#she can use the rasengan now

[brighteuphony]

I LOVE your Sakura AU, thank you so much for making it 🥹

Even though her ending is supposed to be “good”, I always thought that canon didn’t do her justice and threw any character development she had out of the window so she can be with Sasuke

I SO wanted her to finally move on and just let go

And I don’t have anything against Sasusaku

But I think it’d be much more beautiful if Sakura long let go of her feelings by the time Sasuke came to his senses and they developed their relationship TOGETHER from the START

And, once again, your work is AMAZING and I can’t wait for next pieces ❤️

Btw, can I ask a question?) Will we see Naruto’s and Sasuke’s reaction to her condition (maybe flashback to before she left the village?), if not, can you please tell me a bit about it? I can’t imagine them to ignore her after the incident, especially considering that they are at fault as usual

Thank you so much for the kind words! I've also never been a fan of how Sakura ended up. I have no beef with SasuSaku, but my biggest issue was that we never saw Sasuke try to make up/connect with Sakura in the same way we saw him do with Naruto, so their romance in Boruto just felt so...abrupt?

As for what happens to Sakura and her friends....

Sasuke was essentially put on probation/jailed, but broke out and defected to Otogakure as canon. This devastates Sakura, as she's both in deep denial about his contribution to her injuries and also the fact that she basically threw herself in there for nothing. Kakashi shuts down completely. It's a nightmare replay of his own past, including the female team-mate being horrifically injured by the chidori. The guilt of everything is eating him alive so he basically withdraws into himself and uses her demotion to civilian status as a way to trick himself into thinking that if he just 'rips off the bandaid' and cut ties, she'll be able to move on more easily.

Naruto is the only person who is really able/willing to face justice. After the incident, he was basically also put on probation/awaiting trial but busted himself out to join Jiraya.

So for context, Sakura got clapped hard by the Rasengan/Chidori combo (hearing gone, nerve damage, eyes shot etc) and basically had to be put in a coma to try and stop the damage from getting worse, but unfortunately none of the medics in Konoha had the ability to reverse anything but the most superficial damage. So Naruto joined Jiraya in an attempt to find and bring the only person in the world who could give Sakura a sliver of hope.

I felt like this worked well with canon and the desperation to get Tsunade to be hokage and Naruto basically begged her on his hands and knees to help Sakura. Tsunade made it there in the nick of time managed to save everything but her eyes.

But Sakura's life has fallen apart, her career is over, her parents dead from Konoha Crush and her eyes gone...and Naruto is the most convenient and available person to take out all her rage on, so...while he deserves a lot of that rage..she is essentially punching down on who she perceives to be the cause of all her problems.

Lee is in the same boat as her, but while he tries very hard to be there for her, Sakura can't stand to be with him right now, as it just makes the reality of life hit that much worse- especially when she finds out there's a surgery that might give him a better chance than she'll ever have.

And Ino visits often at first, but then it's awkward...and painful as the weeks go by. They have lunch and gossip but at some point, there's not much a shinobi and civilian have in common, especially after the shortage of manpower post Konoha-crush has Ino entrenched in the shinobi life more than ever before.

I hope this answered some stuff! Thank you so much for the questions and the interest! I love Sakura and I just wanna give her the development and power she deserves!!

#naruto #naruto au #sakura #haruno sakura #ino #kakashi #tsunade #rock lee #sasuke #sakura pov: ur life is falling apart #no hating on sakura here #yes she's cruel #but she's also TWELVE and has NO real support #and honestly naruto is part of the problem rn

[tamelee]

Hi tamelee ❤️ can you do an analysis/review of Kishimoto's recent popularity poll art? I saw a hashimada shipper comment on how Kishimoto drew Madara and Hashirama on exact opposite sides of each other + his love for symmetry and I was wondering if you noticed anything interesting in the illustration (just general observations, doesn't have to be about shipping 😊)

Hi Nonee, sure 🧡!

Long post - Image heavy:

Well, first my eye was drawn to the brightest part of the drawing. Promptly in the middle, big, foreshortening technique used on Minato's arm leading you to his face secondly where the colors gradually get darker and more saturated. As are the colors surrounding the NinJutsu to make it stand out more. Every line on this drawing illustrates Kishimoto's experience, talent and hard work regarding his knowledge on composition.

Then..

Sakura is holding the same type of axe-weapon she was also holding in an illustration for Chapter 15.

Naruto has a slightly different one on Volume Cover 33 too. (I'm obsessed tbh- LOOK AT THE KURAMA-TEETH ON THE SCROLL)

As you pointed out Madara and Hashirama are on opposites of the illustration, almost as if they're battling each other! But also look at how Kurama's tails embrace them, how that enhances the movement and expression of their battle-intent + the Rasengan twirls!! 😱 AND the weaponry that both come from behind their heads at the same spot. (Omg I love Kishimoto so much.)

(Of course on these sides too!)

Naruto and Sasuke are paralleled on either side of the illustration too! (And so are Kurama and Shukaku 🤭..)

Speaking of Shukaku, Gaara is holding what looks like the "Tea Kettle" he was sealed in. The former Jinchuuriki 'Bunpuku' and the beast were inspired by a Japanese folktale 'Bunbuku Chagama' where the creature in the tale is a raccoon dog, like Shukaku.

I think that's a really nice addition. (Especially since I saw this legendary creature used as a toy by this mini-Hinata look-a-like gremlin in 'Boruto'.. what's up with that anyway..)

I think Kakashi's weapon is kind of like the Kamui Shuriken he used when they fought Kaguya?

Furthermore:

I'm glad Kakashi and Sakumo are together on this.. also, Obito's goggles have made a comeback ;-;🥹! It's funny to me that Kishimoto started to draw Naruto with goggles (a way to cover himself and hide as he did in Chapter 1)

..but then said in a later interview that it was too much work. (I tried a few panels drawing them and I totally get it...) Anyway I digress-

We can also see Shisui wielding a sword/drill that looks like it was designed with his supposed(?) Susanoo in mind. This was seen in Ninja Storm the game.

NOW I'M NOT SURE ABOUT ITACHI'S SWORD... BUT:

It loooooooooks like a masamune sword, but I'm not sure.

I'm no expert on weapons. If anyone recognizes it...

Long-ass Indra's arrow-bow.. in physical form.. legendary!!! So fine 🤌 I also love how Kurama's tail frames him in the background. Orange looks good on you Sasuke.

The way the Rasengan swirl pulls your attention on him (and the characters in general) + the Chakra/energy sparks are all placed so nicely *-*! It really communicates more movement and liveliness into the illustration.

Neji is holding what looks like Chakram/Chalikar weaponry? These are throwing knives used for.. well throwing AND close combat. At least that's what I thought at first but then I was thinking about it more and the Hyuuga's "gentle fist" is based on "Baguazhang". This is a martial art style which uses a lot of rotation style techniques. (Hence.. "eight trigram palm" is real because that's what it literally means.)

There are special Baguazhang Crescent Moon knives/Deer horn knives that look like this:

I think that's what these are, which are perfect for rotation-based combat.

In the same category, Baguazhang in practice used a double-edged sword called 'Jian'. It was known as the "gentleman of weapons" in Chinese Folklore. Early Japanese swords known as 'Ken' or 'Tsurugi' are often based on 'Jian'.

It does seem a bit unusual since most of them don't have a guard like that, but they exist as Changjian, or longsword.

What she has could be a Tsurugi though not sure.

Regardless, it seems pretty heavy for her 😁?

Naruto and Jiraiya both stand very wide, using an open, boisterous body-language that Kishimoto often uses for the both of them in many of his previous art. This over-the-top, theatrical design and visual representation is based on 'Kabuki' which is a traditional form of Japanese theatre, dramatic performance/dance. The umbrella is called a 'wagasa', often used in these plays/ceremonies.

I'm happy these two made it!:

A sword made from the tail of Sasori's puppet, Hiruko? That goes so hard!! It kinda reminds me of Renji's (character from Bleach) sword. I always thought that design was so cool, but this one also has that poison..

Not sure how those clay mask bombs work wrapped around a string, but you gotta admit, they're pretty artful! Perhaps it's like wire binding infused with Chakra.. Or what if, once he has put them on you, your head explodes or something..

Additionally:

I love how Kishimoto just added Guy (and Kurama) because he wanted to but also because having Lee and Guy together on the illustration just seems right.

Shikamaru with Asuma's Chakra blades of course~ (He uses them for his Shadows Imitation Shuriken techniques... but I read he gave them away to Mirai?)

I might be missing many things but..

The more I look at it, the more nods to earlier work I see, tbh I could go on and on. I really appreciate it.

Oh and.. no there is no shipping-intent and hints/clue's at all that's also not what this is made for.

Don't let anyone fool you. Naruto is looking up to the banner he's holding lol. It's a shame that the first thing people look for is things like that and then discard the entire thing when it is made with passion, love and hard work..

Anyway thankyou for this ask, this was so fun 🥰

#asktamelee #kishimoto #naruto talk #naruto analysis #narutop99

[narhinafan]

Wanna know something hilarious?

A NaruSaku kid would've been COMPLETELY overshadowed by literally any other hypothetical Offspring

Imagine if Naruto got with Sakura

That would mean Sasuke's possible options would've been with Karin, Ino or even Hinata (pair the spares)

Sasuke x ANY of those combos would've completely screwed over an NS kid genetics wise

Sasuke + Karin = A Child born between a Full Blood Uchiha and an a Full Blood Uzumaki with Sharingan and all the capabilities that come with it, Lots Uzumaki Stamina, Fireball Jutsu, Chakra Chains, Chidori, and a Built-In Healing Factor. Could've possibly unlocked a New Doujutsu.

Sasuke + Ino = A Child born between a Full Blood Uchiha and an a Full Blood Yamanaka with Sharingan and all of it's Capabilities, Fireball Jutsu and Mind Transfer Jutsu

Sasuke + Hinata = A Child born between a Full Blood Uchiha and an a Full Blood Hyuga with EITHER Sharingan or Byakugan (or Both???) and all the Capabilities that come with them. Full on Genjutsu and Taijutsu Abilities. Fireball Jutsu, Twin Lion Fists, 64 Palms, Susano'o, Rotation, Chidori, AND not even getting into the fact the hypothetical Child would not only be of Hagoromo AND Hamura's lineage (just like Boruto and Himawari) but could've also unlocked a Brand New Doujutsu if Boruto's Jougan is any indication. (Who knows if it would've still been Jougan or a Sharingan-Jougan hybrid)

Now let's look at the possibility of a

NaruSaku Child

Now how do we judge how a Naruto and Sakura Offspring would've turned out?

Well let's take a look at their actual Kids

Naruto + Sakura = A Child born between a 1/2 Blood Uzumaki and an a Full Blood Haruno (lol) would result in...

A 1/4 Uzumaki and 1/2 Haruno Mix.... With Shadow Clones, Rasengan, Sage Mode from Jiraiya and Super Strength inherited from Tsunade (lol)

Judging by Boruto and Himawari, this kid wouldn't have the Uzumaki Stamina since neither of them appear to have high Chakra Reserves. Unfortunately it's too diluted since they are only 1/4 Uzumaki

Even ignoring Kurama's death (😭)

Naruto still wouldn't pass down anything from Kurama to his kids

Rasengan and Sage doesn't come from Naruto but rather Jiraiya

Strength and Byakugo Seal doesn't come from Sakura but rather Tsunade (and Mito)

There's no guarantee that they would've gotten Tsuna-er I mean Sakura's Healing Jutsu either (Sarada is terrible at it and she doesn't use it at all in the Manga)

Now let's take a Look at where Boruto, Himawari, and Sarada's Strengths lie

BORUTO HAS:

THE JOUGAN : Confirmed to be a Doujutsu that laid dormant within Boruto and Toneri activated sooner. Now why do you think Toneri did this? Do you honestly think this was because of Naruto? Or the Girl that Toneri actually fell in love with?

KARMA/KAMA: Boruto was confirmed by the Databooks to have acquired Momoshiki's Karma because of his Byakugan Blood. Specifically his Hamura Chakra. Now who's side of the Family did he get that from?

SHADOW CLONES: From Naruto

RASENGAN: From Jiraiy-er Naruto 😅

GENTLE FIST: From Hinata

So in reality, Boruto clearly got more benefits from his Mom's side to be as Strong as he is.

SARADA HAS:

SHARINGAN: Is a given from Sasuke of course

FIREBALL JUTSU: From Sasuke

CHIDORI: From Sasuke

GENJUTSU: From Sasuke

SUPER STRENGTH: From Tsuna-er Sakura 😅

It's clear who's Genes Sarada is relying on more

HIMAWARI HAS:

BYAKUGAN: From Hinata

GENTLE FIST: From Hinata

That's.... about it really for now. Yet she's was just acknowledged by the current Strongest Character in the Manga at the moment to have really Strong Power to the point where he was shocked by it (and as of yet NO ONE ELSE in the Manga has spooked him this much)

And as far as we can see, given the above, this because of her Mom's Genes 😄

Boruto and Himawari got their Benefits from their Mom.

Sarada gets her benefits from her Dad

Sasuke literally HAD to get with Sakura in order to keep his child from overshadowing Naruto's lmao 🤣 😂 💀

I would like to point out that both Boruto and Himawari do have large charka reserves just not Naruto size since they weren't practically born with Kurama inside them constantly mix his own chakra with theirs. Boruto can make 4-5 shadow clones before becoming a genin when it needs Jonin level chakra.

As for Sarada you are right, but she did not inherit Sakura's chakra control as talent in medical jutsu is bad. Meaning her chakra enchanted strength will always be less then Sakura's and she will likely never get the seal which even Shizune in all her eyes never gotten.

So Sakura contributes almost nothing to her child and what she does give are downgraded from what she actually has.

As where Hinata has been confirmed to contributed a good deal of hers and Naruto's children talents.

No matter how you look at it Sakura is bringing down her children talent wise and most she can teach them medical jutsu and even then they need a decent talent in it which as shown isn't guaranteed to be inherited.

#anti sakura haruno #pro naruhina #pro hinata hyuga

[fallloverfic]

Solo Leveling Episode 5 Thoughts

Ahh good ep :3 Spoilery thoughts for the anime, novel, and manhwa below

This show is so strange with angles lol The nurses just... yeesh. None of these nurses are acting professional. But I appreciate all the nice shots of Yoonho and Jinwoo :3 (heck even Jinho gets a butt shot).

Also I think the umbrella part was added back in, too? Maybe I've forgotten more of the manhwa than I thought... though it doesn't explain why he has the umbrella (he got it from a random item box).

And Jinwoo gives himself some non-strength points at last XD Yeah, who needs intelligence anyway, not like he uses magic or whatever >:3

Yoonho on TV :3 Also either I didn't know or forgot he was a firefighter before he became a hunter. Thought that was just a post-canon thing, but cool :3

I love that Jinah wants to be a medical student and she's like "exercise can make you tall, huh?" (I mean she is a high schooler, but it's funny adlkjalj) But also Jinah and Jinwoo being close always kills me T-T Love themmm. He wants her to be happy T-T And she loves her brother T-T (At least she's not being mean to him anymore)

Also love that magazine cover:

Choi Jongin you just alkjdlajd he kills me alkdjlaja bless aldkjalj

Now for five seconds of Dongsuk. Asshole.

Jinho :333 Bebeeee :3 he hereeee They're so cute together!!! Jinho keeps chatting with Jinwoo T-T Jinwoo this man is your future [redacted], be nice to him!!!

The not-rasengan was a lovely bit of animation.

I watch this show for the plot.

The plot:

Thank you so much A-1 Pictures for the delicious shots of dudes to equalize the weird nurse shots even if they have no nips cause can't scare the kiddies with those dangerous nip shots after all the tit and ass shots

Also some folks have pointed out we get Kim Chul and Go Myung-hwan cameos! I love that! The way the anime crew is really making this feel like a bigger world full of the cast in advance rather than focusing largely on Jinwoo to a point is really fun.

Jinho keeps trying to befriend and impress Jinwoo T-T They're so cuuute

Ready to see Jinwoo beat up some more bugs.

Lovely ep :3 The OP and ED are so good.

More episode thoughts:

S01E05 (you are here)

S01E06

S01E07

S01E08

S01E09

S01E10

S01E11

S01E12

#solo leveling #solo leveling spoilers #sung jinwoo #sung jinah #baek yoonho #choi jongin #cha haein #hwang dongsuk #yoo jinho #fallfthoughts #나 혼자만 레벨업

[nightingaleflow]

Hi! @mal-the-konohoe sent me! Can you do a suigetsu request with an original member of team 7 reader? Enemies to lovers?

Hello there nonnie! Thank you for your request and for waiting so patiently.

I've got you covered. <3

Enemies to lovers isn't something I've written before, so hopefully this does your request justice.

Although I love writing Suigetsu. He's such a snarky little shit. <3

Hope you enjoy!

Word Count: 1.9k Warnings for this fic: Canon-typical violence, suggestive/mild language.

Sweetheart

You were the newest member of Team 7 after Sai had been laid up in the hospital with some injuries. You yourself had just finished recovering after nursing a broken arm for two months. Since the circumstances lined up so well, Tsunade made a few quick adjustments, and suddenly you had a new team.

You had been sent out with Sakura, Naruto, and Yamato to investigate some strange occurrences happening in a little village near the border with the Land of Water. You had arrived after a day and a half, but so far hadn’t found anything out of the ordinary. You set up camp for the night just outside the village, and had volunteered to take the first watch to show you were a good sport.

After the other three had fallen asleep, you sat in silence for several minutes. You let the sounds of the night wash over you. An owl hooted overhead. The wind rustled the leaves in the trees surrounding you. Tiny chirps from insects chorused from somewhere nearby.

You settled back, checking the sleeping faces of your teammates, glad for the silence that let them rest.

Then you paused. Silence. The insects had stopped chirping.

You had your kunai out before you heard the rustle of grass behind you. You immediately turned and let your kunai fly toward the figure stepping into the clearing.

Your aim was perfect, as usual. But it didn’t matter - the blade passed right through him and embedded in the tree behind him.

“Easy now,” the stranger said. “You could hurt somebody like that.”

His appearance was unusual, at least for the Land of Fire. He had hair the color of freshly-fallen snow and eyes the color of crocuses. His teeth were sharpened, as if they belonged to a shark and not a man. A massive sword hung from his back, its blade larger than the man who wielded it. And around his body, he wore a black cloak with red clouds.

You were on your feet in an instant, your sword drawn as you shouted for your team to wake up. You raced towards him, ready to take him down whatever the cost.

He easily sidestepped your blade with a smirk. Then, in one swift motion, he drew his own sword and brought it down towards you. You brought your blade up to meet it, eyes bulging as the sheer weight from his sword bore down.

“Ah, one of you knows how to dance,” he said. “Good. That always makes things more fun.”

Sparks flew as your swords ground together. You put as much strength as you could into pushing back. His blade lifted just an inch, and you took the opportunity to twist away.

The rest of the team descended upon the battle. Naruto made an attempt at the Rasengan, but the stranger darted out of the way long before the ball of lightning made contact. Sakura attempted to punch him with chakra-laden fists, but he turned his upper body into water, negating any damage she could do. You tried again with your sword, hoping to at least distract him, but he was more than ready to block your attack as well as Naruto’s new attempt.

Then Yamato brought his hands together and summoned roots from the ground. They surrounded the stranger, binding him like ropes and pulling him to the ground. He smirked at Yamato. “You really think a plant is strong enough to hold me?”

“Who the hell are you?” you hissed.

“Aww, you don’t recognize this beautiful face?” he teased.

You snorted. “Beautiful isn’t the word I’d use.”

He sighed. “You wound me, sweetheart.” He then bowed his head exactly one inch. “Suigetsu Hozuki, at your service.”

Yamato folded his arms. “Why are you offering that information so freely?”

“To show that I’m a decent guy,” Suigetsu replied, though his eyes remained on you.

“Decent, and yet you wear those robes,” you said, eyeing the red cloud with distaste.

“Hey, that was not my call,” Suigetsu replied. “I was only following orders.”

“Whose orders?” Sakura asked.

“Someone you ought to know very well, since you’re from the Leaf,” Suigetsu replied. “Sasuke Uchiha.”

The atmosphere in the clearing changed instantly. Sakura went pale and her jaw went slack. Yamato had to restrain Naruto with one hand as he began demanding information about Sasuke from Suigetsu. You just watched everything unfold, stunned that an associate of the traitor Uchiha was there and speaking so freely.

“So why are you here then?” you asked.

“Well, sweetheart, I must admit, I’ve grown very tired of Sasuke’s ‘leadership’.” He shrugged. “Is he powerful? Yes. Is he a complete asshole who’s nearly gotten all of us killed? Also yes.”

Yamato frowned. “And you expect us to believe you’d talk to us so freely?”

“Believe me or don’t, I don’t really care,” Suigetsu replied.

“What do you want then?” Sakura asked, finally regaining her voice.

“And where is Sasuke?” Naruto demanded.

Suigetsu grinned. “You must be Naruto,” he said. “Sasuke always says you were the loud, annoying one.”

Naruto growled at him. “Why you-”

“We asked you a question,” you interjected. “What do you want?”

He turned to you. “Well, as a matter of fact, I was hoping to make a deal.”

“What kind of deal?”

“You see, they’re not gonna be too happy once they realize I’ve taken off,” Suigetsu explained. “And they’ve got one hell of a sensory type with them, so they’re probably going to be after me before long. So what I’d like is protection, and in exchange, I tell you all about what your little Sasuke’s been up to.”

You purse your lips. There’s no way in hell that anyone would take that deal.

“Fine,” Yamato said.

Your head snapped toward him. “You can’t be serious, captain.”

“Can and am,” Yamato said. “You, take him straight back to the village for interrogation. The rest of us will remain here to uncover the cause of all the disturbances and complete the mission.”

“Oh, that was me,” Suigetsu said.

“…That was you?” Yamato asked.

“Yep,” Suigetsu said. “How else was I supposed to get you to come this way?”

Yamato groaned. “Fine, we’ll all go. I’ll confer with Lady Tsunade when we get back about the mission.”

You were put in charge of guarding Suigetsu while the other three cleaned up the camp. You picked up his sword from the ground, then staggering under its immense weight.

Suigetsu openly laughed at your efforts. “Careful there, sweetheart,” he said. “My Executioner’s Blade can’t be wielded by just anybody.”

“As in the Executioner’s Blade, one of the Seven Ninja Swords of the Mist?”

“And she’s smart too! Very good.”

You glared at him, your arms folded. “How do you have it? Last I checked, you weren’t a member of the Swordsmen.”

Suigetsu shrugged. “Just collecting what was rightfully supposed to be mine.”

“All right, let’s move out,” Yamato said. “Can you handle the sword?”

“I’ll manage,” you said.

“Mmm, maybe for a few minutes,” Suigetsu said. “But the only person here strong enough to carry my Executioner’s Blade is me.”

“We’ll see about that,” you said.

Yamato undid the bindings at Suigetsu’s legs, allowing him to walk. You took the holster from Suigetsu, ignoring the suggestive remark he made about you wanting to be closer to him, then swung it over your shoulders.

As the heavy sword slid into place, your legs buckled. You tried to keep your face calm and still, but Suigetsu was already laughing. “You just let me know when you get tired. I’ll gladly carry it for you.”

“Not in a million years, Hozuki,” you said.

Your group finally sets out towards Konoha. Every step you took took three times the usual effort, and you were sweating before you’d even gone a single kilometer.

On top of that, Suigetsu was easily the most annoying enemy you’d ever faced.

He never stopped talking, but he chose the most inane topics. The weather. The manufacturing of swords and sword dances. How much wood it must have taken to build their village. And you. He was constantly needling you, asking you about your daily life while also feigning concern about your struggles with the heavy sword.

But you were determined to prove him wrong, even if you had to drag the sword all the way there.

You were still relieved when the gates came into sight.

Your legs wobbled as you entered the village, but you managed to stop them as you gave a strained smirk to Suigetsu. “Told you I could do it.”

