina returned a nod, and they went inside, seeing the famished children chowing down at the table.

"I apologize for working you two so hard. I'll give you more breaks the next time I work with you." Itachi took a sip of his drink and shook his head. "It may have been difficult, but I feel like I truly learned something. I think Naruto thinks the same way."

The blonde nodded, still busy stuffing his face. Just when Itachi finished and Minato was getting ready to teleport him home, the doorbell rang. The blonde man went to check it and found Mikoto.

"I figured she'd have finished by now." Minato nodded and let the woman in. Mikoto chuckled when she saw the boys, "You gave them a workout, huh?" Kushina blushed and put her hand over her face.

"Are you done eating?" Itachi nodded at his mother, and they began to leave. "Kushina, hard training means they'll get better quicker, so don't be too hard on yourself." Once the Uchiha had left, Naruto walked up to his mother.

"Mom, can we do that more when I get back?" Kushina smiled, "Yes, baby, go take a shower now."

The next morning*

Team 2 and 6 stood at the village's southern gate. "Alright, kids, we're going to start our trip to Keishi. I'll keep up the pace, and if you all stay with me, then we'll reach the capital in just under 2 hours." They nodded at Katsumi and took off.

As they ran, Yuki began to explain the mission details. "Once we reach the capital, we will have roughly an hour before the Daimyo wishes to begin his trip. At 10 sharp, we will leave and travel for roughly 6 hours before setting camp for the night. Each of you will take shifts during the night, watching for enemies. The next morning, we will begin our trip again by 0700, and we should reach the village by midday."

Each of the genin nodded their heads, and Katsumi looked back at her team. "Don't just run during this mission; make sure you do some kind of training." Reaching into her pocket, she grabbed two lighters and handed them to Minu and Naruto.

"Work on your elements with those. Yori, just breathe with the wind from running." So, as they ran, Team 6 trained on feeling their elements. For Naruto, it was a lot harder. "I can't feel a thing; all that's there is a small heat." He said to Itachi, who was on his right.

"Don't focus on the heat, focus on the flame itself." Naruto made a confused face, and Itachi sighed. "Look at the shape of the flame. Do you see how it has a flared base and tapers up to the top? When you use fire style, that's how the chakra within your mouth feels when using a fireball, but the taper is your throat, and the base comes from your mouth. Focus on that and then the heat."

Katsumi looked back at the boys with a smile on her face. "Minu, make sure you listen to Itachi as well, that's good advice for fire style jutsu." A few minutes later, Yuki felt a small heat on his back and looked to see a steady flame coming from Itachi right next to Naruto's head.

"Uhhhh," Katsumi held up her hand to stop him from talking. Naruto was concentrating on the flame and doing a wonderful job. Inside the boy's head, he focused on the movement of his chakra through his lungs and mouth.

The heat he felt from beside him helped him warm up the chakra. Instead of releasing it, he kept it swirling in his upper body and decided to push it through his body as well. The result was an immense heat that caused him to start sweating.

"Should we stop him?" Yuki questioned, looking at his fellow jonin. "No, he's still feeling out the nature of fire. If we stop him now, his chakra may go haywire and cripple him." Under her breath, the woman muttered another sentence that only she heard.

"He's a Uchiha, considering his talent with fire style. How does he not have the affinity on chakra paper?" As the group moved further and further, it seemed that Naruto began to sweat more.

Eventually, they reached a road with a gate at the end. "There it is, the capital of the land of fire." Glancing at his watch, Yuki smiled. "We've arrived at a great time. We have an hour and a half to rest before we begin our guarding. Katsumi and I will report in; you six stay together and enjoy yourselves."

The two jonin went their way as the six genin looked at the capital excitedly. Well, four of them did, Naruto and Itachi were still training. Impatiently, Tenma reached over and grabbed the blonde's shoulder.

"AHH!" The boy jumped back and blew on his hand as blisters formed. "Holy shit," Minu said, seeing the burns. Yori slapped the boy and brought out some bandages to help her teammate. "He's a conductor," Itachi said, staring at his blonde friend.

The Uchiha grabbed Naruto's collar and pulled back to see the metallic skin under his shirt. "Nobody touch him, he's about as hot as a cast-iron right now." Suddenly, raindrops started to fall, and they watched them evaporate as soon as they hit the blonde.

After a few minutes, he opened his eyes and sighed. "I'm hungry. Anybody down for some lunch?" Itachi chuckled, and they started walking down the road to the gate. "First thing is hydration, I think you've sweated out any water you might've had."

The rest of them agreed, and Minu handed him his canteen. "Might as well start now. I think we should get something salty for lunch as well." Naruto smiled as he took the drink. "You know, ramen is always on the menu."

The group unanimously agreed on ramen and went off searching for a restaurant. They eventually found one and got their order in. "Why was Naruto so hot earlier?" Tenma questioned, still trying to flex his hand.

Itachi figured that Naruto didn't want to share, so he answered for him. "When using fire style, the heat is normally formed in the mouth or the lungs to allow it to be pushed out as a fireball or a flamethrower, but Naruto didn't do that; he spread the heat throughout his body to enhance the feeling of the chakra. I called him a conductor because his body allows chakra to completely flow through, no matter the element."

The genin looked confused. "You've all heard of A from Kumo, I assume?" They nodded. "He uses a jutsu that allows lightning to cover his body. Naruto did the same thing, but with fire style, and he kept it inside instead of letting it out."

Naruto laughed internally and nodded at his fellow Uchiha. Just in time, their food arrived, and they ate silently. After finishing his meal, the blonde excused himself to go use the restroom. Standing at the urinal, another male took up the one to his right.

"You're doing well." The man said, earning a nod from Naruto. "Thank you, sir. I should be coming into Danzo's sights soon. When I do, I'll make sure to get close." The man chuckled. "One step at a time, my boy. If you align with Shisui Uchiha, his Kotoamatsukami will help you greatly."

Naruto nodded once more and turned to wash his hands, noticing the man flicker away in the corner of his eye. While washing his hands, he felt a sudden weight on his right arm. Looking, he found something tucked under his arm bracer.

Reaching inside, he found a small dagger. The boy pulled it from its sheath, and he barely noticed a sheen of purple on it. "A dagger dipped in venom, that should be handy." Composing himself, he stepped out to find his team leaving.

"Drink a bit too much water, huh?" Minu joked as the blonde joined them. "I might have, that ramen hit the spot though." Yori agreed. "Team 2 headed to the shinobi supply store by the way. Where would you like to go?"

Sighing, Naruto pulled out a small pamphlet from his pocket. Opening it up, a map of the city was now visible. "The garden of fire sounds nice, what do you guys think?" Minu shrugged, and Yori almost started sprinting.

They started the way over, and Minu looked at his watch. "We have about 30 minutes until we meet back at the gate." Naruto acknowledged his friend with a thumbs-up, and they entered the garden.

Once inside the greenery, Naruto took a deep breath and smiled. "I will say the smell of flowers is lovely." Minu laughed and hit his friend on the back. "I can agree with that, man." As Yori wandered off, Minu and Naruto stayed together, opting to sit on a bench.

In front of them was the main exhibit, a bed of poppy flowers that looked like fire. "Naruto, do you ever feel like your efforts are wasted?" The blonde looked over and saw Minu staring into the flowers with a blank expression.

"I like to think that my efforts aren't wasted but used differently." He returned the canteen to his friend and leaned forward, clasping his hands together. "Whenever we train, we might not be good at the thing we're trying to train, but we're improving something else."

The blonde stood and unsheathed his sword. "When I work with this sword, I don't just work on kenjutsu, but I also work on my chakra control by using it to grip the handle. Even if I suck at using the sword, I'm still working on my chakra control. You see what I mean?"

Minu sighed and let Naruto sit back down before continuing. "Yori and I are twins, which means we should be able to use our clan's jutsu, but I just keep messing it up." Naruto was visibly confused, so the boy continued.

"Twins in our clan are famous for their tandem jutsu, mixing their jutsu to make them more powerful or just fighting in sync to protect one another." He sighed. "I just can't seem to get it right at all. I try my best to fight in sync with her, but I'm always one step behind."

Naruto smiled, "Instead of trying to be in sync with her, let it come naturally. If it's your clan's talent, then it's a talent, not an acquired skill. Sometimes, you just gotta go with the flow." Minu chuckled,

"Listen to me, asking someone almost half my age about something like that. Let's go find her and report back before Sensei gets mad." Minu patted his friend on the back and they left he bench.

30 minutes later*

Team 2 and 6 surrounded a carriage as they strolled down the dirt road. Inside the carriage was the Daimyo, and trailing behind were a few servants. Other than them, the two genin teams were all the protection they had.

Itachi had been placed in front of the carriage, followed by Naruto at the back and the other genin stacking on the sides. The sensei sat atop the carriage, getting a higher view of their surroundings.

Time passed slowly as they walked, and by the fourth hour, all of the genin now hated escorting missions. A bell within the carriage rang, and everyone came to a stop. The Daimyo needed to use the restroom.

After helping the man out, he was escorted to the woods with only a few of his servants. Katsumi tagged along as well, just for added security. Yuki and the genin waited for a couple of moments before the jonin took his leave, claiming nature also called him.

The genin stood alone with the rest of the servants who took the time to sit on the side of the carriage. "Anybody want a snack?" One of the servants asked, reaching into her bag. The woman produced multiple grain bars and passed them about.

"When you walk for this long, you gotta have enough energy in your body as well as water, so make sure you guys drink up." The genin smiled. Maybe escorting missions weren't that bad. Suddenly, Naruto's head snapped to the side, his sharingan blazing. "Get ready, everyone."

The genin spread out around the carriage, weapons drawn. "How amusing." A gush sounded from the carriage, and everyone spun to see the civilians cut down. "Collapse!" Itachi shouted; they needed to be close to have a chance.

After the two teams collapsed into a circle, they heard laughter that rang throughout the road. "Your sensei won't be coming anytime soon." A body appeared in front of them, and they could barely tell it was a bloodied Yuki.

"He didn't deserve to be called a shinobi." Shivers ran up each of their backs as the voice was close. He was in the middle of their circle. The genin scattered and finally got a look at the assailant.

The man was covered in a robe with an orange mask and long black hair. The man moved toward Itachi, but Tenma jumped in front of him. "You'll have to get through me first." That he did, cutting the young genin up within seconds.

Itachi ran forward, launching a fireball at the man. Following through, Itachi dissipated the flames quickly and slashed with his blade. The man stood unfazed, grabbing the sword with one hand.

"How weak." The man kicked Itachi, launching him back into the twins' arms. "Go get Katsumi!" Naruto shouted, jumping at the man, sword drawn. The masked man slipped every slash and tried to hit the blade out of his hand.

"Using your chakra for grip, interesting." Naruto knew he was just tiring himself out using the blade, so he threw it to the side and thrust his hands to the ground. "Metal spears!" Dozens of metal spikes thrust up from the ground, which the man jumped to dodge. Once he landed, Naruto watched as the twins rushed him.

It was beautiful as they threw punches and kicks that were immediately followed up by the other. Even with the sharingan, Naruto couldn't find any gaps in their style. "Weak." A slash from the man's sword was lightning quick and cut both siblings across the stomach.

"Nooo!" The blonde ran over and tried to look at the wounds. Minu chuckled, looking at himself. "I wish Rin-sensei were here." Naruto looked up from the twins as they fell unconscious. "Now, you've made a mistake."

The blonde appeared in front of the man, slashing with a kunai that barely touched the robe. Dropping the blade, Naruto made his fists into steel and threw as many punches as he could. After the man caught his fist, Naruto turned his head to the side.

"Finally, she's gone." The man was confused but had to refocus as the blonde's fist started sparking. The shrieking of lightning style filled the air, and Naruto struck. He appeared behind the man and thrust his fist forward, impaling the man's stomach with the chidori.

Naruto couldn't feel anything around his hand and pulled it out, covering himself with a plume of smoke. The man appeared again, grabbing Naruto by the throat and holding him in the air. Looking into his eyes, he found a fully developed three-tomoe sharingan in one eye, while the other only had two.

"How disappointing," He threw Naruto down and placed his hands behind his back. "Keep fighting." The blonde screamed and ran through handseals. "Fire style: Great Fireball Jutsu!" The flame grew from his mouth and started fires in the trees that surrounded them.

"No, hand-to-hand only." The man appeared in front of him and grabbed his wrist. "Fight me like an Uchiha." Naruto glared, his sharingan promising violence. Rolling his wrist, he broke the grip and punched toward the man's throat, his hands still gray like steel.

For what seemed like forever, the two fought hand-to-hand until Naruto was panting. The man leaned down and looked into Naruto's eyes. "Three tomoe, perfect," Naruto screamed at the man. He only had one more chance to kill him.

Pointing one arm to the sky and one to the ground, the boy filled his lungs. "Agonizing Kiln!" Swinging his arms back down straight, the man felt his hair stand up; this was dangerous. Out of the dirt rose three walls of steel, and from the sky, bolts of lightning struck down. From Naruto's mouth flew flames hotter than he'd ever felt.

After a solid few seconds, Naruto stopped and let the smoke die down. In the place of the man, he found a chunk of the mask and a tattered cloth. The blonde clicked his tongue and turned away, pushing the steel back into the earth.

Standing next to Itachi was Shinko, staring directly at the boy. "Well, shit." Appearing in front of her, he apologized. "I'm sorry," Thrusting his sword into the girl's stomach, he let her fall to the ground and bleed out.

Turning his head to the side, he could sense that Katsumi was on her way quickly. Considering the fluctuations in her chakra, she must've been under a genjutsu the entire time. After cleaning the blood from his blade, he ran across the road to the twins.

He could sense both of them were still alive, and Itachi was just unconscious across the road. Tenma, Shinko, and Yuki were all long gone, so Naruto turned his blade onto himself. "Here goes nothing."

Thrusting the blade into his stomach, he grunted and yanked it back out while he fell to his knees. Panting, he threw the blade as hard as he could toward the carriage and stuck it into the wood.

