Uzumaki Rising
What terrible destruction.
This was all Hiruzen could think looking off into the distance, gawking at the ruin left by the nine tails and at the corpse of a man with spiky blonde hair and a woman with flowing red hair, Minato and Kushina, the fourth Hokage and his wife. Minato’s last words hung heavy on the old man’s heart.
“Make sure my son is safe and taken care of. He is the jinchuriki.”
Hiruzen's eyes turned to a newborn baby in a cradle. He had his fathers crystal blue eyes and his spiked hair, but the crimson hair of his mother, with whisker-like birthmarks and a large seal on his stomach. Hiruzen stooped down on one knee and lifted the crying baby in his arms. He turned to the four masked figures that were following him.
“Inu, watch the child. Neko, Itachi, Kuma, clean up the old Uzumaki clan home. Make it inhabitable, put any scrolls or ninja tools you find in the Uzumaki clan vault.” Hiruzen ordered, handing the baby off to a man with a dog-like mask with spiky white hair peeking behind it.
“Sir?” The man in the weasel mask asked, clearly the youngest in the group. “That would leave you unguarded. With Lord Fourth now dead, it is likely you will be placed back into acting duties as Hokage.”
“And why the Uzumaki Clan Compound? Would he not live in Lord Fourth’s house?” Inu asked.
“A lot of questions. I will be fine, the village council will need to have an emergency meeting on the next steps to who will be Hokage. They will have plenty of guards, I doubt I’ll need my own.” Hiruzen then turned to Inu. “And he is a Jinchuriki. He will need the laws that protect heirs to recognized clans. The Namikaze were not as big as the Uzumaki used to. It will also benefit the village to see the return of the Uzumaki Clan.”
“You never really retired from politics did you?” Neko chuckled to himself.
“I did not, clan heads never do.” And the old man was off, heading for the Hokage’s office.
Once he arrived at the red roofed building he headed inside and into the council chambers, where both the ninja clan heads and civilian clans had gathered.
“Ah finally, the Sarutobi clan head has arrived. That makes everyone. So Sarutobi, what did you see.” Hiashi, a middle aged man with long indigo hair, began the meeting.
“Going beyond your boundaries then, as usual.” Shikaku chided, a slightly younger man with a black goatee and his hair pulled back into a spiky ponytail. “Just because you are the head of the Hyuuga does not mean you can start the meeting. That is the Hokage’s job, and with the absence of the fourth that goes to the third in this case.”
“Calm down Shikaku. I take no offense. And I’m sad to report that Lord Fourth has died.” Hiruzen held his head low. He listened as shocked gasps and mutters of hatred directed at the nine tails.
“And his son?” Fugaku asked, a man with a stern face and combed down black hair. “I would not call us friends, but we were close enough that the Uchiha clan is willing to guarantee his safety in this time. I doubt his godfather will be back in the village anytime soon.”
“His son is well. He is in the care of Minato’s student, Kakashi Hatake. But we appreciate the offer and recognize your generosity.” Hiruzen gave the man a reassuring smile. The old man lit his pipe, somberly taking an inhale. “I’ve decided he will take the Uzumaki name, and revive the Uzumaki clan.”
“We lost a Hokage and gained a new clan. I call that a fair trade.” a plumper young man from the civilian council spoke up. A man with pale hair put up in a star-like shape elbowed the man in the ribs.
“Have some decency man. The Hokage’s body isn't even cold. He was one of the greatest ninja this village ever had.” The pale haired man growled.
“It is fine Mr. Haruno,” Hiruzen tried to ease the tension, “We all cope with loss in different ways, and this is quite the loss. So we will take it to a vote, who is for the reinstatement of the clan and who is against.”
Hiruzen was not shocked to hear nearly everyone agree to the decision, except Hiashi and Danzo. Hiruzen had expected Danzo, sure, the man hated any kind of change, his mind is even still in the war. But Hiashi was a shock, perhaps a worry about power?
“The Uchiha will also assist the clan in whatever way possible. His father saved my life in the war, this is my way of repayment.” Fugaku offered.
“Your generosity is acknowledged.” Hiruzen nodded at him. “The Sarutobi clan will act in combination with the Uchiha to help establish the Uzumaki clan and its assets. Now onto the next piece of business, who will be the fifth Hokage.”
