Naruto:A New Path

Finally Home

Stars filled the sky of the vast forest that lead to Konoha. Naruto, Shikamaru and a Naruto clone carrying Sasuke walked through the dirt road that would lead them home. It had been hours since they had left the Sand village and they were glad to make it to a cooler environment. They were close to the village, about half a day away if they didn't make any stops. Luckily Sasuke hadn't woken up yet, which relieved them of what would be a major problem.
As soon as they had left the Sand village, Shikamaru had tied Sasuke up with several pieces of wire. After that Naruto had taken a few minutes to make a single clone, not having the use of his right hand made the task very difficult. Once the clone carried the Uchiha, the two Chunin began their trek back to the Leaf village.
The trip had been a long one and it wasn't over yet. Since Naruto was still sore from the fight, the group had been forced to travel in a slow pace which meant that they were the bait of several bandits that thankfully hadn't shown up. This didn't mean that they would let their guard down, they still kept a clear view of the area to ensure that nobody would suddenly jump out and attack them. Roads between villages were dangerous after all.
Shikamaru gazed at the star-filled dark sky. The breeze was cool against his skin and he couldn't help but let out a yawn, "We should set up camp and call it a night."
Naruto turned to his teammate, a bit taken off by the sudden statement. "Yeah, it's kind of late," he agreed as his eyes took in the area around him. They were in a small clearing with many tall trees and patches of dead grass, "I guess we could camp here."
The lazy Chunin nodded before looking at the clone carrying Sasuke on its back. "Let's take turns keeping watch," he began, "There's always the possibility of bandits popping out. We can't let them get the drop on us or we're as good as dead."
"Having to keep an eye out for Sasuke doesn't help much either…" Naruto muttered with a frown on his face. The blond took a scroll out of his vest, "Who's taking the first watch?"
Shikamaru watched as Naruto poured chakra into the scroll before letting out a sigh. "I'll keep the first watch since you're the one that needs the most rest," he decided as a small cloud of smoke covered the scroll on the blond's left hand. The smoke cleared to reveal a dark orange sleeping bag, making the shadow-user let out an annoyed groan, "Why did you ask who was taking the first watch if you were already taking out your sleeping bag?" The blond in question simply broke into a grin before laying down on his sleeping bag, "Troublesome blond. You're starting to act like Ino, a thing that this world doesn't need."
Naruto chuckled as he closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep. His mind wondered to the events that had taken place in the last few days. Kiba going into a coma, his fight with Sasuke, the death of Ayumu, Kankuro's injuries and finally, the fight with Red Death. Things weren't looking good so far, the mission had been a failure and many people had gotten hurt. He couldn't help but place a bit of blame on his leading skills, maybe if he had done some things differently nobody would be hurt.
The Chunin felt himself losing consciousness as he went over his thoughts. It hadn't really been his fault, the mission had just been too dangerous for them. He remembered Kakashi's words, 'those who break the rules are scum but those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum.' Thinking about those words calmed him down, he hadn't abandoned his comrades, in fact he made sure that they returned home alive.
With that final thought the blond fell asleep, not blaming himself for how bad the mission went. That part of him was gone now. He wouldn't blame himself, he would just get stronger and make sure it doesn't happen again.
The sun peeked in the horizon of the Hidden Leaf village. People walked through the streets to start their daily activities. Such was the case of Ino who carried a few bags of seeds with a pout on her face. It had been her day off from Tsunade's training and she had planned to sleep in, but that had gone down the drain when her mom had barged into her room so that she could run an errand.
' Why wake me up early today?' Ino's pout deepened as she made her way through the streets. Her body was sore from all the training and she had a light headache due to the short amount of sleep she had gotten.
"Ino!" a familiar voice called out. The kunoichi turned around to see Sakura walking towards her.
"What's wrong forehead?" Ino cocked her head to the side with a confused look on her face.
"I just heard something," she stated, her expression turning to one of worry. The blonde kunoichi raised a brow at this, "Is it true that Naruto and Sasuke went out on a mission together?"