He quickly passed out from the blood loss, and that was the scene that Katsumi entered. Reaching into her pouch, she retrieved a flare that she immediately sparked up. The red smoke rose to the sky while she checked over the genin.

Within minutes, ANBU flooded the area and secured the Daimyo. One of the ANBU recognized Naruto, and his eyes grew wide. "Is that?" His teammate grabbed him and shook his head. "Let the medics work, Inu."

The gray-haired ANBU cursed and watched silently as Katsumi and the other medics worked on the kids. "Inu, go report this to the Hokage." The man nodded and disappeared into the trees.

Konoha*

Minato stood on the roof of his office, staring at the red smoke in the distance. Inu appeared behind him, kneeling. "Sir, the Daimyo has been secured." The blonde took a deep breath. "Casualties?"

The ANBU swallowed hard. "Jonin Yuki Minazuki is KIA, along with genin Tenma Izumo and Shinko Inari. Genin Itachi Uchiha has broken ribs but is otherwise unharmed. Jonin Katsumi Uchiha is also unharmed and was under a genjutsu at the time of the attack. Genin Yori and Minu Tao both have a laceration across their abdomen, and they've lost a lot of blood."

The man turned, staring into the eyes of the mask. "Kakashi, how is he?" The ANBU pulled off his mask and stood, "He has a stab wound, sensei. He was covered in blood when I saw him, but I don't know if it's his."

Minato exhaled heavily. "Do we know anything of their enemy?" Kakashi shook his head. "The battlefield was heavily scorched, and there were a lot of footprints. From what I could tell, there was a taijutsu battle, and one of the genin used fire style. Their opponent was playing with them." The gray-haired man stopped for a moment before continuing. "The wound on Shinko Inari suggests that it was Naruto's blade that did the deed. I believe the enemy stole the blade, stabbed the girl, and then stabbed Naruto afterward."

Minato ran his hand through his hair. "Do we have any clues on their identity?" Kakashi shook his head once more. "Negative, this was a professional and in my opinion, the Daimyo was not their goal."

The blonde narrowed his eyes. "What are you suggesting, Kakashi?" The Hatake had to think carefully about his next words. "Sir, I believe it was a show of force because the genin were played with and the body of Yuki Minazuki was heavily mutilated."

Minato sighed and moved towards the stairs. "Call them, Inu." The ANBU slipped his mask back on and disappeared once more. As the Hokage descended the stairs, he picked up his pace until he was within the meeting room.

Once he sat at the head of the table, the clan heads flooded in one by one, along with the elders. Seeing everyone there, he stood. "At approximately 1600, genin teams 2 and 6 were attacked while escorting the Daimyo. Three are confirmed KIA, with the rest in critical condition. The enemy was able to keep Katsumi Uchiha under a genjutsu for a long period and mutilate the corpse of Yuki Minazuki."

The Namikaze took a breath. "Itachi Uchiha, Naruto Namikaze, Minu Tao, and Yori Tao are all in the care of the ANBU medical corps at this time, but they were being toyed with. The ANBU believe this attack was a show of force against us since they decided to put a high-level Uchiha under a genjutsu."

Fugaku sucked his teeth in his seat. "The only person who can contain a Uchiha like Katsumi with a genjutsu is another Uchiha." Danzo cleared his throat at the end of the table. "So we're looking for a defective Uchiha."

The Uchiha clan head glared at the man, who always left a bad taste in his mouth. "We did not have any Uchiha defect during the Third Great Ninja War nor in the years since." Silence sat in the room for a second until an old voice entered.

"Such as Kakashi Hatake, what if the user has an implanted sharingan?" Heads turned towards the speaker and found the Third Hokage taking a seat next to Danzo. "It would normally be impossible for an outsider to have such control over the sharingan, but the existence of Kakashi changes that."

Silence fell once more. "Iwagakure has always been jealous of the sharingan, and it would make sense for them to attack your son," Danzo said. The room filled with chatter, and Minato thought. "We will wait until the genin are awake to give testimony before we do anything. Shikaku, I would like you to stay back and give me your thoughts; everyone else is dismissed." With a wave of his hand, everyone left the Hokage with the Nara. "I do not think this was an act of war, but merely a warning. Whoever it is is saying that they can get into our country any time they'd like and nobody can stop them."

Minato sat back down and stretched out his legs underneath the table. "Are you suggesting that we increase our barrier corps and set up barriers around the land of fire?" The Nara tilted his head. "I wouldn't go that far, but I would suggest at least putting one at the capital and one near every border to monitor who gets in. Also, I would like to increase the number of ANBU spread around our country, at least two teams at each checkpoint."

Minato nodded, "Anything else?" The Nara looked up at the ceiling in thought. "What if instead of putting barrier teams at the borders, we have an interconnected system of sensory ninjas? We could train them all to sense a certain distance and set up checkpoints at the end of the distance, making a net of sorts."

The blonde smiled. "I knew your big brain would think of something good. I'll speak with Inoichi, but it seems like we're going to establish a new sensor corps." Shikaku paused. "I would speak with Hiashi as well, including a Hyuga with the Yamanaka, would increase effectiveness. I suggest we form three-man teams, with one member from each clan, and an interceptor who can report quickly. Each checkpoint should have three of these teams so they can work eight-hour shifts."

The Nara continued. "The average sensor can sense 30 miles, I believe, so I'll go measure our map and get with you later on the numbers." Minato smiled again. "Very well, thank you, Shikaku."

Alone, Minato called out. "Inu, please go get Inoichi and Hiashi to meet me in my office. I'm going to speak with Kushina." With a flash of yellow, he was gone home to tell his wife the news.

Chapter Text

Rain fell in the village hidden in the leaves for the first time in a while, and covered the funeral for the lost shinobi. Everyone paid their respects to the fallen, and families cried out at their loss.

"Many don't realize what it means to be a shinobi," Minato said, standing at a podium. "Being a shinobi means that you put your life on the line to protect your comrades day in and day out. These brave shinobi did just that and paid the ultimate price. As their Hokage, I want to thank them for their sacrifice and bravery."

He took a breath and pulled the Hokage's hat off his head. "As a father, I want to thank them from the bottom of my heart for helping my son." After bowing his head for a moment, he put the hat back on and walked away.

The funeral was silent for the rest of the time until they left, leaving the families on their own. Minato and Kushina were among the crowd, but their eight-year-old was nowhere to be seen.

The child was sitting atop Hokage Mountain, watching the events from afar. Even though he felt no remorse for killing Shinko, he wasn't going to attend a funeral of his own doing. Everyone thought he was still in the hospital, but he'd snuck out for a moment.

Another casualty had occurred after their return, and it didn't sit right with him. Minu had lost too much blood, and by the time he'd gotten back, it was too late. Even though he did not kill the boy, he felt like he was responsible.

It was his fault for not stopping the two from fighting the man in the first place. "It's called survivor's guilt," The blonde jumped and turned to find the crippled old man known as Danzo. "Relax, I'm just an elder these days. I fear I'd throw my back out if I fought you."

The joke was followed by a croaking old laughter, but Naruto just sat back down. "Back in my earlier days, I had a similar mission. It's been decades, but I still think that I could've prevented it."

Naruto stayed silent; he'd been trained to hate the man and kill him. "Whenever Hiruzen and I were on a mission with Lord Second, the decision that I made resulted in our teammate's death. Lord Second found me in a position much like you are now and gave me some advice."

Danzo kneeled, and Naruto heard every joint creak. "All decisions are final in the shinobi world, and you must live with them every day, so make the decision that feels right in the moment. If you're wrong, then use it as a lesson to never make the same mistake again."

Naruto glanced over at him. he was supposed to kill this old man? "After I retired, I became something of a counselor, so if you ever need anything, don't hesitate to ask." He patted the boy on the shoulder and began to walk away.

The blonde looked into the crying sky and wondered if he, too, should be crying. He had spent a year with the Tao twins, and now, there was just one left. That sibling bond that he wanted to protect was gone, and he couldn't bring it back.

Looking toward the hospital, he stretched out his senses to find the last Tao sibling. Furrowing his brow, he couldn't find the girl. What he did find was Katsumi walking to the room where he should've been laid up.

"Oop," The boy disappeared from the mountain and appeared in his hospital room. His clothes were soaked, so he closed his eyes and dispersed fire chakra around his body to turn himself into a drier.

By the time Katsumi got there, Naruto was lying down, staring out of the window. "How are you feeling?" Naruto grunted, sitting up. "I'm a bit sore. How are the twins?" The Uchiha pulled a chair beside him and sat down, grabbing his hand.

"They didn't survive, Naruto." The blonde felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. "What?" He asked weakly. Katsumi closed her eyes and nodded. "Minu passed in transit, and Yori just passed."

Naruto took shaky breaths, and he felt tears welling up in his eyes. For the first time, he cried without forcing the tears out. The blonde sobbed into Katsumi's arms. Both of them were gone?

Since he came to Konoha, he'd never felt truly alone until that moment. He might've had his parents, Katsumi-sensei, and Itachi, but none spent days together helping an old farmer or helping each other learn a jutsu.

Sure, Katsumi-sensei was there, but she just oversaw everything. She didn't experience a breakthrough along with them. "Team 2 and Team 6 are going to disband for a while, in honor of our fallen."

Naruto pulled away a bit and pushed his head further into the woman's shoulder. She felt the hot tears soak through her clothes while she rubbed his back silently. "This is the reality of being a shinobi. You are going to lose someone you care about, and eventually, those people might lose you as well."

A knock on the door brought their attention to a couple standing there. Naruto immediately recognized the gray hair and knew they were the twins' parents. "Hey there, Naruto," The mother said, moving towards him and taking Katsumi's position of hugging.

The blonde was speechless for a while until the father cleared his throat and began talking. "Thank you for being such a good friend to my children. They both cherished you a lot." Naruto could hear the emotion build up in the man's voice.

"Honey, I'll be in the cafeteria." The man quickly excused himself, leaving his wife to talk to the boy. "I wanted to give you something," She pulled back and reached into her purse, producing two headbands.

She placed them into the boy's hand and closed it with both of hers. "Recover well," Leaving a kiss on his forehead, she left. Katsumi looked at the forehead protectors and turned away.

What made her head snap back was the smell of blood. "Naruto, your bandages." The blonde lifted his head, and the Uchiha saw that it wasn't his wounds that were bleeding.

Blood ran down the boy's cheeks, and she watched as his sharingan spun and the tomoe collapsed to the middle, forming what looked like the star on a compass. "My god," Awakening a mangekyou sharingan that young was a tragedy she couldn't believe.

Opening a drawer, she grabbed a rag and wiped the blood from his face. "Naruto, you must be very careful with your eyes from now on. If you use them recklessly, then you will go blind." The blonde nodded and stared out into the window as his eyes wound back down to his normal blue globes.

"Try to get some rest. I'm going to get you some food." Naruto licked his lips and swallowed hard. Why were his emotions so hard to deal with all of a sudden? His attention moved toward the door once more as he felt someone coming closer.

The door opened, and Rin popped her head in. Once she was sure no one else was in the room, she rushed in with a container. "What are you?" Shushing the boy, she rolled the table toward the bed and placed the bag down.

"Don't say a word, patients aren't supposed to eat this stuff." She grabbed a bowl from the bag and placed it down along with a pair of chopsticks. "Ramen straight from Ichiraku," Naruto smiled. She wasn't treating him like someone who'd gone through a loss, and it was a breath of fresh air.

While he ate his ramen, she pulled some sushi from the bag, and they ate in silence. When they were done, she packed it all up and threw it into the trash can. "No evidence means no crime." Naruto laughed and grabbed at his stomach.

"Hey, no laughing. You still have a hole through your side." She ruffled the boy's hair. "I know the last thing people want during a time like this is a bunch of apologies. I'm going to treat you normally. Let me know if it bothers you."

The blonde shook his head. "Thank you." A tear welled up in his eye again, and the brunette wiped it for him. "Anytime, kid. Your parents are on their way, so is there anything you need?" He glanced toward the bathroom door, and she nodded.

"Let's get that handled." As she moved all the covers, Naruto stared at the two headbands resting on his table. He already missed them.

One year later*

Naruto stood next to Itachi as they stared up into the Kage box of the stadium. Time did not appear pleasant to the blonde boy, as his hair was significantly shorter and messy. His uniform stayed the same, but with the addition of two red-banded forehead protectors. One was wrapped around his left bicep just below the Uzumaki symbol, while the other mirrored it below the Uchiha fan.

The blade he once carried on his back was now strapped to his hip, and a series of throwing knives lay across his chest. "Congratulations!" Minato announced from the box. "Everyone of you has passed and earned the rank of chunin in your respective villages. You all did a wonderful job, congratulations."

Naruto turned away, facing the two teams of foreign shinobi behind him. One was from Kirigakure and the other from Sunagakure. "Well done," He shook each of their hands and faced Itachi. "You too, brother." The Uchiha shook his hand and pulled him closer into a hug.

"My home is always open," Naruto nodded and stepped away, using the shunshin to disappear. Itachi stared at the breeze left by the blonde. Ever since the incident, he'd grown more and more distant, even more so than someone in grief.

He figured it was time to talk to the Namikazes and see if there was anything to help. Down the street, Naruto walked alone. His destination was the same as it was on any other day: the cemetery.

At the final resting place of shinobi, he found peace. The boy stood in front of his teammate's graves and smiled. "I got it, guys, I'm finally a chunin. This is all because of you guys." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a familiar gray-haired teenager standing at a nearby grave. They often saw each other, and they simply returned nods of acknowledgment most of the time.

Looking back at the graves, Naruto noticed a slip of paper sitting on the ground. Reaching down, he grabbed it and read the small print. 'It's time, you must kill Danzo Shimura soon.' The paper burned up in his hands, and the boy sighed.

"Congratulations, Naruto." The blonde didn't need to turn his head as he knew Kakashi's voice. The boy simply nodded, and the gray-haired teen continued. "You know that you're going to have to move on one day, right?"

