Naruto:A New Path

A New Threat

A week had passed since the mission to Sound, almost two months since they had invaded Konoha. Things in the Leaf were looking much better than before, most of the buildings had been repaired, many ninja had been healed and classes at the Ninja Academy had begun once more. Konoha was slowly returning to its former self with the threat of Sound disappearing with each passing day.
These were the things that Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, mused as he observed the village from the roof of his office. He closed his eyes and inhaled the contents of the pipe on his mouth, smoking was one of the things that would relieve his stress nowadays though he knew that it wasn't very healthy.
His eyes opened when he heard the sound of footsteps. "Did you find anything Jiraiya?" the Hokage asked his old student.
Jiraiya smirked from behind his teacher and crossed his arms. He had returned to the village a few days prior and had been told that some documents on the Curse Seal had been found. Him being a seal master had been asked to analyze the papers. "Not much…" he admitted in a light tone, "The information found of the Curse Seal is pretty outdated. I could probably figure out a way to cancel the new one but it would take some time."
"How long?" Sarutobi asked with a hint of tiredness on his voice.
"About a year," Jiraiya informed. Watching the frown on his teacher's face, the sage continued, "I know that you're worried about Orochimaru getting the sharingan but I believe that one year is more than enough time. Right now I'm able to recreate his old Curse Seal and remove it without much trouble but with the proper time I'll be able to counter anything he comes up with."
Sarutobi turned to Jiraiya with a serious expression. "Are you sure about being able to remove the old Cursed Seal of Heaven?" he asked, "Do you think you could be able to use it on a person?"
"Sure…" Jiraiya muttered in confusion, not sure what his teacher was implying.
"Good," the Third said with a light smile on his face, "Do you know of Anko?"
Jiraiya's eyes widened in understanding, a smile forming on his face. "Of course. How could I forget?" he scolded himself, "If she's willing to cooperate then I'll be able to get the Curse Mark off of her."
"Cooperate with what?" Sarutobi asked in slight concern, hoping that his former student wasn't thinking of anything perverted.
Jiraiya smirked as he suppressed a laugh, already thinking of the consequences of his decision. "I've been wanting to expand Naruto's taijutsu for a while now…" he began, "I thought of teaching him some of my other taijutsu but they're just watered down versions of the Toad taijutsu style. Anko's taijutsu is almost a polar opposite of the Toad style so she'll be the perfect teacher."
"I can already tell that this is going to end badly," Sarutobi muttered as he watched Jiraiya's smirk.
"Dammit," Sasuke growled as he punched the training log in front of him, making small dents with each strike. Blood dripped from his knuckles but he couldn't care less, rage fueled his system and he wouldn't let up because of a little pain.
Sasuke was on the small training ground located on the back of his home. The Uchiha's were a clan of ruthless shinobi, so it was obvious that they would have training grounds on their compound and homes. Something that Sasuke didn't understand was why most of the Uchiha had been living sheltered lives, hindering their progress. Looking back now, part of him was glad that those fools had been killed but he would still have his revengel, not because Itachi had killed them but because he had soiled their family name.
The Uchiha glared at the log in front of him, remembering why he had intensified his training it the beginning. Naruto's power had grown to a point where it concerned him. Being overshadowed by the blond idiot was the last thing he wanted, he was an Uchiha, the clan that held the most powerful ninjas.
As he glared at the log the curse seal began to play its part. Black spots covered the Uchiha's left shoulder as he growled in anger, gone was the dented log, now Naruto stood on its place with a mocking smile on his face. The Uchiha snarled as 'Naruto' gave a cocky grin, as if he didn't deem him a threat anymore.
The sharingan came to life, glaring at the image of the blond. A loud chirping echoed through the Uchiha compound as Sasuke charged his Chidori with hatred on his eyes. He wouldn't let Naruto be superior than him, he would rather die than see that day.
"Naruto!" Sasuke roared as he charged at 'Naruto.' The chirping increased as the Chidori pierced through the image, leaving a gaping hole on the thick log. Sasuke panted before breaking into a smirk, he could feel his power growing and he would put Naruto on his place when they met again, he would make sure of it.
