Eyes of Sacrifice

A/N: All the events for Shippuden have been pushed back by two years.

Naruto fought the urge to rub his bandaged palm again as Kakashi stared at him and Sakura. He growled under his breath as he flexed his hands a bit. They were still tender, he won’t be able to do a lot with his hands like this should Kakashi really take this seriously. Naruto narrowed his eyes as he lowered his hands. Not only that but he’d have to hold back and that really wasn’t something that Naruto considered good.

Her eyes trailed up and down the bandages on Naruto’s arms and neck. Whatever happened, they had severed Naruto’s ability to do jutsus. If that was the case, then he would only be able to do taijutsu, even then it is limited to his legs. Sakura looked back toward Kakashi, who smiled as he raised his right hand, which held two bells.

“I’m going to see how much you two have improved,” He said. “You both have been training to get a certain someone back correct?”

“Hai!” Sakura said.

The blonde looked down at the ground. “Sasuke…”

Kakashi glanced at Naruto before his eye smiled at them. He put the bells onto his pants as he spoke, “The rules are the same as before. You can use any tricks to get the bells away from. As long as you…”

“Come at you like we are going to kill you.” Naruto said as he looked up.

“Or else we won’t get them right?” Sakura asked grinning.

Kakashi closed his eye and nodded. “You won’t be able to retrieve them if you don’t come at me with a killing intent. You have until tomorrow…”

“We won’t need that long.” Naruto said interrupting Kakashi. The Jounin looked up in surprise at Naruto.

“Naruto…” The pink haired Chuunin murmured.

“If you think you can do it sooner than tomorrow, then prove it Naruto.” Kakashi replied.

Naruto nodded and reached up to brush his fingers across the metal of his headband. Sakura looked at Naruto before pulling out some gloves and slipping them on. Her eyes wandered back to the blonde as he tensed up. She hoped he was going to be okay for this, Tsunade should have at least waited for his arms to heal.

Before another thought passed anyone’s mind, Naruto went into action. He quickly threw a few shuriken at Kakashi, forcing the older man to duck. The silver haired man threw three shuriken at Naruto forcing him to jump into the air. While in the air, Kakashi threw another three. Naruto’s arms moved together quickly.

Sakura’s jaw dropped. Unless the bandages were for show, Naruto shouldn’t be able to do that!

“Kage Bushin no Jutsu!” Naruto called as his clone appeared and pulled him out of the way of the shuriken. When the two landed, Naruto grabbed his clone as he began to turn toward Kakashi. “Henge!” The clone turned into a large shuriken allowing Naruto to have a weapon to throw.

Kakashi seeing this, moved swiftly and grabbed Naruto hand that was one the shuriken as well as place one hand behind his head. “Okay, that’s enough of that…” Kakashi said thinking about how Naruto was in a similar position years ago. ‘He’s really grown…’ He thought to himself. He looked behind him out of the corner of his eyes to see a clone holding a kunai to his back. ‘His timing with his Shadow Clones has improved as well.’ Looking down at the bandaged hand he was holding he realized that Naruto was too tense as though in pain. Not commenting on it, Kakashi smiled. “You’ve matured Naruto, but…you are still impatient. I haven’t even said start yet.” He closed his eyes. “Let’s start then! Ready….start!” And with that Kakashi disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

“Oops,” Naruto said as he rubbed his wrist. Kakashi held onto his wrist a bit too tightly for his tender arms.

“Naruto you twit!” Sakura shouted.

In the distant, Tsunade and Shizune stood beside under the tree Jiraiya was sitting in. A few feet beside them Gaara stood with the young fox, Aya on his shoulders.

“Amazing…” Shizune murmured.

Tsunade nodded and watched silently. ‘What will you do now Sakura?’ She thought as she watched the girl looked around before turning around. Her grin widened as Sakura raised her fist and punched the ground causing it to quake and crack open. “All right! Well done!”

Jiraiya’s face dropped a bit. “Strength and power…fine second Tsunade you raised there.”

“What was that?” The blonde woman below him asked.

