Naruto:A New Path

New Mission! Naruto's in charge

Naruto was not an emotionally stable person, the mask he wore around people was proof enough of that. Growing up alone and being ignored by everyone made Naruto cherish whatever kind of relationship he could have with other people. He didn't care if people thought of him as an idiot, as long as his existence was acknowledged Naruto didn't care about looking bad. It was no surprise that the blond panicked when Shikamaru asked how he was so sure of Gaara having a demon inside of him.
Shikamaru watched Naruto with a questioning look. The blond seemed to be having an internal battle. He guessed that this was a sensitive subject for Naruto but he didn't know why. Shikamaru had always been an observant person and had been able to notice the way people looked at Naruto. Every time they would look at him with cold eyes, Naruto would get a sad look on his eyes. The genius noticed that Naruto had that same sad look at the moment. Putting two and two together, Shikamaru immediatly knew that the looks people gave him had something to do with what Gaara had said on the hospital.
"How do you he has a demon inside of him Naruto?" Shikamaru asked once again.
Naruto clenched his left fist before relaxing it. "Just a feeling I have!" He exclaimed with a smile plastered on his face.
Shikamaru was about to call him a liar but saw the look on Naruto's eye, a look of pain and desperation. "Fine," he said with a sigh, "What do you plan on doing about Gaara?"
"I'm not sure," Naruto admitted, "We should see how Sasuke does against him and if things look bad I'll enter the fight."
"You'll be disqualified if you interrupt a fight," Shikamaru said with a frown.
Naruto smiled. "I know," he glanced at Sasuke and Gaara with a smirk, "But I really want to fight Sasuke so I can't let him get killed."
"Man," Shikamaru said with a sigh, "I guess I'll help if the situation comes."
"You should also watch your backs," Shino said from behind Naruto.
Naruto jumped away with a yelp. "What the hell Shino! Don't just appear behind people's backs!" He exclaimed with an angry look.
"What did you mean Shino?" Shikamaru asked with a frown, whatever it was Shikamaru knew that it would be a pain in the ass.
"I overheard the sand shinobi talking about a plan," Shino said, "I'm not sure what that plan is but my bugs have detected small spikes of chakra throughout the village's outskirts that disappear before being traced. This means that whatever their planning is big."
"Just what I needed," Shikamaru said with a groan, "I should've never gotten out of bed."
"Do you think we should tell the Hokage?" Naruto asked in a serious tone.
Shino shook his head. "I'm not really sure," he explained, "I noticed that there are several Anbu around the crowd so he probably already knows."
"I still have to tell him," Naruto said, "Even if he already knows. I'll feel better if I know for sure."
"Alright," Shino said with a nod, "You're right, it's best to make sure that the Hokage is aware of the situation."
Naruto smiled. "I'll go see him right now," the blond said, "You guys stick close to the sand ninja in case they try anything."
"What about Gaara?" Shikamaru asked.
"Let Sasuke fight him for a while," Naruto said before grinning, "He's more than capable of holding him back."
Sasuke stared at Gaara with a frown. Kakashi had helped him increase his speed and master Lee's taijutsu style. The jonin had even taught him a move that would be of great help against the sand ninja. Not to mention the aid his sharingan would give him on the fight. The Uchiha knew that he would win and smirked.
"Are you two ready?" Genma asked, receiving nods from the two genin, "Okay then, begin!"
Sharingan coming to life, Sasuke ran at Gaara in an inhuman speed. Gaara simply stood where he was and calmly unleashed his sand. Sasuke faked a punch, making Gaara use his sand to cover, and smirked. The Uchiha disappeared from sight, in an amazing show of speed, and appeared behind Gaara.
The sand ninja used his sand to strike Sasuke but the sharingan saw the move coming. Sasuke leaned to the right, dodging the sand, and threw a punch that made contact with Gaara's jaw. The redhead sailed through the air before falling on the ground with a painful thud. Gaara stood up and glared at Sasuke.
"What's wrong? Is that all you got?" Sasuke asked with a smirk, "You're no match for me."
"I'll kill you," Gaara hissed.
"Let's see if it's not the other way around," Sasuke said as he ran at Gaara.
Gaara tried to hit Sasuke with sand but found that the Uchiha was too fast, much like Lee. Sasuke watched the sand chasing him and smirked. He ran around Gaara before running directly at him. Gaara's eyes widened as Sasuke's foot made contact with his jaw. The sand ninja sailed through the air before meeting ground once again.
"I have to finish this now," Sasuke said through pants. In order to move so fast, Sasuke needed to constantly enhance his leg muscles with chakra. This meant that he was limited to only using taijutsu while on that speed.