Shino kneeled on the ground of his Team's training ground. Trees adorned the area with a small stream diving the area. It was a rather common setting of the Leaf village but it brought the bug-user peace. He deemed it a good place to train and was trying his best to make sure that he wouldn't hinder his team again.
The mission to the Sound bases had been an eye-opener for him. It showed him that he relied too much on his clan's abilities. The enemy had rendered his bugs useless rather easily and had left him completely vulnerable to attacks. When he first came back to Konoha he had instantly spoken to his teacher, asking her to help him learn other types of jutsu. Through a small test he had found out that he had an Earth affinity. He had found some scrolls with Earth jutsu on his clan's library, though it was a small number, and had begun his training the next day.
"I almost have it down," he muttered as he struggled to stand. He would make sure to fix his weaknesses from now on since he blamed himself for what happened to Kiba, his own teammate, "I won't be a burden."
Naruto smiled in excitement, still on his taijutsu stance while Choji stood in front of him with a wary look on his face. He and Team 10 had taken to spar once in a while to keep their skills sharp while at the same time familiarizing with their attacks if they needed to team up again.
Ino stood on the side of Team Seven's training grounds with a smile on her face, watching the two spar. She looked a little tired herself but for different reasons. Her training with Kurenai had become more intense and required more chakra control than before, forcing her to not only train on her control whenever she could but to try to grow her reserves. Only a few moments ago she had been doing chakra control exercises and had used most of her chakra up.
"Let's call it a day," Naruto said with a smile on his face, no more bandages covering any part of his body.
Choji smiled. "Good, it was time to eat anyway," he said with glee as he reached into his kunai pouch and withdrew a small bag of chips.
"W-what the hell?" Naruto asked incredulously.
"I know," Choji answered with a sigh, looking a little disappointed, "I couldn't fit the usual chips on my kunai pouch so I had to settle for a smaller bag."
Naruto sighed with his arms crossed. "Right…" he hung his head and turned to Ino, "What should we do now?"
"Hmm," Ino put a hand on her chin, looking thoughtful. Naruto chuckled at her thinking pose but didn't say anything, "Why don't we go to my house? I'm sure my parents would love to eat with you again!"
"Dinner!/Parents!" Choji and Naruto exclaimed at the same time.
Ino frowned and crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes on Naruto. "Is there a problem?" she asked.
Naruto paled under Ino's gaze, he knew not to say anything stupid when Ino got like this. He settle for chuckling nervously and scratching the back of his head, "N-no problem."
"Good," Ino responded with a happy smile though she still seemed a little mad, "Are you coming with us Choji."
"I-I'm good, I have some things to do anyway," he responded a little nervously.
"Okay," Ino answered with a nod as she took hold of Naruto's hand and dragged him away, the Chunin glaring at Choji the whole time.
' Traitor!' Naruto mouthed to Choji, making the Genin look away in shame. They might be friends but he knew better than to approach an angry Ino.
Once they were out of view, Ino turned to Naruto with an angry look on her face. "Now that we're alone…" she began, her gaze making the Chunin gulp.
Without warning Ino took hold of Naruto's vest before pulling him towards her, locking lips with him. The blond's eyes widened before he returned the kiss, taking in the feeling of Ino's lips on his. She suddenly pulled away, making him look at her oddly.
"What's wrong Ino?" Naruto asked in confusion, a hint of disappointment on his voice.
Ino smiled. "I know that you feel uncomfortable with adults because of… you know," she began with a hint of sadness on her eyes, "I just want you to try to get along with them."
Naruto looked unsure for a moment but seeing Ino's pleading look gave him his answer. "Alright," he answered with a small smile, "But your dad is still a tad scary."
"That's just how he is," Ino admitted in an amused tone. She held Naruto's hand, giving him a smile before walking alongside him.
The two walked in silence, ignoring the odd looks coming from the villagers. They hadn't spent much time together since the mission to the Sound bases since Naruto spent most of the week in the hospital. Tsunade had made sure that every single scratch on Naruto had been healed and managed to keep him from escaping the building. It was a comical sight to see, Naruto running from Tsunade on a hospital robe almost every day.