Ino put on a thoughtful expression. She hadn't heard much about Naruto's mission since he had left on short notice without having a lot of time to say bye. He hadn't said anything about who he went with but she guessed that going with Sasuke was possible since they were teammates.
"I knew that Naruto went on a mission but I didn't hear with who…" she informed with a light frown, not knowing why Sakura appeared to be worried, "Why do you look so worried anyway? It's not like they're strangers that haven't worked together before."
Sakura shook her head. "It's not that. I just don't trust Naruto that much," she admitted before flinching under Ino's harsh glare. She gulped before continuing, "I mean, he just became a Chunin and I don't think that he should be leading a team."
"He's a good squad leader," Ino snapped, taking Sakura by surprise. The blonde kunoichi caught herself and took a breath to control herself. She hated it whenever someone talked bad about Naruto, as if he hadn't had enough when he was a kid, "He was a leader on my last mission and everything came out okay. Besides, he's pretty serious when it comes to missions."
"Right…" Sakura muttered, not completely convinced. It wasn't that she didn't trust Naruto's abilities, it was his lack of responsibility that got her worried. Her teammates were out on a mission with one of them, a fresh Chunin, being the squad leader. She didn't think that there was anything wrong with worrying over them.
Ino scowled as she crossed her arms. "Anything else you want?" she asked in a harsher tone than intended. She caught herself and let out a sigh before smiling lightly. "It's just that I have to take these home," she motioned at the bags on her hands, "My mom wants to grow these in the garden."
The pink haired kunoichi smiled as an idea struck her. "Do you mind if I help you with the bags," she offered. Ino hesitantly gave her one of the bags, looking at her oddly. Sakura caught the look and frowned, "Hey, I just haven't seen your mom in a while and thought it would be polite to go and say hi."
The Yamanaka smiled and led the way. It had been a while, years even, since she had spent time with Sakura. They had been good friends but allowed a childish crush to break them apart. But now all had changed, she was happy with Naruto and there was nothing to keep her friendship with Sakura from healing.
Ino smiled as she kept on walking, now with Sakura trailing along. She was glad that the pink haired kunoichi had been around. Her arms were really sore and it was great to have someone to carry some of the bags for her, at least until Naruto got back, that job was his after all.
Danzo was a calculating man. He always planned ahead of time and knew to be patient, which was why he still pursued the title of Hokage. That title would bring him more power to protect the village and mold it to his liking. As things stood, the village was too peaceful, something that made the ninja weak and unaccustomed to war. If things stayed like they were then any other hidden village could easily destroy them, it was a good thing that he had his Root to fight back since he couldn't rely on other ninja.
The elder currently sat on the empty council room. It was a large room with few paintings on its wall and a large circular table where all the members sat. There was a larger chair facing the door, which was where the Hokage would sit during meetings. This is where he currently sat, his elbows resting on the table, going over the information he had received.
Apparently, the jinchuuriki was in a relationship with the Yamanaka clan heir. He found this to be unacceptable but knew not to do anything against it. Unlike his informant on the matter, the Haruno council member, he wouldn't make his displeasure known, not yet anyway. By the looks of things, Inoichi approved which meant that other clan heads wouldn't mind either, except for the Hyuuga if he swayed them a little bit. Of course the Hokage would also approve of them, the man had a soft spot for the brat, which meant that trying to sway the council was out of the question.
The Konoha elder narrowed his eyes as he thought of a way to make the situation favor him. In reality he couldn't care less about the relationship of the two kids, in fact he didn't care about them in general. What he cared about was the jinchuuriki, the same that had been out of his reach before. He remember setting everything up so that he could make the brat into one of his Root ninja but it had failed after the Third had refused the idea and ordered the council to do the same, not leaving room for any oppositions.
He hadn't given up on controlling the Kyuubi, much like he hadn't given up on being Hokage. The jinchuuriki was still young and could be easily manipulated it he played his cards right. Things like relationships, responsibility and pride were the best things to use if attempting to take control of someone. This wouldn't happen overnight of course, he would need to make his move slowly.
