- TIME SKIP: 2 MONTHS LATER -
Naruto had finally started to get his taijutsu style to be exactly the way he had hoped it would be. Training sessions with Might Gai, despite how long and difficult they were, helped him immensely. Now he had both speed and strength without having to rely on chakra to augment his speed and strength. Gai gave him increasing weights for him to wear in order to constantly improve his speed and strength. With all the people he could learn from, he almost never stopped training, unless his body gave out. It was brutally difficult at times, but Naruto would never budge from his training regimen. He'd learned quite a lot of things during the past two months. Since the team had begun doing missions, which were D-Rank jokes, he was sending clones to do his part. In the meantime, the real Naruto was training his taijutsu with Gai. He also sent clones to continue learning about the Hiraishin, which he'd made a frustratingly small amount of progress on. He'd figured out that the jutsu required great skill in fuinjutsu(Sealing Jutsu) and was capable of creating a sort of pocket dimension in which the user would travel to in order to teleport to a target location.
So, he turned to fuinjutsu in order to figure it out. He had more shadow clones studying fuinjutsu than any other subject due to his frustration with the legendary jutsu. He even turned to blackmailing the old Hokage to give him the Nidaime's notes on the Hiraishin so he would have two sources to learn from. Naruto hated that he was struggling so much with the Hiraishin. It irked him to no end, leading to multiple training grounds being destroyed in frustration. Naruto understood that he would not be able to learn every jutsu as quickly as the last, but it still gnawed at him that he hadn't even figured out the basis of the jutsu yet. Nonetheless, he refused to stop training his body, mind, and arsenal.
Naruto opened his eyes, letting his two tailed chakra cloak fade out. He already knew who had arrived at his estate, shunshin-ing to the front yard to meet with his sensei. "Ah, Naruto, training as usual?" Naruto simply shrugged in reply, before starting to walk with him. "Naruto, the Hokage has requested a meeting with Team 7, think you can beat me there?" Kakashi teased, hoping to force out some of Naruto's past emotions of joy, amusement, playful-ness. Over the past couple of months, Kakashi had noticed the only time that he ever had anything close to any of these emotions was in battle. Naruto seemed to revel in the intensity of training, or any fight for that matter. Naruto seemed to find a sort of thrill in fighting, which made Kakashi fear Naruto's reaction to real battles. He worried that Naruto would become similar to the greatest villain Konoha had ever seen: Uchiha Madara. He had never known it, but Madara reveled in battle. Naruto seemed to be getting more and more similar to Madara. They both reveled in battle, had an immensely powerful hate, and a relative control over the Kyuubi's power. The more that Naruto trained and worked towards becoming stronger, the more he itched to fight someone strong. Kakashi hoped that this desire would cease to exist once Naruto had seen the horrors of real battle, of real fighting, of real life-and-death situations.
"Kakashi...when are we going to have a real mission? I tired of those tedious D-Ranks within the first rank. My strength is wasted on those menial tasks." "Naruto, what have I said before? It's-" "Our strength, not mine. Yeah, yeah, I know." Kakashi inwardly smiled at the fact that Naruto had at the very least remembered his words. Although, it would be some time before Naruto genuinely felt that way. Kakashi knew, and understood, why Naruto thought that way though. He understood that Naruto was completely alone for almost all of his life. The only time he wasn't alone, besides when Team 7 was formed, was when he was first starting to make friends before the Uchiha Massacre. "Kakashi, this meeting had better be about a real mission. Otherwise, I'm just sending a clone for the 'mission'." Kakashi simply nodded and glanced over at Naruto. Kakashi had thought that Naruto hadn't really picked up on the very minute hint, but he had. Naruto's minute change in facial expression around the cheeks and lips was enough to give it away to Kakashi. "So he is observant, but he doesn't seem to say anything about it" Kakashi thought to himself. Within a moment, Kakashi was leaping towards the Hokage tower with Naruto in tow. Within a few minutes they had arrived, with both of them coming through one window.
Sasuke glanced out the window, noticing two figures moving quickly towards the Hokage's office. "Hokage-sama, Naruto and Kakashi are here." "Hmmm?" mumbled the old Hokage, as the two smashed through a window. Both of them, much to the Sandaime's ire, acted completely casual about it. "Kakashi, Naruto-kun, I would prefer if you would stop doing that." "Ah, apologies, Sandaime-sama" said Kakashi carelessly. The old Hokage simply sighed and shuffled a stack of papers. "Team 7, I have a C-Rank Mission for you today." Naruto's mouth instantly widened into a dark grin. Sakura smiled nervously and Sasuke sported a small smirk, and even Kakashi lowered the book to listen. "You are to escort this man, Tazuna, back to his home of Nami no Kuni(Land of Waves). Naruto glanced back at the older man, who had clearly drank a bit too much while he was waiting for someone to take his mission. "Yer giving me just a bunch a kids? I need more than that!" Tazuna said as he hiccuped. Tazuna gave an indignant huff before having a kunai held to his throat almost instantly. "Naruto, we don't attack our clients. Besides, do you really want to end this mission before it even begins?" Tazuna, feeling the cold steel of the kunai resting against his throat, widened his eyes in surprise and began to panic. Before Tazuna could completely freak out, however, Naruto lowered his hand with a grunt before walking to the shattered window. "Kakashi, when do we meet for this mission?" "Two hours, Naruto, meet at the front gate." "Naruto simply nodded and shunshin-ed out onto the rooftops before leaping off towards home. Hiruzen gave a sigh at Naruto's antics before dismissing the remaining members of Team 7 as well as Tazuna.