Ino had spent some time in the hospital also but stayed only for two days since she only suffered from chakra exhaustion. The day she was fit to leave the hospital her parents had taken her home and told her to take it easy for a while, having her help out on the shop with small things. Ino was of course annoyed at being treated like this but didn't voice her opinion since she knew that her parents only wanted to make sure she was okay.
"Naruto?," Ino muttered as she rested her head on the blond's shoulder.
"What is it?" Naruto asked.
She looked unsure for a moment but knew that they had to address the situation. "Are you still blaming yourself over what happened to Kiba?" she felt Naruto tense up and knew that she hit the nail, "It wasn't your fault, he only tried to help."
Naruto sighed. "I know," he muttered a little sadly, "But I still feel like it's kind of my fault. If I had been stronger then I wouldn't have needed him to help me. Now he's in a coma and they're not sure if he'll wake up. I guess I'm only feeling guilty that I couldn't help him."
"It'll be alright," Ino assured, her hand squeezing Naruto's.
When Kiba was taken to the hospital, the doctors found his head injury to be serious. The injury combined with the blood loss and head trauma had brought his body into shock before falling into a coma. Tsunade had been the first to treat the Genin but found that she could do nothing since using chakra around his brain would be too risky. It was all up to Kiba in the end, his mother and sister visit him daily with Hinata doing the same. She had been making sure that Kiba was comfortable and had been rather sad to see her outgoing teammate in the state he was in.
"I hope so," Naruto answered as he tightened his grip on Ino's hand.
On the lonely desert surrounding the Sand village stood a ninja wearing a gas-mask, the ninja also wore a brown cloak that covered the headband he wore proudly on his forehead. The ninja watched the endless sand without uttering a sound, simply watching the wind carry the sand away. Crows flew high in the sky, circling the ninja, anticipating their meal.
The ninja's brown gloved hands made their way into the pockets of his sandy brown pants, as he walked away from the scene. Behind him the sand was painted a crimson red, a squad of gutless Sand ninjas lay lifelessly on the ground with others on the verge of death, watching the crows in terror. The crows screeched before swooping down to claim their meal.
The air was awkward around the Yamanaka home. Naruto, Ino, Inoichi, and Miki sat on a table with their plates clean of food. Inoichi kept throwing nasty looks at Naruto, the blond sat way too close to his daughter. Miki was happy to have Naruto over and glad to find out that he was her daughter's boyfriend. Ino could feel the uncomfortable air her boyfriend was giving off due to Inoichi's glares and motioned her dad to stop.
"N-nice of you guys to have me here," Naruto suddenly said with a nervous smile, feeling Inoichi's gaze on him harden.
"It was our pleasure," Miki answered with a smile, "Right Inoichi?"
"Right," Inoichi muttered with his eyes never leaving Naruto. He actually approved of the kid but found that making him nervous was just too amusing, no wonder his father-in-law had done it to him when he started dating Miki.
"Well I guess I'll get going, it's getting late," Naruto announced as he sat up and prepared to leave, "Thank you for having me over."
"I'll walk you out," Ino offered as she walked after Naruto, leaving her parents alone.
As soon as Ino walked out Miki slapped her husband on the back of his head. "What was that for!" Inoichi exclaimed in surprise.
"You know what you're doing," Miki said in a dangerously sweet tone, making Inoichi gulp, "Stop messing with Naruto, I can tell that Ino really likes him."
"And what if I don't?" Inoichi replied but froze under his wife's glare, "J-just kidding."
"Good," Miki said in a happy tone though her eyes told a different story.
The Third Hokage sat behind his desk with a serious look on his face. Jiraiya leaned against the window of the office with a frown, thinking of a reason as to why the man needed help. In front of them stood Gaki, a Sand ninja that had attacked during the invasion, he had come to contact the Hokage since they were in need of help.
"Please Lord Hokage," Gaki pleaded, "I ask you to forget out past differences and help us with our problem."
Sarutobi nodded. "I understand, but remember that we attacked back. You coming here is telling us that the Sand has gotten past our differences and we'll do the same," he assured with a nod, "Now tell me what's wrong."
Gaki nodded as he closed his eyes. "There have been reports of many of our squads being murdered on the outside of our village," he informed, earning surprised looks from Jiraiya and the Hokage, "We can't send just anyone to deal with them since our village is in a state of crisis. Right now the council are acting as the leaders of the village and we can't afford to send a Jonin since we're taking as many missions as possible. Sending a Jonin would make our situation even worse."