“Nothing…”

Gaara watched as Naruto stared at his former teammate and Sensei. The blonde boy rubbed his palm and wrist again. ‘He won’t be able to win this without giving up one of his abilities.’ Gaara thought as Aya whined a bit. When Kakashi revealed the Sharingan, she had become tense, worried for Naruto. “He’ll be fine…” Gaara said as he watched the three former teammates take to the woods. As the observers followed, it was then the Sand Ninja realized something. ‘What are you waiting for Naruto?’

It was soon night and the attacks and tricks have been going back and forth. Kakashi even dared to try to trick them with a genjutsu of Sasuke. Naruto clenched his teeth together as he looked at the fake Sasuke.

/Calm down Naruto, you know that isn’t him. You know what the new Sasuke looks like./ Kyuubi said feeling the blonde’s anger at how Kakashi can just think he can do that.

“It’s too bad…” Sakura said. “I wanted to talk to Sasuke-kun a bit longer,” She brought her hands together in the seal of the tiger. “Kai!” The illusion of Sasuke wavered, before dispersing completely. Looking around, Sakura spotted Kakashi behind one of the trees. “Naruto, he’s behind that tree!”

“Got it,” Naruto said as he summoned a Shadow Clone. He held out his right hand allowing the clone to making movements with his hand, summoning the Rasengan. Naruto winced as the power from the chakra pushed against his tender arms.

Tsunade and Jiraiya both looked over as Gaara uncrossed his arms. “Damn…” He cursed. They turned back to see Naruto charging at the tree and destroying the base with the Rasengan. Sakura smirked.

“You’re not trying hard enough. We aren’t going to fall for the same tricks Kakashi-sensei.” She said.

Naruto looked down to see the bells laying there and mentally sighed. He’d have to fall into the trap to hide some things. Dashing forward, he didn’t even bother to lean forward as the rope caught his ankle. As it brought him up, Naruto used the substitution jutsu to escape. He appeared behind Kakashi and punched him revealing that it was only a clone.

Kakashi looked down from the tree he was hiding in as Sakura was searching around for him. They were still looking for him. His eyes turned to Naruto to see the blonde standing straight with one hand on his hip, staring straight at him. Kakashi’s eyes widened as his head jerked in surprise. ‘If Naruto knows where I am, why isn’t he telling Sakura?’ As if his thought conjured her, Sakura appeared out of nowhere and forced him out of the tree allowing Naruto to attack him with kunai.

“He’s improved…” Jiraiya said. “Far more than I would expect in two years.”

“He knew exactly where Kakashi was…” Tsunade shook her head. “I can’t help but wonder is it from his new senses or the fact that Naruto has grown more than he’s letting on.”

Aya whined a bit as she stood up on Gaara’s shoulder. The Sand Ninja narrowed his eyes as Kakashi talked about ninjutsu. He knew that this would end soon. Naruto’s arms wouldn’t be able to take much more abuse for tonight. “Stupid…” He murmured as Naruto began to laugh just before Kakashi began his seals.

‘Something’s not right,’ Kakashi said as he did the seals for his Goukakyuu no Jutsu. He saw the shock on Sakura’s face at the speed, but Naruto remained smiling. “Katon, Goukakyuu no Jutsu!” He said as he breathed out a Giant Fireball. Sakura evaded the attack but Naruto didn’t move, instead he only raised his arms.

“Naruto!” Sakura shouted as the fireball exploded when it collided with blonde.

“Shit!” Jiraiya shouted as he stood up on the tree branch.

Tsunade and Shizune began to run toward the area. “Naruto!” Just as they reached the tree line Gaara appeared in front of them.

“Stay back,” He said.

“Are you crazy? He could be dead!” Tsunade yelled glaring at the red haired young man.

“Just watch,” Gaara replied.

Jiraiya stared at Gaara before jumping down to stand next to Tsunade. He had a feeling the Shukaku knew more than he told them about. He looked at his former teammate and nodded. “He’s knows Naruto’s abilities better than we do at the moment.” The woman mumbled angrily but stayed where she was watching the smoke clear.