Naruto chuckled, "The teapot calling the kettle black." Kakashi grew a grin. "I know, but I've decided to only come visit when I'm leaving on missions. It isn't healthy to dwell on the past as much as we do."

The blonde glared out of the corner of his eye. "I'm not asking you to let their graves get dirty, but spend more time with the people around you; it'll help more than thinking about your actions." He grabbed the boy's shoulder and turned him away.

At the entrance of the cemetery were both of his parents and Rin, who had the food, of course. "We wanted to celebrate your achievements and honor your teammates as well." The group quickly closed in, and Rin placed the food as offerings to the Tao twins.

"Our food is back at home, but I wanted to bring some for them as well," Rin said, placing down the drinks. After setting down the offerings, everyone bowed, and they began to leave. "Your abilities are more impressive every day," Minato said, wrapping his arm around his son's neck.

"I agree, you've improved with your katana and fire style, although I'm surprised you didn't use any steel techniques." Naruto shrugged at his mother's comments. "I didn't need to, and I don't plan to unless I need it."

Rin hit the boy in the arm. "Look at you thinking like a shinobi, sometimes keeping a few secrets is what lets you return at the end of the day." Naruto nodded; he had experience in keeping secrets.

"You know, your growth might be better than mine when I was a genin," Kakashi joked. "Well, I just hope you get to grow up in a peaceful time, unlike these two," Kushina said, earning nods from the two teenagers.

They soon reached the home of the Hokage and went inside for the celebration.

A few hours later*

Naruto stepped into the backyard of his home and sighed, taking a seat on the porch. After checking behind him, he stood and jumped to the roof. Reaching into his brand new chunin vest, he got a small box.

Opening the box, the blonde pulled out the poison-covered dagger that he'd received all that time ago. "A gift?" His head swung to the side to find the old man called Danzo sitting beside him.

"Something like that," He quickly put the box away and heard joints pop as the old man sat down. "I see your training paid off today." Naruto nodded, "Yes, sir, thank you for allowing me to train with your men."

Danzo nodded, "The pleasure was mine, helping a prodigy such as yourself. Plus, you've already repaid me by helping in those missions." The old man produced a small box, tied with a bow.

"You didn't have to." Danzo shook his head and stood up. "You've earned it, kid. I gotta leave before this house full of sensors notices I'm here." Naruto pulled the bow back and opened the box, discovering a replacement cloth for his forehead protector.

"Black, I guess I'm no longer as pure as a genin." Shoving the cloth into his pocket, he jumped down from the roof just in time for Kushina to walk out. "Hey Naruto, they're getting ready to leave, so now's the time for you to open your gift."

The blonde nodded and joined his mother inside the living room, where a box lay on the table. "Any guesses on what it is?" Rin asked, looking at Kakashi. "I tried to give him Ichi Ichi Paradise, but they refused." The brunette hit the man and turned toward Naruto.

"Any guesses, Naruto?" The boy shrugged; he figured the gift he was going to get was the chunin vest he had on. After everyone was gathered around, Naruto grabbed the lid of the box and pulled it back.

The gift on the inside was a surprise to everyone, absolutely nothing. Minato started laughing at Naruto's face before he pulled himself together. "Here, your real gift." He pulled a scroll from his pocket and handed it to the boy.

"It might take a few years, but I think it'll help you greatly." Naruto opened the scroll and found a unique marking at the top. It was a circle with three lines coming out of each side. "Be very careful with that scroll; it's Lord Second's journal of his creation of the flying Raijin."

Naruto's head nearly skipped a beat as he looked upon the scroll. "I had to learn from that scroll, and I'm not going to make it any easier on you." He ruffled the boy's hair and laughed, "It should be a nice addition to Kakashi's Chidori that he taught you for the exams. I use it with the Rasengan, so it should be interesting with the Chidori."

After a few more jokes, the guests left, and Naruto headed to his room. Getting down to his underwear, he made for the shower, something he'd needed badly for the past few days. Looking in the mirror, he stared at the scar on his stomach.

He could still see it, the crossing of the man's blade across their stomachs. The way they both fell, how Minu joked with him until the very end. Suddenly, the boy felt a hand grab his arm, and he turned to find his mom looking very concerned and his father behind her.

Glancing back at the mirror, he saw that he was sweating and that his mangekyou sharingan had activated. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and reverted them. "Are you okay? Where did you get all of these scars?"

Naruto sighed internally at his mother's questions. He couldn't tell her that they were from training with Danzo, so he gave a half-truth, half-lie. "Some are from the forest of death, the others are from my training with Itachi."

Minato raised an eyebrow. "Itachi is too careful with a blade to make those cuts, son." Naruto chuckled. "Yeah, maybe with others, but he knows he can go all out with me. This is the result." His father sighed and moved to sit on the bed, patting the space beside him.

The boy joined him, and Kushina took a seat at the boy's desk. "I know it's hard dealing with the pain every day. The memories crush you and make you feel like you're not enough." Naruto looked at the pained expression on his father's face; he'd never seen that before.

"Dying is a part of life, but that doesn't make it any easier when it happens to those close to you. Sometimes you have to live for them because that's what they would've wanted; you to live your best life."

Minato cleared his throat and pulled Naruto into him. "I love you, son, and you should always come to me or your mother if you have a problem." Naruto returned the saying and was embraced by both parents.

"Now, I think you need a shower," Kushina said, backing away and wiping her tears. Minato agreed, and they both left while Naruto glanced in the mirror once more. One scar caught his attention; it was a long sword stroke across his left hip.

That was the result of the very first mission he ever did for Danzo. The memories flooded in from the mission a few months prior.

The boy sat in the trees along with another root as they watched their target move. The Iwagakure shinobi named Fua had been trading weapons with bandits within the land of fire. "We're going to get him alone; it's your job to finish him."

The blonde nodded at the masked man and put his mask on. While the rest of them worked, Naruto watched as Fua moved around in his vacation home. The man was dressed like a civilian now that he'd retired, but they'd all known what he was.

One by one, Naruto felt the guards fall, and once they were all gone, a bird chirp cut through the air. It seemed Fua knew the bird was unnatural as he jumped up from his chair and grabbed a nearby kunai.

Naruto sighed and made a clicking noise with his tongue, making the man look at him. Using his Sharingan, he threw the man into a genjutsu and quickly used the shunshin to appear behind him.

Using a syringe, he injected a small amount of venom into the back of the man's head, covered by his hair. As he pulled the needle out, the genjutsu broke, and the man slashed back, covering the floor in blood.

Naruto cursed, but he knew the man wouldn't survive anyway and just got his distance while Fua tried to move closer. The blonde cursed even more as he felt more chakra signatures move toward their location.

Danzo had briefed him before that in these missions, they wouldn't hesitate to leave another in case of an emergency. As he expected, the signatures of his so-called comrades disappeared one by one.

By the time the last man was gone, Fua had already dropped dead on the ground. Pulling out a storage scroll, he put the body inside but cursed at the pool of blood on the floor. He couldn't just burn it or cut out that piece of the carpet.

The entire point of their mission was to be unseen and disappear with the wind. It would be too suspicious if the house caught fire or anything of the like, so he was truly stuck between a rock and a hard place.

As the enemy shinobi reached the door, he knew that his time was up. Closing his eyes hard, Naruto flung them open when the door opened and his mangekyou sharingan spun to life. "Did he go fishing again?" The first shinobi questioned, looking directly at Naruto.

The blonde prepared to rush the man, but it seemed like there was no hostility in his voice at all. "I don't know, he's getting old, so he probably took a scenic route. I don't understand why Lord Tsuchikage makes us check on this senile bat." Another answered, entering the room.

Naruto nearly laughed as he realized what had happened. He'd put each of them in a genjutsu that made them see what he wanted them to. Pushing it to the limit, he imagined a note on the kitchen table.

To his amazement, the Iwa shinobi walked over to the table and looked at the imaginary note. "You called it, man, he went fishing. Let's come back tomorrow." The squad left the home, leaving Naruto smiling in the middle of the floor.

After the door was closed, he felt a sharp pain in his eyes and took a knee. The boy panted for a bit before standing up again, wobbling. His sight was blurry, and his balance was messed up.

Taking a seat at the table, he took a minute to recuperate. Once his vision was cleared up, he clapped his hands and got to work. He entered the kitchen and grabbed some cleaning supplies to clean up the blood.

With a bit of scrubbing, the blood came out, and he began to leave, but saw some fishing gear in the corner. A smile grew on his lips; he knew what he would do. It was much more believable that the old man fell while fishing than just disappearing.

Back in his bedroom, Naruto chuckled his way to the bathroom. It was still incredibly funny to him how he set up the body as an accident, and Iwa just accepted it. He even had him bust his head open so the needle mark wasn't visible at all.

Once the boy left his shower, Minato put his head through his bedroom door. "Hey, son, get some rest tonight. Tomorrow you're going to be given your first mission as a chunin." Naruto nodded and cut the light, "Goodnight, Dad."

The next morning*

Naruto sat in his father's office, waiting for his mission to start. "While we wait for your teammates, I'll explain the situation to you." The blonde sat up and leaned toward his father. "So you know about our new border outposts? We're creating a new deployment system with it, and you will be going on that rotation for three months. Once the rest of your team arrives, I'll brief more."

The boy nodded, and they both waited for the rest to come in. As they entered, Naruto studied his new team. The first to enter was a Nara girl with long, back hair that was almost reflective. Just behind her was a Hyuga girl whom Naruto immediately recognized as one of the main branches that had just received the rank of chunin.

Once the Hyuga entered, Naruto stood. "Well, nice to meet you. I'm Naruto Namikaze." Stretching out his hand, Minato spoke up. "Just a minute, Naruto. There's one more." The blonde turned his head to the door and felt a chakra signature sprinting toward the office.

Just before they got there, Naruto moved to open the door and watched as the shinobi skidded to a stop just inside the office. They looked back at Naruto and smiled. "Thank you." A smile grew on Naruto's face as he looked at his teammate.

A Yamanaka who had short blonde hair that touched her shoulders and blue eyes that looked like a pond in the summer. Naruto shook his head. How stupid of him. "Now, I believe that's everyone, son."

Right on cue, the younger blonde repeated his earlier action. "Naruto Namikaze, nice to meet you." The girl grabbed his hand and used his help to stand. "Fuji Yamanaka, sorry for my tardiness."

Naruto shook his head, and they greeted their other teammates. He learned that the Nara was named Misaki and the Hyuga was named Isane. "Well, now that you're all acquainted, I will explain your mission."

The man cleared his throat and motioned for them to sit. "The four of you will be stationed on our border with the land of rain, approximately 30 miles from another post. As you've probably noticed, two of you are sensory ninjas. The two of you will keep a constant watch on your 30-mile zone while the other two either patrol or give aid to you. Naruto, Misaki, that would be you two. You are the runners, per se; if they sense anything, you will respond to it."

The man pulled a blueprint from his desk and rolled it out. "At this compound, you will complete 8-hour shifts, switching off with two other teams to allow proper rest. I don't know if you've noticed, but each of you is a chunin, which means there is no team leader. Over the compound is a Jonin, and they will be your supervisor.

All of you are grown shinobi now, so you will be expected to take accountability for yourselves. Understood?" The shinobi echoed, "Yes, sir." Minato nodded. "Very good, report to the western gate in two hours. Until then, I suggest you get to know each other because you four are our youngest chunin this year."

Naruto looked over at the three girls and noticed they looked younger than normal. He suspected none of them was over twelve years old. Within a few minutes, the blonde learned he was correct.

As they walked down the street, they shared more information, and he learned that all of them were eleven. He just shrugged. At least it was relatively close. After they finished, he concluded that Misaki was the typical lazy Nara with a knack for medicine, Isane was an arrogant Hyuga, and Fuji just seemed like an airhead.

"Well, what about you, Naruto?" The Yamanaka asked, poking at the boy's arm. "Well, I'm nine years old and I have a lightning affinity." Fuji shook his arm. "There's gotta be more than that. What do you do for fun, and what's with having three headbands?" Naruto sighed. He didn't want to get close to these girls if he could help it.

"I don't have any other hobbies but training. The red headbands are mementos of my fallen genin teammates. Their deaths are the reason the compounds are made around our border." Naruto was happy with himself, which should've shut down any conversation. Unfortunately, he just gained the interest of Isane, who, like a normal Hyuga, valued training.

Fuji apologized, and they stayed silent for their walk to the restaurant they'd agreed upon. Eating was no different, as the clanking of glasses was the only audio coming from their group. Eventually, Naruto had a thought.

Even though he didn't want to grow close, he still needed to know their shinobi capabilities so that he could prevent unnecessary death. "So, other than the obvious, what are your capabilities?" He asked, which seemed to scare Fuji as she jumped a bit.

"I am mainly a taijutsu fighter with my clan's gentle fist." Naruto nodded. 'A normal Hyuga is a one-sided coin.' Moving along the line, Fuji happened to be next. "Other than my clan's abilities, I tend to use Earth Style as a support for my teammates to get time."

Naruto moved on. "I'm the medic, fire style, and traps." The blonde gave a thumbs-up. Their team composition wasn't horrible; a supporter, a close range, a medic, and then him, whatever he chose to be.

"I migrate between close range and mid-range; I'll adapt to whatever we need." Fuji popped her head up. "Is it true you have the sharingan?" Naruto wanted to facepalm and saw Misaki do it.

He didn't have the energy to talk, so he just flashed his eyes at the blonde. Motioning to the restroom, he got up and left the girls. Doing his business, a familiar scene gave him a bit of deja vu.

"You must take him out while you're deployed so there is no suspicion." Naruto sighed. "How do you suppose I do that?" The man side-eyed him. "Don't catch an attitude with me, boy; remember why you're alive. The answer is in your pouch."

The blonde sucked his teeth and washed his hands. Every time he met him, it left a sour taste in his mouth after Team 6's demise. After his hands were washed, he pulled the foreign object from his pouch, which was a scroll.

