617Hey! Here's my Naruto fic! Don't know if I will ever complete it, but I'll sure as hell try! Also, this story will focus on everyone's most hated pairing of all: NaruSaku, which, at least up to 347(and nothing contradicting it up to 365) seems like the only one that will happen. In fact, in a LOT of fanfiction, I notice that the pairings that actually happen in the said story (or at least the most strongly implied) are written about the least.
Also, I haven't read Naruto past 365; I want to catch up on Bleach and InuYasha first. The only thing past the Kazuku arc that will be cannon in this fic is the incident with Sakura and Konohamuru in 347(and I don't really know if I will mention it). In this, Orochimaru is still alive, Kabuto is not a freak of nature (but he will become one), and while I'm aware that Tobi is Madara, I'm going to alter Madara for my fic. This may sound dumb, but think of it like this: In the FMA anime, the Fuhrer was Pride. In the manga, he's Wrath. That's just a slight name change, but that alone changes many of the other homunculus. This will take place 3 years after Naruto invents his Rasenshuriken, and I hope that even though everything I will write shall be proven impossible by the manga, you'll find it to your liking. Enjoy!
Naruto ran through the forest. Although there was much danger about, he still took the time to reflect on the past. Much as happened since he returned with Jiraya. So many new faces, new enemies and many more changes. That was almost three years ago. He was now eighteen, and much stronger. He was promoted to chunin (although, he had to admit, he still sucked horribly on the written exam), and right now, was in the middle of his jonin exam.
Speaking of which…CLANG! Naruto parried an incoming kunai, and ran up a rock. "Wait, shouldn't there be…" Just then, hundreds of kunai came hurling towards him. "Shit!" Naruto ran up the nearby cliff for dear life. As the cliff swerved to an arc, he jumped up, and threw a kunai in the direction of the others. The one he threw, however, had an explosive tag. Once it exploded, all of the remaining kunai shot straight up in the air.
Naruto chuckled to himself. "Title of Hokage, here I come!" Naruto ran off again and entered the building he was supposed to go to.
Naruto went inside, unsure of what to expect. Then again, that's how his life has always played out. Naruto was about to run, when something occurred to him.
"It must be booby-trapped."
Naruto picked up a pebble and threw it down the narrow corridor. Suddenly, arrows everywhere where flying.
"Kage no Bushin!"
4 clones surrounded Naruto as they continued to make their way into the next room. "Now forwhoaaa!"
Naruto nearly fell down a spiked pit. It was too far to jump across the other side. "Maybe I should run across the walls." Naruto tried placing his feet on the wall, but immediately withdrew when he sensed a charka-draining seal. "Man, they thought of everything."
Naruto sat for a minute to think about the situation. How would he get over without falling…"Wait, that may be it." Naruto placed his feet over the ledge. When he sensed no charka-draining seals, he descended. He halted at ground level with the spikes. The space between each spike was narrow, but Naruto managed.
When he reached the other side, he climbed up. "Those challenges were bad enough on their own, what else does Ba-chan have planned for me?" As if something was answering his call, Naruto heard a churning sound. Molten metal was coming right for him. "I just had to ask, didn't I!"
Naruto ran as fast as he could, but the metal was gaining on him, and fast. Suddenly, he saw a flat yet thick piece of rock. "It's a long shot but this will have to do."
Naruto picked up, ran, threw it in the air, and placed his body on top of it. He body boarded across the way, knowing that if he stood up, the metal would hit him and make him fall into the mold. Naruto looked up and saw a door. "That's it!" Naruto jumped off, and grabbed the ledge. Not a moment too soon, either, as there seemed to be a bottomless pit. "Whew". Naruto wiped his brow, climbed up, and moved on.
Naruto simply walked down the corridor, until at last, he came into a large circular room. Naruto grinned. He just knew what was coming next.
'Finally, the part was looking forward to."
Suddenly, ninjas with white masks surrounded him. Not all of them were ANBU ninjas, but Naruto could tell they were all Jonin.