The elder rose from his chair, knowing what needed to be done. He would attempt to control the Kyuubi by using the relationship against him. To do this he would need his Root, having someone find out would result in a bad outcome. He would try to get his ninja on missions with the brat, this way they could gain his trust and sway his mind towards what he wanted.
' The Kyuubi will be under my control,' he thought as he made his way to the door. This time nobody would stop him. Once the brat was under his control then he would bury his identity, probably fake his dead if need be.
' Fake the jinchuuriki's death…' Danzou mused, remembering the night of the Kyuubi attack. He smirked as he recalled a memory. He had bred a large amount of hate that day. Hate that he knew wouldn't disappear over the years, of this he was sure. He assumed that she would be back for revenge one day but he wasn't too worried about it, when the time came his Root would take her down. To think that it all happened because of faking its death. An almost chuckle escaped his lips, "It wouldn't be the first time I've faked the Kyuubi's death…"
With that the elder left the council room, calculating his next move.
"Calm down already!" a Naruto clone exclaimed at the trashing teen on his back.
Sasuke struggled against the ninja wire that held him in place. "Why are there bandages on my eye? What happened Naruto?" he roared in rage. He glared at the blond walking ahead. For some reason he hadn't spoken to him yet and refused to answer any of his questions, the main one being why there were bandages all around his right eye, "Answer me!"
Shikamaru sighed as he dug his hands into his pockets. "Just take it easy already," he pleaded with an annoyed expression on his face. Sasuke had woken up only a few hours ago and he had yet to shut up. The lazy Chunin was thoroughly pissed by this and was starting to get a headache. He wondered how long it would be until they reached Konoha since he hadn't been able to keep track of time.
"How much longer till we get there?" Shikamaru asked the blond walking ahead of them. He noticed that Sasuke stopped his struggling to pay attention to what the other Chunin had to say. The shadow-user guessed that he wanted to get home as much as they did.
"We should be close now," Naruto began. He turned to his two teammates, his eyes lingering on the clone carrying Sasuke on its back before turning to his fellow Chunin. "Do you mind carrying Sasuke for a while?" he asked Shikamaru, who instantly scowled at the idea of work. "It's just so the clone can run up ahead and tell us how much longer it will take to get home," he quickly added.
"Fine," Shikamaru sighed out. He really wanted to know how much closer they were to home after a whole day of traveling, anything to get Sasuke to stop yelling. They had gotten up early in the morning, so early in fact that it it had been dark out. With the threat of bandits and missing ninja, they had decided on leaving only a few minutes after waking up.
The lazy Chunin walked over to the clone, inwardly smirking when it simply dropped Sasuke off its back before leaping away from the area. Much to Sasuke's rage, Shikamaru hoisted him on his back before walking over to Naruto.
"He'd better get back quickly," the Nara muttered, sending a glare at the struggling Uchiha on his back.
Naruto grinned weakly before turning back to the road ahead. The real reason why he had sent the clone to look ahead was because he hadn't been keeping track of time either. All he knew was that it was getting late, the sun was setting after all, and that they should be a lot closer to Konoha since they had been walking all day.
The blond glared at the cast wrapped around his right arm. If he hadn't been hurt then they would be at the village already, instead they were stuck walking around the forest for two whole days. And the worst thing of all was that he had only eaten crappy food for the last few days since he hadn't had the time to look for any ramen at the Sand village. All in all, he hated this mission with a passion, he was glad that they were done with it.
The clone's memory suddenly hit Naruto, making him smile instantly. He turned to his teammates with the smile never leaving his face. "We're not that far away," he declared with a laugh, "It should only take us about an hour to get back home." Shikamaru let out a sigh of relief while Sasuke suppressed a grin, "Let's get going already."
Shikamaru's eyes widened as he watched Naruto walk ahead of them. "Wait, who's going to carry Sasuke?" getting no response from the blond, the lazy Chunin groaned. He was stuck with carrying Sasuke, what did he do to deserve this?
The two Chunin currently staying on guard duty were struck by an unusual sight. Two Chunin walked to the village and, since it's the middle of the night, had an unearthly glow around them. If that wasn't odd enough, then the clone carrying another ninja certainly did it.