“All right, when I’m wrong, I say I’m wrong. Good job, sweetheart.” He chuckled. “Though I must say, it was a lot of fun watching you sweat. I’ll have to find ways of doing it again.”

The implication in his words made your cheeks pinker than they already were. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“What would you like it to mean?” he asked, his sharp teeth flashing in a grin.

“Absolutely nothing,” you retorted.

“Enough,” Yamato said. “Let’s finish this.”

“Please,” Sakura said. “I need a nap.”

You brought Suigetsu to the interrogation building, where Ibiki looked far too pleased at his new guest. He looked far less pleased when Suigetsu turned his limbs to water and slipped out of the rope bindings. “I like bondage as much as the next guy, but that was getting to be a little much,” he said, stretching out his shoulders.

Your team stared at him, flabbergasted. “You could have done that the whole time?” you asked.

“Yeah,” Suigetsu replied.

“Why didn’t you?”

“Well, you were far more willing to talk like civilized adults while you thought you had me secured,” he said with a shrug.

Sakura threw up her hands. “I’m done. I’m waiting outside.”

She marched out, dragging Naruto with her. Yamato spoke to Ibiki briefly, going over some things with him. That left you and Suigetsu facing off, him leaning against the wall and you glaring.

“Careful, sweetheart,” he teased. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you didn’t like me.”

“You’d be right,” you replied.

“What a shame,” Suigetsu said. “It’s been so long since I’ve met anyone who was as…vivacious as you.”

“Is that a joke?”

“No, but perhaps vivacious wasn’t the right word. It’s a shame Karin isn’t here, she’d be able to come up with all sorts of words. She’s brainy like that.”

Yamato and Ibiki came back over. “All right, we’re all done here,” he said. “The interrogation core will take custody of the sword.”

“Please and thank you,” you said. You pulled the sword and holster off your back, then handed it over with a sigh of relief.

Ibiki lets out a grunt of surprise and nearly drops the sword, only barely managing to cling to it.

“Hey, careful!” Suigetsu snapped. “That’s not a toy, you know.”

Ibiki ignored him as he dragged the sword deeper into the building. Other interrogators came around, guiding Suigetsu into a chair.

As you turned to go, you heard him say, “Hey, sweetheart.”

You didn’t want to look at him, but you did anyway.

“See you around,” he said with a wink. “I’ll need something pretty to look at once these ugly bastards are done with me.”

Your face burned, but you refused to dignify what he said with an answer. Instead, you marched out the door, letting Yamato steer you toward the Hokage building.

As long as you had your way, you and Suigetsu would never cross paths again.

~

Tag List: @justmyownreality @therantingfangirl @mrsbakashi @starnightcat @anchy-bananchy @hashira-mal (if you would like to be added to the tag list please let me know)

#Suigetsu #Suigetsu Hozuki #Suigetsu x reader #Suigetsu x y/n #Suigetsu x you #Naruto #Naruto fanfiction #ask nightingale #anon #nightingale writes #writing #fanfiction #my writing #enemies to lovers

[kuipernebula]

Naruto is a Full Moon Lunar exalted, with the Fox as his spirit shape. His tell is his whisker markings on his face. He obviously makes use of Cunning Anglerfish Decoy and, when he reaches Essence 3, Ant-and-Starfish Trick to employ his shadow clones. There's actually a number of ways to work in Sexy Jutsu. The Rasengan is odd, though, because it's actually probably a Sorcery spell - and his control spell, at that. (The whole Frog Sage thing is almost CERTAINLY a Sorcerous Initiation. Hell, Sage Chakra is basically how Sorcerous Motes work.) Fox Mode is just his hybrid form, and becoming the Fox uses the Kaiju charms. (For what it is worth, Kurama is likely the name of his previous incarnation, and he gets unusually strong memories/perceptions of that incarnation later on.)

Sasuke is odd for a number of reasons - he's a Solaroid, but picking between Solar and Infernal depends on a lot of things. Either way, he's Night/Nadir caste, perfect for being a Ninja. Plus, the Uchiha clan is clearly a (probably Fire) Dragon-Blooded clan. The Sharingan is probably a Sorcerous Working with unique Evocations, which are probably Resonant with those of Uchiha descent - hence why Kakashi isn't as strong with it. His Cursed Form could definitely be inspiration for a Devil-Body if he's Infernal (and Susanoo could be an offshoot of that, for ease of use) Either way he's probably Naruto's Solar(/Infernal) Mate. (Whether that's romantic or not is. Up to interpretation.) Also like Naruto he has a Snake Sage Sorcerous Awakening and his Command Spell is the Chidori, probably.

Sakura... Is weird in that she exalts much later than Sasuke and Naruto, it being during her training with Tsunade. She could theoretically also be a Twilight Solar with Medicine Supernal and Brawl Charms - her Seal would be a Sorcerous Working, and she has a Sorcerous Initiation with the Slugs. She could also be an Exigent to a Medicine God of some variety, and her Seal could theoretically be a proper Charm Tree. (She's a rare Exigent that is on equal footing to Celestial Exalted)

Kakashi is... probably a Dragon-Blood, given his position in the village and what it means. I'd guess Wood Aspect or Earth Aspect, but we know very little about the Hatake clan. The White Light Chakra Saber is almost certainly an Artifact of White Jade (hence Earth Aspect) and he got his eye via Sorcerous Working (and has invested in it via Evocations.) His Sorcerous Control Spell is the dogs, somehow...

Sai is a Chosen of Secrets Sidereal (despite Endings being a better color), his birth and exaltation signs being The Sword and The Mask, respectively. His art technique is a Sidereal Martial Art (Sable Ink of Imitation, with the Scripture of the Lonely Maiden.) He's heavily invested in Integrity charms (hence he seems emotionless) but also in his SMA, as well as a normal martial art using a brush. (Don't ask me to name it now I can't) The reason no one remembers him until he shows up is Arcane Fate, and he is using a Resplendant Destiny.

Shikako (Dreaming of Sunshine) is a Getimian, which I find endlessly funny that she slots perfectly into this. Despite Summer being the right color, she's got the vibes of a Spring caste. Her Origin is either the DoS timeline, or the Real World, and either way she can pull a lot of shenanigans with that Origin. Her Seals may be odd applications of the Alchemy Tinctures that Getimians get, unclear because we only have a partial look at them. Most of her "I know how things go" is from her Origin stuff and Intelligence charms, though.

Maybe later I'll do Team 8 but they're two Lunars and a Sidereal/Solar (still deciding for Hinata) so they're going to be cracked. InoShikaCho are all Dragon-Blooded, clan shit is too integral to their whole deal. Aspects to be decided later.

Akatsuki is also going to be odd but I do know Pain is a Heart-Eater. Probably the only Heart-Eater of the series.

... oh and Orochimaru is probably a Lunar? Maybe???

#typed this out so it could Leave My Brain Forever

[raveneira]

Just to put into perspective just how dog shit the Timeskip is so far, here is all thats happened in 7 chapters

Sarada has been arguing B0ruto's innocence to Shikamaru for 3 yrs straight and nothing else to no avail

Himawari has been spending her time training with team 10 for 3 yrs and is the only one besides Sasuke who knows somethings off

Kawaki has been being vigilant working closely with Konoha to shrink Codes claw marks whenever they appear

Ada and Daemon are doing no different than they did in part 1

Code invaded Konoha

B0ruto arrives and stops Code from attacking Sarada who he tells to go help other civilians while he fights Code alone

Code loses to B0ruto who effortlessly beats him with a new Rasengan

None of the other cast showcase any new abilities despite training 3 yrs

Sarada didnt hide that she shes unaffected by Omnipotence and openly opposes Kawaki to his face with no plan

Its revealed Sasuke has been trapped in a tree by Code which is why B0ruto wants to make a deal but Code refuses

Bug, Moegi, & Soegi is also trapped in a tree

its revealed B0ruto now has toad summon and flying raijin and is now working with Kashin Koji

its discovered that Code fked up and accidentally created 4 overpowered clones he cant control that easily overpower B0ruto into retreat

Sumire still works with Amado

Amado is revealed to know his memories been altered by using logic to deduce it

its revealed Boruto trained with Sasuke for only a year and the other 2 years he spent under Kashin Koji

Sasuke is the one who cut Codes eye and sacrificed himself to let Boruto escape

B0ruto returns to inform Sarada of what happened to her dad and finally finds out Sumire is also unaffected but doesnt really react for some reason

Sarada learns her dads status and also doesnt really react for some reason

Boruto vows to save everyone himself

we learn nothing new about omnipotence

somehow the Bug clone can see Ada using her senrigan

the Moegi clone wants to kill Konohamaru, the Bug clone wants to kill Ada, the Sasuke clone wants to kill Sarada, and the Jigen clone wants to kill Naruto

Shikamaru now believes Sarada about the brainwashing and works together with B0ruto secretly

Shikamaru is only temporary 8th Hokage and not officially the 8th

Mitsuki fights B0ruto alone for 5 seconds and accepts defeat because he somehow subconsciously knows he's his true sun

Boruto essentially asks Mitsuki on a date to prove hes his real sun [like fr 'But if you insist on needing a sun...come find me anytime']

So overall what have we learned really? whats changed since part 1? Code is still the joke he always was even with his limiters off, the Konoha invasion was a massive let down with zero payoff that didnt even last more than 2 chapters, literally NO other characters besides Boruto showcase ANY new moves, not even Kawaki, Sarada's Sharingan is still MIA since the Boro fight, Sumire, Ada, and Daemon are doing no different than what they were doin before, their literally repeating what we already knew about omnipotence like its new information, every fight thus far with Boruto lasts 2 seconds cuz hes just THAT strong now, and everything everyone was hyped and anticipated for has already happened in ONLY 7 FKING CHAPTERS

Code invasion? done

Boruto reuniting with Sarada and Sumire? done

Boruto finding out Sumires also not affected? done

Ppl starting to realize Boruto really is innocent? done

Mitsuki and Boruto angst? done

Mitsuki vs Boruto? done

Finding out how Amado's been affected by omnipotence? done

Finding out whether Sarada and Sumire hid their unaffected by omniportence? done

Finding out what happened to Sasuke? done

Sarada finding out what happened to Sasuke? done

Finding out what happened to Kashin Koji? done

Seeing Boruto able to use some of Momoshikis abilities too? done

Literally all thats left to look forward to is Naruto and Sasuke getting unsealed cuz we know their not getting killed off, Boruto vs Kawaki which we already know Boruto is gonna win and their gonna reconcile, defeating the tree clones which we already know Boruto is primarily gonna take care of since he said so himself, freeing Sasuke and Naruto is also pretty much confirmed to be Boruto, and honestly Ada and Daemon are non factors in pretty much anything and Code is a joke Boruto can beat 1v1 so hes not even a major threat to be dealt with.

This is the most trash timeskip ever, when shippuden started things already kicked off with the Akatsuki and Gaara, when DBZ started shit got real with Raditz + Vegeta and Nappa and Goku dying, Boruto literally resolved every conflict besides him vs Kawaki and the tree clones already, but it dont even matter because both of those conflicts you know hes gonna win based on just these 7 chapters alone where hes apparently the ONLY PERSON THATS MADE ANY PROGRESS in his training over these 3 years while everyone else is still spamming their part 1 moves, but not only that, but Sasuke literally already told us what the future is so we aint even gotta guess.

'Then there wont be anyone who'll be able to stop you'

Like thats all you need to know right there to know where the story is goin, thats it, they literally TOLD you so theres suspense, no wondering how Boruto is gonna overcome these obstacles, no they just had Sasuke tell us Borutos gonna build on what he learned from him and eventually there wont be anyone able to stop him.

Key words being 'THERE WONT BE ANYONE WHO'LL BE ABLE TO STOP YOU'

So its fkin GGs already, yea we already know all the MCs are gonna win, but we dont know how, if they'll need help, theres some doubt that he might actually lose cuz sometimes the MC does lose and gotta come back after getting stronger or needs to team up where only their combined power can win etc, like theres opening for numerous possibilities that keeps the fans engaged and guessing exactly how its gonna go down.

But Boruto? nah lets just reveal everything thats gonna happen not even 10 chapters into the fkin timeskip

Boruto is gonna free Sasuke and deal with his clone, he literally tells us and Sarada this, Sasuke also told Boruto to take care of Sarada which Boruto intends to do just that, officially removing her from having any involvement in her fathers situation because Boruto has to atone for getting Sasuke trapped in the first place and he also has to keep his promise to keep his daughter safe, stop denying what has blatantly been spelled out for yall you KNOW this is whats coming

Boruto is gonna defeat Kawaki because he literally says thats what hes gonna do, hes following the same path Naruto did of not wanting to kill him but just beat some sense into him and reconcile as brothers, again stop denying whats blatantly being spelled out for you because this sequel has a consistent habit of telling you instead of showing you so theres no guessing whats gonna happen, you already know cuz they tell you 20 chapters before it happens

Nobody will be able to stop Boruto, he is a literal one man army, the most is he'll be delayed like with the tree clones but overall its already been foreshadowed that Boruto is gonna be the one who resolves all the conflicts because as Sasuke said, NOBODY will be able to stop him

If the clones could overpower Boruto into retreat then its already confirmed Kawaki is not beating any of them and gonna get his ass whooped by the leader clone pursuing Naruto and will most likely need to be saved by Boruto

Mitsuki is eventually gonna seek Boruto out just like he told him to and will realize Boruto really is his true sun, it took nothing but some sarcastic banter and Boruto not killing him during their fight to make Mitsuki waver, so all hype for their conflict is dead

Ada and Daemon I must repeat are non factors, they do absolutely nothing and bring nothing to the table, Ada is AT MOST a non human camera just like Ino is essentially a human telephone atp, and Daemon does absolutely jack shit besides laying on or sleeping on his sister or just looking menacing, they serve zero purpose and at best might be used for a bootleg cell saga moment where their absorbed by the clones to become infinitely more powerful, which atp is probably the only thing that'll make things interesting again since it actually would even the playing field instead of Boruto being the one man army he has been thus far

Kawaki I have no idea what hes been doing these 3 years but he obviously wont be this much of a scrub for long otherwise Kawaki vs Boruto would be the most boring rival fights in the history of rival fights, so somewhere along the lines we know hes gonna get a power boost, but that wont even be satisfying because he had 3 yrs to make progress and yet he stayed the same level he was in part 1?

Even Naruto made progress and showcased some new moves and growth, sure he was inferior to Sasuke but to act like Naruto just made NO progress at all not even a little bit to show he atleast did SOMETHING during that time is crazy, but this is an issue with everybody not just Kawaki because literally NO fkin body has made any progress but Boruto, apparently hes the only one thats been training which is ridiculous, especially for Sarada who's always spouting shes gonna be Hokage and not let Kawaki do what he wants

Well you could've fkin fooled me cuz I aint seen her do nothin worthwhile yet, still chidori and fireballs, still forgetting she has a whole sharingan since a fight that happened 3 years ago which was over 40 chapters ago, probably still dont even know she has MS, do yall not understand how ridiculous that is? that NOBODY not even her has showcased any progress?

'But its just 7 chapters' weekly manga with way less than 40 pages showcased more than Boruto which is monthly with 40 pages each chapter has, yall cannot defend this abysmal writing and pacing because theres no excuse for why a monthly manga with far more pages to work with accomplishes less than weekly mangas that had far less pages to work with

Half of these 7 chapters has been them repeating the exact same information about omnipotence that we already knew just in different wording, but its all the same information we already knew.

Keep in mind this could be dialogue telling use what Sarada and Sumire have done to try and fight against omnipotence which apparently is just yelling at ppl but imagine we actually got exposition detailing how Sumire has been looking into scientific ways to combat the chakra distortions that omnipotence caused to alter their memories and keep them brainwashed, how Sarada has been sneaking intel on anything and everything Otsutsuki related to try and find anything that might help them counter omnipotence, how she even went to Orochimaru to try and see what he might know or have that could help, hell maybe Sumire even goes back to her fathers old lab to see if she could find any traces of SOMETHING that could help since he had the Gozu Tennou which was related to Kaguya so who knows what other clues he might have

Like imagine we got THAT exposition instead, imagine we got 'Sarada and Sumire have actually been bustin their ass over these 3 yrs' instead of

'omnipotence is so difficult to counter, nothing we say works, no amount of proof sways anybody cuz omnipotence just makes them not care and disregard it, ugh how do we fix this?, oh theres no way to fix it cuz they'll all just eventually forget anyway, whatever suspicions they have will just fade overtime, logic doesnt work, Ada doesnt know how to control or undo it, omnipotence cant be resisted, except by Sasuke, Amado, Hima, Shikamaru, and now Mitsuki apparently, but logic doesnt work so its pointless trying to convince anyone that their memories been altered' even tho Amado literally uses logic to realize his memories been altered.

Yea we really needed that spelled out for us 7 chapters straight, thats totally what fans wanted to hear when the timeskip started, just constantly reminding us of how strongly brainwashed everyone is and how unbeatable it is instead of what they've been doing to try and fix it and what new skills they've gotten over the years to deal with the Code threat and his army

I and Im pretty sure most ppl dont give af how difficult omnipotence is, we already had Momoshiki break it down for us at the end of part 1, and then Sarada and Sumire hammer in again just how difficult omnipotence is to overcome, so why tf did we need 6 more chapters telling us how difficult omnipotence is? WE GET IT but what have they been doing to try and fight it? just TALKING? yea Im done

I've ranted long enough but I think yall get the point, this timeskip is a friggin joke, the most boring and time wasting timeskip I've seen in any anime, and I've watched Yashahime and even that used its time better establishing things than Boruto has

This whole thing just feels like some weird self insert poorly written fanfic where their the cool badass MC who comes back and just beats everybody and hes just so cool and look how hardened he is from all hes been through [barely anything] oh and look at that rizz he got all the girls wantin him and siding with him and hes just so cool and awsome and just the best MC ever unlike [insert far better written MCs here] and ya know, their just the cool unbeatable badass that all the girls want that they'll never be but wish they were irl, thats what this timeskip feels like atp, it doesnt feel real or earned it just feels like someone living out their fantasies through Boruto cuz their losers irl.

I aint sayin thats what Ikemoto or ghostwriter-kun are doin, but I aint sayin thats not what their doin either, either its their own self insert fantasies or the self insert fantasies of alot of Boruto's pathetic fanbase that wants Boruto to be this rizz king badass on some Sasuke or Eren Jager type vibe they know he and they will never be, because as I've used DBZ and and Shippuden as examples of good written timeskips, you tell me if this doesnt scream self insert fanfic to you.

#boruto manga #manga spoilers #anti-bsa

[dorn-queen-of-thorns]

I wrote this fanfiction to create another possible development for Sarada, which is more suitable for her character:

"The power in me"

Prolog:

"KAWAKI!!!!!!!! ' A heartbroken scream fills the battlefield of a utterly devastated Konoha. The rest of Team 7 and all members of Team 10 , including Sasuke , watch helplessly as Boruto; once their childhood friend and now corrupted into a new consciousness by his Ootsutsuki genes; pierced his foster brother Kawaki's chest with his rasengan.

A gash is clearly visible on Kawaki's chest.

All because he hasn't wanted to let Sarada protect him.

Slowly, Ishiki's former vessel raises its head to look at Sarada again. He looks at Sarada in pain.

If he has to go now, which he used to do before the time of Konoha, before Lord 7 and before Sarada, his first friend; has longed for; he wants to see her face at least one last time.

She has changed on the outside. Her short, black hair has grown long and she wears it in two long pigtails. She has grown in the last three years of her disappearance, but he still towers over her by a head like before. She still wears her cute glasses that always made her seem a bit nerdy. A fact that he also liked about her and underlined her intelligence.

She's gotten a little more muscular, and she's developed a purple mark on her forehead during the time of her disappearance, which closely resembles his hated Karma Mark.

He sincerely hopes that she never had to suffer for it like he did.

Her hair blows in the wind and the hair on her right side that hides her face he can see her purple Rinnegan. Her other eye glows fiery red and a black sun has formed around her black pupil. Her left eyeglasses are cracked and a distinctly red trickle is constantly running down her cheek. Did he cause it? If so, then he is very sorry for causing her pain.

He finds both eyes beautiful and can't stop staring at them. An annoying habit of his that he has noticed in himself since he's known Sarada. Most of the time in the past he was distracted by something or someone so he could stop.

However, her personality has changed. The once so cheerful girl from 3 years ago has become a serious personality. He misses her laugh from back then. He blames himself for what happened to her 3 years ago.

I'm so sorry for leaving you in this pain; are his thoughts of her because he lacks the strength to speak.

He actually wants to tell her so much and spend so much time. If it were up to him, live a lifetime and finally understand what Lord 7 once tried to explain to him, what it means to connect with each other's chakra.

Shit! It's not fair!!! , are his thoughts before they slowly threaten to disappear. He can't even bring her to safety like all the other survivors in the village. Tears of despair and pain are flowing now.

But one thing she has to know at least.

An inaudible, weak "I love you!" comes over his lips and then he loses consciousness and closes his eyes.

Sarada stands stunned, unable to believe what her childhood friend and self-chosen brother has been capable of.

Boruto looks at her coldly, his jogan bears a strong resemblance to that of a full moon and the sclera is black as night. His left eye is closed all the way through their fight, "don't worry he's not dead yet and he will serve as a sacrifice as befits an Ootsutsuki," he says in that creepy voice she's heard before a few years ago after the fight against Boro and her last meeting with him..

With Kawaki on his right shoulder and his other free hand holding the Karma mark, he opens a dimensional gate and disappears with his foster brother.

Crying, Sarada yells after both of them, "KAWAKI!!!! BORUTO!!!!” and unintentionally activates the Amarterasu and does with a blast a conflagration that gets worse by the second. The beginning of the rain wipes away her blood-red tears. At the same time, her Byakugou Seal activates and black tattoos, like lines, spread across her body, absorbing the Mangekyo Sharingan's damage. Sarada's appearance now resembles her mother even more.

" Mitsuki !!! Team 10!!! We have to get out of here! Hurry up !!!" Sasuke yells at Orochimaru's artificially created humans and Team 10.

Dazed, Mitsuki looks at the spot where his sun was and cannot understand what has become of the happy and lovable boy with the ocean blue eyes. He ignores Sasuke's command.

Sasuke roughly grabs his shoulder, "if her flames hit us, we're done and we can never stop the Infinite Tsukuyomi!" he yells at him.

Mitsuki still stands there motionless, the shock and his despair about what happened is too deep.

"I'll take care of him!", Chocho says bravely and carelessly carries Mitsuki in her arms like a bride and starts running to escape Sarada's flames. Mitsuki can't say much about Chocho's action either and turns a little bit red on his cheek.

"Really now, Chocho? Here??? At that moment??? ” , Inojin comments sarcastically. Chocho sticks her tongue out at her teammate.

Shikadai is just annoyed by the scenery and at the same time worried that everyone will make it, "stop arguing. Both of it! This is not the right time. You guys are really annoying sometimes..."

After both teams have made their way to safety, they assess the situation. Mitsuki reacts startled by Chocho's impulsive actions, but slowly regained his composure.

Everyone looks in Sarada's direction, horrified and concerned.

"She awakened her Mangekyo Sharingan," Sasuke observes his daughter and he is infinitely sorry that he can't hug her now. He knows her pain all too well.

But he can't get near her without getting burned himself. Sarada could heal his wounds with her medicine jutsu's, but their time would be wasted if Sarada also has to take care of his burn wounds, so they have no choice but to wait.

" WHAT? That can't be... She hasn't even been able to awaken her third Tomoe yet. This can't be real," Shikadai says in amazement, and everyone watches as Sarada slowly regains his composure.

" And still, that's the way it is. There is only one case in my extinct clan that this development also happened to. Sarada bears some similarities to her deceased relative..." Sasuke explains.

"Obito Uchiha," Mitsuki replies calmly. Sasuke looks at Sarada's teammate in amazement, but ultimately doesn't surprise him. He is Orochimaru's vessel and ultimately well connected. "Right!" Sasuke replies with a serious look.

"Never does Sarada have anything in common with this psychopath! My dad told me all about the war 20 years ago. That can't be!“, Chocho replies angrily.