When Naruto arrived home, he began to pack his things. Naruto quickly grabbed extra copies of notes on dozens of jutsu as well as the Hiraishin notes. He knew that he would see real combat soon, so he'd prepared extra copies of things he was in the process of learning. He also grabbed extra notes on the Uchiha and the Mangekyou Sharingan, in case someone died. He figured that he should be prepared for anything, including the possible awakening of his or Sasuke's Mangekyou. The only person's death he felt could awaken his Mangekyou was Sasuke, but he would not kill Sasuke. For this. he felt somewhat weak for not being able to do it despite having more than enough opportunity to do so. Sasuke, on the other hand, would likely awaken his Mangekyou from the deaths of any Team 7 members. Naruto could tell that he had grown attached to each member of Team 7, which somehow included Sakura. While Naruto couldn't understand how Sasuke had even ended up growing attached to them, he did envy Sasuke in a way. Sasuke had connections, he wasn't hated for something he couldn't control, and he was praised as the "Last Uchiha". Naruto hated that moniker with every fiber of his being. He still desired acknowledgement, but not as a friend, as a superior. The only acknowledgement he wanted was that he was a powerful shinobi, stronger than any genin or chunin. The only people that could defeat him, he understood, were jonin. That was to be expected however, as he was still only a genin for two months.
Naruto was pulled from his musings by his tenant. "Oi, Naruto...don't die on your first mission. You'd ruin everything." "I have nothing to worry about. A mere C-Rank means nothing but fun for me." The fox simply gave a "hmph" before returning to sleep. Naruto simply shook his head and walked outside from his house. "I have some time to kill, perhaps I'll take a trip down memory lane. After this mission, I'll understand who I really am, and I'll finally move on from the past." Naruto leapt from building to building, eventually landing across the street from Ichiraku Ramen. Naruto smirked a little, remembering how naive he once was. "Time to put the dead to rest" Naruto said to himself. Naruto dropped down from the building, walking into the little shop. Naruto simply sat in the nearest stool and requested a single bowl. "Sure, Mr..." Ayame's eyes widened and her mouth opened in surprise, "Naruto?!". When Teuchi heard that name, he came to the front with a small smile. "Ah, Naruto, one bowl is all you want?" "That will be all, Teuchi" replied Naruto respectfully. Teuchi simply nodded, understanding the hint and returned to the kitchen. Meanwhile, Ayame missed the memo and asked Naruto a couple of questions. "Where've you been, Naruto? We've missed you, you were our-" "Number one customer, I knew that." "Naruto, don't be like this, let me see that old smile of yours, come on, please?" begged Ayame. Naruto simply gave a sigh, and looked up into her eyes, glaring at her with his Sharingan. Ayame gasped in shock and instinctively stepped back a few steps before running to the kitchen.
Within a few minutes, the ramen was brought out to Naruto by Teuchi. "I apologize for letting her pester you, Naruto, I won't let it happen again." "Good" replied Naruto curtly. Teuchi went back to the kitchen as Naruto began to eat his meal, enjoying himself a little as he ate. He'd almost laughed out loud reminiscing about this place. Almost was the keyword, as when he felt a hint of a laugh coming on he ceased his inner musings and shut away those emotions. He refused to be seen as the grinning idiot, the village clown. He refused to be anything close to that ever again. Soon, he'd finished his bowl of ramen, left just enough money to pay for his meal, and leapt away again, heading to the village gate.
Naruto arrived and sat against a wall, deciding to relax and unwind a bit before the mission began. His inner turmoil remained at large, unable to come up with a decision on how he really felt. He wasn't sure how he truly felt about the ninja world, his friends, or even his own morals. When he originally came to post-incident, Naruto had decided that the current world was worthless. He decided that it was all simply meaningless and he had no reason to give any care to any other human beings. However, the last two months he spent with Team 7 had started to change that. He had started to feel some kind of...bond...with them. He was already connected to Sasuke through their training sessions during the Academy days, yet their bond grew. They had, in a sense, reached an almost brother-like bond. Neither would admit it, yet the bond was there. Naruto knew it was there, yet he hated it. He didn't have the strength to kill Sasuke and unlock the Mangekyou. He hated that he couldn't bring himself to seize the power he so desperately desired. He wanted to take the power for himself, but he just didn't have the strength to do it.
"Oi, Naruto, it's time."
Naruto opened his eyes slowly to see Kakashi standing casually. Kakashi gave him an eye-smile before tilting his head towards the village gate. Naruto simply stood from his resting position. "You're one to talk about time, Kakashi." Kakashi simply smirked a bit under his mask before shrugging and walking to the gate. Sakura, Sasuke, and Tazuna had already been standing outside, waiting for the two to come. Naruto and Kakashi walked out together to the rest of the group before the 5 began to walk, on the path to Nami no Kuni.