"You want me to send some of my ninja to find the murderer…" the Third pondered with a serious look, "As you know, our village is also taking as many missions as possible and most of our Jonin are out on missions at the moment." Seeing the shocked look on Gaki's face, the Third continued, "But that doesn't mean I won't help. I'll send a capable team to take care of the problem."
"That'll be alright but we plan on sending one of our ninjas also," Gaki informed.
"Who will you be sending?" Sarutobi asked in curiosity.
"We plan on sending Gaara," Gaki deadpanned.
Night fell on Konoha, the village now quiet with a few people wondering the streets. Naruto sat on his apartment's couch with a scroll on hand. He read the contents of the scroll before giving out a sigh and running a hand through his hair. He set the scroll on the couch before sitting up and walking to his small kitchen, careful not to step on the many objects scattered around the floor. The blond reached into the refrigerator and pulled out a carton of milk, careful to see the expiration day before taking a big gulp.
Jiraiya had given him a scroll on sealing some time ago, it was how he had started to practice the art. Right now he found his next lesson to be more difficult than the others, it talked about different uses of summoning seals. He found that summoning seals were probably the most complex of all since they could be used in many ways and mix with other types of seals easily, making it hard to remember them.
As he put the carton of milk down he prepared to go back to reading but was surprised to see a messenger hawk on his window. He walked over to it and took the scroll attached to the small belt it wore around its back. The hawk flew away into the darkness of the night while Naruto went to sit on the sofa.
' I wonder what they want?' he asked himself as he opened the scroll to find an A-ranked mission. He read over the details and frowned, from the looks of things it would be a quick yet dangerous mission, 'At least the team I got assigned is good.'
"Life as a Chunin is tough, huh kid?" came the voice of Jiraiya. Naruto turned around to see Jiraiya walking around his apartment, looking over Naruto's possessions, "Ever heard of cleaning kid?"
"Too busy," Naruto replied with a smirk. He ran a hand through his hair with a frown on his face as he motioned at the scroll, "I do wonder why there are people like this."
"Remember that we live in a big world," Jiraiya began with a look of understanding, "Each person has different ideals and have gone through different things. Many experiences breed hate and it corrupts the person, making them do stupid things."
"Then why can't we just end the hate?" Naruto asked in desperation.
Jiraiya smiled. "I'm glad I made you my apprentice," he admitted. Naruto gave him an odd look, making the sage chuckle, "I've always asked myself how to stop the hate but can't find an answer myself. I'm glad that I'll have someone else looking for the answer long after I'm gone."
"Don't worry Jiraiya-sensei, I'll find the answer one day," Naruto affirmed with a grin on his face.
Gaara stood before the Sand village council. They had requested him to see him in order to talk about the mission they had assigned him. He could see the hate in their eyes and knew that they assigned him the mission in hopes of getting him killed and saw him only as a tool to be used. Instead of just attacking, like he did before, he knew to keep his cool and not let them get to him. Naruto had shown him that there was hope for them and to never give up no matter what the world threw at you. He had taken those words to heart and would prove that he wasn't a monster anymore.
"There have been reports of our shinobi killed on the outskirts of the village," one of the councilmen began, "We have asked the Leaf for help and they agreed to send a team of ninja. You are to join them and make sure to kill whoever is doing this to our ninja."
"Also remember to keep an eye on the Leaf ninja," a councilwoman warned, "Though they gave us their word, we can't fully trust them. They might attack us if we're not careful, don't be afraid to kill them if the time comes."
Gaara nodded at the council, knowing what he had to do.
"You are dismissed," a councilman said.
"Very well," Gaara muttered as he left the room.
The next morning saw Naruto preparing to leave his apartment. His Chunin vest carried the essentials for an outside mission on the scrolls that filled his pockets and his eyes held a burning determination to get the mission done as fast as possible. He made sure to lock his door as he exited his apartment before making his way to the Hokage's office, where his team was supposed to meet for a last minute briefing from the Hokage.
As he walked through the streets of Konoha his eyes suddenly widened and his blood ran cold. A little distance away from his apartment stood Inoichi with his hardened gaze burning into Naruto's eyes.