From a safe distance they watch Sarada. The power of her Amarterasu has become immense, as can be seen from the conflagration that is still spreading, although not at the same rate.

Sasuke is aware that he has to help her for her sake and also because they don't have much time left.

At any time he expects the appearance of the 10-tailed beast or equal to the devine tree .

He also is stunned at what his former student is capable of. There is no turning back for everyone.

" SARADA! My little peanut. You need to calm down and I understand your pain all too well. You have to remember what you promised me years ago. We must stop Boruto now. We don't have much time left!!!” he yells at his daughter.

Thankfully, Sarada responds to her father and looks over at him. She can see him clearly even though he is far away and his voice is barely audible.

A little reassured that Sarada is responding to him, he explains to her how to disable the Amarterasu flames and she can clear a path.

Eventually she meets the rest of her group and they confer one last time.

" Mitsuki? Are you on mine and my fathers side? ', Sarada looks seriously at her friend, who had always been a loyal adviser to her in the past. She knows that Boruto is more than just a comrade and friend to Mitsuki and always felt like the third wheel between the two boys on the car. As if she sometimes doesn't belong or even interferes.

She remembers an argument in which both parties went their separate ways full of worry and anger.

The artificial human's golden-yellow eyes have never been so dark with sorrow. This is one of the few moments in which she can recognize true and deep emotions in the otherwise expressionless face. His usually mischievous grin, which she knows very well, is now full of sadness.

"I'm coming with you!" he says with a trembling voice.

" Mitsuki!" Sarada says softly, tears forming in her eyes again, clear ones this time.

"Don't think I'm doing it for Kawaki!", he says to her seriously and meets her eyes with a steady look, "I haven't forgotten and not forgave him what Kawaki did to Boruto back then.

I'm doing it for my sun (Sarada knows Mitsuki's nickname for Boruto) and I don't want him to be alone in the last moments of his life."

Sarada nods in confirmation of his answer.

Now or never. That's how it's always been between Team 7. Decisions always have to be made and the resulting consequences have to be borne. Be it the war between the Funato clan and Kirigakure or the incident with Boruto and Kawaki just over three years ago.

But there is no longer an alternative for everyone. So many have already died and they shall not have died in vain. Boruto must be stopped.

" Are you ready? We don't have much time, you two!" Sasuke says impatiently.

"How do we get to Boruto?" Mitsuki asks in a doubtful voice.

This fact poses a problem. Sasuke remembers where the 10 Tails is, but his Rinnegan was destroyed by Boruto years ago and he can't get them there, and Sarada doesn't know the coordinates. On top of that, she struggles with her PTSD, which she developed 3 years ago after the destruction of Konoha, and refuses to use Rinnegan to her advantage and at top of that, she didn't developed her Mangekyo Sharingan. A hopeless situation for everyone and waiting for the 10-tailed one, including the devine tree , is not an option... It is hopeless....

"I know where the beast is..." Sarada says in a monotonous voice, remembering the Jūbi's marrow-filled scream that shook her bones back then.

She has seen it once and wants to erase this disgusting beast from her mind.

"Sarada..." Sasuke says, stunned. Did she activate it a long time ago? When?

" I... I couldn't talk about it... . Didn't want to remind myself, I was too scared of this cruel creature and what event it's connected to,” she looks away, explaining seriously.

"I've only seen it once and I wish I could forget the sight of the beast..." she says with a trembling voice.

She clearly remembers Boruto's words and holds her left hand to her chest in pain.

"He will serve as a sacrifice as befits an Otsutki..." were Boruto's words.

It hurts so bad. It's choking me to breathe, she thinks.

Why didn't he let me protect him? Damn idiot!!!

"We should quickly discuss our situation again. Once we're over there, we won't have time for that," Shikadai suggests.

The younger ones nod in confirmation.

"I'll take Boruto..." Sasuke says firmly.

"Dad..." Sarada replies in fear.

Her father definitely shakes his head, "The younger generation must survive with all their might. Team 10 staying behind alone is also not an option. We will need every helping hand and by the time the Jūbi gets to Konoha it will be too late for everyone here.”

He looks around calmly and his eyes remain calm on Mitsuki and Team 10,

"You all serve as a distraction, don't interfere in the fight. If possible, use as little jutsus that Boruto can absorb with his Karma mark to recharge his chakra reserves.

I'll take care of Boruto."

Then his gaze wanders to Sarada, "Your task will be the hardest. Get us all safely over to the other side, then look out for Kawaki. Don't let him be sacrificed."

"What happens if we're late?" asks Chocho unnecessarily.

Inojin hits her ribs with his elbow. Both brawlers look at each other poisonously, some things probably never change.

"Well then we're all going to die and our planet with it," Sasuke comments dryly.

But brooding over it doesn't help anyone, so Sarada opens the dimensional gate to the Jūbi.

"Whatever awaits us on the other side. Please be careful! I don't want to lose anyone anymore," she says thoughtfully and looks straight into the goal just so her teammates don't see her tears.

Take care of us, Mom! , are her last thoughts and Sasuke and the fellow younger generation travel to the other side where ultimately the end of the world await for them.

#kawasara #sarada uchiha #borumitsu #mitsuki

[bornonthebreakofdawn]

Hi you seem to know a lot of NH fic. Mind sharing the ongoing stories you are currently following? Looking for another fic to follow hehe🙈

Hello Anon! Hope you're having a great day there and thanks for sending this ask!

Here are some of the NH fics I'm following:

Consequences by WaterRolls

Rating: Explicit

Status: Ongoing

Summary: "In the glaring light of day, Hinata's decision to have a one-night stand with the Hokage came to bite her in the ass."

The continuation of Misconceptions, featuring a non-shinobi Hinata, a still-Hokage Naruto, and a semi-modern, AU-ish Konoha.

A love story told through seven dates.

Beast Tamers by Mavda

Rating: Explicit

Status: Ongoing

Sunmary: Mythical beasts roamed the world, all-powerful and terrifying, and the beast tamers sealed them withing themselves. Revered, feared or hated, a beast tamer will never have a normal life, and now Naruto Uzumaki is facing the start of his adult life: choosing a wife.

By his father's beseeching, Naruto is now seeking a wife from the Hyuuga clan, in hopes of extending his life somehow. Nobody expects him to be a real husband, to be a real father, but if Naruto is forced to start a family he will be damned if he disappoints.

Love Is Not A Cage by Nightowl27

Rating: Mature

Status: Ongoing

Summary: When Naruto comes back to his senses after the battle with Pein, the first thing he remembers are those baffling words she said just before she nearly died for him, and he NEEDS to hear them again. Will the truth set them free? Or are some confessions too much for the soul?

Naruto's New Focus by TrueBkGirl

Rating: Explicit

Status: Ongoing

Summary: Since his academy days there is one thing that could never be denied of Naruto Uzumaki; his focus on training. Once that focus is locked in nothing could break it. He proved that when he trained to learn the Rasengan then again with the Rasenshuriken. Maybe even more impressive is how the hyperactive ninja was able to stay calm long enough to conquer Sage training. So, no. His focus on training cannot be denied. He was relentless. The downside to this is that Naruto was oblivious to pretty much everything else going on around him.

For 18 months training and missions have been put on hold due to the loss of his arm. Thankfully, being peacetime, Naruto has been able to use his focus for less dire and far more enjoyable means like a certain opal-eyed heiress who is invading his thoughts and always seems to be by his side when he needs assistance.

Now, Naruto is mission-ready and learns that a number of his comrades have taken on seduction missions including said heiress. He's questioning his feelings but never lets his focus waiver. Naruto has a new mission to endure. All he needs now is to figure out if SHE wants to be part of it.

Lovelorn by charlotteral

Rating: Explicit

Status: Ongoing

Summary: After 3 long years of travelling the world, Naruto comes back to Konoha only to find out that Hinata Hyuga has been engaged to another.

He should be happy. He should be celebrating.

And yet he never expected he'd be hurting this much

(Canon Divergence AU. In which The Last never happened.)

The Fallen God by arunikas

Rating: Mature

Status: Ongoing

Summary: He never questioned his immortality. The universe had been cradling him in its celestial timeless chamber. Until the time he lost his everything, did he realize that immortality wasn’t a gift. It was a prison. Death became the lux he was never graced to embrace. Now he seeks for it.

Not until he finds out that she reappears, down there in the human world, engulfed between its frail and feeble existence.

Nothing can stop him. Even if it means to dive down into the abyss of hell, he won't hesitate; if it holds the promise to be with her again.

A Single Effect by Midnight Rain19

Rating: Mature

Status: Ongoing

Summary: "What are we looking at here?" Naruto questions, barely keeping fear out of his tone. "I…I think that's us." Hinata whispers out in reply. But if that's true then the scroll they used worked forward, not backward taking them far from their original goals, far from what they wanted, and more importantly, how are they going to get home? Time-Travel/Set after the Sasuke Retrieval Arc.

Ramen with a Smile by The_Mysterious_Crimson_Lotus

Rating: Teen and Up audiences

Status: Ongoing

Summary: Before being the Hero of the Leaf and the entire world, the only place Naruto was truly welcome was at Ramen Ichiraku. He was always accepted by Teuchi and his two daughters.

Two daughters?

Where Hinata's a civilian like in the original concept, and works at Ichiraku. Will the romance between the Teuchi's strange daughter and the future Hokage work out?

Seasons of Life by BomBidiBom

Rating: Mature

Status: Ongoing

Summary: Hinata finds out she is expecting another baby and is afraid of how Naruto will react. They never planned to have any more kids after Himawari and this was most definitely not the best time in their lives to add a new baby to the mix. The story follows Hinata as she deals with this new information and contemplates how she is going to inform her husband of the news. M to be safe.

Blue Moon by suryass

Rating: Mature

Status: Ongoing

Summary: He was crazy. He could admit that, because the only thought running through his mind was asking her not to go back once everything settles. He wanted her to stay here, with him. He really was out of his mind. This wasn't supposed to happen. Naruto had one job. Loving her wasn't part of it. Historical AU

My Favorite Night by PepcornPress

Rating: Mature

Status: Ongoing

Summary: Hinata harbors deeper feelings for Naruto after three years of being his roommate. Facing hostile relations from her old clan, another odd phenomenon with the moon, and Naruto still hopelessly pining after Sakura; Hinata makes the painful choice to end their sham of a relationship and try her luck in another hidden village. Unbeknownst to her, this move kickstarts a series of events that forces her and Naruto to confront their past, present, and future.

I still have a lot more on my list but some of those stories haven't been updated for quite some time (and this will become a super long post if I include all of them 😅) so I'll just stop here.

If in case you're interested, let me also add what I'm currently reading:

Son of the Sannin by Ander Arias

Rating: Mature

Status: Complete

Summary: Naruto lost his parents the night of his birth due to the Kyubi escaping, but fortunately Jiraiya and Tsunade are willing to take care of him in their place. Watch how his life unfolds while being raised by the Sannin, and how such actions will change not only Naruto's life, but the lives of those around him. Slight AU

Happy reading! 😁

#naruhina fanfic #naruhina #Naruto #Hinata #naruhina fanfiction #Ask.Born✨ #Ask.box

[electrasev5nwrites]

Ninja Daily: Vapors 82

“Not now.” Aiko pushed her nose further into her pillow and tightened her grip around Mitsuo with her right arm. Funny. He was shaped differently than she remembered—less round. And significantly less furry than usual.

Blearily, she raised her head just enough to see dark hair and remind herself that she hadn’t fallen asleep snuggling her dog.

“Oh. Good morning, Sai.”

Her fingers had been outside the blanket and were cold, so she wiggled them under the covers to flatten against his abs. Sai was too disciplined to jolt or complain about being used for his hot body, so she didn’t feel guilty at all.

“May I be released?” Sai sounded surprisingly detached and polite for someone being treated like the world’s tallest teddy bear. “I am under orders to report to the Hokage’s office for an assignment.”

Aiko frowned at that, trying to remember if she was meant to report. She couldn’t think of any call… so that meant he was going on a mission without her. Unusual. “What time?”

He seemed to be attempting to check the time through the mostly covered window. “In twenty minutes, I believe.”

She paused. “Are you already packed for your mission?”

“Yes, but the equipment is at my residence.”

Ten more ninja points to Sai. God, he was good at this game, wasn’t he? He should have been a boy scout. He and Yamato could flit about and be impossibly anal and good-natured, saving puppies from trees and carrying old ladies’ groceries.

‘Maybe I’m a little tireder than I thought. Something was definitely wrong with that phrase.’

“Aiko?”

“If you think you’re escaping without a good morning kiss, you are severely mistaken.” Jokingly, she pressed a kiss against the back of his neck and nuzzled him.

Sai gave a good natured sigh and twisted around to give her a flat look.

She giggled and released him. “Alright, alright. You know you’re going to be late anyways. Just tell the Hokage you’re sorry.”

“I apologize for my tardiness, Hokage-sama.” The little twerp gave her one of those patently false grins. The knuckles in Sasuke’s hand creaked ominously when he unconsciously formed a fist. “I was detained by a fair maiden.”

“My god, it’s catching,” Shizune breathed lowly, eyes wide with horrified fascination.

Naruto was practically vibrating with rage. “Not you too,” he growled, grabbing Sai’s collar and yanking on it. Sai merely blinked at him.

“My apologies. I-”

‘This has gone on long enough.’

“I don’t want any of your excuses,” Tsunade interrupted. For the first time, she genuinely rued handing the boy over to Hatake’s team. What the hell was it about that man that inspired devotion and imitation?

She tabled the thought for later.

“And Mr. Ukki needs to be watered every other day, but the begonias can go a week without. They like to be rotated every other day, though, so that they get sunshine everywhere.”

Aiko nodded along and tried to look attentive, even as Naruto detailed how often his mail needed to be picked up to prevent the post office from sending him nasty missives about his full box. Every other day, apparently. He wrote a lot of letters.

“Look, how long are you guys really expecting to be gone?” She raised an eyebrow inquisitively, but Naruto didn’t get the hint.

“I have no idea!” He chirped cheerfully, flashing a toothy grin. “But I bet it’s going to be awesome! I told you we were working with Asuma’s team, right? He’s a wind type too and he agreed to give me some pointers.” He gave a fist-pump. “I’m going to get that wind-natured Rasengan.”

‘Well, whatever works.’

She wasn’t particularly broken up about not being brought along on this mission in specific, though the timing stank. Yamato and Sai could take care of the boys, even if team Ten wasn’t there to pick up the slack. How much trouble could they really get into in a temple, for kami’s sake?

“You do that.” Absentmindedly, she tousled his hair (and was a bit miffed that she had to reach so far up to do it. If he didn’t stop growing she was going to put bricks on his head to stop that shit herself) and grinned at the indignant yowl the action drew out.

“Cut that out, Nee-chan,” Naruto whined, ruffling his hair back up into the ragtag arrangement of spikes that he seemed to favor. Personally, it looked utterly without law or order to her, but it wasn’t her hair. He gave her a surprisingly stern look. “If you ever want to be awesome like me, you’ll have to at least get the original Rasengan down, or you’ll never catch up before I make it even better. Even the pervy sage has the first level.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Aiko muttered resentfully, pursing her lips and looking away.

‘Even the pervy sage? He has a twisted way of gauging competency. Proficiency with the Rasengan is hardly the only measure of strength.’

“I mean it.” He slung an arm over her shoulders and steered her out of the post office, his free hand gesturing animatedly even though it was full of envelopes. “You can’t give up just because the second part is harder! Even though that’s so weird, because once I had the first part down, the second really wasn’t that big of a deal and I don’t understand why you’re having so much trouble-”

“Okay, okay,” she interrupted. “Feel free to stop insulting me at any time.”

She probably did know why she had gotten stuck on that stupid purple rubber ball she was beginning to hate. This was hardly her first rodeo in regards to free-form movement of water: so as soon as she’d gotten past the barriers of problems created by maintaining multiple currents without letting them bleed into one another, the water balloon had been easy enough to burst. Cockily, she had thought that the second practice aid would be similarly easy, assuming that she was just that good.

Apparently, air currents were very different to manipulate. Moving air in general was hard. Grasping the damn particles was a massive pain, and forcing them to move according to her will sucked. She could make one current, but as soon as she tried to maintain more than that everything fell apart. Using air as a medium wasn’t as intuitive as using water as a medium.

Hopefully she wouldn’t have such a hard time when it came to using raw chakra and no medium, even if it apparently handled more like air than like water.

As soon as Naruto had gone, she flitted off to run through her self-assigned route. She’d had it on her mind throughout their conversation: apparently, she had been sleeping too deeply to wake up at her alarm, and her brother had come to find her immediately after his briefing to ask her to take care of the house while he was gone. So she had been almost two hours late to run her circuit.

‘It was dumb to stress. Nothing happened, of course.’

Konoha’s northern forests were just as peaceful and free of enemy nin as they could generally be expected to be.

Of course, that left her not knowing what to do with herself. It was bizarre to be stuck in Konoha when almost everyone she spent time with was out on a mission or working. Karin was in the hospital, Ino and Hinata were probably training, and Anko was nowhere to be found. ‘I suppose I could hunt down Kakashi and see if he wants to eat ice cream and talk about boys.’

Involuntarily, she snorted. Probably not, though it was incredibly poor timing for every girl she was remotely close to to be out of town. She’d have to wait for Karin to get back in from wherever she was. Well. She supposed she could talk to Anko, but that was bound to end in tears and humiliation. The older girl was hilarious, but maybe not the person she wanted to gossip about her first sexual experience with. Ino or Karin would find it much easier to relate to her current experiences on the same level, and Anko wasn’t maternal enough to be able to empathize with her throughout the barrier of their lack of shared experiences.

‘So instead of anything remotely enjoyable and useful, I will instead go to that awful meeting.’

She slumped, not caring that she was walking down one of the main streets and she probably looked like a lunatic about to break out into tears. It had been outright cruel of Tsunade to keep from assigning her to a mission just so that she was in town for one of those council meetings, even if it had been couched as a favor. She’d never thought she’d end up with the inverse of a sinecure. It was thankless and idiotic and took up far too much time.

Aiko probably spent far too much time moping over the fact that she had to go to that stupid meeting. That meant she had to rush through preparations to be fit for public. She had replaced the first mesh bodysuit with one that followed more closely to the design of a swimsuit than the weird things with half-legs and half-sleeves, and preferred it immensely. It didn’t weigh down her limbs but still provided protection to the majority of her vital points. The only weapon weighing her down was the single Hiraishin kunai she carried strapped to the underside of her right arm. It did mean that she had to be careful with how she held her arm to keep it from showing, but it was better than going totally without conventional weapons. She was never unarmed by any means, but sometimes steel could do what fists, seals, or ninjutsu just couldn’t. As had become tradition, she slipped on a kimono (orange this time) and the blue butterfly pin before she hurried out the door at the most dignified trot she could manage.

She spoke her piece early: advocating for a re-design of the genin corps, and then sat while the other suggestions were volleyed. Some of them seemed to completely miss the point to her. What good would encouraging more shinobi to settle down to reproduce early do? Trying to persuade more civilians to send their children to the Academy was a little closer, but still wouldn’t get at the real problems.

On the bright side, there did seem to be a chance that she could make a positive change in Konoha through her assignment. By whose standards that chance might be positive varied, however. Probably not by those of the grumpy old men and women who were her peers in the Council.

At this point she wouldn’t deny that the large council had been right to notice that the current graduation rates weren’t putting the village on track to regain full military strength. They had been experiencing a time of comparative peace for long enough that they really should have been in the full bloom of power for the last couple of years. But they weren’t. Konoha was hardly about to lose their position as one of the five strongest villages, but their large numbers and economic prosperity hadn’t lead to a proportional increase in sheer power.

Sarutobi hadn’t been an incompetent peacetime leader, though he had been better in a time of war. (As far as she could tell, he had been better at warfare but preferred a soft touch). He had altered the graduation and academy requirements after political affairs had settled down between the time of Uchiha Itachi’s enrollment and her own. In wartime, the philosophy had been to churn out as many moderately competent soldiers as possible as quickly as possible, which made it easier for children who had already been trained by family members to meet minimum requirements and test out of the system.

That system had many drawbacks, but the one that mattered to the Council was that it was a short-term stopgap measure. Those unprepared soldiers (who had less mental conditioning, less maturity, less everything that mattered) burnt out faster than their counterparts, cracked under stress and were unable to acclimate to other conditions, or got killed and were totally lost as resources.

Those truths were the ones Sarutobi had used to alter the Academy curriculum and requirements. It became much more difficult to graduate after that, and she didn’t see a single example of a student who spent less than four years in the Academy in the last ten years. It was a stark change from the prior situation, and one that she could appreciate.

But it wasn’t perfect either. Though even the dead-last by the new graduation standards was ahead of the curve for the old requirements, the few elites that the system hoped to nurture had a lot riding on their frail shoulders. The third Hokage must have been a big believer in the master-apprentice relationship at that point in his life, because it was clearly where he had drawn inspiration. Much in the manner that he had been taught by the second Hokage and he had hoped to teach the fourth, the aim was to give Konoha a backbone of A and S-class warriors that would outnumber the high-ranked analogues in other countries through close personal attention to their most promising canditates.

Of course, in pursuit of that aim, they had sacrificed the large proportion of respectably B-classed shinobi that formed the meat of the forces in places like Cloud and Stone and had to make do with masses of largely self-taught C classed shinobi who struggled up to Chuunin from the genin corps instead.

The genin corps as a concept wasn’t unique to Konoha, and nor was the fact that those within it were encouraged to become relatively low level jacks of all trades as opposed to specializing. A genin corps member with the talent to succeed in that type of competency could pick a specialty after becoming a Chuunin and make special Jounin, but that was about the pinnacle of what someone who wasn’t picked to apprentice could expect to achieve.

To her eye, the obvious solution to their low numbers of high level fighters lay in the way that they thought about the genin corps. She did understand that not every child had the raw natural ability of a future elite, and that it wasn’t necessary to push them that way – or even intelligent to think that it would be advisable to try to make everyone perform to such high standards. Someone had to perform the bulk of the low-risk and glory-less missions that paid the bills, of course. For most Konoha shinobi, D and C class drudgery was the characteristic common denominator of their lifetime of servitude to the village and not an episode that was short and quickly forgotten when they moved up in the ranks.

But the reliable drones who kept the village buzzing with prosperity in times of lazy peace became a liability in more dangerous times. They were vulnerable to strike teams from the enemies’ higher-ranked and more specialized shinobi. Having higher quality shinobi in fewer numbers was a great strategy for assaults but a shitty one for defense. So Tsunade would have to compensate by increasing the numbers of lower ranked shinobi on any specific mission. Once their numbers started to thin from casualties… they would be on the defensive.

‘Actually, she’s probably reinforcing all the border outpost guards now.’

It would have taken a few days to rearrange all active assignments, and Cloud’s jinchuuriki had only been killed less than a week ago. It would take a full day at the very least for genin and Chuunin teams to make their way to the border outposts. More than that, if they were doing sweeps on their way out, which they just about had to be.

Any half-decent strategist would know that. If she were in charge of Cloud’s forces, she would have gone with a strike force deployed as soon as they’d decided to blame Konoha to hopefully get in before fortifications could be flawlessly tightened—she would aim take out a few high value targets to put Konoha on the defensive, sow panic and confusion. That type of strike could make it possible to wring concessions and force Konoha to back down.

But that was a personal preference. Others might not see the value in anything less than peace or total annihilation. It was admittedly risky to allow your enemies to hold some of their own strength. Not that there weren’t dangers in going for ‘mercy’ and being internationally perceived as weak. Lightning might actually have to challenge Konoha to keep their status. If that was their motivation, then a war in name would suffice. If this really was a vendetta fueled by the Raikage’s sense of loss, however… He would only be satisfied with blood and ash.

Time would tell. But probably not much time.

She must have spoken relatively well, because her suggestion wasn’t tossed out. It wasn’t adopted either, but that didn’t seem to be the way things were done in bureaucracy. Yet another session and smaller committee would be dedicated to investigating the support and logistics available for three of the possibilities mentioned in today’s meeting, hers among them.

