Ninja's hero

They all met up again at the large gate of Konohagakure, it was departure time. Naruto was grinning along with Sasuke at the chance to finally prove themselves as Jounin. Izuku walked ever so slightly ahead of them. Soon enough they'd reached the destination and waited for Sakura and Kakashi. "Guys!" Naruto perked up and twisted towards the sound of the voice. Sakura was jogging over with her own travel bag ready to go. Coming to a halt she smiled to them all. The blond returning the positive energy.

"Yo Sakura, you ready to go?"

"Hells yeah!" The pinkette clamped a hand over her mouth and fearfully looked over to Izuku. Naruto matched her gaze and paled looking at the sweet smile of Izuku. A sweet smile sending chills down his spine.

"Please don't swear, I have a hard enough time keeping Naruto from doing it, 'kay? Thanks," His voice made Naruto subtly step between the greenette and pinkette.

'Kit threatening team mates is not a good idea'

'Kurama, I understand your view but you have not helped curb Naruto's language either' Izuku's thoughts broke into Naruto's mind. 'Naruto we need to work on your mental defenses when we get back' The greenette turned his head to Sasuke and the Uchiha's eyes widened for a second before he shrugged and shuffled to lean against a tree.

"Did you eat breakfast this time Sakura?" Naruto turned back to the pinkette.

"Yeah! Izuku's recipe for breakfast style katsudon was the best!" They heard him laugh slightly before walking over to have a more private conversation with Sasuke. "You excited for our first c-rank mission?"

"You bet!" Naruto held up his thumb. "We're going to ace it, once we get back the three of us will be Jounin as well!" She seemed to falter for a moment "There something wrong Sakura?"

"Well, does that mean we won't be a team?" Naruto stared at her for a moment.

"Oh, yeah I guess I forgot, you always wanted to be on a team with Sasuke didn't you?" A heavy sign, "I don't think we'll be split up, Izuku, Sasuke and I work really well but we don't have a striker, I'm the distraction, Sasuke strikes hard and fast and Izuku heads up a plan and fills in whichever role is needed, what we really need is a fourth member to bring the wham,"

"What about Kakashi?"

"He and Sasuke are too similar, since Kakashi has a Sharingan, they'd get in each other's way once we go on bigger missions," A flicker of hope in her eyes and Naruto smiled. "Don't worry Sakura, team seven isn't going anywhere," They continued talking while the sun rose above the village.

"Yo," Kakashi greeted them all, "You guys ready?" The sun was now lazily climbing through the blue sky while the four of them debated eating lunch or not.

"Yeah,"/ "Sure,"/ "Absolutely,"/ "You betcha," Sasuke, Izuku, Naruto and Sakura responded respectively.

"Wonderful, this is Tazuna, he's the guy we're escorting back to the Land of Waves," Kakashi turned to a bespectacled man with grey hair and a grey beard. he was wearing a sleeveless v-neck shirt with an obi, pants and a pair of sandals. "Tazuna this is my team,"

"Haruno Sakura, nice to meet you!" The pinkette bowed first.

"Uchiha Sasuke, I got your back,"

"Uzumaki Izuku, happy to help,"

"And Uzumaki Naruto! You got lucky with us as your guard," He rubbed his nose with his thumb. "We'll get you back safe and sound,"

"I was told I would be escorted by shinobi not children," Naruto felt someone grab his wrist as he stepped forwards with indignation.

"Tazuna, we are shinobi, the first rule of being a shinobi is hiding in plain sight, while we may appear to be children we are dangerous, care to explain why you need four shinobi and a kunoichi for a simple escort?" Izuku's voice was calm and patient, something Naruto wasn't aware Izuku had.

'Heard that jackass' Naruto forgot Izuku could hear his thoughts. The blond relaxed and smiled again.

"Like I said Tazuna, you got lucky with us," The old man stared flatly as the large group made their way out of Konohagakure and into the forests. 

"How long will it take us to get there?" Izuku spoke offhandedly as he, Naruto and Sasuke made a shadow clone each.

"About a week," Tazuna grunted as he observed the clones all jump into the trees. Naruto held up his hands and created several more just for security. Izuku had been taught by Itachi longer but Naruto was definitely the fastest, maybe something to do with his dad being the Yellow Flash. The greenette nodded to Naruto and the two closed in on either side of Tazuna. "What are you?" They each grabbed a wrist and put their markers onto him. "What did you?"