One of the Chunin approached the team of ninja, carrying a look of confusion on his face. "What's going on here?" it wasn't until now that he took notice of the bad state the ninja were in. One of them had a cast around his right arm, another looked as if he hadn't had an ounce of sleep and finally the last Uchiha, Sasuke, had bandages covering his right eye. This could not be good.
The Chunin in current guard duty turned to his partner and gave him a nod, just as Shikamaru began to talk. "We just got back from our mission in the Sand village," the shadow-user put a hand on the back of his neck before letting out a frustrated sigh, "One of our ninja turned on us and we had to tie him up."
Naruto watched the older Chunin nod. He looked familiar but he couldn't remember where he had seen him. The man had black hair sticking out of the headband he wore as a bandanna. The other man had spiky black hair and had a white piece of cloth covering part of his nose and cheeks.
"Alright," the older Chunin answered before waving his hand in the air. In an instant, a group of ninja appeared around them, "Take the ninja the blond is carrying to the hospital, he looks pretty banged up." The ninja nodded and took the trashing Sasuke off the clone's shoulders before disappearing in clouds of smoke, "You don't have to worry about him now. We'll report his actions to the Hokage and make sure he's punished for it."
"Thanks for your help. I'll go give the Hokage our mission report later," Shikamaru stated.
The ninja wearing the bandanna smiled. "Don't worry about it," he waved off. "I'm Izumo Kamizuki," he introduced before motioning to the other Chunin that was currently writing something into a piece of paper, "That's Kotetsu Hagane over there. It was nice to meet you guys."
"Nice to meet you too. I'm Naruto Uzumaki and that's Shikamaru," Naruto answered with a weary smile before turning to his remaining clone, "Do you think you can keep going?" The clone simply nodded. The blond inwardly let out a sigh of relief, it was much easier when his clones kept quiet, "Do you think you can get me some ramen. I"m really hungry." The clone nodded before setting off without a word, his steps a little shaky.
Shikamaru and the older Chunin watched the clone run into the village before suddenly bursting in a cloud of smoke. The two turned to see Naruto fall to his knees, panting heavily.
"You alright?" Shikamaru asked, kneeling next to him and putting a hand on his shoulder.
Naruto's vision grew blurry as he gave a nod. "I just need some rest…" he slurred, his head pounding and his stomach burning. He shut his eyes in an attempt to lessen his pain but it only made it worse. His eyes opened to see a couple of blurs rushing at him before his whole world went blank.
He found himself inside of his mind once again. The familiar sound of dripping water greeted his ears as his eyes darted around the dark sewer that was his mind. With no idea of why exactly he was here, he decided on speaking with the Kyuubi. A conversation with the damned demon was never a good thing but it probably knew why he was here at the moment.
Naruto walked through the empty halls of his mind, the water splashing with each step. He heard a low rumbling echo throughout the area and knew that he was getting close. Turning one more corner of the sewers he was greeted with the Kyuubi's giant smirking face, rage burning on his eyes as usual.
"Why am I here fox?" the blond spat in anger, much to the amusement of the demon.
"You have managed to put me in danger again. You damned brat," the Kyuubi growled.
Naruto's eyes narrowed on the fox, "What the hell are you talking about? I haven't done anything."
The demon fox growled. "You fool!" it roared in rage, "You got captured by the enemy. Because of that, there's something very wrong in your body."
"Something wrong?" the blond muttered with wide eyes. How could he have forgotten? He had been captured by Red Death, a sealing master, she could have put seals on his body or changed something on his seal without him knowing.
"Loosen up the seal," the Kyuubi suggested, his smirk widening, "I will fix what you have caused in an instant. I'm the strongest being in the universe, it will be easy for me."
Naruto's eyes narrowed on the fox. "Do you think I'm that stupid? As soon as I loosen the seal you'll break out," he glared at the demon, "I don't need your help. I'll find a way to fix this on my own."
"You will pay for having me here brat,"
the fox spat in hatred, "As soon as I have control of you I'll hurt those closest to you. I'll bring them immeasurable pain before killing them with your own two hands. You won't be able to stop me!"