Konoha was struggling under the weight of its own bloated government, in some ways. But at least those structures could be manipulated into the occasional bout of usefulness.

Still dressed up like a porcelain doll and not particularly unhappy about it now that it wasn’t a novelty, Aiko wandered out from the council hall en route for dinner. There wasn’t enough time for her to bother getting groceries for dinner before she went out to check the forest in her self-imposed patrol that even she was beginning to feel serious about.

“Uzumaki-chan?”

The unusual address and a voice she hardly ever heard caught her attention. Kurenai was giving her a polite wave from inside the restaurant Aiko had just wandered into, sitting with a blue-haired woman she didn’t recognize.

“Kurenai-senpai,” she greeted politely, gracing the older girl with an incline of her neck. The hastily-chosen title was a formality to be polite and not because she had actually worked with Kurenai enough to see her as a mentor figure.

Kurenai seemed to note the same truth with a bit of amusement. “I don’t think there’s any call for that. We hold the same rank, after all.”

There was something dry but not exactly displeased about the way she said that. Bitterness wouldn’t have been entirely unjustified, considering she was probably hyper aware that Aiko’s promotion had come almost shockingly early in her career. Sure, she was older than Kakashi or Itachi had been when they hit Jounin, but the ‘average’ Jounin could hardly be compared to people like that. And there was probably more than a fair share of bitterness aimed at those extraordinary types, if one was to be honest.

So she didn’t protest, and gave Kurenai a self-effacing smile that was intended to communicate that she wasn’t the egotist that many would expect from someone who had shot up in the ranks. “Kurenai-san, then?” At the amused look on the brunette’s face, she blinked innocently and modified the question to a saccharine, “Kurenai-neechan?”

“That’ll do. Would you sit with us? This is a friend of mine, Otohime. Otohime, this is Uzumaki Aiko.”

“Otohime-san,” Aiko nodded politely, and took a free chair without letting onto her confusion at the invitation. Was Kurenai just curious and friendly, or was there a specific reason?

Looking at her dinner companions didn’t seem to answer that question. Otohime was pretty as a picture, and almost impossibly delicate for a shinobi. The conversation that followed indicated that delicacy was because she was in fact a civilian who Kurenai had been friends with since childhood.

The other two had already ordered, but the waitress that came around didn’t mind having their meals delayed until Aiko’s was ready as well.

“So.” Otohime blinked golden eyes at Aiko, seeming to see right through to her soul. “You’re really a kunoichi, then? Aiko-chan, you’re so little!” She reached across the table and grabbed her hand. Aiko was momentarily stunned by the other woman’s forwardness and didn’t respond before Kurenai chuckled.

“Don’t be alarmed, but if you’re not careful, she’ll talk you into resigning and sign you up to work for her.”

Otohime’s grip tightened around Aiko’s hand, and she gave a faux-stern pout at her taller friend. “What she means is that I recruit dancers, but she makes me sound like a yakuza. Kurenai-chan, why are you so unkind to me?”

Uncertainly, she pulled her hand out of Otohime’s soft, perfumed grip and tucked it onto her lap. “Ah, flattering, Otohime-san, but I’m afraid I have no natural ability.”

The look she received was absolutely scathing. “If you can learn taijutsu, you can learn traditional dance.”

“No, I keep telling you that you’ll be surprised,” Kurenai interrupted fondly, leaning on a hand. “There’s a big difference between learning to perform the dance of death and the less…” she cleared her throat and shrugged. “Well, you know what I mean. Besides, I think Aiko-chan’s current career is going relatively well. I feel like I know you much better than I do because I hear about you every so often. Hatake is insufferably proud of you, I hope you know.”

Embarrassment warmed her cheeks, but she couldn’t imagine him ever saying anything like that. Maybe he would say something to her if she needed encouragement, but he wasn’t the type to brag.

Kurenai must have read the question in her expression, because she easily answered it. “Of course he’s proud, everyone wants to see their students end up doing well. He’s not a man who shares those feelings openly, of course, but whenever Asuma has to whine about Shikamaru-kun being uncooperative he’s always just a little too hasty to muse that he never had those sorts of problems.”

“He is kind of a jackass,” Aiko admitted frankly, forcing the smile off her face. An attractive, intelligent, and ultimately well-meaning jackass, but a jackass nonetheless. She actually liked that about him. Difficult, cantankerous people were fabulous, and his bitch-fu was among the best when he cared to drag his nose out a book to deliver scathing commentary.

Apparently the other two women hadn’t been expecting that bit of bluntness. Kurenai twitched, but Otohime tossed her head back and laughed. “I’ve not met the man, but that’s an amusing character description when juxtaposed with how fond you seem. Perhaps you should introduce me?”

“I like you far too much for that,” Kurenai deflected dryly, before seeming to remember that Aiko was there. “No offence meant, of course!” She waved cutely to deflect a sense of hostility.

Aiko shrugged, forgetting how ungainly the motion would be in formal dress. “None taken. He can be difficult to deal with outside of professional settings.” She stopped and added, “And in them, I suppose.”

Conversation changed after their food arrived, leaving talk of shinobi that Otohime was unfamiliar with behind in favor of the food, weather, and the most recent princess Fuin movie. The focus on anything but the depressing political climate was almost too pointed.

“It was very nice to meet you, Otohime-san.” She genuinely smiled at her two dinner companions when they parted at the door. “And talking with you was fun as well, Kurenai-neechan. Thank you for the dinner invitation, this was much better than eating alone.”

“It was no trouble on my part,” Kurenai assured her, buttoning the jacket she had brought to contend with the night air. “I miss a large dinner party when Asuma’s team is out of town.”

“Oh, that’s right.” Aiko put a finger to her lips in mock thought, itching to confirm a theory. “You two are a couple, yes?”

Kurenai looked like she’d been slapped with a fish. “O-of cour- Where did you hear that?” she rapidly changed tracks, fighting off a blush and giving an ineffectual glare to Otohime, who was engaging in the least graceful hyena cackles Aiko had ever heard.

“From you,” she confirmed blandly. “Before now, it was just a pet theory. I hope to see you again!” Aiko whipped around and set off for home without letting Kurenai recover from her embarrassment, in large part because she liked having the last word. Of course, the setting sun was a reminder…

‘It’s time that I go check on those seals again.’

Really, she was starting to feel spectacularly silly about it. It was possible that her fear of Danzo was outweighing her good sense and that she was engaging in a futile exercise.

At war with herself, she wandered to the outskirts of town and took a deep breath of the heady air. Eventually, she decided, ‘It can’t be embarrassing if no one else knows about how silly I’m being. If I don’t do it, it’ll bother me all night and I won’t be able to sleep. For my own peace of mind, if nothing else, I can go check one more time tonight.’

She seriously considered going home first and changing. But it would be a waste of time. She would just have to change into bedclothes as soon as she came back again, and changing twice would be stupid. Of course, she could just change directly into bedclothes, but getting seen wandering the woods in a kimono would still be less embarrassing than the same in her pajamas. It would just be a quick trip.

Flicker. Flicker. Flicker. Seal after seal, working from the village to the borders, showed nothing out of the ordinary. Until they did, and she was blinking at a rush of color to her left. Reflexively, she leapt and turned—which saved her life.

She didn’t take much time to gape at the three blades quivering in a tree-trunk several inches from her torso.

‘Well, shit. I think I can’t count on the element of surprise.’

“Where the hell did she come from?” a practically dressed blonde woman seemed to ask her group at large. And it was a rather large group, considering that she was one girl. Two full squads… eight enemy shinobi. Well within the limits of Konoha’s territory… Had they really all managed to creep past a patrolled border, or did this mean that a larger force had actually taken an outpost?

Unsettling thoughts to be investigated later, she supposed.

“Ah, hello adorable Cloud shinobi!” Aiko greeted cheerily with a very Kakashi-esque wave. “I didn’t expect to see you here.” Aiko tilted her head and blinked cutely, letting the loose bits of her hair move over her shoulders.

A dark-haired man twitched.

Confusing the hell out of them might work just as well as surprise. She probably looked quite the picture—unarmed as far as the eye could see, suddenly appearing in their midst in a full kimono with her headband tucked around her blue and red obi. Thankfully, her kimono was only secured tightly at the waist and allowed her a lot more range of movement than it appeared to. If she had to do anything especially acrobatic like high-kicks she might be indecent, but that was a lesser evil compared to dead.

‘Strangely, I really like the theatricality of this. There are shinobi who wear kimono in the field. I do like pretty things, and these sleeves are great for hiding things… Maybe I should give the wardrobe change a try.’

Unfortunately, no matter how weird she chose to act, they weren’t all off balance enough to fail to recognize that she was a possible threat. “Sorry little girl.” She didn’t recognize the pale man who moved into a defensive posture, but he was a total fox, with incongruously dark eyes and slightly mussed sandy hair. “We can’t allow Konoha dogs to live.”

Suddenly, she hated him. He needed to be taken down a peg or two. Sure, Konoha sort of sucked, but Naruto wasn’t going to settle for being Kage of just any shithole. And besides…

“What’s so wrong with dogs?” Aiko grasped three Hiraishin seals and blurred into motion, dropping directly behind him and yanking his headband off with brutal force that snapped his head backwards and took to the trees in the next motion. Even as she did it, she darkened her chakra signature and went absolutely silent, crouched in the treetop above-head to give herself a moment to think as she slipped the stolen headband under her sleeve.

‘What do I do? If I kill them all, there would be no chance of reconciliation with Cloud, and that’s if I could even manage that. I don’t actually want to be the impetus for a full-fledged war. The Raikage is attacking us because he’s convinced we’re responsible for B’s death. We’ll need every ally we can get to destroy Akatsuki, or at least to not be fighting on two fronts. I could get reinforcements, but anyone else would probably just want to kill them all.’

But she couldn’t let them think Konoha was weak either. The only thing that would stall further escalation would be to scare the absolute fucking crap out of them. She did have one tool in her arsenal that was unmistakably Konoha’s and undeniably terrifying.

Grimly, she swallowed. ‘Let’s hope that the thunder god is still causing nightmares in Lightning, because most of them look way too young to remember Minato.’

“Up there!”

‘He’s a sensor,’ she noted dimly, switching position rapidly even as the practically-dressed blonde woman she’d noted earlier charged up the tree she’d been hiding in. That one must be one of their big guns, then. Odd that she was the only woman in their party.

Stealing the cutie’s headband had been an impulse, but it really wasn’t a terrible idea. Humiliating them could backfire if they were the types to get stronger and perform better when pissed off, but it would also be a good demonstration of strength on her part.

As would separating them. That would be good psychological warfare: if they didn’t know what she was doing, seeing her pick off party members without a trace of a body would be seriously unnerving.

She stopped moving just long enough to hone in on one of the more intimidating-looking fighters (not so coincidentally, one who was on the outskirts of the group) and darted in with the aid of a seal to use inhuman speed to snatch him up by the back of his weird asymmetrical flak jacket and ricocheted the both of them outside of Konoha’s borders. Her left hand shot up to tug off his headband and her right rabbit punched him twice between the shoulder blades and sent him stumbling forward in the same instant that they hit the ground in a new location.

He spun around just in time to see her cheekily hold up his cloud insignia with one hand before tilting her arm to let it slip down her wrist with the other one. “This is nice, I think I’ll keep it, Shinobi-kun.”

‘That oughta leave him steaming.’

The curve to her lips belied her thoughts—it was hard to lie to yourself. She’d done that because it was funny just as much as any tactical reason. Killing these people could backfire, but leaving them stranded and confused in some rice field would be an utterly humiliating way of asserting her superiority over them. (Even if, you know, they would probably wipe the floor with her in a fair match. What the hell did actual physical superiority have to do with dominance?)

One of the first things she needed to do was thin their numbers and leave anyone who wasn’t going to end up in Konoha’s custody thoroughly fucking disoriented. With the flying thunder god on her side, she was almost certainly faster than any of them could hope to be. That didn’t mean that they couldn’t get her when she inevitably stopped to get her bearings, especially if she was so outnumbered.

But she had been gone almost two full seconds, and she could hardly leave the others alone within her country’s borders. So she blurred back into motion, Hiraishin war-song drowning out all other sounds in her ears.

“t fuck just-”

“She’s here again!” The only unmarked shinobi in that clearing was frowning in her direction. Damn,    he was a hell of a sensor.

“You’re annoying!” Aiko barked out, grimacing at the hottie who had besmirched her hometown and summon animal in one fell swoop. He had to go. But he was too annoying to be released into the wild to awkwardly stumble until he found someplace to give him directions (as hilarious and embarrassing as that would be).

She crouched and sprang to dodge the blonde woman—and hell, she was fast—and darted to the man who had been a thorn in her side. Unfortunately, he was quick on the uptake and had already moved the first time that she flickered to snatch him in a flanking maneuver.

He didn’t dodge her the second time. He probably didn’t even know what had happened until her hand fisted in the black zip-up sleeveless top above his asymmetrical flak jacket.

“What the hell!” Tsunade stood up with such force that her chest bounced up nearly to hit her in the chin.

“I brought you a present!” Aiko chirped, shoving her blonde captive into the beautiful mahogany desk with an unpleasant thunk as his forehead collided with the dark wood. Belatedly, an ANBU leapt out of hiding and reached for her prisoner.

Tsunade looked pained. “Is that a lightning shinobi?” Her tone was merely incredulous, but that didn’t stop her from reaching out and punching the poor blond chump in the head with enough force to send him flying to the back wall before the ANBU could secure him. Something in their prisoner’s back crunched when he collided next to the doorframe. After a moment, he peeled off and limply fell forward.

She almost felt bad for him. Getting caught up in someone else’s transportation technique was sucky enough when you weren’t immediately pummeled in the head by a Kage afterwards. He probably wouldn’t be walking in a straight line for a few days.

Well. As long as there wasn’t any more head trauma, he would probably be fine.

“Yes, I think there’s six more in the northwest, about twenty-five kilometers south of the yellow outpost. Do you want the rest?”

“In my office?” Tsunade asked a bit weakly. The ANBU securing the chump with wire didn’t seem more impressed. The door flung open and Shizune burst in, wielding steel.

“If you don’t want them, I could just ditch them outside the border like wayward puppies,” Aiko generously offered, brushing her hair back and dropping the two collected headbands on Tsunade’s desk with an absentminded clatter of metal plates. “I should hurry though, I don’t want to leave the rest alone.”

“Those poor bastards,” Tsunade muttered. Shizune just looked confused. The Hokage stiffened seriously and pinned her with an intense stare. “I don’t want any more in my office. Their aim was probably something in the village and we don’t know that bringing them in wouldn’t help them. This one will do as a political prisoner—he’s one of the Raikage’s bodyguards.”

“Grass and Wave Country it is,” Aiko muttered with a distracted nod.

“Wait don’t go back out-” Tsunade slumped slightly, having leaned over her desk in an attempt to reach the teen before she left. “without reinforcements,” she finished wryly, dropping back into her seat. “It would also have been nice to know where exactly she found them. Shizune, get me the best sensor we have in-village, and a strike team.” She held up a hand at a sudden thought. “Two teams! We need to check on that outpost.”

“Hai, Hokage-sama!” Shizune nodded and darted out of the office.

“You, get that man to Ibiki,” she brusquely commanded the ANBU. He hightailed it out of there, the man  called ‘C’ slung ungracefully over his massive shoulder (a tousled blonde head hit the doorframe with a rather sickening crack as Boar made a run for Torture and Interrogations).

Alone in her office, Tsunade swallowed down nervousness and resisted the urge to tug on her ponytails. Sitting her office when she knew one of her shinobi was fighting within her borders was against everything in her heart.

After having two of their comrades spirited away (and plenty of time to ruminate on the odd disappearances) the remaining Cloud shinobi had apparently figured out the working strategy of ‘not staying still’.

It was frustratingly effective when she was fluttering about a group as large as this one. Her perception and predictive ability was good, but not flawless by any means. Being outnumbered and trying to pick out targets put her at a vexing disadvantage.

‘Why couldn’t they be stupid enough to stand their ground?’

Time to be a bit more blatant.

Aiko shoved her hands into the opposite sleeves (obscuring the movement so that it would be difficult to tell where the weapon would be coming from) to unhook the kunai on her right arm and drew it out in a snapping motion, directly at the blonde woman.

“Hiraishin!” Someone called out with a strange clipped tone that blurred as she slipped time and space like a fucking champion. She didn’t see who had yelled, but was thankful that using the conventional method had finally clued them in. Now if they would just please be obliging enough to be irrationally frightened of Konoha’s bogeyman technique and scarper off, that’d be great.

She was too close to her target to see if any eyes widened in comprehension or fear. In the same millisecond that she emerged in front of her target with her hand already wrapped around her weapon, she ducked down under the arm that was moving to deflect her kunai with a Cloud arm guard (snatching her kunai down with her) to hit the other girl with as much force as she could muster with her free hand, along with an explosive-primed seal.

Unfortunately, she was no Tsunade. It would hardly be a finishing blow, but she would have hoped to at least stun her opponent. It was not to be.

Even as the force of her blow brought the other girl curling over, a vicious and flexible double-kick snapped Aiko’s knees in a direction that they definitely did not want to bend. Horrifyingly, her opponent seemed to have suddenly grown several inches of razor-sharp toenails that cut into the flesh above Aiko’s knees, puncturing her pretty kimono and sticking it to her flesh with dots of hot blood.

‘Her taijutsu is probably better than mine. She’s faster than I am sans Hiraishin, and she’s definitely physically stronger. It’s like taking a punch from Naruto, sturdy little bastard that he is.’

If she didn’t have Hiraishin, she might in serious shit. But short of something like a disorienting poison or a state of unconsciousness, that massive cheat card could hardly be taken away from her. So Aiko avoided the next blow by means of orienting between three seals to settle behind the group (most of whom had spun to look at the two girls).

The gaping dolts weren’t here to look pretty, apparently, as demonstrated by the unpleasant speed with which two men spun to leap in her direction. She darted backwards and ran a few feet up a tree before jumping to another one, raising her voice in a taunting shout. “You know, you chumps have already failed!” She gave an involuntary ‘huff’ when a flying- was that an axe of all the things- forced her to dodge and flip upwards, grimacing and crouching to get the momentum to bound across the clearing over the blonde lady’s head, at least one man in hot pursuit.

At least she was faster than they were, but even if she was faster, dodging so many put her at a disadvantage. “The grumpy one is in the Hokage’s custody, and at least one team is on the way out here. How does it feel to completely suck at your job?”

An incoherent growl rose up from behind her and the unbearable heat of a near miss from a lightning strike seared across her back, probably singing her clothes from proximity.

‘Ah. Right. Shinobi from the land of Lightning and all that jazz. Can’t stay still if I don’t want to get fried.’

“I guess that means that it sucks to suck.” Aiko swallowed hard, feeling mildly ill from bouncing around like a ping-pong ball. She flung the kunai in her hand straight up into the air so that she could flicker to it and get an aerial view of the clearing. Three of the freakishly persistent lightning shinobi were already in the motion of looking up when she blinked down. She hung suspended in the air in a crouched position for a bare instant to survey the area.

‘One, two, three, four… where are the other two?’

Ah. There they were. One was blending into the tree she had just been on under a genjutsu (that was lucky, he could have killed her if she hadn’t just switched trajectories) and the other one was hiding under ground. Shit shit shit. Neither of those would be easy to grab.

One of the men was slightly further away from the others. That had to be her next target. She drew the kunai close to her chest and snapped it back out in a path that should end a few feet above his head and caught it again a heartbeat later, kicking her feet onto his shoulders and letting her momentum help her ride him to the ground. He hit the dirt face-first in what had to be a painful forwards fall, but the maneuver (and the slight unresponsiveness in her knees that she hadn’t accounted for after the clawed kick they’d  taken earlier) left her on a downward path that was going to end with her knees buckling under and her ass hitting her heels. Her torso wanted to bend forward, but the woman in purple and black was coming in hot.

Fuck, didn’t she ever give up or take a second to react? She was relentless and demonically fast.

Aiko could see how the current tableau was going to play out as if it had already happened. If she didn’t move, that scarily strong woman was going to knock her head straight off her shoulders. (Or cut it off with the freaky claws she’d gained in the last minute-and-a-half. Where did those come from?) There was no chance that she would be able to unfold her legs and jump out of the way in time. Perhaps she could roll to one side or another, but that would leave her vulnerable on the ground in the next second as well.

So Aiko snapped her torso backwards with painful force, flinging her hands over her head up to blindly grab at whatever she could reach of the shinobi behind her, came up with a handful of his hair (and barely missed grasping a shoulder) and pulled on the first tag she felt. That one wasn’t nearly far enough away, so she took the millisecond necessary to seek out the tag in Mist and pull on it and two others.

If she’d done that right, they were probably in Wave. She probably hadn’t, however, since the next thing she knew was that she was soaking wet, having apparently landed on a body of water. Her head collided with the surface with a cold shock and she would have sputtered if she wasn’t breathing in salt water. Her body was still curled up backwards, but at least landing in water gave her the mobility to straighten simply by kicking her legs straight (even though that left her floating face-up instead of in any tactical position).

A blow to the back of her head made her see white and lose her grip on a fistful of short-ish hair.

‘Right. That guy. He’s still here and conscious.’

The force of the punch had actually sent her further underwater and would have been considerably worse if it hadn’t been slowed by their surroundings. Her opponent was on top of her in the water, the preferable position. He could very easily kill her.

If she’d stayed, that was. Aiko frantically pulled on the first three tags she could register (by coincidence, the one in Mist, one on the northern border, and one in Grass) and landed somewhere between the three, violently spitting out foul water even as she awkwardly touched down on solid ground with her hastily bent legs. She was probably in Rice country, though she wasn’t about to consult her map. Especially since there was still a fist curled in her hair.

She yanked her head forward and ignored the pain, because the angle dragged his arm up and allowed her to twist just enough to elbow the man behind her with adrenaline-fueled force that audibly snapped a rib. He howled in her ear and let his grip loosen out of shock. It was all the opportunity she needed to turn the rest of the way to push one palm on his chest (planting a seal reflexively) and wrap her fingers of the other hand around the warm metal of his forehead protector. She removed it with the simple expedient of leaping straight upwards and pulling it with her (though there was more than a bit of hair caught in the knot at the back, ew).

‘What happened to my kunai?’

Fuck. It had probably been dropped in the water, and she wasn’t in the mood to go back for it.

“Bye bye, asshole!” Aiko bit out with considerably more venom than was strictly necessary. He’d been a bigger pain in the ass than anticipated.

The five Cloud shinobi still in the clearing were inured enough to her coming and going that they didn’t jump to see her reappear. Though there was at least one confused double-take at her dripping hair and clothes. She took a moment to tug the hairpin hanging limply from her skull free and tuck it under her obi for safe-keeping. Damn, that was a good accessory. A lesser bit of jewelry would have been knocked free in a scuffle like that.

“Almost halfway done!” Aiko taunted as she crouched in a ready position, concealing her breathless and mildly lightheaded state from gulping in water instead of air a few moments ago.

“Don’t be so arrogant!” The blonde woman called out in a bizarrely low growl. Hadn’t her voice been much higher a few minutes ago? Odd.

“We should retreat!” The look that accompanied that call was wide-eyed and frankly a bit crazy, but at that moment Aiko loved the older man who’d given it. “If there are more coming, our mission is lost.”

“Coward!” The rasp was all but inhuman. And it frightened the Cloud shinobi as much or more than Aiko did, because all but one of the men in that clearing turned tail to run. “We can’t get our primary target, but there’s a shinobi right there!” The odds looked significantly better for a bare instant, even if she was now mulling over the unpleasant possibility that there was something going on other than murder that she hadn’t figured out.

Then her heart thudded to her gut. ‘I’m in over my head.’

It wasn’t just that she was outnumbered by high level shinobi. Or that she knew she couldn’t possibly have reinforcements in time to help if this went badly. Those things weren’t bad enough on their own merits, so it was just the cherry on top that she’d never fought a jinchuuriki before.