"Granted, they may be my friends. But I'm not going to let them win!"
The ninjas surrounding him came at him. Naruto jumped out of the way and made more clones to stay on the defensive. "All right, I've got to figure out these guys special abilities."
One came running towards him. Naruto readied a kunai, but then he noticed that the attacker was coming towards him with an open hand.
"That's not!..."
It was almost too late, but Naruto managed to dodge. "Ba-chan just had to make me have a rematch with Neji of all people!"
Naruto was forced to the wall when a kick connected with him. It was powerful, but not enough to be deadly. "Et tu, eh, fuzzy brows?"
Naruto ran up the wall again as many weapons were hurled at him "Tenten."
Naruto jumped off and faced off with the tallest. He and Naruto exchanged blows, but this one seemed to be copying the other. "Damn you, Kakashi-sensei!"
Naruto turned around to see the last ninja reading a final punch. Naruto rolled out of the way, and heard the wall behind him collapse. "Oh no…" Naruto knew who it was, and he wasn't sure if he had it in him to beat this person. Anyone else with the exact same abilities, no problem, but this person was special. "If I back down because of this, I can never become Hokage!"
Naruto managed to escape long enough to recollect his thoughts, and strengthen his resolve. "Okay everyone…here I come!"
Naruto made even more clones, and charged. They all attacked Neji, but they were all deflected by his rotation technique. However, all the deflected clones rammed right into the other ninjas, knocking them into the wall. Just as Neji noticed this, he realized he couldn't move. Neji's Byakkugan could see that his arm was wrapped around a nearly invisible wire.
"He really has improved. I thought he would only use his clones and the Rasengan. He really is serious about becoming Hokage."
Naruto summoned two katannas, and charged at Tenten. Tenten unsheathed two sais, and parried Naruto's blows. They exchanged weapons for some time, until out of nowhere Naruto disappeared. Tenten searched frantically for him, and then felt herself being pulled into the floor. "Groundhog decapitation. Courtesy of Kakashi-sensei"
Naruto gave his grin, and disappeared out of site. Next was Rock Lee. The two of them had spared together for awhile, with Lee exchanging a few moves with Naruto. Naruto would've shared some of his during their sessions, if it wasn't for the fact that Lee couldn't do anything besides Taijutsu. The two faced off, for the most part making it like a real fight. Lee still had a strength advantage over Naruto though, and caught him off guard with the Dancing Leaf Shadow. Naruto was hurled into the air, with Lee following him. Lee grabbed him, and was about to perform the Hidden Lotus, but Naruto caught him off guard and performed the lotus himself. Both spun, twice as fast as a normal lotus, and the ground below them shattered. When the dust cleared, it was revealed that Lee was the one who was unconscious.
"That was pure luck, I have to admit."
Naruto was caught in the temple by a kick from Kakashi. Naruto got back up, and furiously tried to defend himself from Kakashi's kunai. "I can't beat him as long as he can see me. I need to work a way around his sharingan." Naruto reached into his pocket, and threw a smoke bomb down. Kakashi didn't cough, but the gas made his eyes sting terribly, even with the mask(over the one he usually wears) on. "Payback, after six long years!" Naruto shouted. Kakashi would've become bug-eyed if it wasn't for the smoke bomb. "He's not going to do what I think he is!?" Of course every time someone says that, that's usually what happens. Naruto shouted "Pain of one thousand deaths!" and plunged his kunai straight into Kakashi's rear orifice. Naruto was actually surprised when Kakashi screamed in pain and rolled around like crazy. Kakashi thought "So this is what it's like to be on the receiving end of this technique." Naruto chuckled for a bit, then turned his attention to the last remaining ninja. Naruto's normally happy face turned quite serious. Naruto got in a fighting stance, and signaled for his opponent to come.
The last ninja charged at Naruto with a flying kick, which Naruto simply ducked, and for good measure, flipped out of the way of another oncoming sweep. Naruto knew that he could not go toe-to-toe with this opponent. One hit and it would be the end of him.