Naruto glared at the fox before turning his back on it and beginning to walk away before turning around and glaring at the fox one last time. "You've probably heard this line before but…" his blue eyes showed nothing for hatred for the beast locked within him, "If you hurt anyone... I
will find a way to killyou."
With that the blond left, the world around him fazing from view.
Tsunade watched over Naruto with a worried frown on her face. She had gone over the injuries over his body and found that his right arm was heavily damaged despite its normal appearance, it was as if he had been hit by something that only struck internally. Not to mention the injuries on his ribs and the case of chakra exhaustion he had suffered only hours ago.
She had been at her office at the time when Jiraiya suddenly entered to tell her that Naruto had just gotten back to the village and fainted. He had said something about a seal but she had left before he could finish, it wasn't as if he wouldn't talk to her later anyway. Whenever the pervert was around Konoha he would stay for a few days which gave them a lot of free time to talk.
Tsunade gave a look of surprise when Naruto began to stir before his eyes opened. His eyes wondered around the room before they landed on the legendary medic, his face forming into a look of confusion.
"Where am I?" he asked before letting out a yawn.
The medic smiled and crossed her arms. "You're in the hospital," she began, "You suffered from a case of chakra exhaustion and fainted on the spot. I'm surprised you're awake so quickly."
Naruto nodded with a grin on his face. "I feel a lot better," he confessed, "My head hurt a little but it's not too bad."
"Let me be the judge of that," Tsunade scolded before looking over the blond's body. His arm was a lot better thanks to her earlier work as were his ribs, it looked as if someone tried to heal them but they didn't do a very good job at it. She sensed the chakra in his body and found it to be increasing at a steady pace. "How..?" she muttered in disbelief. He was a lot healthier than a few hours ago, it was as if he had been in the hospital for days.
"I told you already, didn't I?" came the voice of Jiraiya from the hospital room's door.
"Jiraiya-sensei," Naruto greeted with a smile.
The toad sage chuckled and walked over to the blond. "It's been a while kid. You haven't been doing too well I see," he teased receiving a frown from his student, "Don't take it so seriously kid, you're on your way."
"Do you know why he healed so quickly?" Tsunade cut in with a serious expression.
Jiraiya nodded with his mouth forming into a thin line. "There was some kind of seal on his stomach, right on top of the Kyuubi's," he explained, his expression growing grim, "Now, on its own it would have negated any influence the fox had on Naruto, but unlike Orochimaru's it wouldn't have really messed with his chakra control."
"They tried to help him?" the medic asked incredulously. She and Naruto giving Jiraiya their full attention.
"It looks like it," the toad sage admitted before crossing his arms, "But something went wrong. It looks like something forced more of the fox's chakra than first intended. This made the new seal alter the original." The sage turned to Naruto with a frown on his face, "Do you know what could have forced the chakra out of the suppression seal?"
Naruto narrowed his eyes in an attempt to focus. He couldn't really think of anything, the only people who might know what was going on would be Red Death or Ayumu. "I remember!" he exclaimed, his eyes widening at the revelation, "This old man I met put some seals on me. The seals healed me pretty quickly and after that I had to use the fox's chakra to fight."
Jiraiya nodded, rubbing his chin, "That must be what changed the seal."
"How did this change his seal?" Tsunade asked with a frown, "Is there any danger to Naruto?"
The toad sage shook his head. "From what I've seen, it closed the gaps left by the original seal," he answered in a grim tone. Tsunade's eyes widened, already knowing what would happen, "This means access to the Kyuubi's chakra will be close to none. His body adjusting to that change must have been what caused his chakra exhaustion but now that it's over the shock he's going back to normal. I'm actually surprised that he lasted as long as he did." The sage crossed his arms and looked at his student with a light grin, "If you lasted as long as you did then that means that there was a lot of the fox's chakra left in your system. Just how much of the fox's chakra did you use to have it last for two days?"