Well. There was that time with Gaara, but that had been short and she’d had back up. And he had been overwhelmed by his demon into a state of stupid brutality. The blonde woman who had just sprouted the beginnings of a virtual cloak of chakra was definitely in control of her facilities, judging by the obvious intelligence glittering in her eyes and mona lisa smile.

‘Fuck, fuck, fuckity-fuck.’

#vapors #uzumaki aiko #electrasev5n #ninja daily #fanfiction #naruto fanfiction

[the-letter-horror-lover]

Continued Kushina lives fanfiction. Doesn't belong to me. Chapter 14

Itachi started crying, his normally calm exterior cracking in the face of his broken brother. "I'm s—sorry. I—I'm s—so sor—ry, S—Sasu—ke. I'll f—fix th—this," Itachi managed to choke out through tears while thinking, 'Stupid chemicals are messing me up. I should be able to control myself better than this.'

—After several months on the road, Naruto and Jiraiya—

"How am I supposed to learn about information gathering if I always wait outside, Pervy-sensei?" Naruto pestered.

"I'll make sure that you learn my super-secret information gathering techniques after you turn sixteen. For now, I'm going to pump some sources for information," Jiraiya smiled at his double entendre as he walked into another brothel. "Practice your chakra manipulations."

Naruto sighed, not understanding the joke, but getting to work on the drills he still hadn't mastered and a few that he had.

—ANBU headquarters—

"Dog, report," Kushina ordered.

"Mission: successful, Lord Fox," Kakashi replied as he set the takeout on the desk. "Also, pig, horse, and snake report that the targets have been eliminated."

"Excellent," Kushina replied. "Lunch time! And then we visit Sasuke."

—The Leaf Academy—

"Konohamaru Sarutobi, you have to put time into practice," Itachi lectured from his wheelchair. He was still recovering from his treatments. "You should be first in the class. How do you expect to be a great ninja like your grandfather if you don't practice?"

"Gramps never practiced," the boy muttered.

"You never saw him practice, but he worked incredibly hard to get where he was," Itachi explained. "If you don't practice, you will fail out of the academy."

"You can barely walk, Itachi-sensei. I bet I could beat you," Konohamaru started to yell. "How come all of the teachers here are such weaklings?"

"Genjutsu," Itachi said, mostly for the other students. Konohamaru's eyes glazed over for several minutes as Iruka got on with teaching the class throwing techniques.

—Leaf Hospital, months later—

"It would appear that the cancer has gone into remission," Tsunade explained. "You are officially off of the medically disabled list, Itachi."

Itachi maintained his calm, but was internally excited to be able to spend more time working with Tsunade to treat Sasuke's trauma. "Lady Hokage, may we discuss Sasuke now?"

"What's on your mind?" she replied.

"There is only one genjutsu that can pierce the Mangekyo Sharingan: Kotoamatsukami," Itachi explained.

"And that was the genjutsu of Shisui 'the teleporter' Uchiha. Who died years ago," Tsunade narrowed her eyes.

"Is there any other way to help Sasuke recover? He hasn't made any progress in the last eight months. His short-term memory is still shot and his long-term memory is jumbled. When Orochimaru set out to break Sasuke, he did an extremely thorough job," Itachi commented.

"Let's discuss the limits of the genjutsu. I'll clear a place to meet. Kushina and Inoichi will join us…" Tsunade trailed.

—Somewhere in the Land of Water—

"Lord Jiraiya, the Hokage requires you and your apprentice in the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Immediately," the tiny slug informed the sannin. Jiraiya looked over at Naruto balancing a tiny rasengan on each finger.

'That kid is actually going to get good enough to do that exercise. Even I can't make one on each finger,' he thought as he watched. "How immediate?" Jiraiya asked the slug.

"It's about Sasuke Uchiha's treatment. The Yamanaka has catalogued most of Sasuke's memories, but they need to go through the people closest to him for verification. Naruto is the last one. Itachi and Inoichi are going to use the information to reboot Sasuke's brain. Summon Lord Fukasaku," the slug replied. Jiraiya summoned the elder toad, knowing that he could get back to the Leaf village in a few hours by reverse-summoning to Mount Myoboku first. It took a minute to summon that particular toad due to his power and status. Katsuyu implied that whatever Tsunade wanted was important enough to use that route.

"Naruto!" Jiraiya called. "Collapse your clones and pack your things. We're heading out."

Naruto dispelled his clones in small groups as he jogged over to the sannin. "Is this another hot springs trip?" he complained. "Do you HAVE to get kicked out of EVERY bath house in EVERY country?"

"We're going to Mount Myoboku, home of the toads," Jiraiya explained. "So shut up about the bath houses."

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Is the next Icha Icha volume going to involve toads?"

"NO! THIS IS BUSINESS! STOP ASSUMING I'M DOING SOMETHING PERVERSE ALL THE TIME!" Jiraiya screamed.

"Calm down, Jiraiya-boy," the old toad soothed. "The kid has you pegged and you know it. Now what's this about going to Mount Myoboku?"

Jiraiya stared at Naruto for a second before turning back to Lord Fukasaku. "We are needed, urgently, back in the Leaf village. It was important enough for Katsuyu to ask us to take the route through Mount Myoboku."

Naruto finished dispelling the last group of his clones and began to pack thinking, 'If summoning is basically a time-space ninjutsu, then it is related to the Flying Thunder God technique. I should definitely pay attention.'

Naruto saw the small, elderly toad dispel and Jiraiya turned to him. "Are you ready to go?" Jiraiya asked.

Naruto nodded. He had several scrolls in his backpack that contained spare clothes, extra supplies, food, blankets, a tent, and a bunch of other camping equipment. The backpack had been mostly for show ever since he'd mastered basic storage seals. Suddenly, he and Jiraiya were no longer in the Land of Water, but at the foot of a massive mountain, surrounded by alien vegetation and a bunch of toads.

"Welcome back, Jiraiya-boy. It's been a while," an elderly female toad exclaimed. "Pa told us that you're in a hurry, but you'll have to wait a few hours until the kids get set up near the Leaf village."

Jiraiya bowed and said, "Thanks, Lady Shima."

"And this is Naruto's first trip to the mountain! I'll make us something special," she smiled, hopping home to prepare grubs and worm and bug delicacies for Naruto.

—Leaf Hospital, Sasuke's room, two weeks later—

"Did it work?" a voice asked. It was like Naruto's, but older. Sasuke blinked.

"Did what work?" Sasuke asked. His vision was completely blurred. He couldn't even make out shapes. "Why can't I see?"

"Sasuke, what do you remember?" a woman's voice asked.

"Who are you?" Sasuke asked, tensing.

"She's the head of the hospital, Sasuke," Kushina's soothing voice cooed. "How do you feel?"

Sasuke thought about it for a minute. 'Kushina is here. Naruto is here. My voice is different than I remember, but so is Naruto's. I must have been unconscious for a very long time. Wait, I remember… Itachi! But he was bald. And thin. Was he sick? This is weird. I can't remember.'

"I don't know. I'm having trouble remembering things," Sasuke responded.

"He's coherent, so that's an improvement," the head doctor said.

"Sasuke," Itachi's voice froze Sasuke in place. "There is a lot that you may not remember. We were as thorough as possible, but the damage was extensive. Please, don't react until you learn everything."

"Why can't I see?" Sasuke slowly asked.

Itachi answered, "You've overused the Mangekyo Sharingan. You had it active for ten months, day and night. Your mind was broken and couldn't shut it off. It took Kushina ten months to create a seal that would shut it off for you. We couldn't even figure out what was wrong with you until then."

Sasuke slowly thought about what he could remember. He remembered Itachi standing over their parents with a bloody tanto. He remembered Kushina hugging him. He remembered playing pranks together with Naruto. He remembered fragments of a pink-haired girl and a white-haired jonin with a single sharingan.

"Don't try too hard to remember. It will take time to heal. When you're ready, Itachi and Kakashi are going to start your rehabilitation," Kushina explained. "In the meantime, you'll be living with me again."

'And when you're ready, we're going to find Danzo and take back the eyes he stole so that you can see again,' Itachi thought. 'Together.'

Chapter 15

Naruto gasped as his broken rib punctured his lung. Another Root operative had joined in the fight to hold Team Kakashi and Team Guy at bay. He looked up at the ANBU mask, the operative foolishly thinking that giving Naruto time would instill a sense of fear in the fiery blonde.

"Sage Mode." Naruto's eyes turned into golden disks with a single horizontal pupil and the telltale orange shade surrounding them.

—Two months earlier—

"I haven't taught you every single jutsu I know, but do you really need them?" Jiraiya asked. "I'm telling you that your training with me is finished."

Naruto frowned, pouting, "But Jiraiya-sensei!"

"Your mother wants to see you anyway," Jiraiya said, knowing that Naruto would straighten at the mention of Kushina. The two had been travelling together for three years. But ever since Naruto had turned sixteen, Jiraiya started taking him to train in the brothels and Naruto had found another aspect of being a ninja that he thoroughly enjoyed.

'Must not tell mom about "hentai-jutsus." Must not tell mom about "hentai-jutsus,"' Naruto repeated to himself, knowing that she would think that Jiraiya had corrupted him by exposing him to one of the three ninja vices. He certainly wasn't as sex-obsessed as Jiraiya, but he knew how to have a good time.

"You're an even bigger pervert than I am and I am the Great Super-Pervert, Jiraiya!" Jiraiya posed momentarily in front of the brothel they'd just left. Naruto energetically ran from the stupid pose and, after a few miles, they stopped discussing the brothel to discuss actual business.

"That 'super-pervert' cover has got to be the most ingenious thing ever, Jiraiya-sensei," Naruto commented, still smiling.

"It isn't a cover," Jiraiya grumbled before sarcastically adding, "You think Kushina will approve of you going that route?"

Naruto's smile turned into a laugh for a few seconds before panicked realization overcame him. "Crap!"

Jiraiya chuckled. "Yep. Looks like you're stuck getting assassins while I take all of the seduction experts. MUAHAHAHA! What were we talking about again?"

The two joked on the road back to the Village Hidden in the leaves. The last time either had been back was to help treat Sasuke and that had been two years ago. They walked into the village, which had undergone renovations in several places.

Naruto and Jiraiya waved at the gate attendants as they walked into the village. Naruto looked good. His intense training ethic left him well muscled while his good diet and genes had kicked in to put him at a noticeable five feet, nine inches tall. He maintained his blonde hair to keep it spikey, but shorter than his father's hair. His blue eyes had made him incredibly popular with women now that he looked like an adult and had the confidence to back it up. He no longer carried a backpack since he stored all of his equipment in a single storage scroll.

His outfit was different now too. Rather than the orange he sported all through the academy, he wore a dark blue jacket that had a small Uzumaki crest in orange on the shoulder along with black pants.

"I'm gonna get some ramen, Jiraiya-sensei. You have to report to the Hokage anyway, right?" Naruto asked, hoping to get some food before he had to report in.

"Yeah, sure. Get some food," Jiraiya replied. "Don't take too long though. The Fifth is going to want to assess your skills."

Naruto bounded down familiar streets straight for Ichiraku Ramen. The stand had expanded since he'd last been home so that instead of just five or six seats in front, it was a round stand with more than a dozen seats ringing it. Noodles hung from the inside waiting for their final bath before going into a bowl.

Naruto sat down and waited for a familiar female face to ask him for his order. Ayame moved over to him, obviously busy. "What can we— NARUTO?"

"Hey! Think you can swing my usual?" he winked with a big, foxy grin.

"Of course!" she exclaimed, writing quickly onto her pad and sending it over to the trio of chefs making different types of ramen. "When did you get back?" she asked.

"Just now. This was my first stop," Naruto smiled. "Gotta support the local businesses, right?" He smiled in that charming way that he knew got ladies a little worked up.

He inhaled his three bowls of ramen and paid the bill before walking toward the Hokage tower. A familiar white cat streaked past followed by three genin. Neji strolled behind the genin, pausing to say, "Hello, Naruto. Welcome back," and then strolling casually after the genin.

Naruto continued down the street, looking for any other old friends. He spotted Shikamaru with the blonde girl from the Sand village. Both had green chunin vests.

"Hey, Shikamaru!" Naruto called.

"Hey, Naruto. Finally back?" Shikamaru responded.

"Yep. Heading to the Hokage right now, actually," Naruto explained.

"Good. I hope you take my place. I don't want to go to the chunin exams," Shikamaru complained. "So troublesome…"

The blonde Sand-nin responded, "Right? If I have to listen to another bunch of genin bitch about failing, I'm going to snap."

"I just hope I can convince the Hokage to give me a field promotion instead of taking the exams. I've been on the road the last few years and didn't get a chance to take any makeups. What's up with you?" Naruto asked.

Shikamaru sighed, "I'm trying to avoid becoming a jonin. My father keeps trying to get me to take his spot with the Hokage so he can retire, but then I'd have to do his job. Being a chunin leaves me with much more free time."

"That's the life though," Naruto commented. "We kidnap and ravage and don't give a hoot; a pirate's life for me!" Naruto sang with a smile.

Temari frowned, saying, "We're ninjas, not pirates."

"Aw, crap! I've been doing it wrong this whole time!" Naruto joked his smile widening. 'I knew she was the serious type,' he internally cheered.

"Heh. Meet me later for a game?" Shikamaru replied, brushing aside Naruto's obvious needling of the girl.

"Sure," Naruto replied before they all heard Naruto's name shouted from the Hokage tower. "Sounds like I'm late. See ya!" he said as he ran to the tower. He jumped up to the office and in through the window out of reflex.

"There you are," Tsunade calmly said as she noticed him in the window. "Welcome home. Before we put you on active duty, I'll have to determine whether Jiraiya has done his job or he's just taught you how to be a lazy author."

"What kind of test? Skills demonstration? Sparring? Infiltration?" Naruto asked, genuinely curious.

'Anko's infiltration test was remarkable at weeding out people who couldn't hide their strength,' Tsunade thought at the mention of infiltration. "All of the above. First, I've arranged for a sparring partner to test and evaluate your battle skills tomorrow morning in the Forest of Death," Tsunade smiled.

"Sounds good. What time?" Naruto asked.

"Be at the main gate at seven," Tsunade replied.

"Got it. Do you happen to know if Kushina, Kakashi, Sakura, or Sasuke are around?" Naruto asked, hoping to cut his search time down.

"Kushina and Kakashi are with ANBU, but Kushina should be in town or soon returning. Sasuke and Itachi are probably at your place. Sakura is at the hospital," Tsunade listed.

"What's wrong with Sakura?" Naruto asked, concerned for his old teammate.

"Nothing. She works there. She teaches the academy medical course two days a week and treats patients four days a week," Tsunade answered. Between Kushina running ANBU and Tsunade's use of a shadow clone or two, she'd managed to implement several of the pet projects she'd wanted to implement since the Third Great Ninja War. "This is the first year we've required a first aid jutsu along with the other three to become genin," she beamed proudly.

"Really? Isn't that more advanced than a transformation?" Naruto asked absently, itching to go see whomever he could find.

"A little, but we've seen an increase in mission efficiency that makes up the increased failure rate at the academy," Tsunade replied.

"Neat. Tomorrow at seven?" Naruto asked, obviously not as interested in discussing policy as Tsunade was in bragging about it.

"Yes. Tomorrow at seven. Dismissed," Tsunade nodded disappointedly, sitting back down at the desk.

Naruto leapt out the window, running across rooftops to get back to his home. He jumped through the open window to see Sasuke and Itachi eating with Kushina. "Hi, everyone!" he exclaimed walking into the living room. Kushina was out of her seat in a blur, tackling Naruto in a big hug.

"You're home!" Kushina exclaimed with a wide smile. Even Itachi smiled a little at the spectacle. Sasuke turned, but kept his eyes closed. They weren't technically his eyes since his eyes were in suspended animation and the eyes he had were transplanted from a donor.

Naruto returned the hug and stood up. He looked remarkably like the pictures of Minato, but he was a built a little heavier than Minato. And the whisker marks on his cheeks, of course.

"Tell me what you've been up to," Naruto pressed the group as he sat at the table.

Kushina responded, "Well, I've been in charge of ANBU and Hinata convinced me to train her, so I've been pretty busy. Did you study the scrolls I sent you?"

"Yes. I've got a knack for sealing. I think you'll be impressed, if you have time to watch my evaluation tomorrow," Naruto smirked.

Itachi chuckled. "I'm pretty curious, but I'll wait to see tomorrow. If you've got time, Sasuke would probably like to spar, but his eyes are sealed at the hospital until we can get him new Uchiha eyes." Itachi's vision was only in the early stages of faltering, but he could still see fine with the glasses he now wore.

"I read some legends about the sharingan, now that you mention it. It said that Madara Uchiha started to go blind because of the Mangekyo Sharingan, but he transplanted his brother's eyes," Naruto started lecturing.

"Unfortunately, that isn't an option for us," Sasuke started.

"I can't donate my eyes," Itachi finished, a little sad.

"Oh," Naruto said, followed by an awkward silence. "Well, what have you been up to aside from eye transplants, Sasuke?"

"After I left the hospital, we spent several weeks relaxing here before I started training again. Itachi and Kakashi trained me in the use of the sharingan for several months before even my Mangekyo Sharingan was completely blind. After that, we tried training with a different set of eyes, but they burned outquickly. I've been training to fight blind ever since," Sasuke explained. "The hospital informed us that organ donors' eyes largely go unused, but that they would save compatible eyes in case I burn out another set."

"I take it you've been trying Earth Style, mostly?" Naruto asked, knowing from fighting blind opponents that was the easiest.

"At first," Sasuke responded cagily. "I can't use many of the lightning techniques that I know without vision, but I use fire and water ninjutsu too. My genjutsu has gotten almost as good as Itachi's though," he smiled.

"Nice! We're gonna have to spar soon. I wanna see where we are," Naruto commented. He nodded to Itachi, "I guess you've been living here too, but what have you been up to?"

"I spent most of that first year you were gone in treatment for cancer," Itachi stoically commented. "If I hadn't found Sasuke, I would be suffering from the terminal stages right now. I'm very thankful to the Fifth Hokage for taking me in and changing my outlook. I've mostly taught at the academy with Iruka because I have a seal that stops me from being fully cleared."

"Is it from Orochimaru?" Naruto interrupted, thinking back to when his mother had commented on Orochimaru's cursed seal.

"No. I can't talk about it, but it mostly stops me from being fully cleared. Kushina has suggested that I could overpower it, if I increase my chakra level enough. My own training has focused on that, but it took nearly a year to get back to the level it was at before I started treatment and every attempt I've made so far has failed, so I'm still working on it," Itachi continued. "I think that we all have an early day tomorrow, so I'm going to get some sleep. You should probably follow suit."

Although excited, the two younger boys decided that being tired for a test wouldn't be a good idea and everyone went to bed early.

—Training ground seven, 7:00 AM—

"Good to see you here on time," Tsunade nodded to Naruto. "Your worthless sensei couldn't be bothered to make it, I see."

'Jiraiya-sensei is checking in with the women in his spy network. Is she trying to piss me off?' he thought. "I'm sure he's doing something very important. Stop trying to change the subject. You want to see me fight someone, right? Let's get on with it." Naruto was itching to show off.

"Very well. Itachi, explain the test," Tsunade ordered as Itachi appeared in a swirl of leaves.

Itachi pulled out a single bell, holding it up. "Naruto, you are familiar with the bell test?" Naruto nodded in reply. "Excellent. You must retrieve this bell before noon."

"Before we start, Itachi, I don't suppose you'd mind breaking a hundred ryo bill? I was hoping to get a drink before we started and there's a vending machine just down the street," Naruto asked, licking his lips.

Itachi sighed, pulling out his wallet. "Sure. Here," he said, annoyed, as he exchanged coins for the bill. Naruto darted off to the vending machine while Itachi opened the gate into the forest. Naruto returned with a sports drink and a small box of pocky. The sports drink was already mostly finished by the time Naruto caught up to Itachi in a clearing. "Are you ready to go now?" Itachi asked patiently, the three tomoe spinning in his eyes already.

"Yeah. Let's do it!" Naruto exclaimed, wiping his chin to make sure he hadn't dribbled after he set down the drink bottle and pocky box.

Itachi looked at Naruto from the middle of the clearing, saying, "Go." Itachi dodged a couple of kunai, keeping his distance from the blonde. "You'll have to close the distance, especially if that's the best you can do."

Naruto smiled, quickly running through hand signs before pulling out a single shuriken. "Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu." Naruto threw a single shuriken that multiplied into more than one hundred. Itachi pulled out a kunai to deflect some while he dodged the others. Naruto repeated the process, back to back, several times with different projectiles. Each time, Itachi dodged and blocked the shuriken or kunai and each time the cloned projectiles would disperse, leaving only the single projectile embedded around their little battlefield.

"I guess it's time to take this to the next level, eh Itachi?" Naruto smirked, channeling lightning chakra into his nervous system. Naruto's movements became faster than body-flicker and he struck at Itachi. Itachi blocked the first strike, barely deflected the second strike, but took the third strike hard in his leg.

"Your supplemental ninjutsu techniques are excellent. Do you have any offensive ninjutsu with range or is it all taijutsu and supplemental skills?" Itachi asked, standing and rubbing his leg.

Naruto created a single shadow clone as Itachi's sharingan morphed from the three-tomoe pattern to a three-pronged, curved shuriken. "Tornado Inferno." Naruto blew a massive torrent of air while the clone blew an equally massive gout of flame that mixed with the air. Itachi's eyes widened as he forced chakra that wracked his body to form around him.

"Susano'o." A massive yellow skeleton surrounded Itachi only to be covered in tendrils of red that formed an armored warrior forming a protective shell around the Uchiha. "Mixing two B-rank jutsus to form an A-rank or possibly S-rank combo. What else have you got?" Itachi asked, adding, "Hurry up, I don't want to keep this up for any longer than necessary."

Naruto nodded, standing next to one of his lost kunai, and formed a clone before a ball of visibly spinning chakra formed in his hand. As it formed, the chakra thinned further and further, emitting a high-pitched squeal, until only the sharingan could see the width. "Wind Style: Rasenshuriken." He threw the ball of cutting death at Itachi as the clone disappeared in a puff of smoke, but the red warrior absorbed it with its shield. Itachi flinched as the jutsu exploded and then faded into the shield.

While most of the spectators had gasped at the jutsu and the explosion, Kakashi widened both eyes as the light dissipated. "Naruto just beat Itachi," he commented.

"That was impressive, but Itachi is still protected by that ultimate defense," Tsunade said.

Kakashi smiled, "And yet Naruto has the bell."

Naruto held up the bell for everyone to see and Itachi looked down to his waist to see the spot empty. "How?" Itachi asked, letting his Susano'o fade and releasing his sharingan entirely.

"Flying Thunder God." Naruto flashed around the battlefield, picking up each projectile, before flashing behind Itachi, beaming a thousand watt smile. "I marked the bill I handed you earlier. You said you couldn't keep up the pace, so I created a clone and started that jutsu. I used a time-space jutsu to get behind you and grab the bell while you were distracted by that other jutsu."

Kakashi looked at Tsunade with an expression that looked suspiciously like "I told you so" without him actually saying it. Tsunade scoffed before jumping down into the clearing. "Itachi, report."

"Yes, Lady Hokage. Overall taijutsu: A-rank. Speed: S-rank. Power: B-rank. Technique: A-rank. Overall ninjutsu: A-rank. Wind style: S-rank. Fire Style: B-rank. Lightning Style: B-rank. Water and Earth Style: unknown. Chakra Shaping: A-rank. Overall genjutsu: unknown, estimated B-rank. Chakra Control: A-rank. Chakra Level: beyond my ability to measure."

"Naruto, do you agree?" the older blonde woman asked.

"My water and Earth Styles are D-rank. I've worked on them for a long time and that's the best they're going to get. Itachi is overestimating my genjutsu ability. I can break B-ranks, but I have very little practice with even that. I have never successfully used a genjutsu. My fuinjutsu is A-rank," Naruto listed. "But I still haven't figured out how to tag a spot on the fly like the Fourth could."