“Will you not be stepping back into the role?” Shikaku asked.
“No, I retired for a reason. When Minato took the role, he mentioned he felt Fugaku was more deserving. This struck me off guard at the time since, as you may remember, he was not a candidate, so I will put him forward. And if you believed Danzo’s theory that the Uchiha were behind the attack, rest assured I had it tested out by a squad of sensory nin check out the compound. No trace of Kyuubi chakra was found, and they were thorough. So please do not allow that to affect your judgment.” Hiruzen offered first. Minato had indeed told him that, and warned him that the Uchiha were beginning to feel persecuted. He hoped this would stop any risk of civil war.
Fugaku’s eyes widened in response to his name being put in the running, a subtle smirk coming across his face. He had hoped for this, hence his absolute support to th e Uzumaki clan to hopefully win if this came about. This would ease the tension in the clan over being forced to not engage the nine tails by the anbu. However it was a small step, and the clan has built up a lot of tension and he had not been voted in yet. The smirk fell from his face, he had to deal with these discussions of revolt before something happened.
“I am surprised you did not put forth lord Jiraiya again.” Hiashi interrupted, a visible irritation carved into his features. He was extremely upset to see his rival clan being put in a position to be Hokage, but he was not uncouth enough to put himself forward for Hokage. And made himself look worse by trying to stop the Uzumaki clan restoration.
“I value the input of Lord Fourth.” Hiruzen stood firm.
Shibi, a man with dark glasses and a high collared cloak, raised his hand. “I would like to put forth Master Jiraiya in your stead. I believe he would do well in the Hokage seat.”
Shikidai laughed, “You're wasting your time Shibi, maybe the bugs finally got to your brain.”
Shibi slowly turned his head toward the laughing man, bugs beginning to cluster around his collar and sleeves.
“He is right Shibi,” Inoichi interrupted before a fight started. “Lord Jiraiya turned it down not that long ago. I doubt his mind has changed. I however would like to put forth the taijutsu expert Might Gai. I had heard he can unlock all 8 gates now. He could be a worthy candidate.”
“Oh he’s too young.” Mr. Haruno spoke up. “He is barely 18. How could you expect him to lead a country?”
“I was not much older when I became Hokage.” Hiruzen spoke up. “Any other candidates?”
Hiruzen was met with silence.
“Alright then, let’s put it to a vote. All for Might Gai.” Hiruzen watched as only Shikaku and Inoichi raised their hands. So much for the black horse he thought to himself. “Okay, and Jiraiya?” Sarutobi watched as Jiraiya got half the civilian council, the Hyuuga, the Aburame, The and the Akimichi votes. “Finally Fugaku.” The other lesser half of the civilian council including Mr. Haruno, the Sarutobi, The Inuzuka clan and the Uchiha clan.
“So that's 3 more votes for Jiraiya. I will call for him to return to the village and offer the seat to him. If he declines the title will go to Fugaku. Fugaku, would you decline?” Hiruzen began to officialise the results.
“I would accept.” Fugaku honestly didn't expect to do well, but was sure Jiraiya would decline, it had been little more than a year since he declined last time.
“Very well. Are there any other urgent matters to attend to?” Hiruzen opened the floor, but was met with a somber silence, the passing of Minato still hung heavy on the council. “Very well. That is all. Let's all help in cleaning up this disaster.”
16 years Later
Naruto grinned as he stared up into the sky, chewing on a long piece of grass. He was daydreaming about his future life as Hokage as the wind blew through his crimson hair. He was pulled out of his thoughts as his feet were kicked by a boy with spiky black hair.
“Hey Loser, wake up.” the boy grunted and took a seat next to him, leaning up against a large tree next to the field they were in.
“Bastard, I’m already awake.” Naruto jabbed the black haired boy in the ribs. “So what, is our sensei here yet.”
A girl with pink hair and green eyes watched the two from a stump not too far away. “No not yet. He's running pretty late right? He said dawn, it's almost noon.”
“So what do you want, Sasuke.” Naruto glared at the black haired boy.
“I took these from dads office at the compound.” Sasuke smirked and held up three sheets of blank paper.
“Oooh fancy, paper.” Naruto rolled his eyes and laid back down.
Sasuke jabbed him in the ribs forcing him to sit back up. “They’re not just paper moron, Sakura explain it to him.”