"That's a marker," Naruto lifted his hands behind his head. "It means that we can use our flying raijin jutsu,"

"How does that work anyhow?" Sakura leant towards him, "I mean didn't your dad use it a lot?"

"It's a space time jutsu," Naruto shook his head "We aren't entirely sure exactly how it works, maybe a bit like the Kamui, but faster?" Izuku just shrugged, "Yeah so those markers are our technique formula, each user of the jutsu has a different one, hence why both of us need to mark you, dad mentioned something about connecting chakra networks but Izuku and I couldn't figure it out, anyway once something is marked it's permanent by default unless you set a timer on it," Naruto held up a special kunai. "My old man used it on kunai so we did too,"

"Once we scatter them around the battle field we have a massive movement range," Izuku tacked on as the blond nodded.

"Yeah, we can also teleport holding people or objects, but we have to be contacting it," Naruto threw a kunai down the path ahead. "But more complexly we can teleport the object or person to a different marker or just teleport the item without teleporting ourselves," He picked up the kunai from the ground and waited for the others to join again.

"So what about that, round robin jutsu you used?"

"That one?" He grinned to the pinkette, "Basically since we marked each other," His body flickered, swapping places with his brother, "We can swap positions at any time or point when we both use the flying raijin jutsu,"

"That jutsu, that was used by Konoha's yellow flash! And you say your father used it?!" Tazuna exclaimed "Are you his son?"

"Got it in one, blondie is yellow's son, I was adopted into the clan but my chakra reserves let me use it too," The greenette held up a hand. "I told you we were more than you first saw," The blond frowned.

"You may have been adopted but you're still my brother," They bumped fists.

"We're still waiting on why you need all five of us for an escort," He asked again.

"Very well," Tazuna sighed "The Land of Waves has been taken over by a shipping magnate called Gato, he's effectively bankrupt everyone in the Land, if not the Land itself, the only way to revitalize the economy is to build a bridge, undercutting his monopoly," The old man explained.

"But Gato doesn't want that, so he plans on hiring mercs to kill anyone that tries? Sounds like an A-class at least," Sasuke whistled.

"We could only scrounge up enough money for a C-rank and hope for the best, after seeing your abilities with that jutsu I feel much better about our chances," Sakura shook her head.

"These guys have been training since diapers, if there's anyone you want on your side it's these guys," She smiled to Naruto.

"Helping people in your situation is exactly what I want to do," Izuku jabbed his own chest with his thumb. "So don't worry Tazuna, we got your back!"

They walked for silence as the sun began to descend to the treetops. Naruto's foot splashed through a puddle. He and his brother exchanged a glance. Izuku moved to Sasuke and the two nodded briefly. A shinobi jumped from the trees as the blond threw a kunai at the same time as Izuku. Behind them a shinobi grew from the puddle. Between the two enemy a spiked chain appeared ensnaring the group. "Kakashi!" Izuku yelled.

"Get them out first!" His voice was gruff. His brother looked back at him and nodded. Naruto quickly grabbed onto Tazuna and Sakura.

"You might feel a little disorientated," He smiled as he took the two into the cover of the trees. The pinkette and older man were hidden in the shadows as Izuku and Sasuke stood the other side of the path. The chain wrapped around Kakashi.

"Now! Pull!" One enemy shinobi cried, they watched as the chain cut clean through Kakashi and splinters fell to the floor.

"Go!" Naruto called out. Izuku charged first throwing a shuriken to send the chain to the ground. Sasuke followed it up with a kunai to pin it securely. Naruto closed in with a shadow clone, both holding a rasengan each. Sasuke and Izuku both put their weight on the chain either side of the kunai. Naruto and his shadow clone dug a rasengan into the gut of the enemy shinobi. Both were sent flying back, the chain still connected to the silver objects on the underside of their wrists. As they flew back the chain tensed up but the bodies didn't stop. Two sickening pops were heard as they each had a shoulder dislocated. The chain snapped and the bodies began rolling. Immediately they got up and split up, one dashed for Sakura and Tazuna while the other made a break straight for the trio.

"Stay behind me!" Sakura ordered, Naruto could hear the fear in her voice. A barely perceptible nod from the other two and he stepped away, immediately as Sakura's side. From the corner of his eye he saw Sasuke pull out a shuriken. Focusing on the ninja in front of him, Naruto lowered his stance. The metal claw sliced next to him and blood flaked the air. Pink hair waved in the side of his vision.