In his heart, Kakashi felt cold. He didn’t mean for that to actually harm one of his former students. Nor did he want to think about what Naruto would look like after an attack as large as that. Kakashi tried to see through the cloud of dust with the Sharingan, but to no avail. Why didn’t Naruto jump out of the way?

“Naruto!” Sakura tried again. Silence settled over the area for a few seconds before she got her answer.

The cloud of smoke and dust cleared as flames swirled outward away from the center before disappearing. In the middle, Naruto stood with his arms out at his sides small flame spiral around his bandaged arms. They danced around the bandages as though they were alive. The flames around his arms extinguish as he raised them up in front of his chest.

“How about a surprise…” He murmured as he rapidly did seals at the same speed as Kakashi, if not faster.

Sakura’s jaw dropped. ‘He can go as fast as Kakashi-sensei?’

The wind started to howl around the area as Naruto spoke in a soft voice. “Futon: Karakaze no jutsu!” A wind spiral appeared around Kakashi, not allowing him to move away. Naruto watched as the small wind tornado turned the air around Kakashi dry.

The Jounin gasped as the fresh air became dry and stagnant. ‘When did Naruto get so strong?’ Kakashi thought as the lack of air forced him to his knees.

Sakura watched in horror as Kakashi went down so easily. “He’s way more advance than I suspected…” She murmured.

Naruto said nothing as he began to walk forward. He stopped in front of the wind barrier that was around Kakashi slowly depriving him of air. ‘At least I didn’t show them the other things…’ He thought.

/It would be too much at the moment./ Kyuubi agreed.

“Amazing…” Shizune said. “He has already found his element.”

Jiraiya stared at the jutsu. “If he doesn’t do something he will kill Kakashi.”

“I don’t think so…” Tsunade said. Jiraiya looked at the other Sannin. “True it could kill Kakashi, but at the rate the air is being sucked out, I just think Naruto meant to stop him in his tracks. Without air, the mind slows down. A sluggish mind equals a sluggish body. Kakashi isn’t able to use his speed to use jutsus at the moment.”

The blonde ninja stepped through the barrier and stood in front of Kakashi. “Getting a little hard to breath isn’t it?” Naruto asked.

“Why aren’t…” Kakashi coughed, not finishing the sentence.

“To master this jutsu, I used it on myself. I can regulate my breath in a way that the dryness isn’t a problem to me, nor is the air depletion.” Naruto stated as he knelt down and grabbed the bells. “I’d say this qualifies as the end of the test.” He stood as the jutsu disappeared allowing Kakashi to take deep breathes of fresh air. Turning to Sakura, he tossed her a bell. Catching it, Sakura looked down in surprise. “Teamwork…” Naruto smiled.

“You’ve really grown stronger haven’t you Naruto?” She asked. Naruto just grinned before helping Kakashi stand.

“I think I took Kakashi-sensei’s breath away with that technique.” He said as he whistled. Aya came darting out of the tree line and yipping happily as she bounced around his feet. Gaara appeared soon after with a frown on his face.

“Naruto…” He said gently grabbing the blonde’s wrists to look at his arms.

Naruto winced, jerking his arms away from Gaara. The Sand Ninja’s frown deepened. “They’re fine.”

“They are not.” The red haired man said as Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Shizune came to them. “They are worst than before due to the strain you put on them. Before you go back to active duty, I want you to let your arms heal!”

The observers watched as Naruto glared at his fellow ninja. “I am not a child Gaara, don’t treat me like one.”

“Don’t do stupid things and I won’t.” Gaara stated calmly. He raised a hand and put it on the blonde mass of hair. That action seemed to calm Naruto’s raising temper instantly. “I just want you to be careful.”

Tsunade looks at Naruto’s arms. “Whatever happened, Gaara is right you need time, before we discuss anything that will be happening in the future.” The younger blonde pouted as he tried to cross his arms, only to have Gaara pull at them and set them as his sides. “Sadly, I did not expect you to come with Gaara and after being missing for so long, your apartment is not ready for anyone to live in it.”