He unraveled it a bit and read the title. 'Shadow Clone Jutsu.' Sighing again, it went back into his pouch, and the Namikaze left the restroom. On his way out, he bumped into another familiar face.

"Oh, Naruto, how's it going?" The blonde greeted his black-haired friend. "I'm good, Itachi. Did you get an assignment too?" Itachi nodded. "I'm going to the border of the land of waterfalls, you?"

"Rain, my team is just over there at that table. Did yours come here too?" Itachi spun around and pointed to the booth beside Naruto's. Among them, Naruto noticed someone. "Shisui? I thought he was a Jonin?"

Itachi motioned to the bathroom, and he followed him in. "He is a Jonin, and he's going to be taking command of our compound. I see you have a Hyuga and a Yamanaka as well. Is the other one a Nara?"

Naruto leaned against the wall, "Yeah, I think I'm going to swing by my house after this to grab my go-bag. You know my dad could've told me to grab it beforehand since he decides these missions."

Itachi chuckled. "The heads of the Hyuga and Yamanaka clans told their kids about it, so I guess he just wanted to make it harder for you." After finishing up, they left the restroom, and Itachi stopped the boy in the hall. "So, how are you feeling?"

The blonde gave a small smile. "Better, sorry I was such a dick to everyone." The Uchiha shook his head. "Nonsense, I'm just glad you're back. How much time did you get?" Naruto held up two fingers, and they started walking back.

"Have fun, man. We've only got an hour before we head out." They bid their goodbyes, and Naruto scooted back into his booth. "She wants to know why you have the Sharingan." Misaki shared, covering Fuji's mouth.

The blonde sighed; he knew they'd eventually ask. "I'm adopted, my real name is Naruto Uchiha. Despite my appearance, I'm not blood-related to the Fourth Hokage." Fuji nodded into Misaki's hand.

"Do you guys have enough supplies for the deployment?" They all nodded, and he groaned. "I have to stop by my house then, I wasn't told to prepare for this. Can we just meet at the western gate?"

Fuji had a muffled answer, but the other girls just nodded, so they split off once they paid. At home, Naruto opened his closet and grabbed his go-bag along with a second bag. His go-bag had essentials for up to two weeks, so he needed to pack a bit more, mostly clothes and quality-of-life items.

"Hey, Mom!" He shouted, earning a "Yes?" back. "Do you have any more storage scrolls? I ran out." He heard her moving up the stairs and creaking open his door. "How many do you need?" He held up a single finger, and she handed him one.

"You're going to have to start making your own soon. They're a great first project, and you're gonna need fuinjutsu experience to learn the hiraishin." Her son sighed, another thing he had to learn.

The woman felt something was off and guessed what was bothering him. "It's easy to get overwhelmed when you have talent, my son. It's much easier to handle multiple tasks with a schedule. You're going to have eight hours of free time, yes?"

He nodded. "How many things do you need to practice? Three?" Another nod. "That's simple, today's Sunday, so starting tomorrow, do one thing a day for three days, take Thursday off, and repeat the cycle."

That sounded like a solid plan to him, so he agreed. "Thanks, Mom." She smiled, "You're welcome, son. I'll meet you downstairs with some studying materials."

The redhead left him to his packing, and within a few minutes, he came back down to find her by the front door. "Alright, son, are you ready for this?" He nodded, and she handed him another scroll.

"There are your studying supplies. They're numbered and there are instructions for each step." Naruto hugged the woman. "Thank you, Mom." She pulled him in tight. "I love you, too, baby. Now, go spend some time with your new team."

They bid their farewells, and Naruto was off to the western gate. Weirdly, he didn't find the rest of his team there, so he sat in wait. Almost an hour and a half later, the three girls finally came strolling up.

He would've questioned them, but he still didn't want to get too close. "Everyone ready to leave?" Fuji asked, almost bouncing. Naruto gave a tired nod, and the girl started walking. "Does she know where she's going?" Naruto asked, gaining a bit of a smile from Misaki.

"Not at all," He chuckled and started after her. "Well, let's guide her the right way." Eventually, they got her on the right track, and they started running through the forest of the land of fire. Their trip would take them about two and a half hours to complete, so Naruto decided to do a bit of reading on their way.

By the time they reached the compound, he had read over the first couple of pages of the book on fuinjutsu. He read so few pages because he was honestly already confused, but once the building came into view, he put it away and studied his new living space.

The compound was small with an outside wall and three buildings on the inside. One building sat in the middle, a circular frame with a glass roof and a balcony that stretched around the entirety. On each side of the building were smaller buildings, rectangular buildings.

Strolling up to the main gate, it opened, and they were greeted by two shinobi. "Welcome, please come in." Once inside, they started talking once more. "On your left are the female barracks, on your right are the males, and in the middle is the observatory. That's where our Jonin lives and where you'll pull your shifts. Speaking of which, your shift begins in about three hours, so you have plenty of time to explore and settle down."

After that, they left the new team to their own devices. "Let's go report in," They filed into the observatory and marveled at the architecture. "It's beautiful," Fuji said, twirling and looking into the sky.

Naruto grabbed the girl by her shirt and pulled her back. In the center of the room was a water bubble suspended in the air that he knew was a sensory bubble, and Fuji just about ran into it. On the other side of the bubble were two shinobi, sitting with their eyes closed. Judging by their appearances, a Yamanaka and a Hyuga.

The blonde pulled his teammate out of the room and down a flight of stairs into the basement with the others in tow. Once downstairs, he let go of her and knocked on the door to his right. "Enter." Fuji recoiled. The voice on the other side sounded angry, very angry.

The girls let Naruto enter first and followed him, finally seeing who the angry voice belonged to. Sitting beside a desk was a bald old man with scars covering his arms and coal-colored eyes that required discipline.

"You must be our new replacement team. I'm the Jonin over this compound, Takeshi Uchiha. You are?" The group introduced themselves, and the man just lit a cigarette. "Lord Fourth should've explained your assignment, and I hope your clan has trained you two." Pointing the cigarette at Fuji and Isane.

They nodded, and he took a long drag of the cigarette. "Your shift begins at 1 pm, which gives you three hours to settle in. Any questions? Good, you're dismissed." Without a chance to ask anything, they left the room and just headed to their separate barracks.

Naruto entered the male barracks and found it set up like an apartment with rooms on the sides of a long hall and utilities at the very end. Each door had a placard next to it with the name of its occupant.

He found his name at the very end of the hall and opened the door. The room was small, with a bed pushed into the left corner and a desk on the right that was built into a wardrobe. Luckily, there was at least a toilet and a sink in the room, so he only needed to leave for a shower.

On the desk, he found the key to his door. Sitting on the bed, he took a breath and leaned back, groaning at the stone-like mattress. He'd gotten far too used to the soft mattress he had at home.

Sitting up, the boy groaned and started pulling scrolls from his pouch. The flying Raijin scroll caught his eye, and he decided to give it a read. 'Day 254: I have made a breakthrough in the jutsu. If you can write your chakra like the ink on a seal, then the mark can be placed on any target.' Naruto stared with his mouth agape. He couldn't imagine the chakra control required to draw a seal within a touch.

Rolling the scroll back up, he set it down and patted it. It would be a little while until he could understand that jutsu more or less complete it. He glanced at the fuinjutsu scroll but sucked his teeth looking at it.

As much as his mother wanted him to learn it, he felt like it was something he needed a teacher for. The only option he had left was the shadow clone jutsu. Opening the scroll, he found a familiar name.

'Creation of Tobirama Senju; use caution when attempting.' Naruto blew through his nose. Lord Second must've been one hell of a shinobi. Putting a mental note to research him later, the blonde kept reading.

'The shadow clone jutsu is an advanced form of the clone jutsu, which requires the user to split their chakra in half for one clone or in thirds for two clones. Any amount of clones over two is dangerous and forbidden; usage of more than two clones will be met with swift judgment and sentencing.'

Ignoring the blatant threat, he read on. Unlike the normal clone jutsu, the shadow clone jutsu creates a physical clone, hence the increased chakra consumption. It is highly recommended that you have a comrade nearby when attempting the jutsu for the first time.' Naruto cleared his throat at the last part and performed the hand seals as described.

Forcing out half of his chakra, a plume of smoke appeared in front of him, and there stood a clone. Naruto chuckled. It was a good thing he had Uzumaki blood; otherwise, he would've passed out from the sudden strain.

Poking at the clone, he felt it was physical and made a disgusted face. "Man, I'm ugly as hell." He dispelled the clone and got a bit of a headache as the clone's memories entered his head. If he had read a little bit more of the scroll, it would have described the uses of the shadow clone as a surveyor.

All of a sudden, he got a knock on his door. The blonde cleaned up the scrolls and went to answer it. The guest was one of the shinobi who had greeted them. "There were two signatures in your room. What was that?"

Naruto rubbed the back of his neck. "My apologies, I was practicing the shadow clone jutsu." The man nodded. "Oh, alright, make sure you inform whoever is on guard when you do that. We thought somebody had intruded on your room."

The blonde dismissed it with a wave of his hand and closed the door. "Well, gotta be careful with that one." Taking a seat at the desk, he brought out the fuinjutsu book. He may have felt like he needed a teacher, but he was going to try his best to learn.

Hours later*

Naruto and his team walked into the conservatory and met the previous shift. Fuji took the place of her fellow Yamanaka on the floor, and Isane did the same. While they explained what to do to the newcomers, the other two talked to Naruto and Misaki.

"Alright, guys, all you gotta do is stay here, and when they sense something, you go check it out. You're not going to get a lot of action, just a few travelers here and there, along with the occasional mercenary. If you go check something out and you have a bad feeling, pulse your chakra twice; if it's a normal person, once. Questions?" Naruto shook his head, but Misaki seemed to have one.

"Do we engage threats or only scout?" Naruto tilted his head. That was a fair question. "If the situation is dire, like a bunch of bandits chasing a carriage, engage. If not, just report back, and Takeshi will decide what to do."

Misaki nodded, and the man pointed to the wall behind him. "You're going to want those rain coats when you go out, this place rains a lot sometimes." They thanked him and fully took over the shift.

Within a few minutes, Fuji called out. "Guys, I'm sensing a single target moving toward the border at great speed." Naruto grabbed a coat and threw it on. "What direction?" Fuji took a second. "Directly north, they're moving fast, so hurry."

Naruto and Misaki took off, leaving the two to watch the situation. "They're closing in," Fuji commented, getting a nod from Isane. Yamanaka's heart dropped right after, "Two pulses."

Chapter Text

Naruto looked up from the ground, mud covering him from the torrential downpour that had started. He watched as Misaki fought the mountain of a man cloaked in black. She was trying her best to stall him, but it wasn't working; he was much too powerful.

The blonde slammed his fist into the mud; there was no way he could watch this scene again. He couldn't lose another teammate. Pulling himself to his feet, his sharingan raged, and he created a shadow clone.

Rushing the man, the clone grabbed Misaki, and Naruto took her place. After getting her far enough back, the clone joined him. Misaki watched as the two Naruto fought in synchronization, and it was almost mesmerizing.

Suddenly, she watched as Naruto dispelled his clone and jumped back. The boy turned his back and helped her onto her feet. "You're not funny, Jiraiya." A cackle emanated from the man as he took down his hood, exposing the spiky white hair that was famous in hot springs around the world.

"How did you figure it out?" He questioned the boy. Naruto sent out a single pulse of his chakra before answering. "One, you're the only one that wears geta like that, and two, I saw your hair in your hood."

The old man continued to laugh. "It's been years, Naruto. Last time I saw you, you were three years old." The blonde tapped his head. "Good memory," Turning to the Nara, Naruto introduced the man.

"Behold, Jiraiya of the Sannin. My godfather." Misaki looked like she had many questions, but just sighed. "Let's head back to clear up the situation." The three shinobi moved, and Jiraiya started questioning the boy.

"So, is this young lady your girlfriend? You know, I can always give tips on how to get women." Naruto sighed, "Yeah, look where that got you with Tsunade." The toad sage stopped talking but noticed the slight blush on Misaki.

'Ah, to be young.' He thought, smiling at the two. Eventually, he started asking more questions out of curiosity. "So, you've been hanging out with the Taos, huh? I haven't seen their combination fighting since the last war." The blonde sucked his teeth. That information never reached the so-called information specialist.

"Something like that," Naruto answered, his tone flat. "Also, when did you learn the shadow clone jutsu?" The Namikaze sighed. "Three hours ago." Jiraiya whistled, "Lookee here, we got a genius on our hands."

Luckily, they reached the compound before Jiraiya could ask anything else. Of course, Takeshi was the first to meet them with a surprisingly calm expression. "Lord Jiraiya, I believe your test worked."

The man chuckled and nodded. "I believe so. The reaction time of the ANBU was horrible, though." Takeshi agreed. "Very much so, for our elite, they took way too long to begin movement."

Naruto nodded to himself. That would explain the signatures that were running toward them earlier. "It's good to know our backup is ANBU," Misaki said, earning a laugh from Takeshi. "We can't leave our border defense to some chunin, no offense."

Misaki dismissed it, and Naruto spoke up. "Let's get out of the rain first." The group moved inside and found Fuji sitting on the ground, slightly distraught. 'Takeshi must've told them what was happening,' Naruto thought.

"Well, this is my last compound to check on, and the response was the fastest by far. I believe this checkpoint deserves a reward." Takeshi shook his head at the man's antics. "Lord Jiraiya has already tested the other two shifts in this compound," He added.

Jiraiya nodded, "As a reward, I'd like to spend a month or so here helping everyone out. During your free time, you can come and ask me for help with anything, be it ninjutsu or just life advice." The Sannin gave Naruto a shove. "Well, except for this one. He managed to learn the shadow clone jutsu within three hours and use it in battle, so I'm not gonna give him any more of an edge."

He laughed again and motioned that he was kidding. In the back of the room, Isane took note of the information and saved it for later. "For now, go back to your duties. I'll be helping out the other shift until you guys get done."

With Jiraiya gone, Takeshi went back to his office, and the two runners sat down for a moment. "Uh, guys, there's another signature coming this way." Naruto sighed, not even standing up yet. "West, they're moving down the river."

The two sat still for a moment before standing back up. Without a word, they set off once again.

Two months later*

Naruto lounged across from Misaki on the couch in the observatory. Their shift had less than one hour left, and he loved watching the rain hit the roof during midday. It was raining hard enough outside that he could've used the water-walking technique.

The blonde turned to watch Fuji; she'd grown scarily accurate with her sensory skills in the past couple of months. All of them had grown. Misaki had gained some fire style from Jiraiya that Naruto helped her with, and Naruto had grown to understand Fuinjutsu just a bit more.

Isane, on the other hand, refused the teachings of the sannin and simply sparred with him occasionally before he left. "Working hard, I see." They turned their heads to the chimney of a Jonin supervisor.

"Working harder every day," Naruto said, giving him a thumbs up. "Don't work too hard." As soon as he appeared, he was gone, and Naruto stood up. He needed to do something other than lounge.

Right on cue, he noticed a twitch in Fuji's neck. She got something. "What do we have?" The Yamanaka took a second. "Two individuals moving in at 270 degrees. They're not civilians." Naruto threw Misaki her raincoat, and they got ready to move.

"Wait, there's more." Fuji started counting under her breath. "My god, there are fifteen of them. Shinobi." The Namikaze went ahead and pulsed his chakra twice; they needed the ANBU to be right on them just in case.

"Let's move." Once outside, he created a shadow clone that advanced faster. "Misaki, if they're hostile, cover them with your shadow. I'll fry 'em." Naruto's definition of fry 'em was something he'd recently created.

The rain amplified his lightning style, so if he used any lightning jutsu, they would be electrocuted. If he wanted to kill them, he'd turn his hand into steel for the extra conductivity. Within a few minutes, he felt the group ahead of them and the ANBU squad behind them.

Stopping in the group's path, he flared his chakra out to make his presence known. The shinobi slowed their pace but kept coming. Eventually, they came into view in the dense forest, and Naruto studied them.

Each one was at least a chunin with a few Jonin-level shinobi mixed in. "State your identity and purpose!" Naruto declared. It was a line he'd practiced many times. There were a few seconds of silence until they began advancing slowly.

"If you continue, your actions will be considered hostile to Konohagakure, and you will be engaged!" The blonde felt one of them start to gather chakra and motioned for Misaki to get ready.

Once Naruto saw the shinobi flare his chest, he shot into action. The shinobi gathering chakra didn't get the chance to use it as Misaki took control of the shadows. Pulling out his blade, heads went flying, and a familiar sound of birds appeared from behind the group.

His shadow clone dropped from the trees with a Chidori and pierced the remaining hostile before dispelling himself. Naruto wiped the blood from his sword and turned away from the bodies.

"If you would," The ANBU hidden in the trees stepped out and began to study the bodies. While they did that, Naruto and Misaki headed back to their checkpoint. With them gone, the ANBU began to speak freely.

"Kids these days have some skills." One mentioned, looking at the headless bodies. "His strokes were clean, and I couldn't sense the shadow clone," Another said, earning a dismissive comment from their leader.

"What? Do you want to recruit the kid or something?" Several of them glanced at each other. Maybe that wasn't the worst idea. Back with the kids, they entered the observatory to meet their supervisor.

"They began to attack, so they were eliminated," Naruto said, motioning across his throat. "Don't do that. It's distasteful." Misaki said, slapping his hand. The jonin just took a drag of his cigarette and blew it up into the air.

"Do you have any clue about their affiliation? I want to get a head start on the paperwork before the ANBU report in." Naruto shook his head. "They wore no forehead protectors and their clothing was nondescript."

Takeshi sighed and motioned for them to get back to their team. "That was quick, Namikaze," Isane mentioned, getting a groan from Naruto. "Just use my name, please." He'd told her hundreds of times, but she never did listen.

"I am," she groaned again. She always had that answer. "Can you guys go make me something to eat so that once the shift ends, it's ready?" Misaki gave a thumbs up to Fuji and wandered off to the kitchen.

"So, what do you plan on doing after this shift?" Fuji questioned, getting shrugs. "Probably study or something," Naruto said. "That's all you ever do. Train." Fuji shot back. "Hey, there's nothing wrong with training to get stronger," Isane said.

The blonde shook his head; he didn't have anything else to do anyway. Within a few minutes, the next shift came in, and the two girls stood up. When they did so, Fuji motioned for Naruto to come over.

"Hey, you got some blood on your eyelid. Let me get it." Naruto shrugged and walked over, closing his eyes. After some intense rubbing, Fuji made a sound of achievement. "There you go,"

Naruto opened his eyes and blinked several times to get the blurriness away. When his eyes finally cleared up, he found everyone from the compound standing in front of him and Misaki with a birthday cake.

Fuji started jumping in place. "Alright, guys, 3,2,1." At the end of the countdown, they all began to sing for the boy. Naruto chuckled as they finished, blowing out the candles on the cake. "What did you wish for?" Takeshi asked, a smile on his face.

Naruto shook his head, "It's a secret." Takeshi's smile grew, and he grabbed the boy. "Double digits, huh? Aren't you old now?" The group took turns speaking to him before they all dispersed again, some taking their stations and others going back to their barracks.

The Namikaze took a seat on the couch and began to eat the cake. Fuji took a seat beside him and leaned in. "Tell me, what kind of wish did you make?" He blew air from his nose and tapped the cake with his utensil.

"I wished for good luck in something." Roughly fifty miles away, his wish was moving along at high speeds. The cloaked figure moved toward Konoha with one thing in mind. The sun peeked into the hood and caught some of the blonde hair, reflecting it a bit.

The shadow clone had one mission: to kill Danzo. Although he only had roughly a fourth of Naruto's chakra because another shadow clone created him, it was just enough for the plan he had to take out the old man.

The plan was simple yet had a low chance of failing. Now, it was just a matter of getting into the village as undetected as he was when his clone left the web of sensors at the border. While he progressed to Konoha, his creator was in the training room underneath the observatory.

The blonde was actively sparring with Isane, who proved to be much more talented at taijutsu than the poor boy. Time after time, he was nicked by her hand, and a tenketsu got sealed. Of course, he simply opened it again right after, but it didn't help that it hurt like hell.

"Use your sharingan," The girl said, obviously not proud of her accomplishments. "Alright, I'll only be defending." The red eyes appeared, and they set up for another round. "Begin." The girl started with two consecutive strikes at high speed to his midsection.

Naruto pushed her hands away as they came in, diverting her force over his shoulders. Two more strikes followed, and he did the same. Next were four strikes, and he managed to block three of them. Again, they increased to eight, and he began to recognize what she was doing.

"Eight Trigrams Sixteen Palms, how prodigious of you." He thought she was done on her eighth strike, but the sixteen strikes that followed proved him wrong. "Ooo, thirty-two palms. Do you have the sixty-four in you?"

The blonde watched as the strikes progressively got faster and more fluid, bending around his blocks like slithering snakes. In his head, he counted the strikes and observed them getting slower. Once they were too slow, he grabbed her wrists and held them up.

"Not quite yet, you slow down around twenty-eight." The blonde let go of her and walked away. When his back was turned, he coughed a bit and gripped his chest. He wasn't used to having so little chakra after the clones.

"You shouldn't let yourself get hit anymore," Misaki said, watching him from the side. Naruto laughed and grabbed his ribs. "Well, she needs to feel the strike for proper practice. She wouldn't gain anything if I just blocked everything."

The Nara shook her head and beckoned him over with her hand. He took a seat on the ground beside her, and she emitted a green glow from her palms. The shallow breathing returned to normal, and he began a small conversation with the girl.

"You know, I was supposed to be a medic whenever I first became a genin." The girl furrowed her eyebrows. "What stopped you?" The blonde scratched the back of his head, "Didn't have the chakra control for it."

The Nara nodded, "With reserves like yours, I'm surprised you even have the control you do." Naruto looked back at her with a questioning face, "You're a sensor?" Another nod. "I'm not as good as you or Fuji, but at a basic level, yes. I can also tell that you're low on chakra right now, so I'm going to request you to rest."

Naruto grinned and stood up, stretching his back on the way up. "Yes, ma'am." Doing a humorous salute, he turned his back. "Not even going to help a lady up?" The Namikaze cackled, "You're just too lazy to get up."

"Maybe, but a gentleman would help me up anyway." Naruto spun around and reached out his hand. She grabbed it, and he yanked her to her feet. "There. Now, I'm going to rest, doc." Misaki laughed at him, and they went their separate ways.

Konoha, hours later*

Minato and Kushina sat at their kitchen table, having a meal, when the former furrowed his eyebrows. "What is it, honey?" Minato stayed silent for a moment, in thought. "One of my markers just entered the village,"

A little bit away, Naruto's shadow clone entered the village and moved toward the root headquarters. Eventually, he reached the entrance hidden in Hokage Mountain and entered. The dark tunnel was dimly lit by small torches on the walls and stretched for what seemed like forever until the clone reached a large opening.

Right in front of him was the training hall of the facility, where it seemed that Danzo was holding a meeting as the entire organization knelt in front of him. "Perfect," The clone said sarcastically. Leaning against the wall, the boy only had one more thing to fall into place.

A slight breeze hit his legs, and he knew it was time. Looking to his right, he found Shisui Uchiha dressed similarly in a dark robe. "You ready?" Naruto nodded and closed his eyes before leaping off the balcony and behind Danzo, who didn't even react.

"Naruto, I didn't expect you to return so quickly." The man said, turning toward him. That would prove to be his last mistake as Naruto's mangekyou sharingan spun up. "Absolute Hypnosis," Danzo looked confused for a moment and then turned back to the group, continuing what he was saying before.

Naruto took a deep breath and dropped his left arm, grabbing his forearm with his other hand. First, his skin turned dark gray, and then the sparks began. The caves were filled with the sound of the Chidori, and he struck, piercing the elder's heart.

Blood pooled at their feet, and Naruto yanked his hand out, letting the corpse fall onto the ground. By that time, Shisui had also appeared behind him. "Good job." Facing the organization, Shisui's mangekyou activated, and he took a deep breath.

He was going to use his Kotoamatsukami to make them normal again. Feel emotion and actually live for themselves. At least until they needed them. Once his fellow clansman was done, Naruto stepped in front. "Each of you can do what they please. If you wish to become a civilian, then so be it, but I have one request of each of you."

The boy swallowed and took a deep breath. "When the village is in danger, you must fight for it until you can't anymore." Unfortunately, before he could finish, the clone dispelled. Shisui laughed a bit and took his place.

"Before you leave, I am going to give each of you an identity if you do not have one. Please form an orderly line, and someone please clean this up." Back at the Namikaze household, Minato still looked confused.

"It just vanished completely," The man's guest looked even more confused, "What did?" Jiraiya questioned with a cup of tea in his hand. "One of my markers entered the village and was on the Hokage Mountain, but just disappeared. Can you make any sense of it, sensei?"

The white-haired man shook his head. "Maybe one of your kunai got swept into the sewage system? You know the reservoir is under the mountain." The blonde scratched his head and shrugged, "I guess so."

His wife entered the room with more tea and handed a cup to her husband. "You know, Jiraiya, I was thinking about something earlier." The sannin turned toward her, "What's that?" She pulled a book from her pocket, "This is your book, and the main character's name is Naruto. Don't you think it's interesting that we ended up adopting him?"

Jiraiya's eyes shot about for a moment, then he shrugged, "My books are very popular in Konoha, so I'm more surprised that more kids aren't named that." Minato laughed, "It's a good read, sensei, but I don't think many people would pick up a book with your name on it, considering your previous works."

Jiraiya started chuckling. "Says the one who was my editor for all of those books before they were published." Kushina looked at her husband, and the blonde nearly spat out his tea. "So, that's where Kakashi gets it from."

The redhead turned to leave the room, and Minato jumped after her, leaving Jiraiya to laugh to himself. He looked at the cup of tea and smacked his lips. It was good stuff. Standing up, he entered their kitchen and found the tea brand.

"Hmm, I might have to pick some of this up for the kids." A slight knock on the window startled the man, but he saw it was just a branch. "Man, I guess the nerves get to you over the years." Jiraiya left the kitchen and went to find the young couple; he knew it was going to be fun to watch.

Naruto's room*

The blonde sighed in relief as the memories of his clone hit him. It might've caused a headache, but it was worth it to know that the plan worked. He felt a bit bad for the man because he was nice to him, but he just couldn't let him live knowing what he'd been doing the years before.

Especially once he found out that the man was trying to ostracise the Uchiha clan so he could get access to the Sharingan, he really couldn't. Lying down, he cut off the light and stared at his ceiling.

His thoughts drifted around and eventually landed on his current team. Unconsciously, the blonde smiled, and when he felt the smile grow, he bit his lip. Tears formed in his eyes, and his breathing shallowed.

He couldn't do it again; he couldn't lose another team. He couldn't let himself get close to people he knew would die. Everyone around him always died; it was the same way before he even arrived in Konoha.

A particular memory popped into his head from when he was three years old. He had a playmate at his daycare, and they were always together, no matter what. There were even times he'd convinced Tsunade to allow him to stay longer just to play.

One day, they were playing on the playground, and the mist was especially heavy that day, so they weren't allowed to go far from the adults. Well, he was chasing a toad, and his friend followed him into the mist.

The next thing he knew, his friend was screaming in pain, and the teacher ran to them. He got pulled from the daycare after that and later learned that the boy had been bitten by a snake in the bushes and died from the venom.

Tsunade had told him it wasn't his fault because the daycare hadn't properly checked for dangerous animals, but that didn't help. He led the poor kid to his death, and he'd done the same with Minu and Yori.