'Kit,'

'Yeah Kurama?'

'Bury him,' 

'Already on it,' Wasting no time Naruto slammed his palm into the gut of the enemy ninja. They recoiled, winded but otherwise unhurt and smirked arrogantly.

"You're supposed to close your fist when you punch,"

"I wasn't punching you," Naruto growled, his finger nails growing and his fangs baring. He was directly in front of the ninja in the blink of an eye. "I was marking you,"

THUD

Crash

A tree began falling as the body of the ninja curved around the trunk. He picked them up quickly and threw them back to the path. "Sasuke, Izuku!" The two enemy ninjas collide in mid air.

"Wood release, rapid emergence jutsu," Izuku rested his hand to the floor and a tree sprouted, quickly growing between the bodies. In no time the boys had tied the ninja to the tree.

"Wood release? Only lord First was ever able to achieve such a release," Kakashi's voice was almost impressed.

"Chakra type allows me to combine basic elemental chakras, there's a lot of stuff I can do that I haven't discovered yet, it's the only reason I was ever able to make the rasendori, because I could find the right amount of lightning chakra to apply, it's how I mastered the chidori so quickly, you have to add it slowly, to quickly and it loses the nature but too slowly and it will just change chakra nature, becoming completely useless,"

"I beg to differ," Sasuke called out.

"Then beg,"

"Uh guys?" Tazuna called out. Naruto whipped back around to see Sakura clutching her hand. Her bleeding hand. He was first over followed by Izuku almost immediately. The greenette pulled out a kunai.

"Those two were the Demon brothers of the mist, fuck!" Sakura's eyes widened as Izuku cursed. Naruto gulped, once they could manage. "Shit!" Oooh no. "They use poison tipped, gah fucking damn it," The blond grabbed Sakura's hand. "We'll have to bleed it out,"

"Too risky, poison won't have spread too far and making the wound worse heightens infection chance," He bit the inside of his cheek. "Sakura, do you trust me?" She nodded as he bit down gently on her hand, sucking her blood out. The metallic warm fluid filled his mouth for a moment before.

There.

A bitter, rotten taste. It began over taking the taste in his mouth as he turned his head to spit it out. "Sakura, we need to sit you down, the faster your heart beats the worse it's going to get," Leaning her against a tree, Naruto went down to one knee and kept sucking, he could hear Kakashi, Izuku and Sasuke talk about the Sharingan while Tazuna recovered.

"I have the first tomoe, after what Itachi had to do, I need the Mangekyou Sharingan if I'm to avenge him,"

"Then you'll need to lose a close friend,"

"I don't think that's true Kakashi, and besides I know Sasuke has no desire to see either of his brothers in all but blood go anytime soon," Izuku's voice helped Naruto relax as he kept sucking the poison and spitting it onto the same patch of grass. "I think it's more akin to overpowering emotions, such as losing a loved one, I should think it has to be bigger than the first tomoe or at least have more meaning, I should think the Eternal Mangekyou is the same too,"

"Actually the Eternal Mangekyou can only be achieved through transplanting and Mangekyou user's eyes into yours, so you two could swap eyes if you really wanted to, how are Shisui's eyes working for you Izuku?" The barely audible screech of Izuku's eyes activating caused Naruto pause.

"About as well as Obito's left eye is working for you Kakashi, except I have more control over the one's gifted to me, I would remind you I am no Danzo and Shisui was my \sensei, best friend and an older brother to me, never insinuate I stole these eyes," Sakura whispered to Naruto.

"Is it true? Does he have Uchiha eyes?" He spat out the poison again, it was tasting more metallic now.

"They aren't Uchiha eyes, they're his eyes, Shisui gave them to him, knowing that he would do right with them, so far he's right, Izuku only rarely relies on those eyes, determined to prove to his greatest teachers that he is worthy of them," Naruto sighed "His technique, is the Koto Amatsukami, Shisui admitted it to me once that he used it one Izuku to give him a small boost in confidence, it plants a thought or idea into the person's subconscious, manipulating them without the victim ever realizing it's a genjutsu of the highest order, Izuku knows of the power but hasn't ever used it, even though his Primal chakra lets him, because he doesn't want to manipulate a person in anyway, talk to them, yes, debate, hoo boy he's there but manipulate? Not his style," Sakura seemed to relax ever so slightly. "It requires the victim to look into his eyes anyway," The fluid tasted like blood again. He spat it out onto the...patch of dirt? Staring at the small circle of dirt he couldn't see a single blade of grass, not even a wilted one. "I'm sorry Sakura, I wasn't fast enough,"

"Am I?" The fear in her voice was almost physical.

"No, I got it all out but if I'd just been a second faster, you wouldn't be like this in the first place," A hand ruffled his hair as he reached into a pocket for bandages.

"Hey, you did everything you could," Guilt twinged in his gut, she didn't know they were wearing the training weights still. "Besides I should be apologizing to you, all this time I've treated you like a class clown but here you are one of the most dedicated and skilled shinobi I know,"

"Please I still have a lot to learn, I have shadow clones in the catacombs still researching for me too, every twelve hours they make a new copy and disperse, so I get a day's worth of study there and then, if I have something I want to research I just make a clone and dismiss it to spread the information to the other clones, then they can find the information and send it back to me,"

"You think you could teach me the jutsu?"

"Maybe, but it splits your chakra up, so you'll probably only start with one, like Sasuke, but chakra training should push you up to three or four," He spoke absentmindedly as he wrapped her hand.

"Wow seriously?"

"I'm not going to lie it is very difficult, Sasuke is only on his fourth shadow clone, but I don't see why we couldn't put you in two places at once,"

"Awesome, thanks Naruto!" She waved her hands and clenched her fist, "Ow," 

"Yeah I'd be careful for a few hours at least, that was a pretty nasty cut,"

"Naruto, Sakura, let's get camp set up for today, we'll make a roster to keep watch," Kakashi called them over. There was silence for a second.

"FOODD!" Naruto and Izuku cried simultaneously, causing Sasuke to almost break down with laughter. 

The blond sat on a fallen log they'd used as a bench during dinner, the remaining embers of the fire smoldering behind him. "Hey Naruto?" A voice spoke quietly from behind. He looked up into the starlit sky through the million branches making the treetops. "Can I sit with you?"

"You should be getting sleep Sakura,"

"As should you, aren't your shadow clones on watch?"

"Izuku and I are taking turns remember?" He looked towards the darkened forest. A kunai landed between his feet. The tag on the handle read all clear in his handwriting. "I'll wake him up in a minute."Why are you up?"

"Just, can't sleep I guess," The pinkeete sat down next to him. "So your jutsu?"

"I suggest waiting until we get back to Konoha, we don't want you too tired during our mission," He stretched his body out.

"What about that Raijin jutsu you used?"

"The Flyind Raijin? That's once the Second Hokage created, it's a class S, spent months getting it down, only seal needed is the seal of confrontation, but you need to use the jutsu formula as a marker, there's also a lot of different ones made from it, Second used the Flying Raijin slice, throwing a marked kunai with a bunch of regular kunai and as the target deflects them, he'd teleport to it with a blade in hand and slice them,"

"What about that Round Robin jutsu? Third said it was never used before,"

"After dad learned the Flying Raijin, he developed a possible new method for two people to swap locations anywhere anytime, but they both have to use the Flying Raijin jutsu at the same time, he also developed a Flying Raijin Second Step, it's a lot like the slice but he throws a kunai into their blind spot, it's more effective against more durable ninja," His hand rubbed the back of his head, "Sorry I was rambling, a little trait I've accidentally picked up from bro, he also created one that uses six warp points in a circle and creats a flash of lightning, super long name though so I didn't bother remembering it," 

"Naruto,"

"Yeah?"

"Izuku said you were trained by Itachi and he had to do something really horrible,"

"Uchiha Itachi was an older brother to all three of us for a point in our lives, he and UchihaShisui were our senseis, they taught us literally everything we know about fighting, shurikenjutsu, taijutsu, hell we broke into the Hokage's office at one point to learn the Shadow Clone jutsu just to prove our abilities at information collection,"

"What did he do?"

"I can't tell you that, that's for Sasuke to disclose, but suffice to say, Itachi was forced to choose between something or the village, even then he wasn't given much choice either," His voice was morose, "But don't worry too much about it, I'm sure you'll learn about it in time, you are trying to date Sasuke after all, he'll tell you when he trusts you," His closed eyes didn't see the pang of despair on Sakura's face but it disappeared when he opened his eyes again.