“It’s okay…” Naruto said turning to the Hokage. “Aya and I will be fine finding out own shelter for tonight.” He smiled as the fox yipped and puffed out her chest toward Tsunade.

The Hokage smiled and looked Naruto to see him sweating. “Naruto?” She stepped forward as the blonde reached out a shaky hand and gripped Gaara’s clothed shoulder. “What’s wrong with him?”

“I’m fine!” Naruto breathed out angrily. Gaara stared quietly at Naruto, watching him intently.

“You are not fine.” Kakashi said stepping closer to the youth. “You didn’t have a rest from your travels and you pushed yourself.”

“Did not…” Naruto’s protests died on his lips as his body stop functioning on him. He fell forward dragging Gaara down with him. Kakashi raced forward, grabbing him by the waist, slowing the descent as well as helping Gaara get his balance. The two ninja turned Naruto over, laying him between them.

“Damn, I knew I should have waited for this evaluation.” Tsunade said as she kneeled by Naruto’s head.

“We didn’t know Tsunade, and it is not like Naruto to tell us if something is wrong with him.” Jiraiya said.

“Is he going to be okay?” Sakura watching as Tsunade moved her hand to hover over Naruto’s chest.

A bruising grip was suddenly latched onto her hand, yanking it away. Cool green eyes stared into startled and angry amber ones. Tsunade growled at Gaara as he stopped her from seeing what was wrong with everyone’s favorite blonde.

“What are you doing?” She asked.

“He just needs rest.” Gaara said. Everyone was about to protest, when Aya growled at them making them silent. “I know Naruto, he’ll be fine after he rests properly.” Gaara stood up, picking up the bristling Aya as he did. “We need to get him to a bed. I think it would be a good time to show me where my apartment is.”

“But there isn’t…” Shizune said.

“I’ll take the couch,” The red haired youth said.

Jiraiya looked from Gaara to Naruto. For what seemed like the millionth time that night, Gaara seemed to hold knowledge about Naruto that no one knew of before or after he arrived back in Konoha. The Toad Sannin stepped forward looking at his student’s apprentice. “Kakashi, pick up Naruto and follow us. Tsunade, we’ll take care of Naruto.”

The Hokage nodded and looked down once more at the blonde. “Send him to me as soon as he wakes up.”

Kakashi nodded as he picked his former student up. Frowning, he adjusted the blonde in his arms. Naruto was way to light to be healthy. Kakashi looked up to see Gaara and Jiraiya already heading off. He quickly rushed after them wondering what surprises Gaara and Naruto will bring to Konoha.

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Gaara placed cool damp towels over Naruto’s bandages arms and one more on his forehead. Jiraiya and Kakashi looked on as the Sand’s Jirchuuriki tucked Konoha’s into bed. It was a strange sight to see the two acting so close, much like brothers.

Aya was sitting on the small side table watching the two foreign ninja. Her fur was back to being white with a red tipped tail. This was her true color that she only showed when she was safe. Her gunmetal blue eyes stared at Kakashi with a curious expression. Her Naruto-papa often spoke of the people of his home of Konoha, but none where more mentioned than Sasuke and Kakashi. Naruto would often speak of his two most precious people with such sadness and long that it made Aya purr with regret. Now here she is, staring the famous Copy Ninja in the face and she was thoroughly disappointed. Her gunmetal blue eyes narrowed. That stupid nin even had the balls to call her Naruto-papa the Yondaime…he couldn’t even tell the difference.

“I think someone might hate you…” Jiraiya said. Kakashi raised an eyebrow and looked at the fox that Jiraiya was motioning at. He shuddered as he noticed the hatefully look on its face. “What did you do to her?”

“Nothing!” Kakashi replied looking at Jiraiya.

“Sure…did you look at her the wrong way?” The Toad Sannin asked narrowing his eyes at Kakashi. Before Kakashi could respond, Gaara stood up and looked at the two older ninja.

“The Copy Ninja must leave.”

“What why?” Kakashi asked crossing his arms.

“For some reason, you are upsetting Aya. When you upset Aya, you anger Naruto.” Gaara replied. “Whether or not he is awake, he will feel it.”

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow. That was the biggest bunch of bull he’s ever heard, personally knowing that when the blonde sleeps, he sleeps. “Go on Kakashi, I’ll talk to you later.” The Jounin sighed and rubbed his head.

“Fine, but I expect to be told everything that went on here.” He said as he disappeared in a poof of smoke.

Jiraiya was about to ask Gaara what that was about when a voice spoke. “God, I thought he’d never leave.” The Sannin looked over to the bed to see Naruto sitting up and taking off all the damp towels.

“You where okay the whole time?” Jiraiya asked.

Naruto smiled and beckoned Aya over to him. She trotted like a royal to him and purred as she stroked her back. “I have to talk to you about something…more specifically someone.”

“Who?”

“Does the name Minato right a bell?” Naruto asked his blue eyes bearing into Jiraiya as though they could see his soul. Jiraiya was about to respond when the blonde spoke again. “Or perhaps you would know him better as the Yondaime Hokage, the Yellow Flash of Konoha.”

Gaara watched as Jiraiya’s face gave a minuscule twitch. Of course he knows, Naruto said that Minato was Jiraiya’s student. Shaking his head, Gaara looked back at Naruto. ‘The Sannin will be wondering how Naruto got his information.’ He mentally chuckled. ‘That will be an interesting answer…’

“How did you find out his name? No one in the younger generations knows the Yondaime’s real name.” Jiraiya said staring at the blonde with a bit of shock and sadness. “What do you know Naruto?”

Blue eyes rolled away in annoyance. “Really Ero-sennin, do you think I wouldn’t seek out the Yondaime’s name after I found out that he was my father.”

Jiraiya’s jaw literally dropped.

“What I want to talk to you about is the two kekkai genkai that he had.” The young Chuunin said. “The one that made him earn his name of the Yellow Flash and the one that not a lot of people know about.”

“Naruto…have you…” Jiraiya paused to gain his train of thought. “Have you acquired the Hiraishin and the Jagan?”

The young man simply smiled at Jiraiya.

The older man sagged as he sat in the chair by the door. He stared at the wall thinking about all this. When Minato first activated the Jagan, he accidentally put one of his teammates through a nightmare. The Jagan had other abilities than just giving nightmares too. Though, Jiraiya has never seen those extra abilities. The Yondaime had said that he had to use the Jagan sparingly for if he used it more than three times there would be consequences.

“This is why you sent Kakashi away?” Jiraiya asked.

Naruto closed his eyes. “I wanted to talk to you about Sasuke.” The Toad Sannin raised an eyebrow. “He’s advanced too far. I doubt that anyone even me, will be able to stop him if he rampages through the village.”

“How did you stop him at the Hidden Sand?” Jiraiya questioned as he leaned forward in his seat.

“He didn’t…” Gaara said. “The fox did.” The Sannin’s eyes rested on Aya. “Not that fox…” The red head sighed.

“This one…” Naruto said as he held up one hand in the seal of the tiger. He created a shadow clone next to him, but…this shadow clone was slightly taller.

As the smoke cleared, Jiraiya was able to make out features. The face was almost identical to Naruto’s, except that the whiskers were more defined and the clone’s eyes were a demonic red. The hair was longer and pulled back into a ponytail that ended about mid-back and it was a shade of red or orange, one couldn’t really tell. It was wearing a pair of black pants that fitted just as a ninja’s pants should. The black shirt was kimono style that went down to the mid-thighs and had a design of branches with red blossoms on it. The sleeves were long and nearly reached the floor as the hands were hiked up on the waist of the clone. Fingerless gloves that were part mesh part leather were seen trailing up the arms into the sleeves of the kimono shirt. Underneath the shirt was a mesh shirt that had a low collar. The clone was bare foot and when it smirked at Jiraiya, fangs could be seen.

“Well, well, if it isn’t the Toad Hermit.” The clone said.

Jiraiya’s eyes widen as he stood up. “You couldn’t have…”

“He did…” The clone replied.

“I gave Kyuubi a corporal form.” Naruto said.

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