Chapter 48: Naruto : Chapter 48
Sasuke and Sakura were shocked. Never had Naruto shown that kind of power and skill before. Sasuke was fuming in jealousy. How could Naruto be that strong? How could he become that strong?
"What the hell? How can you be so strong?" Sakura yelled at Naruto.
"Training." The blond answered.
"Why are you still a genin?" Sasuke asked trying to suppress his jealousy.
Naruto sighed. He had hoped to avoid that discussion for a bit longer.
"Problems with the civilian council. They hate me for some reason and before I wasn't strong enough to be absolutely sure they couldn't prevent me becoming a ninja I didn't want to risk early graduation.
As a ninja the Hokage is the only one with power over me. But with the real genin test being a hurdle to take, I couldn't risk being screwed over on purpose. I could have graduated easily with ten, but then the sensei would probably have intentionally failed my team.
The only one the council would never have let fail was you, Sasuke. That's the reason I pretended to be the dead last. I wanted to be placed on the same team like you to not give the council a reason to try and screw me over." Naruto said.
"Why would they do that? They aren't like that!" Sakura protested.
Naruto finally cracked, he was still high on adrenaline and he had to keep his emotions bottled up for a long time.
"Yes, they are and your mother is one of the worst members! I've been kicked out of the orphanage I lived in with five on orders of the council! I've been denied proper service in nearly all stores on orders of the council!
I've been tried to be denied entrance to the academy on orders of the council, but as it is the ninja academy, the Hokage could simply order them to let me in there.
The teachers tried to sabotage me on orders of the council. And the military police also did their very best to make my life miserable. They never persecuted anyone who beat me up.
The culprits got off on flimsy excuses or were forced to pay a small fine. And they themselves were part of ninety eight of hundred attacks on me. You wanted to know why I dislike you. That's your reason.
I can barely tolerate you. But I think holding children responsible for the sins of their parents is wrong." Naruto said icily, sealed the captured Haku in another prisoner scroll and walked away.
"He's lying! Kakashi sensei, he's lying!" Sakura screeched.
"No, he isn't, Sakura. Everything he said was the truth." Kakashi reprimanded her, shocking her.
"Normally, if there hadn't been prejudices against him, Naruto would already be jonin by now. You have seen that he is much stronger than any of you.
We just kept the true difference a secret to not discourage you. Naruto's strength isn't the result of some bloodline limit or secret ability his family has. It is the result of thousands of hours of blood, sweat and tears.
And Sasuke, what he said about your clan is also true. The Uchiha didn't behave honourably when Naruto was concerned. He hates your clan and he has every reason to do so.
They were some of the ones that cried the loudest to have him killed for something he had no control over and which saved the village. But he was made the scapegoat for an event the village couldn't deal with when you were still infants.
So it would be in your best interest to not antagonize him." Kakashi stated.
Sasuke had problems believing his sensei's words. He had adored his father and his clan, he had wanted to become like his father, but hearing that he had allowed to let a boy his age be beaten by Uchihas and other villagers, didn't sit right with him.
That was not honourable and didn't prove the Uchiha superiority at all.
Itachi had been at odds with his father for some time, was that the reason? When he had been little and Itachi had still been his nice big brother, he had once told him about a lonely little boy, whom he had protected by a mob of drunk villagers on the day of the Kyubi festival.
Was Naruto the boy? Itachi hadn't mentioned the boy's name, only that he didn't deserve how he was treated in the village.
During their time at the academy he hadn't spent much thought on Naruto. He had been the class clown, the dead last who couldn't even properly do the transformation jutsu.
But yet here was the same boy, fighting on par with an elite jonin like Zabuza and taking out a strong ninja like that boy with the mask in a one-on-one fight like it was nothing.
That masked boy was at least high chunin level from what he had seen. And Kakashi had said Naruto was jonin level. Damn, things were really screwed up. But perhaps Naruto was the one who could understand him.
He was as lonely as him, was working hard for his goals, whatever they were, and his clan had also been massacred in the past. He was the sole survivor of the Uzumaki clan. Damn, this threw his whole perception of things apart.
Kakashi then had a small bout of exhaustion which was cured by a seal Naruto took from Kakashi's pouch and placed on his neck. After a minute Kakashi was back to normal, if a bit more tired than usually.
