Just Smile: A Naruto Fanfiction

Chapter 20: Bright

Naruto yawned, sitting in the meeting that happened twice a year, once in the fall, and the other in the spring, both were times that newly trained Genin were graduating and sensei were needed. 

In the room with him were a bunch of Jounin that had been in this room with him the last two years he had been chosen to be a potential sensei, but he had yet to take a team, knowing exactly what he needed to wait for. 

He had to wait for Sasuke Uchiha to graduate.

It was tiresome, waiting for the boy to graduate. He was not the genius Itachi, Izumi, or even himself were. He was just slightly better than the rest, no, slightly was a bad description, he was above the rest of his classmates, Naruto knew that when he had observed the Uchiha one day at school from far, making sure to alert Iruka and Mizuki that night. 

Mizuki. . .

He remembered the cold stare the man had given him when he approached him. They were in the academy together, and Naruto remembered fondly teaching him how to correct throw kunai and shuriken, but that glare unsettled the blonde slightly. Perhaps he had a crush on Anko? 

Ah yes, Naruto and Anko have gotten closer with each other over these last few years, with her only being four years his senior. They weren't anything official, and they haven't done anything, but Kakashi had teased him a lot about it, making the blonde flustered and quite loud while Anko just stood there, red in the face. 

It was nice. 

"NARUTO!" Kakashi shouted in the man's ear, causing him to jump from his seat, the wooden chair skittering across the floor, making the surrounding Jounin and elders chuckle at the Namikaze's reaction. 

"What in the shit buckets was that for?!" Naruto said as he palmed Kakashi's face with his hand. "You know I blank out sometimes!"

"Yes but this round you forgot to say hello to Hokage-sama," Asuma said with a chuckle. "You just walked in and were looking into the air like it was a bottle of whiskey. Naruto turned to Asuma, his blue eyes widening as he immediately disappeared and reappeared behind the Sarutobi. 

"You're going to come back to the village and not say HI?!" Naruto drew out as he shook the man's shoulder, displaying informality towards Hiruzen, but the old man did not mind, happy that Naruto was happy. 

As Naruto talked to Asuma, catching up with Hiruzen's son, the Third Hokage reflected how Naruto had been these last four years. 

Naruto used the motivation of pain to continue climbing the ladders of strength, and he believed Naruto was AT LEAST on par with him. But if he were to guess, Naruto had a few secrets under his sleeve. 

He pondered on how strong Naruto had gotten compared to the strongest to ever live, Hashirama Senju, Madara Uchiha, himself, and Minato Namikaze. Naruto was definitely on par with Madara now that he thought about it. 

Naruto was like him in every aspect of thinking, except he was quicker. He had already mastered every jutsu the Shinobi Library offered. He even asked to know if there were any more! Hiruzen was tempted into letting him look into the forbidden scroll but thought better of it. 

Absolute power corrupts absolutely, even Naruto wasn't that much of a saint. To rank Naruto with all the living people in the village, the top five would be quite a shock to some. 

5. Asuma Sarutobi 
4. Kakashi Hatake
3. Might Guy (with the 8 Gates fully opened, if not, switch 3 and 4)
2. Hiruzen Sarutobi
1. Naruto Namikaze

It was down to his pride, but he realized Naruto deserved it, the boy had been pushing his dream since the death of his parents almost twelve years ago. He deserved his title of the strongest in the village.