"About that, Naruto I,"

"Oi bro, my turn to keep watch," Izuku came over and chopped his head comically, "You two go to bed, my clones and I have got the watch for the rest of the night,"

"Izuku, don't even think of staying up the rest of the night,"

"I have some analysis to get done, I'll be fine,"

"What are you analyzing anyway?" He tried poking his head over his brother's shoulder to read the notebook.

"Trade secret, I've been doing a lot of research into the First Hokage, he was incredibly good with chakra, there's a few things I'm trying to study about him," Izuku moved in such a way that Naruto couldn't read his notebook. "Go, bed, now," The blond groaned at the greenette and rolled his eyes.

"Ugh, fine, come on Sakura, better not piss him off when he's tired," 

"I can stay up later than you dipshit," The greenette yawned, "Just need to ween off the final cup of coffee and I'll be the best non-sleeper out there,"

"Yeah yeah, sure," He waved a hand before crawling into his tent. Maybe sleep wasn't such a bed idea.

The rest of their journey wasn't much of a disaster. After the first run in the route was actually genuinely really quiet. The entire time Sakura would talk to the four of them about the jutsus she could learn and what she'd really need to fill. Naruto, being Naruto, had obviously been the most talkative and animated in response. He promised to help Sakura with all things from chakra control to the shadow clone jutsu. The blond was now looking forward to completing the mission for more than becoming a jounin. "We should reach our destination soon," Tazuna murmured "Although I am concerned with how little interference there has been," Right now they walked along a path with the forest on one side and a lake on the other. 

"After what happened on day one, whoever is trying to stop you hired someone much more dangerous, they'll probably have a plan laid out now," Izuku shook his head. "Look I'm not saying this is going to be the most dangerous thing in the world but forgetting caution at this time is a very bad idea," Ahead rested a small clearing to the lake.

"I agree Izuku," Kakashi nodded "It is odd that they haven't attacked yet though, none of us have sensed any chakra and your clones haven't picked up anything just yet," Sasuke's arm flung out to the side. A kunai landed in a bush. "Sasuke?"

"Sorry, I thought I sensed something," A small white rabbit raced from the bush, scared for its life. "Unusual,"

"Such carelessness after all this time! Attacking a rabbit!" Tazuna wiped his forehead "Honestly,"

"Actually, that means something much more than you realize," Izuku stared at it, "Naruto, Sasuke, you see it too right?" Naruto was going to answer when Sakura beat him to it.

"Why is it white? Surely that's supposed to be it's winter coat?"

"It is," Naruto stared at it for another moment, "The animal was raised indoors, meaning it's a substitution item, to make it even more convincing than an empty bush," His eyes closed for a moment, "Whoever it is, they're not, wait, something coming fast, three o'clock!" Everyone was on guard as a shadow leapt from the trees and tackled Kakashi.

"Water style, Water Prison jutsu!" Their leader was suddenly locked in a sphere of water as the figure stood up on the water. Naruto stared as the unidentified person faced them, one hand on Kakashi's liquid prison. The three boys dropped into ready stances.

"Sakura, cover Tazuna again," He lowered himself. 

'Kurama, can I get some claws?'

'Kit if my chakra overloads you, you will end up going into a frenzy,'

'I just need enough for claws, not much, please,'

'Very well Naruto, that should not be a lot and with Izuku I daresay you could be subdued if it came to it' A sensation filled Naruto as he felt the chakra boost. His fingers tensed as his nails stretched into claws and his teeth sharpened to fangs.

"Sasuke, Naruto, stay on the land for now, if we can resolve this without close combat it'll be a damn sight better for us,"

"Got it," / "Understood," Meanwhile Tazuna trembled behind them.

"Do any of you know who that is? He is the Demon of the Hidden Mist!" The old man fell onto his backside. Naruto dropped to all fours and grit his teeth.

"I know exactly who this is," Izuku filled in, "For a time the Hidden Mist, was known as the Village of the Bloody Mist, he killed an entire graduating class even though he wasn't a student, last shinobi to be crowned as one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, he stole the Kubikiribocho, one of the famed swords of Kirigakure,"

"You sure do your research boy," The figure almost boasted.

"Well, when someone at Anbu level kills a high ranking Jounin of Konohagakure, I make sure to know them," Izuku's eyes narrowed, "Plus finding information on you wasn't even that difficult,"

"Who is this?" Sasuke hissed.

"This is the only man that killed over a hundred academy students," A hulking great sword was lifted in the man's free hand and rested on the same shoulder.

"Momochi Zabuza,"