...
Tazuna led the subdued team to his home. While the revelations about the blond's past had been unsettling, he knew he was safe as long as this team was close by. The rest of the journey went without further incidents.
Once they reached Tazuna's home, the old man introduced them to his daughter Tsunami. She was very happy that her father had made it back safely and had got such strong protection.
"Kakashi sensei, I need to tell you some things my clones found out." Naruto said, once Tsunami has disappeared into the kitchen and Tazuna had gone to change his clothes.
"The scouting clones?" Kakashi asked.
"Yes. I had them fly over the whole island to get an idea of the situation here. The villager's situation is even worse than Tazuna described. Children are homeless on the streets, begging for some food, but nobody has anything to spare.
People are forced to leave their homes by thugs if they can't pay the absurd amounts of money Gato demands as protection fees.
There are nearly no fields where corn or vegetables are grown and if, they are surrounded by Gato's thugs. There are two locations where those thugs live.
A camp on the other side of the island and a base close to this town. My clones assume that in the camp are perhaps five hundred of those thugs and in the base probably the same number.
Now that we have taken out Zabuza and Haku, I fear Gato could mobilize those thugs to take care of the problem that Tazuna poses himself." Naruto reported.
"That's really bad. And even if I called back-up from Konoha, they wouldn't be here on time. Damn, that only leaves one option really." Kakashi said and Naruto nodded.
"What are you talking about?" Sakura asked confused while Sasuke's face had gone hard.
"Assassination." Sasuke said.
"Correct Sasuke. I will have to leave you and Sakura here to protect Tazuna and his family. Naruto and I are the only ones skilled enough to take out those amounts of thugs. Barricade the house and take shifts sleeping.
Naruto can leave you a few shadow clones, but he needs all his chakra for the mission." Kakashi said.
"We first need more detailed information on the two bases. The camp seems to be a normal one with tents and a few barracks. But you never know. And I also can't tell from the short investigation my clones did if there might be other ninjas Gato has hired." Naruto said.
"Okay. I'll send one of my summons off to Konoha to inform the Hokage. He will probably reach the village in a day if he runs the whole distance.
Then we could have back-up here in two to three days. Depending on how fast Gato acts that could be just early enough for us. While the normal thugs are no problem for ninjas, these numbers are concerning.
Naruto get twenty clones to map out the base and the camp. Do you have an up to date bingo book?" Kakashi asked and got a nod from the blond.
Naruto walked out of the house and made forty clones, transformed them in small birds, they would transform into something else once they were near the two bases, and sent them on their way.
"Okay, I should have the information we need in two or three hours." He said.
Kakashi nodded.
"How many of the chakra storage seals do you have fully charged, sensei?" Naruto asked.
"Five. Well, I'll need to recharge the one I already used and I have the other five you gave me but they also need to be filled." Kakashi said.
"Hm, you should probably do it now and then rest. But we still have a problem. If you need to use your sharingan again, you tire too fast still." Naruto said.
"True, but no medic ever found a solution for me to turn off the eye. It stays activated all the time and drains my reserves more than it would normally do." Kakashi said, getting the interest of Sasuke.
"How comes you have a sharingan? Are you an Uchiha, Kakashi sensei?" He asked.
"No, I'm not. That eye was a present from my best friend. It is a reminder of my biggest mistake." Kakashi said.
"Stop blaming yourself for that incident. Obito wouldn't want you to beat yourself up about it. In the end you did the right thing and went with him to save Rin. It was his decision to protect you and Rin.
Don't you think he would rather you honoured his memory by making sure it never happens again than dwelling on the past?" Naruto asked.
"You know?" Kakashi asked. "The journal?"
"Yes. He wrote the whole incident down. He never blamed you. He was proud how you turned around and always protected your comrades." Naruto confirmed.
"Thanks, Naruto." Kakashi said.
The whole discussion went over the heads of Sasuke and Sakura.
"What are you talking about?" Sakura asked annoyed.
"That one day you have to stop living in the past and look into the future." Kakashi said. He didn't further explain it.
================
Hey guys do I need to change the cover for the fanfic ??
And if yes ... do you guys have suggestions ??
...
if you want to read ahead of the public release you can join my p atreon :
p atreon.com/CarriePoppins
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone