The Power of Youth... and Love

(5000 hits, huh? Well, I could say I’m proud, or, I could tell the truth. And the truth is that that number is going to be 7000 by the end of this arc. Why do I sound so confident, you ask? Because this arc is going to be mostly a 3 chapter fight, and yeah, it’s going to put the Hiashi/Naruto fight to shame, oh, and thanks for reading. ^_^)
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Chapter 18: An S-Rank Mission, the Important Note and the Mysterious Man

Naruto woke up from his nap, looking up to see his wife holding their child. He was in quite a bit of pain from sleeping in the chair like he did, his back and arm had seen better days, *and my hand still hurts from yesterday,* He thought, shaking it a bit to see if anything was broken. Hinata looked over at her husband and smiled, “good morning Naruto-kun,” she said, cradling young Minato in her arms. Naruto stood up promptly and gave her a kiss, “good morning Hina-chan.” “Well, Naruto-kun, would you like to hold your son?” She asked him and he held out his arms; Hinata slowly and carefully gave their son to her husband, and smiled. Naruto was very careful, softly poking his son’s nose and giggling, “You’re going to be a strong kid, I know it,” he said quietly. “Everyone came already, my father was quite happy to see me and the baby. Sorry if we didn’t wake you, but we all figured you were exhausted,” Hinata said, taking the baby back into her arms. Not a moment after Minato was in her hands, 3 ANBU agents entered and walked right up to Naruto, “Uzumaki Naruto, you are to report to the Hokage at once, she has a mission of the utmost importance, and you are the only one who can do it.” Naruto looked at Hinata, who did not look pleased, and said, “Sorry Hina-chan, but it sounds like I don’t have a choice. Besides, it’s either ANBU now, or Granny Tsunade later, I think I’d rather go with them now.” She turned her head and pouted, but he gave her a huge kiss, and then kissed his son’s forehead. “I love you both, I’ll be home soon, ok?” he asked, and she reluctantly nodded. Naruto turned and left, and all 3 Elite Ninja followed him; Hinata sighed, “well, whatever it is, they could have waited.”
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Naruto saw Tsunade outside of her office, and walked right up and started screaming. “What the hell? I can’t spend some time with my family before you cart my ass on another mission?” Naruto was pretty fuming at this, but Tsunade raised her hand and smiled, “I figure you want this mission, it’s also an S-Ranked one.” Naruto paused for a second, taking in the fact of how high the mission was ranked, *Hot Damn! This must be some kind of mission,* he thought, quickly nodding in approval. *Not like it matters, he has to do this mission,* Tsunade grinned as she waved for him to follow her, walking straight into the office.

Naruto saw the man in the office in front of Tsunade’s Desk, but wasn’t sure what to make of him. A very tall man, long Red hair with a lines of silver going down both sides of his face, long red and black robes that covered everything but his head, and a large, round, club-like staff in his hands, seeming to hold him up. But the strangest thing was his eyes, they were closed, completely shut, *what, is he blind?* Naruto thought to himself. He decided to test that theory, he moved up to the old man without making a sound and waved his hands in front of his face, only to have the large end of the man’s staff rammed into his abdomen. “Do you mind?” the man asked, as Naruto was spread out on the floor, *well, that answers that question,* he thought, coughing rather fiercely while trying to stand. “Anyways,” Tsunade said, decided it was time for them to shut up and listen. “Naruto, you have been assigned an S-Rank mission, to deliver this letter to the Mizukage, you may read it if you wish.” Naruto took the letter from the Hokage, and read it carefully:

To the Mizukage,
We, the village of Konoha, wish to ask a trade between our two villages for knowledge and medicines of our villages. I know that your land and your ninja have been struggling over a very strange illness, and I believe it would be in both of our best interests to work out a fair and equal trade to help you in your time of need.

Tsunade, Hokage of Konoha

The rest of the message seemed to be written in an untranslatable code, which made Naruto think that the rest was not meant to be read by anyone but him. “Alright,” he said contently, “Now what?” “Well,” Tsunade said calmly, “the 3 of us are heading to the land of water and you’re going to deliver that message.” Naruto suddenly did a head count and look stunned, the 3 people in the room were that man in black, himself and… “YOU’RE GOING TOO?” Naruto pointed at the Hokage and shouted. “Yes,” she nodded, “as you will need the strongest people with you in case of an ambush. This man is named Hotaru, he is from a unique clan that helps all villages all over the world, and I figured he would be needed for this, it is also why it is an S-Rank mission.” Naruto looked at this Hotaru for a second, other then being quite a large man (roughly 2 meters tall,) he didn’t look all that strong. *Hell, he looks older the Ero-Sennin and Granny Tsunade combined,* Naruto thought to himself, still rubbing his very sore stomach. “Don’t be deceived Naruto, I have far stronger then you can imagine,” the old man said, making Naruto wonder just how strong he was.
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Sakura walked in to check on the new mom, and just to say hi, *since she’s not quite home yet,* she thought. She saw Hinata and the baby, both by themselves, and Hinata was crying. *Damnit Naruto,* was her first thought, and her second was *Where the hell is he?* Hinata looked at her, she wasn’t mad, Mrs. Uzumaki was pissed, angry right to the core. “WHERE THE HELL IS YOUR SENSEI?” She screamed, which made the baby start crying. “What do you mean?” Sakura asked, *so, it’s not Naruto?* “Fucking old bitch, sent ANBU here to tell Naruto he HAD to go on a mission,” Hinata slammed her hands on the bed hard, her blood was starting to boil. Sakura thought to herself out loud, “that’s strange, she said herself that Naruto was on leave for a month or so. I know she was doing that so he could spend time with you and the baby,” the nurse slowly picked Minato off of his little bed and cradled him. Hinata just sat there and thought about what she said, “Then why did this mission come up?” Sakura shrugged, “I don’t know, but I know who does. I’ll find out for you, okay?” The young mother, while still sobbing a little, nodded and smiled. Sakura handed the baby to Hinata, and she kissed her friend softly on the lips, running a hand through her hair, “Relax, I’m sure Tsunade had a very good reason… *because is she doesn’t*.” Sakura clenched her other hand, she was in a far worse mood then you would ever want to see her in.
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Hoshigaki Kisame was walking through the woods in his former country, smiling like he usually did. “Well, those guys weren’t much of a match, were they Samehada,” He asked his huge sword, the Water ninja around his homeland were kind of weak in comparison to him. It had been a little over a year since the Akatsuki disbanded and Uchiha Madara was killed, and he felt somewhat happy to be his own man again. “Although, I do miss my conversations with Itachi,” he thought to himself out loud; Itachi and Kisame were good friends, right up until the end. Kisame was not allowed to re-enter Kirigakure, but he was allowed to become a Ninja of Amegakure by Pain (who was also severely injured by the end of the Akatsuki.) “The Akatsuki would have survived, had Madara not had his eyes forcibly removed. Such a sad state of affairs,” Kisame laughed, taking the shortcut he knew about to get back to Amegakure. On the way, he heard more people approaching, and he turned to see who it was, and was also seen himself. “Hmmm, the Kyuubi brat, the Hokage…. And….” Kisame frowned and looked quite scared when he saw THAT man.