' This is it,' Naruto thought as trickles of sweat ran down his face, 'He's finally come to kill me. Can't say I had a very good life, but farewell everyone.'
"I need to talk to you," Inoichi stated as he walked over to the frozen Naruto. He found it hard to keep from laughing at the blond's gaping face, he wondered if he had looked like that when meeting his father-in-law.
"W-what is it?" Naruto asked with a nervous smile. Missions, enemy ninja, and crazy pedophiles didn't scare him but Inoichi struck terror to the blond.
Inoichi kept his gaze hardened before breaking into a small smirk. "Relax kid, I only came to wish you luck on your mission. Ino said she was sorry she couldn't see you off but she's busy with her training. You're mission to Sand, I heard that it was a hard one so be careful out there," he watched Naruto looked at him in confusion, causing the Jonin to grin in amusement, "Calm down already."
"Yeah…" Naruto sighed out, a little relieved at being able to live longer.
"But remember," Inoichi continued with a cheery tone. "Even though you're her boyfriend, if you ever do anything indecent to my little princess…" gone was the cheery attitude as the Jonin gave an evil aura and glared at Naruto, staring into his soul, "I will castrate you with a spoon."
Naruto swallowed nervously. "I promise that it won't happen," he managed while sweating bullets.
The Jonin nodded before disappearing in a swirl of leaves. Naruto gave a sigh of relief and ran a hand through his hair, getting into that man's bad side would be the last thing he would do. Giving another sigh the Chunin continued on his way to the Hokage's office a little faster this time while throwing quick glances over his shoulder to make sure he wasn't being followed.
"I'll never look at a spoon the same way…" Naruto muttered as he continued on his way.
Shikamaru inwardly sighed as he stood inside the Hokage's office. A mission had disturbed his holy sleeping time the previous night, then the next morning his mom had pestered him on doing a good job on his new mission and to top it off he had ran into the loud Lee earlier, a truly troublesome morning for him. Now he waited for the team that would accompany him to the Sand to show up, wasting the time he could have used to sleep.
The door suddenly opened to reveal a grinning Naruto. "Hey old man," he greeted with a grin on his face, "Sorry about being a little late but I…" He remembered the meeting with Inoichi and shuddered, "I ran into some… perturbing things."
"It's alright Naruto but make sure not to make a habit out of it," the Third replied with a nod, subconsciously thinking about Kakashi's habits.
Naruto chuckled before standing next to Shikamaru, giving him a light nod. "We're going to be on the same team again?" the lazy genius sighed with a playful grin, "I guess it won't be a very peaceful mission if you're involved."
"What can I say?" Naruto replied with a grin, "Trouble just follows me around."
"Now we can begin," the Hokage announced as he took a drag out of his pipe.
Naruto's ears perked up at this, throwing the Hokage an odd look. "Aren't we missing someone?" he asked, "The scroll said that three of us would go to the Sand and meet with another ninja there."
"He's the third member of your team," the Hokage stated, pointing at the doorway.
Naruto turned to his right to see Sasuke enter the office with a blank look on his face. "Hn," the Uchiha grunted as a greeting before standing on the opposite side of his teammates.
"As you know this mission came from the Sand," the Hokage began with a hint of exhaustion on his voice. "Many of their Genin and some Chunin are being murdered on the outskirts of their village. They asked for our aid because they can't afford to send a Jonin but will have a ninja help you with the mission. Remember that our promotion system is different, with us being more demanding, so you should be enough for this mission. You are to find out who's behind the attacks and get rid of the threat. This will be an A-rank mission because it will improve relations with the Sand village, understood?"
"Got it," Naruto replied while his two teammates nodded.
"Then you are to leave for your mission now, good luck," the Hokage ordered as the three ninja left his office. He knew that the threat wasn't too great since only low-leveled ninja were being killed but he still hoped for their safe return, for they carried the Will of Fire.
The Hokage got back to his paperwork and gave a sigh. The stress that came with the job was getting to him and he felt more tired each day. He thought of retiring from the job but knew that it wouldn't be possible until the village was back on its feet, stepping down now would only agitate the villagers. He only hoped that he could retire soon, he missed his reading time.