Naruto looked at Jiraiya with a serious expression on his face. "I can't call on the Kyuubi's chakra anymore?" he asked, ignoring his master's question. He received a nod from the toad sage. The blond smirked, remembering his last conversation with the fox, "That's fine with me. I don't want to use any of its chakra."
"You don't get it do you?" Jiraiya frowned, "This is more serious than that. You need that power to help you against the Akatsuki."
"No I don't," the blond Chunin argued, "I'll just train a lot harder so that I don't have to use its chakra again."
Jiraiya looked at his student with a disapproving look on his face, "Listen kid, you nee-"
"Enough!" Tsunade broke in, tired of having the two argue. She pointed at the blond and glared at Jiraiya, "He's still healing, the last thing he needs is someone arguing with him. We can just talk about this later."
"Fine," Jiraiya agreed with a scowl. He turned to leave but suddenly stopped on his tracks. "Get healed soon alright?" he suddenly smirked, reverting back to his old self, "I have a surprise for you when your arm is all better."
With that the sage left, leaving a very confused Naruto behind.
The blond turned to Tsunade. "So I'm a lot better now, right?" he asked with a tinge of hope on his voice.
"You are, why do you ask?" the medic looked at Naruto with a curious expression on her face, not knowing why he was asking.
"Then can I leave the hospital already?" he pleaded with a hopeful look on his face.
Tsunade sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose, or course he would ask something like that. "You could, but you're too dangerous to be left alone," she explained receiving a frown from the blond, "Right now you need rest and people to look after you. Who's to say you won't collapse again? Knowing you, you'll end up doing just that."
Naruto sighed in frustration. "Come one granny? Can't you think of something?" he whined with his arms crossed, "I've been spending too much time in hospitals lately. I just don't want to stay here anymore."
Tsunade thought it over before letting out a defeated sigh. "Fine, there's something we can do," she gave in before suddenly perking up, realizing that it wasn't such a bad idea. This way he would have someone watching over him, whether it'd be her or Shizune, "In fact, it's what we're going to do."
Naruto suddenly thought that maybe he shouldn't have asked for anything.
Shikamaru fidgeted under the Hokage's calculating gaze. The man could be really intimidating when he wanted to. It reminded him of being scolded by his dad from time to time, not that he was a kid that acted out in fact it was quite the opposite. He would get scolded for not doing anything, though it only happened because his mom pressured her father into doing it.
The Third took a drag out of his pipe, closing his eyes to calm himself. "Sasuke Uchiha turned on you during the mission and fought Naruto, putting your whole team in danger," he stated with a tired look on his face, sometimes he felt like he was too old for this, "I can't punish him until I hear both of their stories, they both deserve to have the benefit of doubt for now. But don't worry, I'll see to it that he's punished. Is there anything else that happened in your mission?"
The lazy Chunin hated putting more weight on the tired man but he had to give him the last ounce of information. "No sir," he replied before his expression grew into a serious one, "The Sand council tried to get us killed."
"What do you mean?" the Third asked with his eyes narrowing.
"They hired a mercenary to kill us during the mission," he informed, watching the Hokage's eyes shine in a silent fury, "We managed to take him down but he did prevent us from helping the others with Red Death."
"I see," he muttered, trying to keep a cool head. In reality he was furious with the Sand, they had betrayed them during the Chunin Exams and had just done it again. They hadn't learned anything. He was opposed to war but it seemed as the only way to get them to understand at the moment.
"We also met an old lady named Chiyo," Shikamaru continued, snapping the Hokage's attention back to the teen, "She said that the council that wanted us dead is now gone and that they would be forming a new one. I told her that I would tell you..."
The Hokage nodded with a light smile on his face. "Very well. Congratulations on your mission. Even though it wasn't a success, you managed to come back alive. That is always good news," he nodded once more, "You're free to leave."
"Right," Shikamaru said before leaving the office, hoping to catch up on sleep.
The Third sat behind his desk quietly, the hat on his head now a lot heavier. Decisions like this weighed heavily on a person, he wasn't sure if he could handle another war at his age. He didn't know how to go about the Sand, they had gotten rid of the council which would have been one of the demands he had made on them. But still the question stood, what would he do with them?