"Kakashi, get down here and report," Tsunade called, followed by the scarecrow of a man jumping to Tsunade's side.

"I agree with Itachi," Kakashi said quickly with a smile.

"Asuma," Tsunade called and the bearded jonin put out his cigarette before body-flickering into a bow before the Hokage.

"I was impressed with how well he incorporated his abilities to fight. Itachi and Kakashi are rarely wrong. I agree with their assessments," the man replied, adding, "However, I'd like to see what else he can do."

"Hmm. His abilities in open combat are very well developed. I wonder how fair it would be to put him in the exams, but the exams are required," Tsunade mused. "Naruto, you're going to supplement other teams while we assess your other abilities. You'll spend one mission with each team and each mission will be a chance for you to show off your abilities to infiltrate, follow orders, work with others, and so forth. Take the rest of today off."

Naruto nodded, picking up his sports drink and handing the pocky to Itachi saying, "I heard you like these," before bounding back into the village. Once Naruto was safely away, Tsunade turned to Itachi. "Did you strain your eyes?"

"No. I wish that we could have seen more of what he learned, but I'm glad that I didn't have to keep that going for long," Itachi responded.

"Do you have anything else to say now that he's gone?" Tsunade asked the three jonin.

"Yet another reason I'm glad I'm not in Akatsuki anymore: I don't think that I could capture him without getting killed," Itachi replied. "But that was the point of Jiraiya training him."

Kakashi nodded. "That last Wind Style jutsu is an instant-kill technique. I don't know how many of those he can do in one day, but I know how many he would try."

"I don't think I have enough chakra for even one of those things," Asuma added. "That's an impressive jutsu."

Kushina body-flickered from her place in the trees into the conversation. "He wasn't lying about sealing. I gave him a lot of the Uzumaki scrolls and some had Minato's notes in the margins."

"Do you want him for ANBU?" Tsunade asked, genuinely curious.

"He should do a stint in ANBU, but not yet. Once the Akatsuki threat diminishes, we can talk about it again," the red-haired ANBU commander evaluated.

—The Desert outside of the Village Hidden in the Sand—

"You have your man in the guards, yeah?" a blonde man wearing a black coat with red clouds pestered.

"Yes," the hunched form wearing a similar cloak rumbled. "Infiltrating the village won't be a problem. Don't fail."

"You get us in. I'll kidnap the Kazekage," the child-like blonde responded.

—Inside a tent filled with books and scrolls—

"There! I've found it, Lord Orochimaru!" Kabuto shouted. Orochimaru's pale form opened the tent flap, revealing ruins behind him as he entered.

"Show me," Orochimaru ordered as he read over the grey-haired medic-nin. "Guren!" he called without waiting for a response. "Change the excavation. Search for the location of the Uzumaki clan's mask shrine."

Chapter 16

"All I need is a couple of drops," Naruto pleaded. "And then we'll never have to do another 'Capture Tora' mission ever again."

"You're not bleeding the cat," Shikamaru responded. "We aren't supposed to hurt the troublesome little fucker."

"I don't want to have to chase that monster again. I did it eight times as a genin. I got my training out of it and I appreciate that genin gain valuable experience from chasing the little monster, but what I'm saying is that WE won't have to do it EVER again," Naruto explained.

"But you want ME to hold it down for you," Shikamaru responded with a sigh. "Besides, it'll be Tora's progeny by then."

"Dammit!" Naruto cursed, knowing that he wouldn't convince his lazy friend. He quickly changed his attitude though. "Have you worked with Ebisu before? He's the jonin-sensei for my evaluation this morning."

"Nope. I mostly coordinate events like the chunin exams and when I do go out on a mission, it's usually a chunin cell," Shikamaru explained. "Your mom has been bugging me to join ANBU, but the training program is too much work. And I don't want to do assassinations."

"That reminds me, why are you up so early?" Naruto flinched away from thinking about his mom ruthlessly killing people.

"I'm going to Sand for a few weeks to discuss the next chunin exam," Shikamaru replied. "And if I'm late, then I get stuck with chores on the trip."

Naruto laughed at how his friend was motivated by laziness. "Wow. They really have you figured out, eh?"

"Yeah, yeah. Are you going to come all the way to Sand or do you have somewhere else to be?" Shikamaru pestered.

Naruto stopped, calling, "See you when you get back!" before running back to the Hokage tower. He leapt in through the window, seeing Ebisu and three genin standing in front of the Hokage desk. "So what's today's challenge?" he smiled from the window.

One of the genin boys had brown, spikey hair and an absurdly long scarf. The other boy was tall with short brown hair and glasses. The girl had orange hair up in pigtails along with a skirt and long boots. All three looked unimpressed. Ebisu stood behind the trio wearing a dark bandana and sunglasses along with his matching dark clothes.

"Naruto will be leading Team Ebisu on their mission today," Tsunade repeated. "The daimyo's wife—"

Naruto interrupted, sighing, "Lost her cat, Tora. Again."

Tsunade nodded in affirmation. "Tora is a brown cat with a red bow tied behind its ear and amber eyes," Tsunade explained. "Bring it back here as soon as you capture it. You have until sunset to complete the mission. Dismissed," she finished, waving the ninja out of her office.

Naruto walked out with Team Ebisu. Ebisu turned to his team in the hall saying stoically, "Today I will grade the team on how you work as a team. Naruto, I will report to the Hokage on your ability to lead this team."

"Alright! Everyone meet at Ichiraku Ramen and we'll discuss strategies for this mission!" Naruto smiled at the shocked genin before running outside and across rooftops.

The three genin followed suit, leaving an exasperated Ebisu behind. Naruto sat at the large, circular stand, casually waiting for the genin to catch up. The three were out of breath from sprinting across rooftops, so Naruto pulled out three stools and motioned for the three to sit.

"I hope you like ramen 'cause I already ordered you all a bowl," Naruto started. "Before we start, we should all have a good breakfast. And while we wait, let's all introduce ourselves. Give your name, your likes and dislikes, and your dreams. I'll go first. My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I like…" he paused, muttering, "wow, now I know why Kakashi was quiet about it…" He looked at the confused genin continuing, "I like ramen and challenges. I dislike stuck up people and bullies. My dream is to be Hokage. And maybe bring peace to the ninja world."

The three just sat there while Ayame served up four bowls of ramen. The one with the scarf scoffed. "What's the point? You've read our personnel files."

"That's true: I'm only going to be your team leader for today, but so what? I'm gonna do my best!" Naruto smiled. "Now tell me about yourselves because none of that stuff except your name is in your personnel file."

"Tsk. Fine," the cranky boy in the scarf muttered. "My name is Konohamaru Sarutobi. I liked my grampa, but he's dead now. I like my team and upsetting the status quo. I dislike being treated like just another extension of gramps and people who kiss my ass. My dream is to prove that I'm better than even gramps," he finished sourly.

Naruto smiled, "As long as you work hard, you can do anything, Spikey. Pigtails, how about you?"

"Me?" the girl replied.

"You're the only one with pigtails," Naruto winked with a thousand-watt smile.

"My name is Moegi. I like gentlemen and I dislike perverted behavior. My dream is to enjoy life," she finished.

"Wow. You'd really hate my sensei… Glasses, you're up," Naruto said.

"My name is Udon. I like math and dislike noise. My dream is to be cool," the brown-haired boy explained.

"Great! Now eat your ramen. That cat is a pain," Naruto said as he set to eating his bowl of morning ramen. The three just stared. "Seriously. Eat. It's on me," Naruto explained when he noticed they weren't eating.

"We already ate breakfast, Uzumaki-sensei," Moegi replied.

"First mission requirement: a full stomach," Naruto held up his finger as he spoke before wolfing down his bowl. The genin trio looked on in horror before deciding that eating would be better than watching Naruto eat.

'This is the Red-hot Habanero's son? He's so undisciplined…' Ebisu thought as he watched.

Naruto finished and paid the bill while the younger ninjas finished. Naruto dug out the four radios from his pouch and checked the batteries and frequencies. "For this mission, we're going to stay in contact. These have enough range to cover almost the entire village. I'll be in the center of the village," Naruto started explaining as Konohamaru finished his bowl.

"Why won't you be helping us?" Konohamaru asked.

"I am. I'm just not doing the mission for you," Naruto replied. "You three will fan out around the village and search for Tora. Do not, I say again, DO NOT engage that cat alone. Once you locate Tora, let me know and we'll take it from there."

The three took a moment to put the radios on, attach the earpiece and microphones, and check to make sure the things worked. "Fan out. Focus on places cats enjoy, like sunlit areas and fish vendors," Naruto said over the radios as he hopped up on the rooftop of the nearest building. Ebisu appeared next to him and he cut his mic before saying, "You want to listen in? I brought an extra radio with an earpiece."

Ebisu nodded and Naruto handed him the equipment. "Report if you find anything. Otherwise, report in every fifteen minutes," Naruto radioed once Ebisu had gotten his radio set up. The three genin acknowledged the order.

—Seven hours later—

"Target spotted," Moegi's voice crackled over the radio.

Naruto smiled at Ebisu and killed his mic again. "Did you ever work with the Fourth Hokage?"

Ebisu frowned in confusion before answering, "Once or twice. Why?"

Naruto smiled at the jonin, "Grab my shoulder. Its late and this isn't cheating." Ebisu felt vertigo as Naruto teleported both of them to Udon. "I marked the radios," Naruto commented before turning to the confused genin saying, "Grab on." The three surprised Konohamaru who was on a rooftop trying to spot Naruto and Ebisu. "Grab on," Naruto instructed the young Sarutobi.

Ebisu silently ran behind a tree to vomit as soon as they appeared behind Moegi. "Moegi and Udon, prepare an ambush while Konohamaru sneaks around Tora and drives it towards the ambush. Quickly and quietly," Naruto whispered to the team. "Move out."

The three genin did as instructed and captured the cat with only a minor chase. Naruto pulled out a scroll and unsealed a kennel before the cat could struggle free.

"How did you know to bring a kennel, Naruto-sensei?" Konohamaru asked.

"The daimyo's wife spends a lot of time in the village. This mission comes up a lot," Naruto replied. "I thought I saw Team Neji on this mission a few days ago. Let's return to the Hokage and get paid, eh?"

Ebisu looked up. "We're walking!" he exclaimed, still looking a little green.

—The Village Hidden in the Sand—

The guard force lay dead except for a single man at the entrance to the Village Hidden in the Sand. He looked around at his comrades' bodies in horror before a kunai flew at him and sank into his throat. The last man gurgled helplessly as two figures in black cloaks featuring red clouds strolled through the entrance.

"I'll wait here," the hunched form rasped. "Hurry up."

"Don't worry. I'll show them my art," the blonde replied, summoning a massive clay bird.

—Uzumaki apartment, post-mission—

Naruto felt something was off as he opened the door. He wasn't sure exactly what it was until he closed the door behind him and heard noises coming from his mother's room. "Oh, goddammit," he muttered before calling, "I'm HO-OME!" as loudly as he could. The noises from his mother's room abruptly stopped.

He could hear clothes being rustled in Kushina's bedroom as he sat at the kitchen table wondering, 'Why me? If only Kushina's bedroom had a window, I could just pretend that I know nothing… *sigh* Might as well give them a hard time…'

Kushina came out of the bedroom, quickly closing the door behind her. "You're home early," she smiled. "How about we celebrate your short day?"

"Sure," Naruto replied. "But you need a shower first. You kinda smell like sex," he said scrunching up his nose.

"Naruto!" Kushina took a disappointed mother tone.

"Which would explain what I heard when I first came in," Naruto continued, making his best innocent face.

"NARUTO!" Kushina exclaimed, reddening.

"Should've put a sock on the doorknob or something," Naruto trailed, his expression now disturbed.

"NARUTO!" Kushina yelled.

"Bright side: I only heard noises. I didn't see anything, so I'm not all that scarred," Naruto went on. "Maybe, if my new daddy buys me ice cream, that'll make it all better," he said sarcastically.

Kushina turned a shade of embarrassed purple. "Okay! I get it! I'm caught! I'll put a sock on the doorknob next time."

Naruto shrugged, "It's what Jiraiya and I had worked out."

Kushina's eyes went wide, but before she could yell at him, he interrupted. "I was only half joking about the smell though. A shower isn't going to kill you, Kushina-sensei." Kushina slunk back to her bedroom, as embarrassed as she thought possible. He heard muffled voices and then the shower started. Ten minutes later, Kushina exited the bedroom with wet hair, closing the door behind her.

"Oh, no," Naruto shook his head. "He doesn't get to just leave. That ship sailed."

"Naruto," Kushina started sternly. "It isn't any of your business who I take to bed. I'm not a nun and I don't answer to you," she scolded.

Naruto thought about it for a minute. 'I really DON'T want to know. What if it's somebody I know? I'd never be able to look them in the eye ever again. But if don't know who it is, I won't be able to look anyone in the eye without thinking that it could be them. Motherfucker... Wow. That is the most oddly fitting curse for this situation. Huh.' He looked at Kushina before responding. "Now I have to know. Otherwise, I'm just going to assume it's someone really inappropriate like Kakashi or Guy."

"Oh for…" she nearly cursed before calling, "Just come out, Hiashi."

Hiashi Hyuuga opened the bedroom door with quiet grace. He silently nodded to Naruto before turning to Kushina. "Rain-check?" he quietly asked her.

Kushina nodded, saying, "I'll talk to you later." Hiashi calmly walked out the door, closing it as he left.

"Did not see THAT…" Naruto muttered.

"I think I've been sufficiently embarrassed for one day," Kushina replied, moving into the kitchen. "I'll cook something. Tell me about your day."

"Well, I was going to say that I spent the day coordinating a genin team on yet another Capture Tora mission, but in light of recent revelations, I think I'll be more honest. Ebisu and I spent most of the day on the rooftops rating the women in the village while the genin searched for the cat," Naruto explained, needling Kushina.

Kushina tut-tutted as she started cooking. "You're as bad as Jiraiya-sensei," she frowned.

"There is a fundamental truth to the world that I've learned these past few years and you've just hammered home again: people fuck. Jiraiya is a little over the top, but everyone does it," he laughed. "Besides, do you have any idea how many kunoichi tried to seduce Jiraiya versus how many assassins came after him?"

Kushina froze in place as she connected the dots. Finally, she asked, "Is that why he acts like a sex-obsessed teenager?"

"Not really. He is sex-obsessed," Naruto replied, hoping that the awkward conversation would end. "I ran into Shikamaru this morning."

"Oh?" Kushina prompted, glad for the change in subject.

"He was heading to Sand to help plan the next chunin exam," Naruto explained. "He told me you were trying to get him into ANBU."

"I've asked him once or twice," Kushina lied.

"Barring a war, he's smart to wait until he's older," Naruto replied. The sound of a key sliding into the lock put both Uzumakis on edge and paused the conversation, but it was only Itachi.

Itachi looked at the pair in the kitchen before settling into another kitchen chair. "How was today's test?" he asked Naruto.

"I took over a genin team for a 'Capture Tora' mission," Naruto rolled his eyes. "They caught the blasted thing."

"I'm happy for you. Have you had a chance to talk with Sasuke?" he asked, concerned.

"I haven't had much chance to talk to anyone. I was hoping Sasuke would be up for something tonight, but I haven't seen him," Naruto explained.

"Just be aware: he's got some idiosyncrasies," Itachi began delicately. "Orochimaru shattered him and we've done our best to help put the pieces back together, but he's not the same."

"Do you think those Akatsuki guys will come soon?" Naruto asked, trying to avoid the subject of Sasuke.

"Once word gets out that you're here, yes," Itachi confirmed. "I'm going to try again to break this seal in a few weeks, but I'd like to get a better idea of your skill with genjutsu in the meantime."

Naruto shrugged. "Sure. The Hokage said that I just have one more test tomorrow and then she'll know everything to have me back on the active roster."

"Do you know what you're doing tomorrow?" Kushina asked from the stove.

"I'll be at the hospital. Sakura's actually going to be testing me," Naruto replied with a smile.

Itachi shook his head while Kushina quietly laughed. Sakura would not have an easy day.

—Leaf Hospital, the next day—

"You don't even know the basic academy healing jutsu?" Sakura asked in shock.

"When we graduated, it wasn't a requirement!" Naruto protested. "How was I supposed to know? I've been gone for three years!"

Sakura glared at the blonde. "I'll teach it to you, but you've got to at least get some clones to read the new curriculum on healing jutsus," she admonished.

Naruto could tell that she'd kept up her physical training. The girl had toned muscles and she didn't seem to be ashamed of showing them off. Her shirt didn't quite cover the sleek abdominal muscles on her midriff. Her skirt left her toned legs in plain view as well. As always, she wore a sleeveless shirt, which exposed her sleek, toned arms.

'Still a little flat-chested though,' Naruto couldn't help thinking as he sized up his old teammate.

"Are you checking me out?" she asked angrily.

"Are you trying to shame me?" Naruto replied calmly.

"Umm…" she couldn't think of a response.

"Are you telling me that I should be ashamed of momentarily admiring your obvious physical beauty after three years away?" he pressed, knowing that she had no answer. Enjoying how flustered Sakura was becoming, he lowered his voice. "Or are you telling me that I should be more discrete about it?" he asked pointedly raising his eyebrows, the prankster in him taking over.

Sakura punched him hard enough for him to fly through the walls, but instead he turned into a cloud of smoke, leaving the wall undamaged. Sakura could hear Naruto's hysterical laughter outside the hospital.

"WHAT'S SO FUNNY, MORON?" screamed the enraged kunoichi, running out to confront the blonde.

"AHAHAHA… You… are so predictable… HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" he laughed, hunched over with tears in the corners of his eyes.

That only served to fuel Sakura's rage. She swung a hammer-fist into the laughing Naruto, but it was a shadow clone again. Sakura roared again, but Naruto simply laughed harder as he took her on a merry chase around the village, learning exactly how hard Sakura could hit as each clone dispelled.

Chapter 17

"Eagle, Dog, report," the ANBU Commander commanded expectantly.

"Fully recovered, Lady Fox," the man in the dog mask replied.

"Awaiting orders, Lady Fox," the woman in the eagle mask replied.

"Good. Report to the Hokage," the woman in the fox mask ordered. As the two disappeared, she whispered, "ANBU will miss you."

Eagle and Dog appeared in the Hokage's office in the traditional ANBU pose: on one knee with heads bowed. Tsunade looked up at the two additional ANBU in her office with a scowl. "Lady Fox didn't tell you anything, did she?"

The two shook their heads followed immediately by Tsunade shaking her head with a heavy sigh. "You're leaving ANBU for the regular shinobi forces. Kakashi, you'll be evaluating your team. Since Sasuke is on medical leave, the team will be short, but since you'll have two jonin-level shinobi, that shouldn't be a huge issue."

"Two?" Kakashi asked lazily after he removed his ANBU uniform, revealing the standard issue jonin suit and vest.

"Yes. Itachi evaluated Naruto's combat skill at jonin-level and Sakura is special jonin with medical ninjutsu. Ebisu suggested that Naruto had at least chunin-level leadership abilities. We were going to continue his evaluations, but something has come up," Tsunade explained.

Eagle had removed her ANBU uniform and replaced it with a standard blue jonin uniform as well. "Have I failed the ANBU corps, Lady Hokage?" she asked.

"No. But we need you in the normal forces. We'll reform Team Kurenai so that Kurenai can groom you to take over as a jonin and you can help Kiba and Shino get to the point where they can become jonin," Tsunade explained. "You'll be chunin for the time being, so dress accordingly. Go bring the rest of the team here. You already have a mission."

"Yes, Lady Hokage," Hinata responded, replacing the blue jonin suit with mesh armor and deep blue clothes.

"Team Kurenai is waiting at training ground ten. They've all mostly been on tracking and capture missions. They only know that you've been in ANBU for the last couple of years, so tell them whatever you want as long as it isn't classified," Tsunade explained, seemingly bored. Hinata nodded and quickly left.

Before Kakashi and Tsunade had a chance to continue their conversation, Naruto burst through the doors. "You ready to give up the hat yet, Aunty?" he beamed as he strolled next to Kakashi.

"Welcome back, Naruto," Kakashi smiled behind his mask. "How was your trip?"

"You know Jiraiya… Hookers and blackjack the whole time!" he joked with a giant thumbs up as Tsunade flinched.

'I wouldn't put it past the old goat, but I watched his match with Itachi,' she thought. "Team Kakashi, the ambassador from the Village Hidden in the Sand has requested assistance from us. There has been some sort of disaster—"

"Who else is going?" Naruto interrupted.

"I'LL GET TO THAT!" Tsunade roared. "There has been some sort of disaster and they requested medical assistance and trackers. Sakura is already gathering supplies and personnel from the hospital. Team Kurenai will be the tracking team. Kakashi will be in charge of the mission. Now, do you have any questions?"

"What happened in Sand?" Naruto asked.

"If we knew, I would have told you! Get moving!" Tsunade yelled angrily, throwing an empty sake bottle at the receding pair.

Naruto and Kakashi leapt across rooftops from the Hokage tower toward the hospital. "How soon do we need to be in Sand?" Naruto asked.

"As soon as possible," Kakashi responded. "It usually takes a day or two to get to Sand from here at top speed."

Naruto laughed, taking out one of his marked kunai. "Nah. I can get there MUCH faster. Here," he said, handing Kakashi the kunai. "Be somewhere private in thirty minutes. I'll be scouting Sand," he said with a wave before he disappeared.

'This isn't one of those special kunai that Minato-sensei had, but it's got the same formula on the blade. Interesting,' Kakashi thought as he made his way to the hospital.

—Five hundred meters outside the Village Hidden in the Sand—

'I guess it was a good idea to leave this on the road instead of inside the village. Who knows if it would have survived whatever happened,' Naruto thought standing next to one of his markers and watching the Sand-nin squads clearing bodies away from the outer walls of the desert city. He jogged, slowly and deliberately, to the nearest squad, waving his arms to get their attention.

"Who—" one of the Sand-nin started before the commander jumped down.

"Naruto! You got here fast!" the blonde woman shouted. "We barely sent the request to Leaf half an hour ago."

Naruto stopped at the fan-wielding woman's side. "Advanced scout. We're putting together a response, but I wanted to get as much information as possible. What happened?"

"Gaara was taken by some crazy terrorist with exploding clay. Most of the injuries are blasts, burns, and poison," Temari explained. "Kankuro was among the injured. I know we already owe you, but if you can help him…"

"I would have offered even if the Hokage hadn't sent me. Has Shikamaru arrived yet?" Naruto asked.

"Shika's coming?" she asked, expectantly.

'Cutesy nickname. File that away for later,' Naruto thought. "He was on his way to discuss the next chunin exam. I imagine the Kazekage would have been his first stop though, so if you haven't spotted him then he probably isn't here yet," he explained. "More important things, Temari. Which way did they go and how did they leave?"

"Ummm…" the flustered teen started before controlling herself. "They were flying on some giant clay bird and they went that way," she pointed away from the village.

"Goddamn fliers," Naruto cursed. "I'll be back with the teams soon: maybe an hour? If you can pass word along and send someone Sakura might know, it will help considerably."

"Sakura…" Temari wondered aloud. "Who is she?"

"Tsunade's apprentice, apparently. She'll be leading the medical support team. We're sending half a dozen of our best medic-nins along with a hefty supply load. Sakura is the team leader for the medics," Naruto guessed. "I'll be back with them shortly," he waved before disappearing.

'Glad I left one in the apartment,' Naruto thought as his space-time jutsu planted him in the living room. He didn't pay attention to what was actually happening on the couch as he ran out the window toward the Hokage Tower.

'Good thing we were only watching TV,' Itachi and Yugao thought as they watched Naruto suddenly appear and then speed out the window.

"This is NOT a good date, Itachi," the purple-haired woman coldly stated. "Get your own place before you ask me out again," she said, indignantly walking out of the apartment.

"Of course," Itachi calmly replied while inwardly cursing.

Naruto leapt through the window to the Hokage's office, interrupting her meeting with Team Kurenai. "Is this the tracking team?" he asked.

