❝𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑲𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒉𝒂❞

𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 2: 𝑴𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒂𝒗𝒆

The night was clear and the stars were out. Naruto was laying down on the branch he occupied and stared into the millions of shiny dots. He had taken up this habit right after they began the journey to the Wave. Naruto used this time to relax and sort out the massive jumble of memories that ran rampant through his mind. He stared up at the moon when a image flashed to the front of his mind. He seen a great battle being fought as the Sage confronted a massive beast with one eye. Then, just as fast as it appeared, the image was gone. Naruto sighed as the memory disappeared. After seeing that flash of an image he wanted to know more about what happened. He heard a sound down by the fire. He saw Sakura through one of his clone's eyes. He noticed her eyes were turned in the direction of the real one as she looked at his prone body. He noticed her subtle sigh before she returned her gaze to Sasuke and half-heartedly tried to start a conversation.

"Hn." The usual response took all of the wind out of Sakura's sails as she began to trace a pattern in the dirt while staring into the flames. He returned his gaze back to the sky while still listening for any sounds of an approaching enemy. The mission had shot up from a C-rank mission all the way to an A-rank with the appearance of the Demon Brothers. The blonde sighed as he thought back to that encounter.

-Flashback Begins-

Naruto still felt the waves excitement still coursing through his body. Although he didn't show it, the blonde was doing mental frontflips, backflips, hell even sideflips at the feeling of finally leaving Konoha for the first time. His demeanour suddenly changed to being completely alert on the inside while he displayed complete ignorance on the outside as he passed the "puddle". He noticed Kakashi's minute nod as he continued to read his book. At his signal, Naruto continued acting as though he didn't notice the two figures rise from the puddle. He played his part perfectly as he watched on in "shock" as the chain tore Kakashi to pieces. Sakura froze up and Sasuke took a step back as the two figures turned to the three genin. Naruto surprised everyone by smirking and stepping forward while he cracked his stiff neck.

"Finally! Something to do around here!" The blonde haired genin nearly bounced up and down in excitement. "Sakura please protect Tazuna-san. Sasuke protect Sakura." The Uchiha began to step forward to help Naruto fight when he felt an invisible force stop him. "You WILL listen to me and you WILL protect Sakura." The Uchiha didn't know why but he felt himself walk back to stand beside Sakura.

"Now then, shall we begin?" The Uzumaki smirked when the two men charged. Naruto yawned as the chain began to wrap around the bored genin. Sakura and Sasuke watched with a sort of sick fascination as Naruto smirked whe the chain began to get pulled together with the intention of slicing him apart.

"Naruto!"

"Shinra Tensei."

The invisible shockwave ripped the chain apart link by link and threw the two missin-nin into two trees. The forest shook as several trees collapsed due to missing their bases now. Naruto knew the fight wasn't over and had his katana in his hands before anyone knew he had moved. One of the two came from his left and Naruto dodged the pathetically slow attempt at a slash before he rammed the hilt of his blade into the ninja's stomach hard enough to make the man cough blood. Naruto planted his hand on the back of the doubled over ninja and leapt into the air, using the man as a balance and pivot point. Naruto bent his planted arm before h attempted to spring into the air using the man.

"Shinra Tensei!"

The wave forced the man into the ground as it propelled Naruto into the air. He brought his blade so the point lined up with the fallen man's chest and let gravity do the rest. From the speed he was falling it felt like butter as his blade slid effortlessly through the man. Without hesitation Naruto lifted his hand and pointed it at the dead man's comrade. He lifted his sword so it pointed right at the man before he spoke.