“Hoshigaki Kisame, long time no see,” Hotaru said, as Naruto and Tsunade prepared for battle with the ‘man-shark.’ Kisame responded by drawing his weapon, but Tsunade and Naruto saw his hands start to shake, he was trembling, but why? “H-hotaru,” Kisame said shakily, he looked at the old man with fear, and his voice trembled as he said that name. “We were just passing through, I hope you don’t have any plans to take this nice young boy, now do you?” Hotaru asked quite sternly, his eyes may have been shut, but you could tell the old man was staring one of the strongest ninja alive down. Kisame shook his head, and Hotaru continued, “Good, now, I think you should run along before I go see the Mizukage and…” he didn’t even get to finish his sentence before Kisame ran, ran far away, fearing the fact that he was going to be cut down by that man, possibly by a single blow. “Well then, shall we proceed?” the elderly man asked, and the 2 high level ninja nodded, and only Naruto was wondering just what the hell happened.
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Naruto asked as soon as they reached the Mizukage’s building, “What the hell was that?” Hotaru smiled and said, “Oh, you’ll find out,” which left Naruto with so many more questions. When they walked into the lobby, Tsunade looked at Naruto and said, “ok, you are going in to hand the Mizukage this letter alone, be polite and respectful and let him know that we are here to support Kirigakure, ok?” Naruto nodded, and she waved him away. When he finally left, she looked at Hotaru and asked, “do you think he’ll do well with this mission?” All he could say was, “It’s not this part he should worry about.”

Naruto walked into the Mizukage’s office, who was staring at the very large fish take behind his desk. “You know,” he said quietly to whoever it was walking in, “I wonder how long time ebbs and flows like the tide, wouldn’t you ask the same?” Naruto thought about that, not sure how to answer, but said “yes, I do.” The Mizukage turned around and looked at the Konoha ninja, and Naruto walked over and handed him the letter, “I am a messenger from Konoha, here to deliver this message straight from the Hokage to you,” the blonde said, minding his manners. The Mizukage read the major part about his ailing ninja, who were suffering from a very strange illness, but he continued to read the encrypted message:

P.S. I’m sure you remember this boy from his fight with Hyuga Hiashi, you may ask him anything you would like, however be advised that he doesn’t know very much about the situation.

The Mizukage smiled and said, “I only have one question boy. Do you think that your village would be able to aid us with the plague that has befallen us?” Naruto thought for a minute, trying to come up with an appropriate answer, “I do not know, however, I believe that trying to help someone with their burden is better then doing nothing at all.” The Mizukage smiled and nodded at the response, “Very well, you may tell your Hokage that I look forward to her assistance,” he searched his desk for 2 things, one was a box of Antidotes, and the other was a small necklace with an icy blue pendant, “those antidotes are for poisons we have encountered from other ninja, give them to you medical ninja. The necklace is made of unmelting ice, and is yours to keep for coming to see me yourself. You may leave at anytime and are welcome to come back.” Naruto bowed respectfully and exited, and the Mizukage went back to staring at his fish tank.
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Shizune was really frightened when Sakura barged through the door, and she only asked one question: “WHY THE HELL WAS HE SENT ON A MISSION?!” Shizune knew who she was talking about, but she wasn’t allowed to say anything. “Alright Shizune, you can either talk, or go visit Mrs. Uzumaki at the hospital,” Sakura pulled out her gloves and started to put them on, “….the hard way.” Shizune didn’t waste any time telling Sakura all she knew, for fear that she would be able to hit as hard as the Hokage herself. “All I know is that this mission is a fight between Naruto and another man, something about showing that he can be Hokage. JUST PLEASE DON’T HURT ME!” Shizune started crying, and Sakura smiled, “there now was that so hard?” Sakura heard all she needed to, but she wondered what Shizune meant by ‘showing that he could be Hokage.’ *Does that mean that if he succeeds, he would fulfill his dream?* she thought to herself, walking back to her home.
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Tsunade and Naruto took the back of the pack as they were heading home, when Hotaru suddenly stopped and sighed, “I think this will be far enough.” Naruto looked at his strangely as the man made a simple hand seal, “Release,” he said, and his staff turned into a very strange double bladed sword. “Uzumaki Naruto,” Hotaru said, turning and pointing the sword at the young man, “I Challenge you to a duel. En Garde!”
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(Well, this fight is going to get under way, but many questions remain, who is this mysterious old man? What will Naruto have to prove to become Hokage? And what brings Tsunade into all of this? Well, I think a good ‘stay tuned’ is in order, wouldn’t you agree?)