Tsunade sighed, thinking, 'Why can't he just use the door? People are supposed to use doors.' Tsunade turned to Naruto, saying, "Yes. This is the tracking team."

"Anyone able to track flying prey? Or able to fly, for that matter?" he asked.

"Shino or Kiba should be able to track them, but the trail will have gone cold by the time we get there," Kurenai answered.

Naruto looked like he ignored the answer, turning instead to Tsunade. "Do you have anyone who has a flying summon or something that you can spare?"

Tsunade thought for a moment, coming up with nothing, before bellowing, "Shizune! Find someone with some sort of flying summon!"

"Yes, Lady Hokage!" a shout came from beyond the door.

"Explanations, Naruto," Tsunade said, leveling a withering glare at the blonde teen.

"Went to Sand. Got a field report. Came back. Adjusting the team before we leave. Anything else?" he asked.

Kiba could no longer contain himself. "HOW THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT?" he screamed.

Naruto silently blinked at the outburst before responding. "Hiraishin," he said, expecting that to explain everything. Kurenai and Hinata gasped, while Shino remained statue-still, but Kiba looked confused.

"What does that even mean?" the animal trainer asked, exasperated.

Kurenai grabbed his shoulder and shook her head before whispering, "You'll find out later." She looked at Naruto for a reply as she trailed, "We leave for Sand…"

"Kakashi is assembling the medical team. They'll probably be staging at the hospital," he said as he pulled out a watch. "I have five minutes to get there. You have twenty to pack and meet us."

Kurenai and Hinata nodded before dragging the rest of the team out. Shizune returned with a personnel folder and a worried look.

"Well?" Tsunade asked, expectantly.

"We only have one person available who fits those criteria, but you're not going to like it…" Shizune hinted.

"If we only have one, we only have one. Spit it out, Shizune," Tsunade angrily intoned.

"His name is Sai and he used to be a member of ANBU before the dustup," Shizune explained.

"Great. One of his men. And you're sure this is the only one?" Tsunade asked hopefully.

"Sai is the only one currently available who has any flight capabilities," Shizune nodded.

"Naruto, go meet with Kakashi and tell him about the addition of Sai. Tell Kakashi that Sai is the only one available and that you said it was important to have him," Tsunade instructed, hoping Naruto knew what he was doing.

"Got it," Naruto nodded before jumping back out of the window. Naruto sped along to the hospital, mentally reviewing the hand-signs for the jutsu. 'I hate jutsus with hand-signs. They take too long and I'm never sure if I got the signs right,' he thought before arriving at the hospital.

"Kakashi said that you were coming with us to Sand," Sakura called out, catching Naruto just as he arrived.

"Yeah," he nervously replied. "I've got to talk to Kakashi real quick. Is everything going to be ready to leave in about fifteen minutes?"

Sakura looked shocked. "It'll take two days to get there! We still have to pack bags and personal stuff—"

"It's been taken care of," Naruto interrupted. "Just make sure that you have everything you need for the mission here in fifteen minutes." And with that, Naruto focused on the kunai he gave Kakashi, pouring his chakra into the Lightning Rod, also known as the Flying Thunder-God.

Kakashi was reading high up in a tree, having stabbed the kunai into a branch across from his perch. Naruto appeared before his watch could sting him with its silent alarm needle. Naruto looked around, realizing that he was in one of the large trees in front of the hospital and that the staging area was just in sight.

"Gaara was abducted by someone with a giant bird-thing so I asked the Hokage to add someone with a similar capability to the team. His name is Sai and he's the only person currently available," Naruto explained. "She was cursing about Sai being one of his men, if that means something."

Kakashi nodded. "I take it you plan to use a space-time ninjutsu to transport us to Sand?" Kakashi tried to confirm.

"Yeah, but I don't usually use the technique on this scale, so I have to review my notes on the hand-signs. Don't worry: I probably won't send us into a dark void of nothingness for all eternity," he smiled, pulling out his notebook and reviewing the hand-signs.

"Maybe I should read you the hand-signs for the jutsu as you perform it, just to be safe," Kakashi tried to suggest without letting any abject terror into his voice.

Naruto thought for a moment before responding, "That's probably a good idea. I'll study the jutsu until everyone is ready." Naruto read his little notebook in a pose eerily similar to Kakashi reading his Make-out Tactics.

In what seemed like no time at all, Sakura called out, "NARUTO! KAKASHI! WE'RE READY! GET YOUR LAZY ASSES DOWN HERE!"

Naruto and Kakashi turned to see all of the medical staff present as well as Team Kurenai and an overly pale teenager wearing a tanto and the fakest smile anyone could imagine. The two spikey-haired ninja jumped down, the silver-haired one pocketing his treasured book and the blonde-haired one still deep into his treasured book.

"Everyone, please get together in a small bunch around the supplies," Naruto instructed as he handed the dog-eared book to Kakashi. "It starts on this page. There are fourteen signs."

"What's going on? We need to pick everything up and go if we want to make it to Sand soon," Sakura asked.

Kiba leaned over as he huddled in to the supplies and said, "Time-space jutsu. Naruto is going to teleport us there."

Sakura tilted her head at Kurenai who only nodded, prodding Sakura to mutter, "Someone could have told me earlier…"

Naruto stood in front of everyone, running through the signs for the jutsu. 'It's just like a summoning. No big deal. I've got this,' Naruto thought to himself. "Okay, Kakashi. Read me the signs."

Kakashi read the signs slowly enough for Naruto to perform each one perfectly. When there was no puff of smoke or disorientation at the end, Kiba looked up and exclaimed, "Was that it?"

Kakashi turned and said, "Dry run," as if that should explain everything and the pair of spikey-haired ninja repeated the process, except for the massive summoning symbols that extended from the center of the group after Naruto slammed his hand to the ground, wrapping up and around them before the scenery suddenly changed to desert.

"Take a moment. That can be disorienting sometimes," Naruto explained as he jogged off, looking for Temari and the other Sand-nin.

"Oi! Temari! That Leaf kid is back!" one of the Sand-nin shouted as Naruto ran up the road. Temari stopped what she was doing and confirmed that Naruto was indeed jogging up the road. She looked out further from her perch on the sand-blown wall, noticing a group of ninja with large cases.

She jumped down to stop Naruto's jog saying, "Holy crap! I thought you were kidding about that hour!"

Naruto beamed a smile, responding, "Nope. I brought everyone. Get someone out here to help bring the supplies. We've got the tracking team and someone who can get us airborne, so we might be able to catch up to whoever took Gaara if we hurry."

Temari looked dumbfounded for a moment before she yelled orders at several of the genin cleaning up the area. Team Kurenai, Kakashi, and Sai quickly approached Naruto as the Sand genin began shuffling supplies under Sakura's watchful eye.

"Sai, how long will it take to get airborne?" Kakashi asked the strange, pale teen.

Sai pulled out a scroll and brush with ink, painting three birds and bringing the massive creatures to life before the assembled Leaf ninjas with a strange release of ninjutsu. "They are ready, Captain," the boy fake smiled.

"That's great Sai, but the tracking team hasn't got a lead yet. Just wait here while they do their thing," Kakashi gently explained. Sai kept his fake smile on while Shino and Kiba started searching, Kiba sniffing and Shino dispersing his insects. Temari had some of Gaara's things, which were seeped with his chakra and scent, brought out for reference.

After a few minutes, Shino spoke up. "I believe I have them," he explained from inside a light insect swarm.

"Sai, Kiba, and Shino: take the lead. Naruto and Kurenai: ride together. I'll ride with Hinata," Kakashi ordered as everyone reacted quickly.

The three ink birds were airborne and flying with Shino pointing them in the direction of the chakra trail. A giant, flying, clay bird animated by chakra wasn't exactly difficult for Shino to follow, even a few hours later.

Hinata simply looked forward, the veins near her eyes exposed showing her byakugan active. Kakashi kept on the lookout, but asked, "Are you going to tell him?"

"That when we were children, I had a massive crush on him? I think not," Hinata responded calmly.

"You should. Nobody lives forever," Kakashi advised.

"I've grown up since then. I don't stammer. I was in ANBU. I've assassinated people. I've seduced men and women for information and blackmail. I'm not the same shy little girl," Hinata coldly replied. "I'm a kunoichi."

"You still cry after you kill someone," Kakashi quietly observed. 'And sometimes after you've seduced them,' he thought, knowing that kunoichi often had harsh seduction missions that men simply couldn't perform. "You aren't as cold as you pretend."

"Shut up, Kakashi," Hinata quietly replied, desperately trying not to cry at the things Kakashi had forced her to remember. 'I wish I had my ANBU mask,' she thought, watching Naruto talk to Kurenai.

"Who is he?" Naruto asked.

"What?" Kurenai was startled.

"I keep better track of things than people think," Naruto began. "Hinata has been in ANBU for more than two years. Your team wasn't reformed to track, since all of them could probably do that without you. This is something else. Most probably, you are considering retirement. Kiba and Shino could be trained by any jonin to take the jonin exam, which only leaves Hinata. It makes sense. Both of you are kunoichi. You are probably training her to replace you in the ranks of the jonin and it seems a bit rushed, which means you plan on retiring."

Kurenai looked at the blonde, slightly flustered. "And that means that a man must be involved?" she questioned.

"Not necessarily. But you're wearing some knick-knacks that aren't entirely your style, which indicates a relationship or admirer. You flush slightly when exposed to the scent of male sweat, which indicates that you are heterosexual. My top guesses are Ebisu, Genma, and Asuma, by the way," Naruto finished.

"It's Asuma," Kurenai replied, too bewildered to keep it quiet. "How did you figure all that out?"

Naruto chuckled before responding, "A shinobi must be observant and look underneath the underneath. Also, I spent decades learning about people."

"You were only gone for three years," Kurenai casually retorted.

"Shadow clones, sustained transformations, and tampering with records got me into twelve undergraduate programs, three doctoral programs, and two research fellowships," Naruto boasted with a smile. "I insisted on some long-term infiltration practice."

Kurenai just stared at the over-educated sixteen year-old. "I'm almost afraid to ask…"

"Jiraiya didn't let me finish any of the programs though. He said I had other things to work on," he lamented before realizing that the birds had changed their flight. Naruto's demeanor went from casual to tense instantly. "It looks like we might be close; we're descending."

Chapter 18

"Deidara of the bomb," Kakashi rasped. "His explosions are earth chakra based, but be careful: he might have new tricks."

An explosion rocked the fleeing ink birds as Naruto and Kakashi stood together, facing the cloak-wearing man, kunai already strewn everywhere. "You both jumped into the belly of the beast, yeah?" the longhaired blonde smirked.

"Lightning beats earth," Naruto intoned as his hands flashed through signs.

'Naruto doesn't use hand signs for his jutsus. Those are signs for lightning jutsu. That sequence looks like my Chidori. No, that's closer to the Raikiri! But those first few weren't right,' Kakashi rapidly thought, his sharingan already exposed. 'That isn't my Lightning Cutter…'

A ball of light blue lightning chakra began to swirl in Naruto's hand. The glowing ball seemed to pulse in Naruto's hand. But Kakashi could see that the lighting chakra of his own Lightning Cutter swirled faster than the plain chakra or wind chakra of Naruto's other rasengan, creating a barely-controlled lightshow.

"Rasen-raikiri." The ball of lightning seemed to teleport from Naruto's hand before the air cracked and smelt of ozone just to the side of Deidara. Tendrils of lightning lashed out; each cracking and chirping with lightning and sparks. Several dozen yards were enveloped in the bright, barely blue light as the jutsu released its stored energy.

Deidara jumped away from the burst, but could feel the tingle of shock running through his entire body. The clay clone he'd left behind to take the brunt of the attack simply disfigured into uselessness. Deidara's hands sped through several signs of his own, but as they clasped in the last one nothing happened.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?" the enraged bomb-maker shouted, landing not far away from the spikey-haired duo.

Naruto smiled. "I told you: lightning beats earth. If you don't have anything other than that clay, I suggest you surrender. It can't detonate."

'Lord Pain was right! Itachi told the Leaf EVERYTHING about us!' Deidara thought. 'Let's see how they like this new lightning clay. Heh heh heh.'

Deidara reached behind his back, into a third pouch and began molding the strange green-hued clay. "Let's see how you like this piece of art, yeah?"

Kakashi sped behind Deidara, but was only able to watch a handful of clay birds streak toward him as the lightning in the air sparked and detonated this new clay. Kakashi flew back from the force of the blast, spinning in the air, and only able to right himself, landing against one of the few trees in the area just before he would have smashed into it.

'They guessed that Itachi told us everything he knew. Of course, there will be surprises. Dammit,' Naruto thought, cursing himself. He knew that the field of lightning he'd set up to disrupt Deidara's bombs would impair the bomb-maker, but he hadn't known that Deidara now had bombs that could explode with lightning instead of earth chakra.

"Naruto! Stall him!" Kakashi shouted at his former student, vanishing into a camouflage jutsu.

Naruto lit his nerves and muscles with lightning chakra to enhance his speed and reactions before charging into the longhaired blonde. Every strike of Naruto's hit with a sickening thud and crunch, but none seemed to affect Deidara until Naruto hit the man in his chest with a mule-kick. That final crunch sounded less like bones breaking and more like glass shattering and Naruto disappeared from the man on instinct, instantly reappearing at one of the marked kunai that littered the area.

The clay clone erupted in a devastating blast of heat and shockwaves, leveling the ground for several yards. Naruto searched for either Kakashi or the mad bomber as the blast wave settled, but couldn't spot Kakashi.

"Kamui." Kakashi's sharingan showed a strange, three-pronged shape instead of the wheel with three tomoe as the bag on Deidara's back was sucked into nothingness just before a kunai sank into Deidara's back where the bag was only moments before.

'Damn it! My lightning clay is gone and the area is saturated with lightning chakra. Where is that fool Tobi?' Deidara thought, bleeding and unsteady on his feet. 'I need to get the hell outta here!'

"Where is your companion? What did you do with Gaara?" Naruto asked, waiting for confirmation.

Deidara ripped open his shirt, exposing an open mouth on his chest. "As if I'd tell you anything," he spat. 'I wanted to use this on Itachi, but I don't have any other options. My regular clay can't detonate in this static field and that bastard copy-nin took my lightning clay somehow,' he thought, pulling the stitches out of his chest.

Naruto pumped lightning chakra through his limbs again to strike at the mad bomber before the man could complete whatever ultimate jutsu he was attempting. Naruto's fist struck the man in the face with a sickening crack, lifting him off his feet, and sending him flying. Deidara limply sailed several yards before landing in a slumped pile.

Kakashi appeared in a shimmer, his jutsu cancelled. "Kakashi-sensei, I'll tie him up while you catch up to the tracking team," Naruto commanded. Kakashi nodded in response and disappeared in a swirl of leaves in the direction of the ink birds.

Naruto pulled out ninja wire and began to truss up his catch. "Hey!" one of the Sand ninja called to Naruto, interrupting him.

"Hey," Naruto turned to the group.

"We're here to back you up," the eldest of the three explained. "But I see you have everything under control here."

Naruto looked to his recently downed prey before responding, "Yeah. We got lucky."

As Naruto turned back to the new arrivals, Deidara's hands, filled with all of his remaining clay, shot from his pouches into the strange mouth on his chest. "NOW YOU'LL SEE MY ULTIMATE MASTERPIECE!" the mad bomber screamed, his body already burning out like a fuse.

Lightning chakra already coursed through Naruto's eyes, causing the world to move in slow motion. He could see the buildup of energy, not because of any special properties of his eyes, but because the man's body was visibly converting chakra and flesh into an immense and unavoidable explosion. Naruto charged his body with lightning chakra and streaked for the newly arrived Sand ninja, hoping to grab them before the blast could disintegrate them all.

The Sand-nins could only see the fuse-like body of Deidara beginning to explode before the blonde Leaf-nin tackled them and they were suddenly five hundred yards outside of their own village falling to the ground. They barely had a chance to hit the ground before a gargantuan rumble shook the ground and a massive plume several miles in the distance shone like a second sun.

Naruto activated his hiraishin to get to Kakashi, hoping that Kakashi had gotten clear of the blast. He was rewarded with a massive wave of energy blowing him off his feet when he arrived at the marked kunai. Naruto tumbled with Kakashi for several dozen yards before the two managed to right themselves in a display of acrobatic athleticism.

Both men stood braced against the wave for several long seconds before it finally died down. Naruto spoke first. "That guy was a blast," he commented flatly, slightly out of breath from using so much chakra.

Kakashi looked at Naruto. "That wasn't even remotely funny," Kakashi responded humorlessly.

Naruto just gave an amused smirk and turned in the direction of the tracking team. "It'll probably be better if you caught up to the team while I grab that stupid jonin who distracted me."

"You didn't finish tying up the bomb guy?" Kakashi asked incredulously.

Naruto sheepishly responded, "They caught my attention before I finished. I had to either accept a potential back-stab from an unknown or hope that the guy I knocked out stayed out."

Kakashi made a face behind his mask that Naruto recognized as a frown, but said, "No helping it then," as he turned toward the tracking team. "Catch up with that Sand jonin."

Naruto nodded before dusting himself off and disappearing to reach the Sand team he'd just moved to safety.

—With Kakashi—

Kakashi ran through the sparse vegetation at his top travel speed, which was damn fast. Three years of operations and training under Kushina Uzumaki had forced him into the best shape of his life. His stamina and chakra reserves were so large that he could use his Raikiri nine times in a day and using the Mangekyo Sharingan didn't put him into a two-week coma.

Kakashi ran past a spot that was covered in ink spatter, spotting the tracking team behind the cover of some of the thicker trees in the bare area. 'I don't know why more Hyuuga don't go into ANBU. Hinata was a flawless assassin. The Gentle Fist is almost untraceable,' he couldn't help thinking as he approached the tracking specialists. "Yo," he waved a two-fingered salute at the bunch.

"What the hell was that?" Kiba demanded as Akamaru barked.

Kakashi ignored him and turned to Hinata and Kurenai. "Report," he stated professionally.

Hinata looked to Kurenai, who simply stood clutching her belly. "The blast wave dispelled the ink birds. Kurenai-sensei thought she might be pregnant before the mission, but hadn't gotten tested yet, and is concerned that the effects of the blast may cause a miscarriage," Hinata quickly rattled. "No casualties and only minor injuries, but the mission is a failure. Deidara doubled back and the other trails dead-end here."

—With Naruto—

"How long have you been a jonin?" Naruto asked angrily.

"I made jonin this year," the man in the traditional Sand turban and vest smugly replied.

"And you didn't think to let me finish binding him before calling out or approaching?" he questioned the man.

"It looked like you had it under control," the man tried to defend.

"You two," he pointed at the two other ninjas. "You're staying here. You," he grabbed the jonin's arm, "are coming with me," he ground out as he activated the hiraishin to take him to Kakashi.

"Kakashi-sensei, Kurenai-sensei: what's the situation?" Naruto asked as the scenery changed from desert to scrub and the Sand-nin turned to lose his lunch again.

Kurenai looked over at the hurling jonin before responding, "No casualties, only minor injuries, but we've lost the trail. The explosion wiped the area clean, but before that, we found the end of the trail. Kiba reported the smell of a dimensional shift, which indicates a time-space jutsu user," she repeated, adding, "He never would have known that smell if it hadn't been for you, Naruto."

'He's gone then. After everything… After Jiraiya and I gave him a new seal… After all of our conversations… All of our plans…' Naruto thought.

Naruto nodded in response, taking the information in. He turned to the Sand-nin, wondering what Temari had been thinking sending a team after them. 'She must not have had a choice. It smells too much like politics to be actual support. This guy is good enough to catch us, but not smart enough to let me finish binding a prisoner,' he angrily thought, before calming himself. 'Then again, everyone makes mistakes.'

"Anyone know a light-show type jutsu?" Naruto asked redundantly as Kakashi nodded.

Kakashi smiled behind his mask, saying, "I've got plenty."

The Sand-nin was confused, but Naruto responded, "Get to where the trail ends, then send up as big a flare as you can manage every ten minutes until Sand arrives. Keep the area as clear as possible, just in case any of the Sand techs can figure anything out from residue or something."

Naruto sighed heavily, dreading what he now had to do. "I'll go report that the mission failed and Gaara is lost, presumed dead."

"Naruto, you don't have to do this. Kurenai can deliver the news," Hinata interjected, concerned.

"No. If I plan to become a leader, I'll have to deliver bad news. I owe it to Gaara to tell his family, personally. We were friends, when we met again, after the incident in the arena," Naruto resolved.

He appeared again outside of the Village Hidden in the Sand, but made the journey from the entrance gates to the council building where he knew Temari would be busily working at a walk.

Temari looked at him and read the emotions on his face. She dropped the papers she had in her hands. An older man in councilor's robes with half his face covered from the cloth draping from his turban opened the door behind Naruto. Naruto maintained eye contact with Temari before explaining, "We weren't able to catch them. Akatsuki has a time-space jutsu user. The trail went dead."

Temari looked at him still in disbelief, her fears violently intruding on her self-control. She couldn't move. She couldn't breathe. Her form hunched over the desk, barely remaining upright. "Gaara…" she barely managed to croak.

"We didn't find a body…" Naruto tried to sound hopeful, but it was clear that he wasn't.

"He's dead. Isn't he?" Temari looked up at him, the hope in her eyes slowly fading.

"We didn't find a body," Naruto responded lamely.

The councilman closed the doors, keeping his back to the young kunoichi. "I have news from the hospital," the man intoned, still facing away as he looked down. "Kankuro is going to make a full recovery, thanks to Tsunade's apprentice."

Temari looked at the two men in her now dead baby-brother's office. "I— I… What do I do?" she pleaded.

Naruto held her shoulders, looking into her eyes. He could see the sadness and despair building. "You hold together. There will be plenty of time to fall apart later. People need you. Your brother needs you. Your village needs you. Your home needs you," he finished with conviction and fire that he hoped would inspire the young woman.

"Hold together. I don't know if I can…" she responded pitifully.

She was shocked when she felt a sting on her face as Naruto slapped her. "You don't have a choice. There isn't anyone else," Naruto said harshly. "Now pick yourself up and stop making Gaara ashamed to call you 'family.'"

Temari picked herself up, wiping her eyes. She took several choked breaths before she finally steadied and looked at Naruto. "They took my baby brother, Naruto. They tried to kill us all, but they TOOK him," she emphasized. "If my brother is alive, bring him back. If he isn't, bring me their heads." She walked out, making her way to the hospital, leaving Naruto and the councilman alone.

Naruto looked at the older jonin. "You have to hold together too. I know that you've gone into administration since the last time I was here, but you can't let all of the paperwork leave you weak," Naruto vainly tried to needle.

"The last time you were here was a much happier time, Naruto," the man spoke, still facing away from Naruto.

"The last time I was here, Baki, we took Gaara to that brothel with Kankuro and Jiraiya to celebrate his confirmation as Kazekage," Naruto responded with a sad smile. "That was only six months ago."

"A happier time…" the man trailed before leaving, a stoic expression once again on his face as he left.

"You have to hold yourself together," Naruto whispered alone in the Kazekage's office.

A/N: Breaking my "one author's note only" rule just to say that Gaara dies so that I can write about Yugito Nii without compromising the story. Plus, it creates some tensions between the Leaf and the Sand that I'd like to explore more than retreading the Cloud/Leaf tensions in canon. I really like Gaara in general and would love to write something involving him when I finish this story, but I'm not going to do flashbacks. Flashbacks in literature are called "prequels." (The authors words..not mine)

Chapter 19

"BREAK THE SEAL!" Naruto growled as glowing red-orange chakra leaked from tenketsu all over his body, covering him like a cloak. A single tail began to form behind the blonde, his form already taking on feral teeth, claws, and red eyes.

Itachi stood in the center of a large array of kanji, deep underground. He wore only shorts while paint covered his bare torso in patterns and kanji that he knew he'd regret later. The seal in his mouth slowly began to wrap around him as he attempted to overpower it. He knew that he didn't have enough chakra to do it, but that was part of the plan.

A woman's voice called out, "He's almost out of chakra and the seal is barely weakened!"

'Holy shit, this going to hurt…' Itachi thought.

—10 days earlier—

"Naruto, get up!" Kushina yelled through the door to a bedroom. The apartment she'd lived in with just Naruto was long since gone, replaced with the four room apartment shared by Naruto, Sasuke, Itachi, and Kushina. She knew enough not to intrude on a teenage boy in the morning, but Naruto had been drowning in sorrow since the failed mission to Sand. "Itachi? Would you—"

"No," he interrupted. "Not after last time you asked when I walked in on Sasuke and The Perverted Pink Howler-monkey. No way. Not again," he said adamantly. "That scene haunts my dreams," he muttered with a shudder.

"Hey!" Sakura retorted from the kitchen, noticing the older Uchiha shudder.

"If you didn't want me to call you a Perverted Pink Howler-monkey, you shouldn't have let me catch you fucking my baby brother like one," Itachi coldly commented to the girl, going back to the little, orange book Kakashi had lent him.

Sasuke shrugged. His eyes had burned out again, so he was sitting on the couch with gauze around his eyes. 'I don't remember having sex with Sakura,' he thought. 'Was I asleep? Did she rape me? Or drug me? Or drug me and rape me? Is she pregnant? I'm not ready to be a father! GAH! I can't think! I want my eyes back! Why can't I remember anything without my eyes?'

Sakura could see Sasuke facing in her direction with suspicion plastered on his face. 'He's having memory problems again,' she thought. "I'm just here to check on you. I know how disoriented you get after you burn out your eyes," she explained, the pain in her voice obvious to Sasuke's heightened sense of hearing. "I'm not trying to get back together."

Sasuke ignored the forlorn girl and let his senses reach out into Naruto's room. Naruto wasn't alone, but the barely clothed kunoichi was already scampering out the window, pulling on clothes as she leapt. "He's alone. You can go in," Sasuke said, facing Kushina and wondering if he could get enough pain medication knock himself out.

Kushina slowly opened the door, keeping her eyes to one corner. She silently cursed at Naruto for not obeying the rule he'd explained to her. "You're supposed to put something on the door when you have a 'guest,'" she commented, jokingly.

"Sorry," he mumbled, pulling on shorts under the covers. "I forgot."

"It's been a week. Are you going to do something productive?" she asked.

Naruto sighed. "I guess. I don't have much choice anyway, do I? I have to go before the jonin council today one way or another."

"The Hokage can't promote certain people to jonin without a vote from the jonin council. It's one of the three things that requires a vote. Don't you want to be a jonin?" Kushina asked, closing the door behind her and looking out the open window.

'I've been moping for too long. I don't know how Tsunade did this for years. It's high time I get off my ass and get working. The world isn't going to save itself, dattebayo! Stupid tic,' he resolved. 'Let's see how much I can rile mo— Kushina-sensei…'

"Does it matter? Akatsuki doesn't care what rank I am and Itachi still can't break that stupid seal. Sasuke is has the memory of an Alzheimer's patient every time he burns out his eyes. We're all doomed anyway," he lamented with as much melodrama as he could muster, turning to sit on the bed with his head in his hands and his feet on the floor.

"Naruto Uzumaki! You stop that defeatist attitude this instant!" Kushina furiously scolded. "You've never given up before and I'll be damned if you're going to start now!"

"I know," Naruto replied with a smile. "I figured that I've been sitting here long enough anyway, but it took you long enough to try to kick me out of it." As Kushina's face started to scrunch up in annoyance, he reached under the covers. "By the way, how much do you figure Jiraiya would pay," he started as he removed his hand, "for these slightly used panties?" he asked as he held up a tiny thong.

"NARUTO!" Kushina yelled loud enough for Ino to hear it from several blocks away as she hopped across rooftops. 'Did I get him in trouble?' Ino thought. 'I feel like I forgot something important…'

—Hokage Tower, later that day—

"Congratulations, Naruto," Hinata bowed. She wasn't part of the jonin council yet mostly because her work in ANBU had never required the official rank. It wasn't as if it was difficult to become a jonin, but Naruto had special circumstances. He was closely related to several key figures within the village, so the jonin council had to vote on his ability in order to avoid the perception of favoritism on the part of the Hokage.

"Thanks Hinata!" Naruto smiled, finally feeling back to his old self.

"Naruto…" Shikamaru trailed from a shadow. "I need your help…"

"I think I might need your help too, actually. I did something pretty stupid," Naruto admitted. "Why don't we all get some lunch?"

Shikamaru turned, his face gloomy. "We can eat at my place," the normally lazy teen turned and leapt over rooftops.

'Shikamaru is travelling like a ninja. On purpose. Outside of a mission. Shit…' Naruto couldn't help thinking as he followed with Hinata in tow.

"Naruto, I wanted to ask you something," Hinata said as they followed Shikamaru, still slightly flustered. 'Stupid crush. Why can't I treat this like a normal seduction mission?' she scolded herself.

"You've heard the rumors about me and a few of the kunoichi our age, I suppose," Naruto sighed. If Itachi hadn't described, in eye-melting detail, what he'd caught Sakura doing with Sasuke, he was sure she would have been the one to admonish him for being a "pervert."

Hinata blushed slightly recalling the rumor Anko had told her. 'That woman really has no shame,' Hinata thought. 'And what she suggested he does with shadow clones…' Hinata mumbled, "I've heard rumors, but they seem a little… well… obscene."

Naruto looked a little disappointed. "Oh. I see. You don't approve," he replied.

Hinata balked. She'd actually done dirtier things than most of the rumors with the exception of Anko's. She shook her head. "No! I just wondered if any of them were true," she squeaked more than said.

#naruto #Kushina lives fanfiction

[cocktailjjrs]

Boruto

FYI contains a few minor manga spoilers. 

So, I finally caught up with Boruto anime from Funato arc onwards. And let me say one thing;

WHAT DID THEY KILL KAGURA OF ALL PEOPLE FOR!!!

I mean what was even point of this whole thing? I had actually started liking in him and then they go of and kill him? I thought he was going to become Mizukage, what happens to that now?

This arc was by far the one with most deaths. We had,

Taiki - the ship captain that was killed 

Kobasoza - the one who killed Taki then killed himself to avoid being interrogated

Kagura - (Why! Oh! WHY!) Stabbed in the chest by Funamushi

Tenma - Avoided his brothers warnings and launched attack on the Mist ships, only to be cut down by Chojuro and fall overboard

Hebachiigo - Killed by Funamushi after trying to restrain him (I really did not think even she would die and to think she was actually starting to make friends and have a free life)

Funamushi - (Okay, I admit, this one i was happy for and hoping it would happen) Rasenganed by Boruto and then stabbed by Buntan

Seiren - Died of injuries in hospital 

Isari - Killed by his own father with his own weapon while trying to make peace aggrement

Not to mention the airship that crashed initially that killed many

I can also see a pattern here. First we had an arc with Iwa, where the kill count was also high and now we have Kiri. What next? Kumo or Suna? 

And at the end Boruto offered his own life to stop the war (Though i knew he won’t die), for me the whole ending felt a bit hollow. I mean we have seen Naruto use Talk no jutsu, but i felt Boruto didn’t say much or anything at all, i had so many things he could have pointed out for Ikada to consider. 

The whole ending felt very anti climatic to me. 

And then there is the new Op. While it contains few wholesome shots, it also contains this one:

And this one reminded me of this: 

So, we are getting Code arc soon it seems. 

But before that, I just want the Uzumaki’s (and when i say Uzumaki’s it consists of Kawaki without a doubt) to have some bonding time. For the kids to remain kids a while longer, because things are gonna go down real fast & soon.

Manga readers know the pain and suffering (plus some ridiculousness) that is to come. (That reminds me of the last chapter we had, it seems Amado is going to reveal why he is so obsessed with Kawaki to both Eida and Konoha; so does that mean Eida will be an ally?)

Anyway, by far my most favourite episode from the recent ones was (I’m sure its not just mine) Ep 258!!!

We get our Sunshine family just enjoying. This is what the Fourth Great Ninja War was for; to let the upcoming generations live without the fear of a looming war or deaths awaiting (though in Boruto’s case, the death and war still looms over)

Anyway, that aside this episode was so wholesome. We Got Hinata!!! And Hima, she is way too pure for this world.

And we also have a family pic,

I laughed so much during the whole episode, not to mention they were actually haunted by that ghost, LOL!!!

Well, i guess a few more light hearted chapters like this wont hurt before we finally move onto the Manga canon (Though i dont want like 50 fillers before that)

Hope for the best, i guess. 

Toodles! 

#boruto naruto next generations #boruto #uzumaki boruto #uzumaki naruto #uzumaki himawari #uzumaki hinata #kawaki #uzumaki family #sunshine family #Boruto Op 11 #Minor Manga Spoilers #kagura #hebachiigo #Funato arc

[onedirecton]

naruto season 5, 6, 7, 8 & 9 ramblings + thoughts about shippuden

SUCH. A. GOOD SEASON. HOLY SHIT.

SUCH. A. GOOD SEASON. HOLY SHIT.

Like boohoo Sasuke got kidnapped or he willingly left whatever BUT my favourite thing about it was how each one of the ninjas squared off with the sound ninjas like that was so cool ahhh

I loved all of their battle episodes so much gjkfdjgldf

Also when DRUNK ROCK LEE fought Kimimaro that was so funny and good omg

Back to Sasuke's though: I do think he is a bit annoying lmao I'm sorry but his backstory is so sad crying throwing up

But wow, that battle between Sasuke and Naruto. Poetic cinema. Chidorgi v.s Rasengan. Happy Pride etc.

Season 6

This season is basically a filler season since the episodes have nothing to do with Naruto finding Sasuke etc however, I still loved watching a lot of the stories. I genuinely really liked seeing all the other ninjas get some more screen time because I love them all sodjsidjjs

My favourite one is the one where Shino, Hinata, Neji & Naruto head out to find that really specific scent-tracking insect so they can use it to find Sasuke. I absolutely loved this storyline because Hinata got some character development and she actually took action for once lmaooo I also just love Shino and Neji in general they’re so cool I just think they’re NEAT sodjsidjdjjs also the way they went through so much to get that one bug only for Naruto to just ruin the mission with a fart was so ?&?!!!????!? like I laughed so much and I just know that 9 year old me would have loved this too

Also, I think liked that storyline a lot because Neji and Shino are two of my fav characters! Did I mention that I think they’re neat?

The Raiga Kurosuki and Ranmaru storyline was honestly quite sad….like bro…. the storylines/plots of characters admitting that they just exist to be of service to other characters because being connected to them is the only way they see worth in themselves is so….so…..hang on…who else cried slsksijdjs it’s just a reoccurring theme in this entire show and Naruto is almost always the one who goes ‘you can’t live for other people. You have to live for you 🧡’ like….so true king so true and then he’s like ‘I’m your friend now. I don’t make the rules. Let’s live our best lives!’ and I absolutely love Naruto for that 🧡

Season 7

Also just filler episodes lmao

'Laughing Shino' is definitely one of my favorite filler episodes because it's just so silly.

Tbh I did watch a good chunk of this season but I don't really recall anything super memorable aside from the episode I mentioned above.

Season 8

I just went through my netflix history and I literally didn't watch an episode entirely or I just skipped it fkdjsfkljds

Again, all just fillers

None of them seemed very appealing to me but maybe I'll go back and give a few episodes a chance <3

Season 9

I'm so glad this season was really short. The entire thing was basically a filler except for the last episode I think. I thought Gaara was involved in all of them but he was only really there for the last 5, so I ended up skipping the first half dfjksdlfds

I ADORED the fact that the entire ninja crew went on this mission and I loved that we got to see them work together (except TENTEN fkjdskfjlkds she didn't go and I honestly didn't realize until the very end when she was beating Lee up for not inviting her fjsdlkfjds) Tenten I am so sorry for not noticing that you were gone

Anyway, that filler was very entertaining and I was just soooo happy to see Gaara, Temari and Kankuro together. My most beloved siblings <3

Like the 'villain' was an awful guy but you could just tell this guy was not going to win hahaha

YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE WAS JUST *chef kisses*????? So in season 5, the Sand Siblings came to help the gang when they went after Sasuke to try and get him back. In season 5, each Sand sibling helped one of the Leaf Ninjas like Temari helped Shikarmu (teehee), Gaara helped Lee & I think Kankurō helped Kiba. Anyway in the last season, it was the Sand Siblings fighting these bad guys individually and when the Leaf Ninjas came to help, the way they split up mirrored the way they helped each other out in season 5 (like again it was Temari and Shikarmu paired off etc). Poetic cinema, the perfect way to end the series. I hope that made sense but it’s late and my head hurts kddjkdjdw

Shippuden Thoughts/Expectations

I know Sasuke and Naruto will eventually meet again, so I cannot wait to see that

OUTFIT CHANGES. PLEASE. HELLO PLEASE

Romance....perhaps? Like I personally don't get too invested in ships, but Temari and Shikamaru have mad chemistry so if tHEY DON'T GKFJDSGKLJDFKGJDFL

I feel like there will be more '''villains' in this season and I just hope they are COOL and not INSUFFERABLE like Kabuto. If I see him again, I'm throwing hands on SIGHT because I can't stand him

Super excited to know more about the mysterious Itachi and his crew!!! I have already forgotten what they're called, but they are very cool to me <3

Basically, I am eager to see how all of the kid's powers have developed during over the years and I am rooting for all of them <3

Thank you for coming on this journey with me dkjfieowjfe

#naruto ramblings #also I’m sorry that this is the most incoherent thing EVER #Shippuden when #who knows maybe next week actually

[odayaka1]

Chapter 10: Back at Home

I checked the time passed after I got out of the dimension. It's been 3 hours outside means 6 hours inside the dimension. Man living so long without anything to do messes up your concept of time.

Now back to training I guess I need to get a human body soon. Being huge is good and all, but sleeping like a human is another thing, just imagining having my soft and fluffy tails underneath me, ah~ man that would be heaven.

I set up seals to inform me if someone with hostility towards us enters the area and forms a surveillance over that person no matter where in the world they are. If they attack they will be captured for me to torture.

I just had this idea, why wait for someone to come. I need precautions, It's better than cure anyway.

It can even handle someone at the level of a lower level Otsutsuki.

Going back to my dimension I went back in my dimension to gather my chakra again.

Two months went by and I came out of the dimension to be  greeted by the energetic duo.

" We did it. It was difficult but once I got the hang of it. It was better than before." Said Matatabi.

" We can make it a little thinner than a hair," Kokuo added. I looked at her in surprise, the thread she was showing was really thinner than her hair.

" Good for the next step, try to use these threads to weave a net. And keep making it thinner once you reach the limit, try forming chakra in different shapes, the more detailed the better." This concept is like carving. The more you concentrate and have better control you can sculpt just by using your chakra.

" Brother can't you train here. Stay by our side while we train." They looked really sad to see me go away for such a long time.

" sure I will train here. Just let me know once you are done." I said while thinking ' it's not like I have any urgency to get stronger. Why not go at a slow pace, while I won't  stop training but spend more time with them.'

Time went by and the formation of my 4th tail went on, which was done by a quarter. One more year went by and Isobu also came back. He also joined them in their training and they guided him.

I sometimes help them with their training, I have also taught them Rasengan. It was a good training tool to control size and shape. Not good as ours' but still enough to experiment for us unlike the destructive bomb.

I talked with Isobu about how the outside world " It was boring, everyone is fighting for power." Or so he said in a timid manner.

I never tried to resolve his timid behavior, he is not a defenseless boy who needs protection from others, he is a tailed beast.

I think it's just his innate  personality. Everyone has a different personality and their personality sometimes represents their appearance very much.

He will be fine after spending time with the family.

As time went by I grew stronger slowly. One more year and the last quarter of the tail is about to be formed. It was funny seeing these guys' reactions as my tail grew.

In these two years Chomei also came back. " I was lucky to find many delicious things on my way~~~. I found a good place to sleep. I even made friends in the forest. I was so lucky~~~." Was what he said when I asked about his journey.

He is quite a peculiar guy. Well even he was dragged in by the girls to train. He was not so lucky I guess.

They really enjoy being the one to teach others. I could see their eyes filled with pride once one of them made progress. I rolled my eyes as the pride was for themselves.

" Where's the damned fox, I will rip him apart" I was woken from my sleep by a loud voice.

I may be the most calm person here but my sleep is sacred.

I hate when someone disturb my sleep. Even when my maid used to turn off the fan when I was sleeping, it was so revolting to me.

I stood up with unusually calm eyes, the rest scattered away. Knowing full well what's to come and prayed and pitied the raccoon.

" you seem quite energetic, Shukaku. Quite too much from what I can see, it's not good to be this energetic you could get a heart attack. Let me calm you a little." I said with a small smile, eyes closed.

But that scared the poor one tailed brat " we tailed beast don't have a heart" was all he could utter before my third eye opened " now that's  a problem we need to fix, you can die without a heart." I pulled him inside my own Tsukuyomi.

He was surrounded by 10 buffed butt-chin face Kurama. He was not given to comprehend the situation as they took each of his body parts and showed him all the 'care' they have to offer.

It all took one second and I just went back to sleep ignoring the broken record like raccoon "Stay away. Stay away. I won't fight that fox again, never please stop."

Both Isobu and Chōmei were looking at me with fear, admiration and curiosity wondering what I showed him.

As I slept I suddenly felt a happiness I don't know from where opened my eyes only to see Matatabi and Kokuo's hollow heart like eyes looking at me.

Now that's a beautiful sight you don't see everyday. I imprinted that in my memory with my sharingan-like eyes and went back to sleep feeling happy that the raccoon was little useful.

One more year went by and my fourth tail is now fully formed. My chakra has almost reached the amount of seven tails.

As I got accustomed to my chakra. Although I have more chakra I didn't  get too much of power up, as my reserves are growing. It is starting to slow down.

I am not really concerned it will be better as I level up my elemental resistance.

In 2 months I looked at the system in content.

[

- STATUS UPDATE

CHAKRA QUANTITY : 6 TAILS

COMBAT POWER : 7 TAILS

- ABILITIES UPDATE

ELEMENTAL RESISTANCE – LVL 7

• REDUCING BASIC ELEMENTAL DAMAGE BY 60 PERCENT.

• ADVANCED ELEMENT BY 30 PERCENT.

]

#anime art #art #fanfic #naruto #Naruto #NarutoFanfiction #NarutoFandom #NarutoFanfic #NarutoUzumaki #SasukeUchiha #SakuraHaruno #KakashiHatake #AnimeFanfiction #AnimeFandom #NarutoShippuden #NarutoVerse #NarutoWorld #Shinobi #NinjaLife #NarutoCommunity #NarutoReads #novels #writing #naruto fanart #naruto art #naruto shippuden #naruto uzumaki

[jujutsubrainrot]

Chapter 207: Stars and Oil, Part 3

// SPOILER WARNING!!! DO NOT PROCEED IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE CHAPTER YET.

Opening words: “Choso reappears in Tsukumo’s critical moment! His plan is...?!”

》 Kenjaku: "So heavy!!"

》 Choso: "Are you watching... my little brothers? I'm going to kill our faaaaather!!"

》 Yuki: "This is getting interesting, fallen warrior!!"

*fallen samurai — the kanji is 落ち武者 (ochimusha), which means "fallen warrior". I personally prefer "fallen warrior".

》 Yuki: "You've been a great help, big brother."

The term used here wasn't just a mere thank you like "arigatou" or even "domo". Yuki said 助かる (tasukaru), which is spoken when a person is "saved" by someone else — in the sense that the rescuer helped that person escape from an undesirable/troublesome situation. 助かる (tasukaru) is used to give respect and it also conveys a deeper gratitude to the person/people who helped you out.

》 Yuki: "He got out [of Garuda's hold] during the time when 「Bom-Ba-Ye」 was weakened 'cause I was using Reverse Cursed Technique."

》 Yuki: "...he crushes everything with Cursed Spirit Manipulation!"

John Werry, have you forgotten what Geto's CT is? 🥹

This is just me nitpicking but I think "mini Uzumaki" sounds much better.

》 Kenjaku: "Your weight does not change when you use 「Bom-Ba-Ye」... That must mean even if your density increases, your durability remains the same."

When I read "tensile strength", my eyes hurt. I do believe the kanji in this context meant durability, or toughness. (And guess what? I asked my friend and she told me that the kanji 強度 means "tensile strength" in chinese 💀)

Closing words: “Direct hit!!”

–

My thoughts:

Good chapter! The battle was so intense that it could pass off as one of the close-to-end-of-series fights, y’know? All three of them are Special-Grade sorcerers and I believe Gege is trying to reiterate to us with this battle.. that if one cannot use RCT or if they run out of cursed energy, then it's basically endgame. And ultimately, it also boils down to who has the highest durability to tank the physical blows once their CE runs out. Hats off to Yuki and Choso for their strategy to try and deplete Kenjaku's CE as well as tire him out physically since right now we can assume that Kenjaku isn't like Gojo who doesn't run out of CE, or like Yuuta who has abundant amounts of CE. But with that ending, things don't seem to look real good so what's gonna happen next?

Kenny using Rasengan on Yuki was purely intentional, I bet. Especially after he has confirmed that she’s capable of using RCT. Since CE has been said to originate from the belly, it’s not surprising he pulled that move against her. But ayo, I was definitely taken aback by the mini Uzumaki, it’s so smollllllllll. With that hole in the stomach, I'm not sure if she’d be able to channel CE to perform RCT on herself, but maybe she still can do it since Hakari did it too haha. Nevertheless, being the gutsy woman that she is, chances are Yuki will gamble everything she’s got and finish this fight strong. Reminder that she's a Special-Grade who's said to be able to overthrow a nation, so I don't believe she's gonna get offed in the next chapter, as such please don't worry, Yuki stans! Perhaps, like everyone's been hoping for, we might get to see her expand her domain - though, the effectiveness might be significantly weaker.

Choso isn’t in good shape either and will need time to recover from “Gravity” technique. But even if he plunges in to help Yuki, he’s not gonna be able to keep up. Between him and Yuki, IF one were to die, I’d say it’s most likely Choso. Just continue to say our prayers, alright, guys? :’) Meanwhile, Tengen.... isn’t going to do anything much, is she?

If you ask me, the best conclusion to this battle is... Uraume showing up to grab Kenjaku's arse outta there, and they'll cop Tengen on the way too. Maybe Uraume's gonna announce that the preparations are now ready..? A popular take right now is that Tengen will merge with Yuki, which is plausible, but I think it’d be better if the merger doesn’t work in the way they wanted it to. Seriously if it does happen and the both of them think that Kenjaku’s plans will be hindered, please tell me that they're ded wrong. I can't see him being stopped right now, not yet. Kenjaku's gonna remain as the final boss until Sukuna has properly reincarnated in a body of his own.

Meanwhile, I’m still waiting on the secret that Tengen’s hiding from us all. Yeah, no problem, just keep us waiting some more, Gege-chan. You enjoy doing that to us anyway lmaooooo.

#jujutsu kaisen #jjk #jjk 207 #yuki & choso vs kenjaku #gege akutami #jjk manga spoilers #m/translations

[ikingpotato]

UchiKasu - A new technique called Chidori-Rasengan

Sasuke practice his new move that he learn during his training at Sakura's backyard. He called it Chidori-Rasengan, a combine power of Chidori and Resengan fuse together to created a powerful projectile blast that can destroy a moon. Now if he use his full power with indra susanoo + curses mark + six path + rinnegan sharingan + enternal mangekyou sharingan, he can destroy a planet if he wanted to but he won't. He will use his new profound power technique to protect his new world and his lover Sakura. Sasuke learn Rasengan from Naruto before he leave shinobi world forever because Naruto want him to be safe and happy. Sasuke want to show off his new technique to Sakura that she is impress and love struck. Sakura is now more intrigue and want to know more about Sasuke. :3c Art by and Credit to Soul-Yagami64 Please follow his twitter and deviantart account twitter.com/soulyagami64

https://www.deviantart.com/soul-yagami64

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