"I'm sure you're getting sick and tired of this, but hey, it is my specialty after all." More clones were formed, and the charged simultaneously, and dog piled the ninja.
However, the ninja used it's super strength to fling them all off. It heard something in the air, and held it's hand in front of it's face to protect in from oncoming kunai…all with explosive tags. The ninja ripped off it's glove in the nick of time as it exploded. Though it's clothes were burned a bit, the last ninja escaped the other explosions unharmed. The ninja turned around and received a kick to the face. Naruto was disgusted at himself at the moment, but knew it had to be done. The ninja got up, and the two faced off again. Naruto was being sure to use soft-blocks to counter his opponent's blows, as he knew using a move like an inward block will break his arm in this scenario. He was being forced to double-back, and Naruto stumbled. His opponent caught him and lifted him like he was nothing. "I suppose I can't ask you to go easy on me?"
His opponent attempted to throw him, but Naruto held on to the Ninja's arms for dear life, and used the momentum to take the opponent down with him. Though the fall still hurt him pretty bad, Naruto managed to get away and put some distance between him and his opponent. The other ninja got up, and said in a feminine voice "You should have taken the opportunity to break my arm." Naruto would've done it with the others, but he couldn't do it to this one. The ninja charged towards Naruto, preparing to land a one-hit knockout. However, Naruto made a bunch of hand signs and shouted "Fuuton: Kei Uchiwa!"
The other ninja was suddenly blown clear off her feet. She hit the wall, but not hard enough to knock her out. She was about to leap off to counter attack, when suddenly many kunai struck her and embedded her black outfit into the wall. Naruto ran forward, and placed his last kunai right at her throat. "Yield." The ninja nodded slightly confirming her surrender. Naruto then pulled off her mask, revealing Sakura Haruno underneath. "Sorry Sakura-chan. But I just can't find it in myself to hurt you that badly." Sakura just looked annoyed. "I could have taken it, you know." Naruto chuckled. "I know." Sakura sighed. "It's so hard to believe he still takes it easy on everyone." She thought to herself. "Even after all he's been through…"
Sakura thought back to the day when he first came back from killing someone. He was on a mission with Team 10 at the time. Sakura didn't know much, but from what she could tell, one ninja managed to evade Shikamaru's defenses, and Naruto had to step in with his sword and impale the enemy.
Shikamaru told her himself. "He looked pretty bummed out on the way back. I've tried cheering him up, but nothing doing. Maybe you should go talk to him, since me trying again is just so damn troublesome."
Sakura headed straight for Naruto's apartment. Once she got there, she knocked softly. She got no response, but she noticed the door was unlocked. She quietly let herself in, and found Naruto at his table, eating ramen. Naruto was shocked to see her at first, but then plastered his trademark grin. "Oh, hey Sakura-chan! What's up?" Sakura gave him a sad smile.
"Naruto, you don't have to pretend to be happy. Shikamaru told me how you felt…after killing that man." Naruto immediately frowned.
"Look, I certainly don't expect you to have become anything like Zabusa and enjoy killing…and believe me, you better not! But you shouldn't feel so sad either. He was going to kill one of your comrades, and you simply did what you had to."
Naruto looked up at her and said "I know! I believed I resolved to kill others in order to become a ninja. But after I actually took the life of someone…I sometimes wonder if there was another way, and if I didn't see it…" Sakura placed her hand on Naruto's.
"Naruto, you're a good person. Believe me, I want you to try to spare your enemies lives whenever possible. But please…if you don't have any other choice, don't beat yourself up about it." Naruto didn't stir. Sakura sighed "I've killed someone too."