Gaara's sand enveloped the redhead and created a dome around him. Sasuke threw kunais at it but watched as they bounced off of it. Like he guessed, the density of the sand made it as strong as steel. The only way he could end the match would be to use the new jutsu Kakashi had taught him.
Sasuke ran to the top of the arena's wall and gathered his chakra into his left hand. He gave a quick glance at Gaara and saw what appeared to be an eyeball forming on top of the sand dome. Sasuke didn't know what his opponent was doing but whatever Gaara was planning had to be stoppedt. Sasuke got the feeling that it would be a strong jutsu so it was better to stop it before it was performed. Sasuke was brought out of his thoughts when he heard the sound of chirping birds and smirked, the match would be over soon.
"Don't tell me you taught him that jutsu!" Gai exclaimed in shock as he turned his gaze to the masked jonin standing next to him. Kakashi had met with them after dropping Sasuke off in the fight area.
"That's the reason why I wanted him as my student," Kakashi said, "He's much like me apart from the sharingan."
"But to teach him that move!" Gai said with a frown.
"He knows the restrictions of that move, he can handle it," Kakashi said with an eye-smile.
' It's ready,' Sasuke thought with a smirk.
Sasuke ran at Gaara with a yell. His attack would be able to get through the sand, there was no doubt. Sand shot out of the dome but the sharingan saw each move. Sasuke leaned to the left to dodge an oncoming shot of sand before spinning to the right to avoid a large wave of sand. The sand went back to Gaara but it would be a few seconds before it could strike again, more than enough time for Sasuke.
"Chidori!" Sasuke yelled as the attack pierced through the dome.
' What is this?' Gaara thought from inside of the dome with a hand inside of his left shoulder. ' What is this feeling mother? It feels wet and hot, what is it?'
A single droplet was heard and Gaara's eyes widened. "It's blood," he whispered, "Blood! MY BLOOD!"
Gaara's scream was heard throughout the arena, scaring most of the crowd and even a few ninja. The dome of sand fell apart and Gaara clutched his head in pain. The Uchiha knew that something was off by the look on Gaara's eyes but knew that he would still win the match.
Naruto ran through the hallways of the arena. He had to let the Hokage know that the sand nija were planning to do something. The blond refused to let any outsiders endanger the life of his friends. He exited the hallway and found himself only a few steps away from the Hokage's balcony. Naruto heard a scream and looked at the fight area where Gaara was seen clutching his head. The blond knew that this wouldn't be the end of Gaara, someone like him wouldn't go out so easily. Sasuke had done a good job, regardless, and he would jump in to help once he spoke to the Hokage.
' I knew you could do it Sasuke, just hang on,' Naruto thought as he ran to the Hokage's balcony but noticed that there were feathers floating around him, 'What is this?'
"Gaara is hurt," Temari said with a look of disbelief. She noticed that many people were put to sleep and gave a nod to her brother, "It's started. We have to get Gaara to his position."
Kankuro nodded. "You're right," he said, "It would be bad to have him transform here."
The two prepared to jump down to the fight area to get Gaara but found that they were unable to move.
"Shadow possession success," Shikamaru said with a smirk.
The two siblings growled at the shadow user. Before they could say anything, the two were knocked out by Shino. The bug user had devised a plan in case the two sand siblings made a move and it had gone perfectly.
The two genin saw many ninja jump out of the stands and attack the leaf ninja. Soon, battles broke out all throughout the stands. The enemy ninja wore sand and sound headbands, meaning that it had been worse than what Shino had thought.
"Looks like I was right," Shino said, "Hopefully Naruto made it to the Hokage."
"Don't worry about him," Shikamaru said with a smirk, "He'll make it there. What we have to worry about is what our next move will be."
"We should just attack the enemy ninja," Shino said, "It's not subtle but it's the only thing we can do at this point."
Shikamaru shook his head. "We have to plan our next move, it won't be smart to just charge in," he explained, "They must have an ace in the hole. I don't think that they just planned on attacking head on, frontal attacks are always used as distractions. All we have to do is find their secret weapon and take it down."
"What is that secret weapon?" Shino asked.
Shikamaru glanced at Gaara, "I think I know what it is."
Gaara clutched his head in pain. His mother was angry at him for not doing a good job on killing the Uchiha. Her screams were loud and Gaara's tried to reason with her but to no avail. Only killing the Uchiha would make her stop screaming at him.
"Calm down Gaara!" Baki yelled as he appeared next to Gaara, "You have to follow the mission!"
"Nobody will leave this spot," Genma said with a frown.
"Damn," Baki growled, "Gaara I want you to leave while I take care of this man."
"Sasuke," Genma said with a serious look, "I want you to make Gaara leave the village. I have a feeling that they want to use him for something big."
"What about my match?" Sasuke asked with a scowl.
"The exams are canceled," Genma answered, "Your village needs you now, so go!"
Sasuke growled but nodded. "Hey Gaara!" The Uchiha called out, "Let's finish our match somewhere else."
Gaara hissed as he watched Sasuke leave the arena. He couldn't leave. His mother wanted the Uchiha's blood and she would have it. Gaara would make sure of that. If he killed the Uchiha then his mother wouldn't be angry at him anymore and she would stop hurting him. His existence would be proven with the death of the Uchiha.
"Get back here!" Gaara yelled as he ran after Sasuke.
Ino felt tired and didn't know why. She had been watching Sasuke's match and it had been interesting. It wasn't as good as Naruto's in her opinion but it was a good match nonetheless. Her eyelids felt heavy and she made a note that maybe she was training too hard. She felt a hand on her shoulder and her eyes snapped opened.
"You're on a genjutsu," Kakashi said with his hand on her shoulder. He took it off and placed a hand on Choji, "Release."
"W-what?" Choji muttered as he woke up.
"Listen up you two," Kakashi said getting the attention of the two genin, "Choji I want you to stay here and keep the villagers safe."
"W-what are you talking about?" Ino asked in slight fear.
"There's a battle going on," Kakashi explained. Ino and Choji looked around and noticed several ninja fighting with ninjas from the sand and sound villages, "Ino I want you to find Naruto and tell him to go help Sasuke out."
"Right," Ino said with a nod.
Kakashi ran through hand signs and slammed his hands onto an unconscious man's back. "Summoning Jutsu," a small white dog with a Konoha headband as a collar appeared, "I want you to look for a scent of sand moving away from the village."
"Got it," the dog said with a nod.
"Ino I want you to tell Naruto to follow this dog," Kakashi instructed, "It will take him to where Sasuke is. Go now."
"I'll find Naruto," Ino said with a nod as she and the dog left.
"Shikamaru!" Sakura exclaimed when she entered the participant's balcony.
"What is it?" Shikamaru asked before turning to the small dog next to Sakura, "Who's dog is that?"
"I'm not just a dog. My name is Pakkun and I am a ninja dog," the dog said.
"There's no time for introductions," Sakura said in slight panic, "Kakashi-sensei told me get you guys to go after Sasuke so you can help him out."
"How do we find them?" Shino asked.
"Leave that to me," Pakkun said with pride, "I have his scent so just follow me."
"Let's go," Shino said. Pakkun, Shino and Sakura leapt out of the arena while Shikamaru groaned.
"Man," Shikamaru said with a groan, "What did I do to deserve this?" The teen thought of just staying there but knew that the village needed his help. With a sigh, Shikamaru leapt out of the arena and followed after his comrades.
Naruto felt a burning sensation on his left wrist. He lifted his left glove to see a small seal flashing red before returning to its normal black color. The blond quickly spiked his chakra and watched as the feathers around him disappeared.
"I guess I have to thank Jiraiya-sensei for putting that seal on me," Naruto muttered to himself with a small grin. He heard an explosion and saw that it came from the roof of the Hokage's balcony. The blond's eyes widened and he clenched his fists. The Third was once of his precious people and the person that kept the village from falling apart, he wouldn't let anybody hurt him.
He saw a group of ANBU jumping towards the Hokage. Four fake ANBU attacked the group but a single one with a white cloak charged at them. Naruto watched in awe as the single ANBU defeatedthe four enemy ninja, disguised as ANBU, in just a few moves. The smoke coming from the explosion engulfed everything around it, but Naruto saw the outline of a person jump out of one of the corpses. Naruto gasped when he saw that the figure was jumping towards where the Hokage was. Naruto gritted his teeth when he saw that shadows leapt out of the other bodies with the same destination, the Hokage. The blond quickly formulated a plan and summoned a single clone.
"Throw me up there as hard as you can!" Naruto ordered. The clone complied and flung the blond towards one of the jumping figures.
Naruto sailed through the air and made out one of the figures. It was an overweight ninja with an orange mowhawk, wearing an outfit similar to Orochimaru's. The blond was heading straight at him and readied his right fist.
Before the sound ninja that was headed towards the Hokage could register what happened, he felt something hard connect with his gut. His eye's widened and all air left his body. He tried to see what had hit him but received a kick on the head that slammed him towards the ground. The sound ninja landed on the fight area of the arena with a loud thud.
'Got him,' Naruto thought with a grin before following after the ninja.
"Now, tell me what you want with the Hokage!" Naruto exclaimed in anger.
The ninja stood up slowly and glared at the blond. "Are you the one who attacked me?"
"And I'm the one who will kill you if you don't tell me what I want to know," Naruto said with a frown, "I don't know what you guys are plannint to do, but if you threaten those precious to me. Then I'll have to kick your ass!"
"I don't care about who's important to you. I will kill you for ruining our plans," the sound ninja said, "My name is Jirobo and I'm the one who will kill you."
Naruto smirked. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, future hokage of the Leaf Village."
Sasuke panted as he ran through the woods outside of Konoha. He was eager to fight Gaara but knew that fighting him near the village would only get him distracted. It would only be him against Gaara, the perfect way to end his match with the sand ninja. His training with Kakashi had made him a new person and Gaara would pose no threat to him.
Sasuke landed on a large clearing and smirked at Gaara, who landed in front of him. "We will settle our match here Gaara."
"I will kill you," Gaara said with a psychotic glare.
"You're no match for an Uchiha," Sasuke said as his sharingan came to life.
Orochimaru growled as he stood in front of his old sensei. The blond brat had put a major damper on his plans. The snake sannin had planned this attack in order to get closer to Sasuke and deal a harsh blow on his home village. He had been looking forward to killing the Hokage but now he was forced to leave before things got too heated. He watched the fights going on around the arena and smirked when he saw several sand ninja being killed. He couldn't believe how naive their village was, it only took him a few pretty words to get them riled up for the attack. His eyes narrowed when he saw Jirobo, the snake sannin would make him regret letting his guard down. The snake summoner turned to the three members of the Sound Four, faithfully standing by his side.
"I want you to kill the blond brat," Orochimaru told his ninja, "Leave as soon as you do or if things get too hard."
"Yes sir," the three said before leaving the spot.
"Are you okay Third Hokage?" asked the ANBU with the white cloak in concern, while five more stood in front of Orochimaru with weapons on their hands.
"I'm fine," Sarutobi said, "I want you to find some help for Naruto."
"As you wish sir," the ANBU said before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.
"My… my, you give me a lot of attention Sarutobi-sensei," Orochimaru said with a chuckle, amused at the ANBU who thought they would kill him.
"You will die here Orochimaru," Sarutobi said with a frown.
"I don't believe I will," Orochimaru said as he turned into a pile of mud before disappearing into the ground.
"Find him quick!" the Third Hokage ordered. Some of the ANBU chased after Orochimaru while most of them stayed with the Hokage.
"We need to take you to a safe place," an ANBU said.
Sarutobi nodded. "Very well, there's not much I can do except be there to guide my people when this is over."
"Wind Style: Wind Wave!" Naruto yelled as a small wave of wind came out of his hands. The attack his Jirobo dead on but did little to no damage, "Dammit."
Naruto had been fighting Jirobo by keeping a safe distance between the two and using long range attacks. His wind jutsu proved to be no match for Jirobo's large figure and earth jutsu. The sound ninja hadn't been able to land a hit on him, which Naruto was grateful for, since he had seen what Jirobo's punches could do.
"Stop running away you piece of trash!" Jirobo yelled as he threw a large boulder at Naruto.
The blond jumped away but was suddenly struck on the back. He fell on the ground with a painful thud and jumped away quickly when he saw a kind of web shooting towards him. Naruto looked at the newcomers and gritted his teeth. There were now four sound ninja against him.
"You're having trouble with this one fatty?" A kunoichi with red hair asked with a smirk.
"I told you not to call me that Tayuya," Jirobo said with a frown.
"It might not be Jirobo's fault. The kid ruined master Orochimaru's plans and dodged an attack from Kidomaru," said a sound ninja with blue hair, "But dodging an attack from him isn't so hard anyway."
"Watch it Sakon," Kidomaru said with a snarl.
Tayuya smirked, "What are you going to do about it shitstain? You're the weakest from the group next to fatass."
"Wind Style: Devastation!" Naruto blew a powerful gust out of his mouth. The attack hit home but only managed to knock Kidomaru against the wall while everyone else dodged, or in Jirobo's case, planted his feet on the ground.
"You got some nerve shithead," Tayuya said with a hiss.
"We will make sure your death is not pretty," said a head coming out of Sakon's back.
"Let's have some fun with him first Ukon," Sakon said with a twisted smile.
' Wait, there are only three of them. Where did the other one go?' Naruto thought while looking around for the fourth member.
"Here I am!" Jirobo yelled from under the ground. The earth beneath Naruto's feet gave out and he received a powerful punch on his jaw.
The blond sailed through the air before crashing into the arena's wall. Naruto fell to the ground and tried to stand but fell back down. His vision was blurry and everything seemed to spin. That Jirobo really packed a punch, he had been smart to stay away from him at first. Jirobo had been enough trouble as it was but with the rest of the Sound Four joining in, things became a lot more difficult.
"You damned piece of trash!" Kidomaru yelled as he stood up. He had a large gash on the left side of his face and what appeared to be a broken nose, "I'll make you pay for catching me off guard!"
Kidomaru ran at him, blinded by rage, while Naruto stood up slowly. "Wind Style," Naruto muttered as he went through four hand signs, "Air Bullets!"
The blond put a hand around his mouth and shot out several balls of air. The attacks struck Kidomaru on the chest and one struck him on the head, knocking him unconscious. Naruto grinned when he saw the ninja go down. The sound ninja had underestimated him and paid for it but he knew that the others wouldn't make the same mistake.
The ground shook beneath Naruto and his eyes widened. 'Forgot about him,'
Naruto thought as he jumped in order to avoid the attack. The blond felt a foot connect with his head and cried in pain as he fell to the ground. He managed to regain his footing and landed safely on the ground, but when he did he was painfully reminded that Jirobo was still fighting. The blond received a punch to the gut that sent him crashing against a tree.
"You're not very good," Sakon said with a chuckle.
"S-shut up," Naruto said while standing up shakily. His head was throbbing and there was a trial of blood covering the right side of his face. The blond took out a single kunai and pointed it at Jirobo.
"What are you going to do with that?" Jirobo asked with a smirk, "You won't even be able to hit me with that little knife.
Naruto threw the kunai at Jirobo but ran through two hand signs and pointed his palm at it. "Wind Style: Gale Palm!" A stream of wind hit the kunai and increased its speed, taking Jirobo by surprise.
Jirobo tried to dodge but the kunai stabbed into his right arm. "Damn you!" He exclaimed in anger, "I will kill you for this."
"You deserved that fatty," Tayuya said with an amused smirk.
Naruto slipped into his taijutsu stance and looked at his opponents. From the way they talked to each other, he assumed that they were stronger than Jirobo. Naruto didn't know how he fared against Jirobo since he had only taken Kidomaru out due to the sound ninja just charging at him. So far the Tayuya girl hadn't done anything but Naruto knew that she was strong since she didn't appear to be intimidated by her teammates.
"Naruto!" the blond heard from the stands. He turned to his right and saw Ino running towards him.
"Looks like we have company," Sakon said with a smirk, "Take care of her Jirobo."
Naruto's eyes widened and he saw Jirobo charge at Ino. The blond immediately ran after him at a speed he didn't know he had. He watched as Jirobo raised his fist and Ino's eyes widened in surprise. The sound ninja brought his fist down but before it could make contact he received a powerful punch on his jaw. Jirobo sailed through the air before crashing against the arena's wall.
"What are you doing here?" Naruto asked harshly with his hand aching slightly from the punch he delivered.
"Don't talk to me like that!" Ino snapped with a frown.
"You can't be here Ino. You'll get hurt!" Naruto exclaimed in concern.
Ino's eyes softened and she gave a small smile. "I'm a ninja too, Naruto," she said, "I'm able to take care of myself. I've been training hard to do so."
"But I can't let you get hut!" Naruto said with desparation on his eyes.
"Naruto," Ino said with a sad smile, "Remember what you told me when I asked why you trained so hard. You said that you wanted to get stronger so you would be able to help your friends and not be a burden."
"Ino," Naruto said sadly. He knew that Ino felt like a burden and had been working hard in order to be considered important. Right now, he was making her feel like a burden.
"Please Naruto," Ino said in desperation, "Let me help you. I'll show you that I can take care of myself!"
"Fine," Naruto said with a small grin, "I guess three to two are better odds."
"Unfortunately you won't be fighting them," Kakashi said as he jumped in front of them.
"Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked in confusion.
"I'll be fighting these three," Kakashi said before turning to Ino, "I believe you had something to do."
"Right," Ino said with a nod, "Naruto we have to go help Sasuke with Gaara."
"Sasuke's is still fighting him?" Naruto asked in disbelief.
"He is. That ninja dog will take you to where they are," Kakashi explained, "This is an A-rank mission and you're in charge Naruto. Remember to take care of your comrades and protect the village at all costs."
"I got it Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said before nodding at Ino.
"Let's go," Ino said to the dog. The ninja dog nodded and leapt out of the arena with Naruto and Ino following.
"Now," Kakashi said with an eye-smile as he turned to the three sound ninja, "I'll finish what my student started."