Taking a breath, he tried to pull himself together. The result of his attempt was just him breaking down even more; he couldn't, he just couldn't. He couldn't act like he didn't want friends anymore.

He couldn't act like he didn't have feelings. Every time he took a life, he thought about them for days, and he thought about what he took from them. How everyone of them had a family and friends just like him.

That was the thing he hated about being a shinobi: the killing. He hated taking the lives of others, but in exchange for the lives of those around him, he could live with it. 'Fuck, I'm only a kid,' He hadn't even hit puberty yet, but he'd killed dozens of people. If not more.

He had killed someone before he was even four years old. It was a mercy kill, but he still did it. He still pushed the blade into that woman's chest and watched as she stopped breathing. She might've deserved it because she was a missing ninja, but she might've had her reasons for leaving.

The boy ran his hands through his hair and swallowed hard. It wasn't often that he let his emotions get out like that, and they wouldn't do it again for quite some time. Sometimes, he wished that Danzo had brainwashed him like the other root, so he didn't have to deal with the dumb emotions.

His stomach growled, but he didn't care; he wasn't going to leave his room again for the rest of the night.

One month later*

Naruto and his teammates stood in front of his father, each one happy to be back home. "You've done a magnificent job at the checkpoint. Jonin Takeshi gave each of you a letter of recommendation, and as such, you will be rewarded. Each of you will be receiving bonus pay and a special gift at a later date. For now, please go spend time with your families and enjoy your time off. I will summon you back when it is time."

The girls flocked out of the room, and Naruto stayed, smiling at his dad. The man stood and embraced his son, taking notice of his growth. "You've gotten taller. Soon enough, you'll be taller than your mom."

Naruto laughed and had a question he wanted to ask. "So, what's this special gift?" The Kage merely grinned. "It won't be that easy, buddy. Let's go see your mom." Instead of using the flying Raijin, they decided to walk so the boy could take in Konoha once again.

Minato began to question him about his team. "I can read the paper reports, but what is your opinion? How well did y'all work together?" Naruto shrugged, "I only ever fought with Misaki; the other two were just the sensors that told us where to go. I will say that Fuji is an incredible sensor, though, I'd trust her to sense a bird from fifty miles away."

Minato pushed out his bottom lip, "Not often you give praise like that, what of the Hyuga?" Naruto shrugged. "She was silent most of the time. My only interaction with her was sparring. What is the point of the Hyuga anyway? The other sensor gives out all the information."

The man looked confused, "They never told you? The Hyuga focuses on the compound itself, monitoring the safety of the compound the entire time. They are the last-ditch effort in case something goes wrong."

That made sense to the boy, considering the shorter range of the byakugan. "But in sparring, she's very impressive. By the time we left, she was getting pretty good at the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms."

Minato was unable to question him anymore as they reached their home. "Welcome home, son." The two males walked inside, and Naruto found a whole party set up. It seemed the only attendants were the Namikaze family, but that didn't bother him a bit.

His mother came out with a small cake with the number 10 written on top, and he blew out the candles. "Happy birthday, Naruto." It was better late than never as the family sat down to talk about their previous months apart.

Naruto explained what he'd done, omitting a few crueler parts for the sake of his mother, and they explained some things going on in the village that he'd missed. "Danzo Shimura passed from old age a few weeks ago. I don't believe you knew him, but he was a great shinobi who was a student of Lord Second." Minato shared, piquing Naruto's interest.

"Dad, are there any records about Lord Second that I can read about? I've realized he created a lot of jutsu, and I'm curious about his life." Minato nodded, "Of course, your mother can take you to the archives tomorrow. While you're out, you need to get fitted for a suit."

Naruto grew confused. "A suit? For?" The man just smiled, "You'll find out. Just trust me for now and open your gifts." The boy turned around in his seat and found a few boxes sitting on the coffee table.

They ranged in size, and he had no clue what they contained. "The black box is from Fugaku and Mikoto," Kushina added, pointing out the smaller rectangular box. "I'd open the orange one first," Minato said, pointing at the large box sitting on the table.

The boy shrugged and moved over, grabbing the top of the box. Lifting it off, he found an even smaller box inside. He could hear the chuckling of his father, but continued. Eventually, he got it down to a box that was just about the size of his fist.

Opening it, he found an analog watch with a compass built in. "It's essential these days when out on the battlefield. I'll set it up for you later." Naruto placed the watch down and moved to the next box, which was from the Uchiha clan.

The blonde found a set of shuriken within and nodded. They were high-quality and would most definitely prove useful later on. The third box was the last one left, and he moved up to it quickly. Without a second of rest, he pulled the lid and peeked inside.

He reached in and pulled out a small wallet that was the shape of a toad. "Lord Jiraiya wanted to give you that," Kushina said, smiling at the silly gift. Naruto smiled as well, but felt something inside the wallet.

Pushing open the lock, there was a ring inside. "That's cool." Grabbing the ring, he slid it on a finger and just looked at it. It was a signet ring with a black top and the kanji for a warrior on top in white ink.

"Neat, you got three new accessories now," Kushina said, standing from her seat on the couch. "Now, let's go eat, shall we?"

The next day*

Naruto and Kushina strolled through the market of Konoha looking for a tailor. Eventually, Kushina spotted one and dragged Naruto into it, giving her specifications to the lady. Naruto was, of course, measured quickly, and he only had one question to answer: "What color would you like this suit to be, young man?"

The blonde thought for a little bit before giving his answer. "Blue, please," The woman quickly went into the back and brought back a small book of colors. "Please select which blue." The blonde selected a lighter blue that almost matched the sky.

After some more questions and a down payment, he was done with the torture and finally able to go where he wanted. This time, he dragged his mother to the archives and once inside, immediately requested information about Lord Second.

"Here's our files on the history of Lord Second. Please return them within three days." Naruto thanked the man and almost sprinted home to finally read the documents. Kushina just smiled as she watched him. It was great to hear that he was taking such an interest in something.

The boy got into his room and spent the next few hours reading over the life of the man known as Tobirama Senju. When his mom called him down for lunch, he walked into the kitchen with his nose still buried in the stories. "Mom, did you know that Lord Second created a jutsu based on explosive tags?"

The woman shook her head while placing down the plates. "No, honey, I didn't. If I give you a question that you don't know, then will you put the papers down and eat?" The boy peeked over the documents at his mom and nodded.

"Well, do you know the true meaning of the king is in the will of fire?" The boy made a face like the answer was so obvious. "Yeah, the king stands for the village." Kushina merely shook her head.

"No, baby, the king isn't the village but the people within it; the village could be destroyed, but the will of fire would live on within the people of the Hidden Leaf. The king is those who you care about, and the civilians who can't defend themselves. Now, read this and eat."

The woman slid over a small folded piece of paper, and Naruto opened it. "You're invited to the first-ever semiannual Konohagakure Ball of Recognition. This ball will recognize our amazing shinobi's accomplishments over the past six months and inspire our next generation. Please wear formal attire."

Naruto sighed. So that's why he got the suit.

A few days later*

"Welcome to our first-ever semiannual Konohagakure Ball of Recognition." Minato waited for the applause to stop before continuing. "Tonight is a night to celebrate our young shinobi who have made great accomplishments in the past six months. As such, I would like to begin with the top Genin team of the past six months. This team is..."

Naruto's listening trailed off as he mindlessly clapped for the top genin team and watched as they received the swords just like he had. As his father talked, he swirled the glass in front of him and watched the liquid move around.

"You oughta be paying attention." His mother said, causing him to look up just in time to hear something interesting. "As many of you know, our village is protected by the Military Police Force, which is manned by our very own Uchiha clan."

Whooping and clapping took over the room for a minute before the man could continue. "As such, I wanted to recognize these shinobi. If you're a member of our police force, please rise to be recognized." Minato ran down a list of names, and everyone clapped, but Naruto was about to look down again if not for the next sentence.

"After some conversation with our police force, we have decided to select a vice commander of the force to take over whenever the commander is unavailable. The shinobi we decided to choose has a history of accomplishments and is loved by everyone around her. Congratulations to Katsumi Uchiha. Please come up here."

Naruto smiled and watched his old sensei get a nice little plaque and a new position. "Now, I know just how much paperwork Fugaku is going to make her do, along with a vice commander. We have decided to appoint a new captain of the force. This Uchiha has impressive exploits for his age and is feared by many. Congratulations to Shisui Uchiha."

The younger blonde nodded. Now that made sense. That must've been how Shisui planned on staying in the village to control the old root. After some more applause, his father took a sip of water and continued.

"As many of you know, we recently created some checkpoints around our country to increase our security. In these checkpoints were sensory ninjas and others who intercepted anything the sensors noticed. One test we put these checkpoints through was our very own Toad Sage, Lord Jiraiya.

Jiraiya went to each of our checkpoints and tested every shift before selecting the best checkpoint. Would the following shinobi please join me?" Minato went down the list, and Naruto made his way up.

On the stage, he noticed the attire of his teammates. Misaki had a long black dress on, Fuji had a floral dress, and Isane was wearing a purple dress that he felt was a bit weird for her personality.

"The shinobi who have joined me on the stage were part of the checkpoint that Lord Jiraiya named the best. Out of the three shifts, there could only be one that was the best. Would those on the second shift please step forward?"

Naruto and his team took a step forward, and Minato continued. "Each one of these shinobi returned with a letter of recommendation from their supervising jonin, and as such, we wanted to reward them. First, I would like to recognize Fuji Yamanaka, the main sensor of the second shift. Their supervising Jonin especially recommended her for her exceptional sensory skills, and I am glad to announce that she is hereby promoted to the rank of Special Jonin and offered a position in the barrier corps."

The blonde could barely hold in her excitement and bowed a few times before stepping back in line. "Second, I want to recognize the brains of the second shift, Misaki Nara. Her letter of recommendation said that her leadership skills and tactical thinking far surpassed those of her peers. As a reward, she is being appointed as the assistant of the Nara clan head, Shikaku Nara."

Once again, the room was filled with cheers, and Naruto noticed that Isane was next. "Third, this shinobi did not engage in combat but continued to train hard enough to gain the eye of her supervisor. In her recommendation letter, it was stated that she had great potential in the field of taijutsu, and I was interested in seeing her potential. For this reason, I hereby promote her to the rank of Special Jonin and assign Isane Hyuga to the Hokage Guard Platoon."

Minato looked at his son and smiled. The boy knew it was because of him that Isane got the position. "Last but not least, this shinobi expressed increased competence on the battlefield and great leadership skills during the entirety of his deployment. His supervising Jonin had an overwhelming recommendation for promotion. Without further ado, I hereby promote Naruto Namikaze to the temporary rank of Jonin and assign him to the Jonin Academy to earn the rank completely."

The Hokage let everyone clap and cheer before speaking once more. "Congratulations to everyone who received something tonight, and this marks the end of the formal portion. Please treat yourself to some light refreshments and enjoy the night. You've earned it." Once he stepped away from the podium, the music began, and everyone flooded from their seats onto the open floor.

Minato found his wife and led her onto the dance floor. It wasn't often they got to dance. "I'm glad we decided to do this," Kushina said, earning a nod from her husband. "Me too, it's great for morale, and I get to dance with you more often."

The woman laughed and looked over to her son, who was speaking with the girl she recognized as Fuji. The Yamanaka dragged the boy onto the dance floor and forced him into dancing with her. Kushina laughed more as she watched, "They're so cute."

The duo that she was speaking about was also having a conversation. "Congratulations, you deserve it." Naruto smiled and shook his head. "You deserve it more than I. I just went where you told me."

The girl sighed, "Always the humble one, huh?" Naruto shrugged, "Sometimes," The blonde girl huffed and puffed, but grew a small smile. "Alright then, do you want to spend some of that promotion money on me?"

Naruto was taken aback. She was asking him out now? As he opened his mouth to answer, he felt a sudden spike in chakra and barely noticed his father disappear in a yellow flash with his mom before his vision went black.

Chapter Text

When his vision returned, his ears were ringing, and screams filled the small amount of sound he could hear. Their ballroom was reduced to rubble, and he couldn't think straight. The strong smell of blood hit his nose, and he looked under him to find Fuji with a horrible head wound and her left arm pinned beneath a piece of rubble.

The boy quickly forced the rubble off her arm and cursed at the amount of bleeding. Reaching down, he ripped off a piece of her dress and tied it around her arm to help stop it. Taking off his coat, he wrapped it around her head and felt for a pulse.

It was slow, but it was there. Standing up, anger coursed through his veins, and he saw Shisui searching the rubble nearby. "Shisui!" The Uchiha turned and nodded, his mangekyou sharingan lighting up the darkness of the night. Around the village, the former root members began to move into action.

Just in time, Naruto looked back to where his father was and saw him appear, Kushina in tow. He watched them begin to unload scrolls full of medical supplies and knew what he had to do. Flowing through hand seals, the boy summoned two shadow clones and had them search for the wounded.

Flocks of ANBU flooded the building, and Minato quickly gave them directives. One ANBU appeared and bowed in front of the man. "Lord Fourth, it has been confirmed that this was a deliberate attack. We just received word that Iwagakure has breached our northern border."

Naruto watched the fire grow in his father's eyes and instinctively gulped. "Recall every shinobi out on a mission and double the manpower at each checkpoint. I want to know every last move they make." The man turned toward Naruto and appeared before him, engulfing him in a hug. After embracing him momentarily, he pushed the boy away and looked him in the eyes.

"Son, I need you to go to the hospital and give them whatever help they need. Take Fuji there to get treated." The boy nodded and picked the girl up, bounding toward the Konoha hospital.

The Hokage ran through some hand seals, bit his finger, and slammed it to the ground. A small toad appeared, and his eyes immediately grew wide at the destruction. "Recall the Sannin. I am reinstating them as active shinobi of Konoha." The toad nodded and disappeared before saying a word.

Minato overlooked the destruction and followed his son's lead by creating a few shadow clones to help. His top priority would be those affected by the explosion, but after they were cleared and transported to the hospital, war was his next course of action.