“Are you too good to do it yourself?” Naruto ribbed.
The pink haired seemed to glow when Sasuke asked her to help. “Oh, of course!” When she turned to Naruto her joy seemed to fade a bit. “Basically they’re a chakra nature test.”
“Like the tree climbing thing we learned in the academy?” Naruto interrupted.
“No idiot, that was a chakra control test.” Sasuke rolled his eyes and scoffed.
Sakura grew a tick mark, annoyed at being interrupted. “It tests what chakra nature you have naturally. We’re just genin so we should just have one, but you never know.” She grinned. She walked over and took a sheet of paper to demonstrate. “Pump in a little chakra and…” She spread her chakra out from her fingertips and through the paper, and it began to turn into loose dirt. “So I’m an earth style user.” She grinned, pretty rare in the leaf village
When Sasuke tested his half of it turned lit on fire and turned to ash, the other half sparked with static and crumpled into a ball. When Naruto did his it cut in half, half of it became sopping wet and half mimicked Sasuke’s by crumpling up into a ball. Sakura had been shocked by Sasuke’s result, slightly humiliated by Naruto’s.
“Whoa! Awesome I got three and you only got two. Take that loser.” Naruto celebrated as Sasuke’s face became dark and brooding.
“Sasuke, you have fire and lightning. Naruto, you have water, wind and lightning.” Sakura explained.
Sasuke resolved himself. He may have had less natural natures, but he had the sharingan, so Naruto still wasn't on his level.
As they chatted and joked about themselves, a man with spiky white hair, a mask hiding the bottom of his face, and his headband lazily covering his left eye.
“Sorry guys, I got caught up helping a cat out of a tree.” The man rubbed the back of his neck, chuckling to himself. “Alright let's get down to the test. No point in playing around.” He jingled a pair of silver bells attached to his waist.
“What’s with the bells Kakashi Sensei?” Naruto asked, scratching the top of his head.
“I was just about to get to that.” Kakashi sighed. “So the test is simple. I want you to take these bells from me, whoever has a bell by the end of the test will pass. Whoever doesnt will fail.” His eyes hardened at the group. “And whoever fails will never be allowed to become a shinobi.”
“What?!” Sakura and Naruto yelled in disbelief.
“That is not fair!” Naruto yelled.
“Life often isn't.” Sasuke responded before Kakashi could.
“You can use anything, including shuriken, or that dao.” Kakashi gestured toward the ornate sword on Naruto’s hip. “If you aren't prepared to kill me you wont get the bells. So there is a chance none of you pass, and none of you ever become ninja.”
“That’s too dangerous sensei.” Sakura butted in.
“When I say start you can begin.” Kakashi ignored her. “Get ready. Aaaaaand. Start!”
As soon as Kakashi initiated the exam and three dashed off in a blur. Kakashi surveyed the area to see where they had gone.
“Well, they know something as basic as stealth, that's good.” He thought to himself as he looked around, noticing Sakura hiding in a tree, Sasuke hiding in a bush, and Naruto moving back further into the forest while crawling on his stomach.
While Kakashi was deciding what to do next, he was caught off guard as a kunai flew out of the forest, though he dodged it easily enough.
“A surprise, but not a threat.” He mused in his head. “Was that Sakura?”
Kakashi’s eyes widened as the kunai puffed into a burst of smoke, turning into Sasuke. As soon as Kakashi turned to him a series of shuriken were launched at him, as sasuke held up a cross shaped hand sign. “Shadow Shuriken Jutsu.”
Kakashi quickly used flashtep to move out of the direction of the shuriken entirely. “Those were not aimed at me, they were aimed at the bells. Clever. I’m assuming the fireball specialty of the Uchiha will be next.” His eyes widened again as a pair of Fuma shuriken launched out of the forest, but he was still able to react quickly and jumped over the shuriken.
Kakashi looked in the direction they came from to see yet another Sasuke in the tree line. Looking back at the other Sasuke in confusion, he blocked a punch from the first Sasuke. “A Shadow clone? I had heard Naruto could use shadow clones, but not Sasuke. Are they working together?” He pulled the first sasuke in close and punched him in the stomach, and it burst into a puff of smoke. In the split second before it disappeared he saw the face of Naruto.
“A double transformation. Clever, but Sasuke acted too soon. He must've improvised.” Kakshi mused, so they didn't make a plan, but maybe they had already figured out the test.
“What?!” Sakura yelled, catching Kakashi’s attention.
“Fastball!” Naruto yelled from the tree Sakura was at.
Kakashi reeled around quickly, “They're attacking from all sides, troublesome.” Kakashi held his forearms up to block… “Sakura?”
Sakura had been thrown like javelin at Kakashi. “We’re throwing people now? These kids are crazy.
Sakura as soon as she made contact followed the attack up with a series of kicks thinking back to what Naruto had told her earlier while his clone and Sasuke distracted Kakashi.
“Hey Sakura,” Naruto whispered to her at the tree. “Sasuke and I decided if any of us want a chance of beating this guy we need to work together.”
“How will we decide who gets the bells? And what's the plan?” She had asked, confused.
“We’ll draw straws and just improvise.” Naruto had spoken confidently.
“What!?”
Sakura brought herself back to the present moment. She kicked off of Kakashi and got back into the taijutsu stance she learned in the academy.
“Your form is poor, and you don't have any strength backing up your hits. Are you sure this is a good idea?” Kakashi antagonized her,
Sakura bit her lip and a look of determination crossed her face. “I’m improvising.” She kicked up a dust cloud obscuring Kakashi’s vision. Kakashi easily weaved between the kunai Sakura launched through the dust cloud.
When the dust cleared Sakura noticed that Kakashi had vanished.
Sasuke and Naruto began to run into the field, seeing an opening to make a better plan. But before they could unite a pair of hands erupted from the ground.
“Earth style, headhunter jutsu.” Kakashi yelled through the earth, pulling Sakura beneath the earth, with just her head left revealed.
Kakashi drew a kunai blocking a sword strike from Naruto. “So that’s where you went, you slippery bastard. Uzumaki Style, Tidal Wave!” Naruto made a wide sweeping motion with his sword pushing Kakashi a few feet back.
“Fire Style: Great Fireball.” Sasuke yelled behind Kakashi.
Kakashi flipped around and began to weave hand seals to counter the fireball. “Water Style, Water Geyser!” He sprayed a torrent on water out through his mask where his mouth would be, extinguishing the fireball.
The sound of crumbling earth could be heard as Naruto pulled Sakura out of the ground.
Sasuke looked back to see how they were doing, but noticed Kakashi dashed past his teammates, amputating the arm Naruto was using to pull Sakura out of the ground. Sasuke's eyes widened in shock as a kunai was thrown into Sakura’s throat.
“What! What's going on? No, this has to be a genjutsu.” Sasuke bit down on his cheek, until he tasted blood. He sighed in relief as he returned to reality.
Naruto raised his sword to block a punch aimed at Sakura. Sakura trembled, Naruto had taken a few hits while Sasuke had frozen up, and the two were not doing well.
Sasuke seeing the situation at hand pulled on the strings connected to the Fuma shuriken he ope up with, launching shrapnel at Kakashi. Kakashi did a few backflips to get out of the way, allowing him better vantage to see everyone.
“So you broke out of the genjutsu quickly, but what about her.” Kakashi gestured to Sakura who’s head had slumped, put to sleep by a genjutsu. Naruto dropped his guard for a second to break her out, but was rushed by Kakashi, and punched hard enough to fly though the air then slammed into a tree, finally knocking Naruto unconscious.
“You guys put up a good fight, but you’re just genin after all.” Sasuke watched as Kakashi puffed into smoke.
“A shadow clone? This whole time?” Sasuke gasped and turned around, too late to notice Kakashi behind him.
“Earth Style : Earth Prison.” An earthen dome surrounded Sasuke, locking him in. Sasuke groaned and tried to think. Fire style wasn't gonna get him out of this. He launched a stream of taijutsu at the dome but didnt even dent it. Sasuke leaned over panting, the dome was siphoning away his chakra.
He reached into his bag to see if he had any other options. It didn't take him time to find what he was looking for. He placed 3 paper bombs overlapping each other on one side of the dome, the maximum he thought could be used without harming himself. He lit off the paper bombs, and prayed.
Naruto groaned as he stumbled back onto his feet, catching his breath. He was pretty far away from Sakura now and he couldn’t tell where Sasuke was.
“Oh you’re awake. How was your nap?”
Naruto drew his sword and turned around to face Kakashi, blocking a punch aimed for his stomach.
“Your reflexes are pretty good.” Kakashi jumped back, creating some space.
“If you like my reflexes, let's see how you like Uzumaki style kenjutsu.” Naruto charped at Kakashi. “Uzumaki style, Rising Tides.” Naruto launched a strike in an upward direction at Kakashi followed by a downward slash, and then up again. Kakashi jumped backward, dodging it but a slash was cut into his vest.
“Not bad.” He mused to himself.
“Uzumaki Style, Whirlpool.” Naruto raised his sword to the sky and charged chakra into his feet, shooting himself at high speed at Kakashi headfirst while spinning like a top.
Kakashi quickly blocked it with a kunai, “Hmm similar to the Inuzuka technique.” Sparks flew as Naruto began to lose momentum and was forced to fling himself back onto his feet. Before he could hit the ground Kakashi swept his feet out from under him. Before he could knock Naruto back out an explosion went off in the background, distracing Kakashi.
Naruto, seeing an opportunity, reached for the bells but was stopped as Kakashi chopped his neck, knocking him out.
“Sounds like Sasuke got out.” Kakashi dashed over to where the earth dome had been to see half of it blown off, as Sasuke climbed out, looking a little worse for wear. “Too many explosive tags?”
“Too many explosive tags.” Sasuke weaved a series of hand seals. That dome had drained his chakra very quickly so he'd have to be careful the rest of the fight.
“Fire style, Dragon Breath.” Sasuke released a continual stream of flames from his mouth but got sloppy, the flames went out of control, burning his mouth and throat slightly. “Crap, sloppy.” He spit out a gob of blood.
He narrowly dodged a kick from Kakashi and blocked the follow up punch. Sasuke drew a kunai and went to stab Kakashi with but the kunai was stopped by Kakashi who pinched it between his index and middle finger, leaving Sasuke open for a palm blow to the solar plexus, knocking the air out of him, bringing him to his knees.
“Earth Style, Earthen Maiden.” Kakashi slammed his hand on the ground. Two hollow halves of a cylinder rose out of the ground, closing around Sasuke, leaving only his head exposed.
Sasuke slumped his head in defeat.
“Gotta say, this is the most tenacious group I’ve had.” Kakashi picked up the earthen prison containing Sasuke by a handle of the side, carrying him over to a monument in the field, near where Sakura had been caught in the genjutsu. A shadow clone of Kakashi joined them there with the unconscious Naruto soon after.
After a long period of waiting in solemn silence, the alarm went off, but only sasuke was awake to hear it, though Sakura’s genjutsu let off right after, as well as the earthen maiden, and a few minutes later Kakashi was able to heal Naruto enough to wake up.
Once they had all woken and were able to move around that sat solemnly, hanging their heads.
“I am sorry to say…” Kakashi let out a long pause, and sighed, making them all feel even worse. “Pass.” All three of the genin gasped.
“What do you mean sensei, we didn't get to the bells?” Sakura asked.
“Don't look a gift horse in the mouth Sakura.” Naruto laughed in excitement.
“The test wasn't about the bells, it was about teamwork.” Kakashi explained. “You were able to rise above the consequences and do what needed to be done for the sake of the team. Those who abandon their team are worse than scum. I had assumed Naruto and Sasuke would team up, due to the close ties between the Uzumaki and the Uchiha since the re-establishment, and recent circumstances. So you'd only pass if it was all three. Your teamwork needs some polishing but you took advantage of the opportunities your teammates gave you to protect them.”
The genin, even Sasuke, were smiling and celebrating.
“One step closer.” Sasuke mumbled to himself.
“ALL RIGHT.” Naruto yelled in celebration.
“We did it!” Sakura yelled along with Naruto.
“Alright you guys are already pretty strong for your age. We’ll spend the next month doing some physical training, and I'll give you each a pair of scrolls to practice in your downtime. I want the jutsu in them to be learned by the end of the month.”
“What the rush sensei?” Naruto asked, drawn out of his celebration.
“What’s in a month?” Sasuke questioned.
“Your first mission. I think you guys could already take on a c rank mission.” Kakashi answered happily.