Naruto looked up. "It wasn't pretty at all. In fact…I decapitated him. I was on a mission with Ino, and we were ambushed. We fought, and then it happened." Sakura paused for a minute. "I later found out that he had a wife, who was expecting a child that same week." Naruto stood up. "Sakura…" Sakura was now crying herself. "I really wish I could have taken that back. We were at war, and he was simply following orders. The man you killed was a missing nin from an allied village…"
Naruto suddenly embraced Sakura in a hug. "You should have told me before." He reminded himself how no matter how much he may have succeeded in protecting Sakura from any physical harm, he could never always be there to protect her from the more unexpected, psychological traumas. "Sakura-chan, please don't hold any of these things in. I'm here for you. I'm always here for you." Sakura hugged him back. "The same goes for me."
"That was more than a year ago…" Sakura thought to herself. Naruto really had matured over the years, and yet his personality had not changed much from that of a child. Sakura didn't like to admit it, but Naruto was quite…cute. Now that she thought about it , he always had been, though not as much as Sasuke(at the time). "Argh, get these thoughts out of your head, Sakura!" she scolded herself.
As Naruto helped her down, they both heard a clapping noise. Tsunade came into view, and smiled. "Congratulations Naruto. You passed. If you didn't, I probably would've killed you right here."
Naruto just gawked "Why the hell would you do that!?" Tsunade just smirked. "Because, I bet my life-savings on you passing." Naruto just narrowed his eyes and said "Just how much was your life-savings!?" Tsunade instantly frowned. "About ten yen." Naruto and Sakura just face-faulted and fell over. "What were the odds!?" They both shouted. "2 to 1." Naruto shouted "I'm worth killing over that little money!? Ba-chan, if you would just stop gambling, you'd have plenty of money!" Tsunade just waved her hand "It doesn't matter. What does, is that you are officially a jonin of the leaf!" Naruto, of course, raised his hands and shouted "YESSSS!" Sakura rolled her eyes. "He's a man now, yet he still acts like a child…he's kind of cute when he does that though…" Sakura mentally slapped herself again. Kakashi finally got up, removing his face-plate mask, and of course keeping on his trademark one, and said "Well, since both of my students are officially jonin, perhaps we should head back to Konoha and celebrate."
It sure was a party! Naruto had only just turned 18, and had never been in a bar before! Needless to say, he never got drunk before either. Whether he just had a ridiculously high tolerance or the kyubii inside of him cleansed him, he couldn't tell, but Naruto felt nowhere near drunk. Kakashi seemed to be okay, but then again, he didn't even see him drink anything. Suddenly, Naruto was startled by none other than Gai Maito and Rock Lee. They were both still wearing the ridiculous green jumpsuits, but at least Lee had some spikes in his hair to help differentiate between the 2.
"Well done!" Gai shouted. "The fire of youth within you is now STRONGER THAN EVER!" "That's…" Lee couldn't finish, obviously wasted, and fell over onto the table Naruto happened to be drinking on.
"Hehe…It's good to know most everything is the same…albeit a few changes." Lee used to go into his drunken fist every time he got drunk, but thankfully that only happens in the middle of an actual battle now.
"Kakashi-sensei, where's Sai?" Naruto asked. Kakashi looked up from his book and said "He's on a mission. I'm surprised you even want to be near him on this special occasion." Naruto chuckled "He's getting better. He acknowledges I actually have a…well…you know, and he's calling Sakura a mediocre weed as opposed to…"
Suddenly a hand slammed on the table, shattering it. Naruto turned around and saw a very pissed off Sakura. "What did you call me!"
Naruto waved his hands frantically. "I was just talking about what Sai thinks of you, you know I don't share his opinion!" Sakura just huffed. "He has come a long way, but he's still not a very fun guy to talk to." Naruto frowned for a minute, but then smiled. "Well, now that I'm a jonin, I think the odds of us getting Sasuke back have skyrocketed!"
Naruto noticed that this seem to strike Sakura into stupor, but not the way he expected. "Sakura, what's wrong?"
Sakura looked at him and said "Naruto, I've been thinking about something for a while now. Something I've been meaning to tell you." Naruto looked dumb-founded. "What is it?" Sakura said "I don't want you to go after Sasuke anymore. It took me too long to accept, but the fact is he left of his own free will, and he really is a bad guy now. Not only will going after him do no good…" Sakura placed her hand on Naruto's, like they did so many times when they sought comfort in one another. "…I'm worried that I'll loose you too. Thank you so much for being this dedicated to that promise you made to me…" a single tear dropped as Sakura embraced Naruto. "But I should have never made you keep it. I was just a selfish girl back then who thought she knew what love was. When I saw you in the hospital, and learned how badly you were hurt, I realized two things…I never knew Sasuke at all. I never could have imagined he would nearly kill his own teammate for power. But he did. Also…" Sakura hiccupped for a minute. "It made me realize how important you are to me. Please, promise me instead that you won't do something foolish and get yourself killed. I don't want to loose another friend…"
Naruto hugged back, and said "I cared about him too, you know. I will still try. But I promise you, succeed or fail, I'll always come back." Sakura nodded, satisfied but still with much worry on her face. Suddenly, she looked startled. "Oh my gosh! I forgot to give you your present!"
Naruto blinked. "Present?"
"Yes, you idiot! To congratulate you for passing!"
Naruto chuckled "While I'm glad you thought of me, just how did you know I would pass?"
Sakura laughed as well. "You didn't think you would?"
"Well, there is no guarantee. Is it just me, or are you developing Ba-chan's gambling habits?"
Sakura smiled and stood. "I'll stop by your place and give it to you there, if I can. If not, tomorrow. I'll see you later." With that, she just left. Naruto frowned, wishing she would stay.
"You know, you could just tell her to wait." Kakashi said, briefly looking up from his book. Naruto rubbed his head. "Well, giving it to me means so much to her apparently." Naruto got up. "Where are you going?" Kakashi asked "I'm going home. It'll be better if Sakura gives me my present there."
Kakashi replied "She might not be able to make it tonight." Naruto simply said "Hey, better to be prepared. Besides, I need a shower." Naruto was about to walk away, but he turned and said "Oh, and Kakashi-sensei?" "Yeah?" "Thank you…for everything you've taught me."
Sakura was searching frantically through her room. "I can't believe myself! How could have I forgotten it!?" Sakura decided to calm down, and take a deep breath. "Okay, I picked it up, and then I went to bed, and to make sure no one would steal it…" Sakura then remembered! Under her bed! Quickly she looked, and there it was! She quickly scooped it up, and checked the time. "He's probably gone home right now! I have to get this to him, and fast!" Sakura sprinted out the door towards Naruto's apartment.
Naruto glanced at the photo of team 7 before entering his shower. He looked at Sakura in the middle, Sasuke to her right, and he to the left, scowling over Sakura's giddiness when she was with Sasuke. "Those were the days back then…" Naruto's thoughts lingered to Sakura once more. "Do you not love him anymore? Maybe…" Naruto cut himself off. "No, No! I would just be taking advantage of her! I vowed to let her love whoever she wished, no matter what…" Naruto sighed sadly. "Although I really wish she would have chose me." Naruto undressed and stepped in. The water felt good after all of that work. Just as he was finishing up, he heard a knock on the door.
"Naruto?" Naruto realized that was in fact Sakura's voice. "Sakura-chan?"
The knocking continued. "Come on Naruto! I know you're not in bed!"
Naruto hastily fastened on his robe.
"Coming! Coming!" He ran to the door, not realizing that his robe flew wide open! Naruto opened the door and smiled like normal.
"Hey Sakura-chan! What's…" Naruto then noticed that Sakura's eyes were as wide as dinner plates.
"Um, Sakura chan, what's wrong?"
That was then that Naruto noticed her eyes were staring down. He looked down to see what she was looking at. That was when they both freaked and screamed.
"Sakura-chan! So sorry about-"
Unfortunately, he never got a chance to finish, as Sakura's fist sent him clear to the other side of the apartment. Naruto got up, and saw Sakura was gone. "Fine way to start the evening."
However, there was a package for him right where she was. Naruto made sure his robe would stay on, and picked it up. He un-wrapped it, and was surprised at what he saw. They were pictures. One was of the two of them when they were 12. Sakura had her hair cut, leaning against a fence and looking bored. Naruto was across from her, seeming nervous. "That must have been when Ero-senin told me to hug Sakura. But he was the only one watching…" Naruto then noticed there was a note on the picture. "This was taken by Konohamaru. Turns out he was spying on us that day." Naruto chuckled. "You little devil."
Then he picked up the next photo. It was when he came back from training. It was much like the picture in his room, except instead of Sasuke, there was Sai. He and Sakura shared a one-armed hug, while Sai looked as emotionless as ever. Naruto remembered that Sai asked what the point of it all was, and how they desperately tried to explain the points to those points. "I never thought it would be possible to have someone more irritating than Sasuke. Though, if he had joined the team instead of Sasuke…actually, it probably wouldn't have made a difference."
Naruto picked up the next photo, the one where he became a chunin the year after. In this one, Sakura embraced him in a hug from behind. "She told me she was so proud of me that year…"
The next photo was taken when Sakura herself became a jonin for ANBU. That time Naruto returned the hug. She was apprehensive at first, but she relinquished. She also warned him not to move his hands up. Unlike most jonin, she was not assigned a genin team. Her duties at the hospital were too valuable, and her being the Hokage's apprentice factored in as well. Naruto had to admit, he was a bit jealous at the time, but he got over that quickly. He was still very proud of her, after all. So, what'd she think of him now? He wasn't ANBU, but he didn't expect to be, nor did he want to be immediately. Then he thought back to the incident a couple of minutes ago.
"Aw, crap. I don't think I'll even be able to get near her for a week. No, maybe not even a year. Now I can't thank her for this."
Naruto decided to head to bed, when a thought came to his mind.
"What if…she actually liked what she saw?" Naruto quickly disregarded it. "Impossible. You saw the way she reacted. But then again, she never seems to be sure about what she wants…also, she a medic-nin. She's probably seen thousands of those things, I bet by now it'll take a really…nice one, to pique her interest."
I didn't like it, I didn't like it, I didn't…" Sakura futily smacked her big forehead. "For the love of God, you've seen those plenty of times in the hospital…when they were covered in blood by a stomach wound… and from old men…and in text books."
Sakura headed to the bathroom sink to wash herself. "Okay, calm down. Besides, I'm sure there are other people who have one that's…" Sakura just slammed her fists on the sink. "Who am I kidding. I didn't think that size was even possible!"
Sakura covered her mouth, as she realized her parents were in bed. She learned only recently how much her parents hated Naruto. Both of their families were killed by Kyuubi. She learned just how much of a grudge they held one day when she mentioned she was going out to meet with Naruto. They were furious, pointing out that now that she was a jonin, she had no need to. When she still stated that he was still her friend, they vented their frustrations. She never told them again when she was seeing him, or ever for that matter. When she heard that Naruto had the Kyuubi inside of him, at first, she didn't know what to think. But when she remembered what he was like, she started to…admire him. And feel terrible for treating him like the others. She remembered that Garaa was a jinchikuri, and how he was. She was amazed that Naruto never let his own hardships get the better of him. He was always smiling, but it was his way of hiding his pain. With the Akatsuki around, she promised that she would protect him. He deserved so much more.
"I hope he doesn't feel too bad about what happened. He probably feels so embarrassed."
Not a whole lot here, just setting things up. As you can see, I rated this M for a reason. There will probably be more sex jokes sometime in the future, but no full-lemon. As for Naruto's….you know….I'm also not going into detail about how big it is. Think of it as big as you'd like (but it's really not that important to the story). Next chapter will be up, and while it won't decrease the rating, it will be tamer.
Kei Uchiwa: Strong Fan