He leaned down to the ground and placed two fingers on it. "There are thirteen buried; they're still breathing for now." The man pointed out the victims to the available shinobi and watched to see that they were all rescued.

The blonde ran his hand through his hair and watched his wife treat the wounded. "Fuck," he said, and in a flash, he was gone to the main office. Walking through the building, he entered the war room and turned on the lights.

Taking a breath, he flipped a switch on the wall. The alarm within the village began to blare, and he took a seat in the head chair. One by one, the clan heads filled the room, and the last addition was Hiruzen Sarutobi.

The clan heads kept asking questions, and Minato held up his hand. They all grew silent, and the blonde began to speak. "The ones behind this attack have been confirmed. It's Iwagakure. Their shinobi breached our northern border at the same time as the attack. I am hereby enacting martial law, and after scouting the number of enemy shinobi, we will plan a counterattack. Shikaku, it's going to be a long night."

The Nara nodded, and the rest of the clan heads prepared themselves mentally. "I didn't expect to see another war in my time," Hiruzen said, looking at the pictures of the previous Hokage on the wall. "I'd hoped that we wouldn't," Minato mentioned.

A few moments later, a shinobi entered the room with the numbers. "Sir, the scouts have numbered their forces at three thousand. There are also reports of Sunagakure shinobi within their ranks." Minato slammed his fist down on the table. He thought he had a good relationship with the Kazekage.

"Contact Kumogakure immediately, tell them that I request this from the Raikage, A. What of the people injured in the attack?" The shinobi said, shaking his head. "I don't know, sir, but I will go find out."

The man disappeared, and Shikaku began. "If Sunagakure has joined them, then we are fighting a two-front war. I recommend that we don't fall too deep into the first attack, as it might be a trap for Sunagakure to attack from our flank."

Minato bit his lip and shook his head. "What would be the value in Sunagakure joining Iwagakure's attack from the north? They could've kept the element of surprise and attacked our flank." Hiruzen decided to interject. "It might be a ruse."

Heads turned to the old man, and he continued. "It could be that Iwagakure dressed their shinobi like Sunagakure shinobi to fool us into thinking that the Kazekage has betrayed us. For now, we need to wait until all the information is confirmed. Instead of sending a pigeon, I recommend we send our fastest shinobi to both Kumogakure and Sunagakure to deliver the message."

Fugaku interjected next. "That's a death mission if we're wrong and Sungakure is an enemy. Besides, it's a three-day trip to that village, and the enemy attack is at most two days away. We cannot risk them getting close."

Minato sighed. "We will send messenger pigeons. They will be faster than the shinobi who need to eat and rest. As for the attack, we will not let them get much closer than they are now. How many deployable ninjas do we have in the village right now?"

Shikaku shook his head. "Not enough. We have roughly 2500 shinobi as of right now, but we cannot risk leaving the village unprotected. At most, we could deploy 2000 by tomorrow morning."

The door to the room swung open, and a certain trio entered. "What happened?" Tsunade questioned, followed by her two teammates. Minato explained the situation to the three, and Orochimaru had a question.

"How is the boy?" Minato nodded, and the snake-like man blew a breath in relief. "I'm going to help at the hospital. You two figure this out." The Senju left the room, and the remaining Sannin took their seats.

At the hospital, Naruto paced up and down the hallway. They'd stopped the bleeding but didn't know if she would pull through. Down the hall, the blonde noticed a certain Nara enter. The boy rushed over and looked her up and down.

"I'm okay, Naruto. How's Fuji?" The Namikaze shook his head. "I don't know; they've stopped the bleeding, but it's a waiting game right now." He led her over to the room just in time to hear the constant beep emanating from the room.

The blonde clenched his teeth and vanished from the hallway with a breeze. Misaki watched as the medical-nin flooded the room and attempted to revive the young Yamanaka. Turning away, she began to run toward the Hokage's office.

Knowing how the Uchiha's emotions were, she knew the Hokage would want to know that Naruto was unstable. Her guess wasn't far off as Naruto was packing his gear back home. The blonde had thrown on his shinobi attire and was almost ready to leave when his shadow clones dispelled.

The memories entered his brain, and he just grew angrier. The explosion hadn't just affected those in the ballroom but those outside it as well. Almost thirty people were injured, and at least five were killed.

Once his sword was attached to his hip, he was gone. Speeding to the Hokage Office, he hoped that his father would understand and send him out. He needed to take the lives of the Iwagakure shinobi just like they took Fuji's. Clenching his teeth at the thought, he felt the familiar burning of his eyes but kept running.

As Naruto kept moving, Misaki burst through the war room door. "Lord Fourth, Naruto just disappeared from the hospital. Fuji didn't make it." Minato cursed and stood. "I have a mark on his forehead protector. Let me see where he is."

After a second of closing his eyes, the man sighed in relief. "He's fine and heading this way. He will probably request to be a part of the first interception." By the time Minato sat down, Naruto had entered the room.

"Father, please send me out." Minato stood up and hugged the boy. "I know it's hard, my son, but you must keep your emotions in check." Releasing him, Minato looked over everyone at the table.

Among them, he noticed Fugaku was staring at Naruto. "Minato, if I may?" The blonde nodded, and Fugaku left the room with Naruto. "Shikaku, I need precise numbers within two hours, both regular shinobi and ANBU. We can't spare anyone."

Turning to the two male Sannin, he looked between them. "You two will lead our strike. I will assign you each a thousand shinobi to command." They nodded and left the room, passing by the two Uchiha.

"You must be careful with your emotions, my boy," Fugaku said, looking directly into Naruto's eyes. "We Uchihas can love deeper than anyone else, but once that love is taken, we dive into our emotions that drive us mad. The Second Hokage called it the curse of hatred, and every Uchiha begins to feel the curse when they awaken their Sharingan."

Naruto nodded; his emotions had been accelerated ever since he awakened his Sharingan. "I have seen many fall into this hate during the last war. I don't want to see you fall into it during this one. I will make this same speech to every Uchiha in the village because I don't want anyone to become like that. Now, go see what your father orders you to do." The man walked away, and Naruto entered the war room.

Minato was the only man inside, staring out the window at Hokage Mountain. "Naruto, I am going to assign you to team Ro. You will be a part of the reconnaissance unit, and under no circumstances will you engage the enemy." He turned and faced the boy, the same fire in his eyes as earlier.

"Do you understand me?" The boy nodded, and Minato raised his hand, causing an ANBU to drop down beside him. "Kakashi, get him suited up and ready to leave. I expect a detailed report by morning."

The gray-haired ANBU nodded and grabbed Naruto, vanishing in a shunshin. Minato looked at the spot his son once was and bit his tongue. He hoped he had made the right decision to send the boy out of the village before he heard of who else had died in the explosion.

He walked over to his office and grabbed a picture of his genin team sitting on his desk. "It's just me and Sensei now." Somewhere else in the village, Naruto was changing into an ANBU uniform.

Soon, the boy looked the part of an ANBU, minus the mask. Kakashi entered the locker room and unlocked a locker on the wall where Naruto found his mask. The white porcelain had a long beak and a blue accent along the sides. "You are now Kakesu, and you will refer to me as Inu. Kuma and Neko will join us. You can tell which one is which. Now, we have to move."

The blonde slid the mask onto his face and followed Inu out of the building, where the other two joined them. Kuma was a mountain of a man with brown hair, while Neko looked a bit more familiar, with a smaller size and black hair.

They took off running north, and Naruto finally realized who Neko was. 'Itachi,' His thoughts were interrupted by Inu. "Neko, summon your crows. I want eyes on before we reach them."

The boy followed the order and summoned a few crows that flew ahead. As they went, Naruto wondered if he should sign a summoning contract. They certainly seemed useful, and it would be cool to summon an animal at any time.

"Remember that we are not to engage under any circumstances. Our only goal is reconnaissance." Naruto just nodded, and for some time, it was quiet. After some running, they began to hear the steps of their enemy.

As they perched in a tree top, a crow met with them and landed on Neko. "The previous numbers were correct. There are exactly 2898 shinobi, and 300 of them are Sunagakure shinobi. Among the ranks are genin, chunin, and jonin-level shinobi. There are no ANBU-level shinobi among them, so I believe they left them to protect the village."

Inu nodded. "What of the Tsuchikage?" Neko shook his head. "He's not on this front. He's most likely to be at the village." Kuma shuffled in the tree. "Let's leave quickly. They're all looking over here." Naruto looked at the man and noticed the pale white eyes behind his mask.

"That's all we needed anyway. Let's move." The team retreated to the village, and Kuma cursed on their way. "They've sent a squad after us, 13 in total, all jonin-level shinobi." Naruto grinned under his mask.

He had an idea and decided to speak up. "I can place them in a genjutsu and have them return." Inu shook his head at him. "No, even with the sharingan, they'll break the genjutsu quickly. It's a waste of your chakra."

Naruto sighed. "You haven't noticed yet." The gray-haired ANBU stopped in his tracks and looked around. He was alone. Flaring his chakra, he tried to break the genjutsu but found it unsuccessful.

After another second, his teammates reappeared in his vision, and he found himself sweating. "Are you alright?" Kuma questioned. Inu looked at Naruto and noticed the pattern in his red eyes.

Only then did he understand what had happened. "Use it, Kakesu, but you must use it sparingly." The blonde nodded and turned to the pursuing shinobi. Running toward them, he waited until they all saw him standing in the trees.

His eyes began to burn, but he shook it off as the Iwa shinobi stopped in their tracks. A small, cruel grin spread across his face as he mentally ordered them what to do. The squad turned back around, and Naruto went back to his team.

He didn't say anything, but the entire way back to the village, his vision was blurry, and he felt a bit weak. Just before they reached the village, an explosion came from behind them. Everyone but Naruto turned.

"I had them suicide bomb the ranks whenever they got back." The ANBU didn't say a word, and once they were back in the village, they reported directly to the Hokage. "Sir, there are 2898 enemy shinobi, and 300 are from Sunagakure." Minato ran his hand through his hair as he watched the rising sun.

"That just means we need to fight smart. Tell me, Inu, how do you expect this war to go?" The teen shook his head. "I don't know, sir. I do know that we have some capable shinobi, though."

Minato waved his hand at the group, causing Kuma and Neko to turn around to leave. On their way out, they grabbed Naruto. Once they were outside, Kakashi slid off his mask and sat down across from his sensei.

"Did you know that Naruto awakened the Mangekyou Sharingan?" The blonde turned and nodded. "After team 6 was killed, he awakened it in the hospital with Katsumi in the room. Did he use it?"

Kakashi cleared his throat. "We were being pursued by 13 Iwagakure jonin, and he used his mangekyou to put them in a genjutsu to return and suicide bomb the enemy." Minato furled his eyebrows. "I've never seen a genjutsu like that. Before I allowed him to do it, he placed me under it, and I couldn't tell or break out of it."

A knock at the door interrupted their conversation, and Minato motioned for his student to open it. Tsunade entered the room with a letter in hand. "There's been a response from the Raikage." Minato quickly moved over and began to read it.

Placing the letter down, he took a deep breath and ran his hand over his face. "They're willing to give us their full support in exchange for a political marriage to a main branch Hyuga. Please summon Hiashi."

Kakashi nodded and went to complete his new objective. "There's been a development with the casualties of the explosion. I was able to." The woman was suddenly cut off by a blaring alarm and explosions that rocked their village.

Minato vanished in a flash and appeared on top of Hokage Mountain to see where the explosion came from. The plume of smoke coming from the north gave him his answer. Within seconds, dozens of ANBU closed in on him and awaited orders.

"They're too close; drive them back now." The masked shinobi took off, and Minato caught a glimpse of Naruto in the group. "We'll be going as well. Please send us some reinforcements." The Hokage turned his head to the voice and saw Jiraiya with Orochimaru.

"Stall for time. After I rally the troops, I'll be coming as well." The two sannin nodded and took off. They didn't have much time left, and he knew it. As he moved back into the village, Minato couldn't help but think of his son.

In the advancing group, Naruto was sprinting full speed with Itachi by his side. Without a word, the two knew immediately what they would do. Breaking into a clearing, they flashed through the same handseals and soaked the opposing treeline with flames.

They wouldn't kill anyone with it, but it would slow them down, which was their whole goal. As the flames engulfed the trees, Naruto watched the Iwa shinobi move closer. This was their final line: nobody would get past the burning trees.

The other ANBU did something similar on their flanks, drawing the line for them to hold. The blonde's head turned toward the line, and he watched in slow motion as a kunai flew at his chest. Grabbing it from the air, he returned it and heard it stick into a tree.

Naruto suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to find his father, with every available Konoha shinobi behind him. Among the crowd, he saw his mother in the jonin uniform he'd never seen before.

"You've done good, my son. You did a wonderful job." Giant plumes of smoke appeared on either side of him, and he watched the famed three-way deadlock in action. "We will not give any ground! Protect our village!"

The outnumbered Konoha shinobi flooded the battlefield with only one thought: protecting their home. The blonde slid off his ANBU mask and took a deep breath; there was going to be a lot of blood today.

Rushing past the line of flames they set, he cut down the Iwa shinobi with his sword. A slash to the midsection bisected one man, and another decapitated a woman. After a good number had been killed, the sword got dull, so he dropped it mid-battle, grabbing the enemy's blade with his bare hand.

"That wasn't very smart, kid." Naruto stayed silent as his skin darkened into a gray color. Flexing his hand, he shattered the sword and thrust his other hand forward, embedding it into the man's chest.

Once that man dropped, the boy continued facing the shinobi bare-handed and emerged the victor every time. Eventually, the others began to notice that close combat wasn't an option, so they decided to drop back and use ninjutsu.

Naruto scoffed at one attempt at Earth spears. Thrusting his palms into the ground, he watched what he could only guess was a genin get pierced by the steel spike. Leaving the body, he moved on to where he could sense another enemy.

That had been what he was doing the entire time, killing and moving on. He wasn't keeping time, but if he had, it would've been roughly two hours. As the midday sun crested the sky, he began to notice the Iwa shinobi retreating.

Shaking his head, he followed them. What they needed now was information, and he was going to get it. It took a few hours of careful trailing, but eventually, he was upon the makeshift camp.

From the trees, Naruto watched them treat their wounds and scurry around. From his view, they were all rats, and rats needed to be exterminated. The boy counted the bodies and assumed that the camp held roughly one hundred enemy shinobi.

A wicked grin spread across his face once he saw them all go to a recently made well for water. Reaching under his arm bracer, he produced the venom-dripped dagger that he'd been given a few years before.

He'd never used it for its intended purpose, but he was sure his master would be approving of that use as well. The blonde looked at his watch and saw it was roughly 12:30; they'd want to have some sort of lunch soon. Just to his luck, an unaware Sunagakure shinobi went behind his tree to pee. Letting the man finish his business, Naruto dropped like a snake onto a rat.

A few moments after, Naruto reentered the camp wearing the uniform, complete with the headcovering. Limping to the well, he leaned against it and lowered his canteen. Fit to the side, hidden by his palm, was the dagger.

Just as he touched the water, a hand grabbed his arm. "This isn't the well for the Sunagakure shinobi. Go use that one over there." Naruto nodded nicely and limped over to the other well he hadn't even noticed before.

As he limped, he couldn't help but smile. The two villages didn't like each other, so they must've been forced into it by their Kage. Filling his canteen from the other well, he limped off into the trees.

"Hey!" Naruto spun and came face to face with another Sunagakure shinobi. "Come help me with the prisoners before you go piss." Prisoners? There was no way that anyone would get captured when they had the entirety of ANBU and the sannin in the battle.

Shrugging it off, he followed the man to a tent guarded by two Iwa shinobi. They let them inside, and Naruto grew angry the moment he entered. Their prisoners weren't shinobi but civilians, including women and children.

Without another word, he snapped the man's neck and let him fall to the ground. "Everything alright in there?" One guard questioned. Naruto cleared his throat and shouted back. "Yeah, a prisoner just got a bit rowdy."

Looking over the prisoners, he counted roughly twenty in total. His eyes caught a covered body behind the chained group. "What's that?" He questioned, earning no response. The boy nodded his head. He just walked in and killed his buddy in their eyes after all.

Pulling down the head wrapping, he flashed the golden hair. "I'm Naruto Namikaze, the son of the Fourth Hokage. You're safe." There were many gasps of happiness, but he motioned toward the bundle once again.

One woman leaned back and pulled the cover back, showing glossy black hair covered in mud. He bit his lip but waited for the cover to be fully removed. The boy took a deep breath and began to shake.

"Isane..." He whispered, his eyes burning. "Stay here and protect her body. I'll be back soon." Screw the poison, he was going to kill them all himself. Stepping out of the tent, he glanced at one guard who met his eyes.

There was a moment of panic on his face before he fell dead. Looking at the other guard, he met his eyes as well. Once the two were no longer breathing, he placed his hands on the ground and surrounded the prisoner's tent in high steel walls.

Of course, people rushed over because of the commotion and just saw a Sunagakure shinobi next to two dead Iwa guards and a wall of metal, so they were rightly confused, but Naruto wanted them to know who it was.

Taking off the head covering, his blonde hair flashed in the sunlight, and his uniform looked dull in the sun from the dried blood. "You're not very smart, are you?" Naruto smiled, his hands shaking at his sides.

He stood there for a while, meeting eyes with whomever would. "Don't meet his eyes!" One shouted, "If you meet the sharingan, you're done for." Naruto smiled again. "It's too late for that." His mangekyou spun, and a few among them began to attack their comrades.

Among the chaos, he gripped his forearm, and the chirping filled the camp. Some met their end at Naruto's hand or their friends, but some began to feel the poison in the water. However, the blonde began to tire, and wounds appeared more often on his body as the enemy only seemed to increase.

The blonde found himself on one knee in front of the remaining enemies, roughly twenty in total. "This is the end. We'll make sure to send your head to your father." Once his eyes returned to their normal blue, they knew he was done for.

"It was a good fight." Thrusting his kunai forward, the man embedded it in Naruto's chest. Blood pooled in his mouth, and he grinned a bloody smile. "You're all looking at my eyes." Just for a second, his eyes flashed, and they all dropped to the ground, their life gone in mere moments.

Naruto fell onto his back and stared into the sky, tears of blood streaming down his face. The clouds were blurry, but he didn't care. After all, a dead man had no wishes. If anyone had seen him, they might've thought he was an Uzumaki from the blood dying his hair. In his last few seconds, the boy thought of the prisoners trapped by his walls.

Rolling to his side, Naruto palmed the ground and lowered the walls quickly, causing a bit of an earthquake. As he expected, the prisoners slowly exited and rushed to him when they noticed. Just before his eyes closed, he watched Isane limp out of the tent and gave her a soft smile. Maybe he hadn't lost another team.

Back in Konoha, Minato overlooked the number of casualties. "We report a total loss of three hundred. Iwa's casualties are closer to five hundred." The blonde nodded; he only hoped that his allies would assist him.

Right on time, a shinobi entered the office with a small note. "The pigeon we sent to Sunagakure returned." Minato quickly took the note and began reading. "They were infiltrated and attacked just like us. Their shinobi joined Iwagakure despite the Kazekage's commands to remain." Shikaku furled his eyebrows.

"Respectively, I highly doubt that. There's no way nearly a quarter of their shinobi just broke off and joined Iwagakure willingly." It was no secret that the two villages weren't on the best of terms.

"We will keep our guard up. Something smells fishy about all of this." Taking his seat, Minato took a sip of water. "We held them off this time, but we need to set up better defences. Shikaku, please summon all of the Earth Style users and create a temporary wall. We will set up temporary bases like we did on our borders." Shikaku nodded and left, opening the door for Kushina to enter.

"Have you seen Naruto?" Minato shook his head. "Last time I saw him, he was with Itachi. Let me see." Closing his eyes, the man searched for the marker he'd placed on the boy. "He's relatively far out. He must be scouting at the moment. He's fine as long as he's with Itachi."

Minato opened his eyes and met the bulging eyes of Itachi. Within a second, he left the chair empty with a yellow flash. When the man appeared on the bloody battlefield, he looked around. The bodies of Iwa shinobi were piled, and just a few feet from him, he saw a covered body with Isane on a knee beside it.

"Isane..." He whispered. The Hyuga turned and, with tearful eyes, looked upon her Hokage. "He's gone." Minato swallowed hard and pulled back the cover, seeing his son's bloody face. With another flash, he vanished, leaving Isane to look upon the boy's peaceful expression.

"For once, you don't look burdened." Just as quickly as he vanished, Minato reappeared with Tsunade in tow. The woman dropped to her knees beside him, and her hands began to glow. "How long?" She questioned, getting an answer of five minutes from Isane.

"Minato, place your hands on his chest and shock him. We need to restart the heart quickly." The man did just that, ripping the vest off first to get to the bare skin. Tsunade moved her hands back and motioned for the shock.

The boy's body arched off the ground, and Tsunade placed her hands back over, checking for a pulse. "Again." Clearing herself, Minato shocked him again. She breathed a sigh of relief and continued her medical jutsu.

"You're lucky that he's an Uzumaki." Maybe it was just the shock, but Minato didn't catch the comment immediately. "Let's get him back to the village." Using the Hiraishin, he teleported them to his office, where he met with his wife.

"What happened?" While Tsunade took the boy to the hospital, Isane answered the redhead's question. "I was captured during the initial assault, and Naruto managed to find me. I, along with a dozen or so more prisoners, was being held when he entered using the uniform of a Sunagakure shinobi. I was unconscious at the time, but when I awoke, I used my Byakugan and watched him kill the camp."

The girl took a breath before continuing. "I can't be positive, but I believe he might have the ability to make genjutsu fatal." Itachi, who was also listening, narrowed his eyes. "That's not possible. He would have to either cause such fear in them to cause a heart attack or find a way to divert their chakra."

Minato decided to bud in. "Go get your father and bring him to the hospital." Grabbing the two girls, he teleported them to Naruto's headband. They ended up in the lobby of the hospital, where they watched the boy get placed on a stretcher.

Isane got checked in, and the two parents soon met with Fugaku. "Is it possible?" Kushina questioned, earning a slight shrug from the man. "I have never heard of it, but it is theoretically possible. Did you ever give him any of your chakra?" Kushina furled her eyebrows.

"If he were low coming from the academy, I would transfer some chakra to him so he could rest." The Uchiha nodded. "And your chakra is mixed with the Kyuubi's, meaning he must've absorbed some of it as well. I'm sure you made sure not to give him too much of the Fox's chakra, but I believe it built up in his system, and his genjutsu injects that chakra into the other's system."

It was well known that the chakra of a tailed beast, especially the Kyuubi, was corrosive to the chakra of normal shinobi, which was why children became jinchuriki before their chakra fully developed. "But only an Uzumaki could hold the chakra of Kyuubi, and Naruto isn't our biological son." Minato suddenly thought about Tsunade's earlier comment.

Holding that thought, he rushed back to the room where his son was held. Inside, he saw the three Sannin surrounding him. Minato had never seen Orochimaru that close to anyone, not even his students.

Things started to click in his head. The way Naruto looked like him and Kushina, his chakra being familiar, the name being the same as Jiraiya's book. "Where did he come from?"

The three turned to him with questioning looks. "I can't overlook it anymore. There is too much convenience." Jiraiya was the first to fold. "We did it for you two." Kushina entered the room shortly after, but Fugaku held back, sensing that he didn't need to be there. Orochimaru hit the toad sage on the back of the head.

"What are you talking about?" Tsunade questioned, a telltale nervousness in her voice. "You called him an Uzumaki earlier, and you know damn well he isn't. Or is he?" Surprisingly, Orochimaru sighed and began to speak.

"We created Naruto after we learned that Kushina was infertile." Minato glared at Jiriaya. "That was something that I told you in confidence, sensei!" Tsunade came to the man's aid. "He didn't say a word about it until we were drinking one night and I asked him why you two looked so longingly at the kids in our village."

Kushina began to tear up, and Minato grabbed her. "So you decided to steal our DNA and create a child?" Orochimaru nodded. "And what about his sharingan? Did you just decide to make improvements to my son?"

The snake-looking man shook his head. "I did not add that. You never did know your parents, did you, Minato?" The man looked confused. "Are you saying?" Tsunade nodded. "You're a Uchiha, Minato. Your parents were a civilian and a rogue Uchiha who wanted to hide your identity, so they used your mother's last name."

Minato still didn't believe them. "If I were, I would've awakened the sharingan by now." Tsunade shook her head, "Not all Uchiha awaken the sharingan, but your eyes are still better. How else could you be so proficient with the Flying Raijin?" Minato held up his hands. "Still, you could've asked us. Why did you do it in secret and raise the boy?"

Jiraiya was the one to answer. "We wanted to make sure it was possible before we gave you hope, so we decided to monitor him for a few years. By the time we knew he was healthy, it would've been difficult to just pop up with him and say Oh yeah, here's your kid."

Minato rubbed his face and blew a strong breath. "We'll discuss this later. How is he doing now?" Tsunade looked at the EKG and bobbed her head. "He is stable, but I'm unsure how long his recovery will be. You saw what he did. His body is beyond exhausted right now." Minato nodded, "Jiraiya, please spread the word that he has killed two hundred. I want them to second-guess themselves when they see him on the battlefield."

The man nodded; having fear on your side was always good. "Very well, I'll see what I can do." Minato looked at his son and pointed his thumb to the door behind him. The sannin exited, leaving the family to themselves.

"He is our boy," Kushina said, running her hand through his hair, watching the red transfer to her fingers. They didn't have long with their son before there was a knock at the door. Without even turning his head, Minato beckoned the visitor inside.

Misaki entered and acknowledged her Hokage. "Shikaku is finished with his logistics, sir." Minato nodded and stood from his seat on the bed. "Stay here with him while I'm gone. I'll let Shikaku know."

The man vanished, and Kushina motioned for the girl to move closer. "I had hoped your generation wouldn't have to endure war." Misaki nodded, "I wish they allowed me onto the front lines instead of keeping me in the rear for logistics." Kushina shook her head.

"My dear, if you ever touch the battlefield, you'll know just how wrong those words are." She lightly brushed Naruto's cheek. "War changes people and often, it's for the worse. Whenever you lose somebody that you care for, you lose yourself in the process."

Misaki nodded. She always tried to listen to people when they spoke about such things. "Would you like to inform him about Katsumi's death?" Kushina shook her head. "Not until he knows that Isane is safe. I don't want to cause him too much grief too quickly."

Misaki placed her hand on the boy's and felt the dryness of his skin. "I think he'll be relieved to hear that..." A blaring alarm cut through her sentence. Within seconds, Kushina rushed to the window and watched the barrier surrounding the village become visible.

"They're here. Go to the tower." They rushed from the room, and Kushina followed the concentration of shinobi near the west gate. She approached an ANBU and questioned him. "Ma'am, Sunagakure has formed an assault, and they managed to get past our sensors. They're right on top of us."

Kushina blew a breath and retrieved her blade from a sealing scroll. "I need two teams." Without a word, they joined the woman as they walked out of the village gate. They eventually met up with the group, and the redhead assumed their numbers to be in the thousands.

She smiled a sad smile. Their addition made the ratio nearly 2-1, and she didn't know if the village could survive. A small flash to her side revealed her husband, who also wore the same smile. "Iwagakure has made another advance. They're trying to pincer us."

Kushina reached over to her husband and grabbed his hand. "We'll survive this. We always do." Minato nodded and began to roll out the scroll filled with his kunai. Without a word, the other shinobi began to rain them all over.

"Don't let them spread the kunai!" A Sunagakure man shouted, looking over his ranks of comrades. Kushina grew chains from her back and turned to her husband.

A small kiss was all that they needed before their own personal hell began. "I love you, dear."