Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto. It's the property of Kishimoto.

Hello everyone. It has been a while (more than a year) since I last posted a story or updated my existing ones. But what can I say, life is a bitch and I'm still trying to make her mine.

Anyway, I've been wanting to start a new story for a while now, and this is the result.

As I have changed my writing style a lot (in my opinion anyway), feel free to comment about it. I'm trying to improve myself. so, good or bad reviews are welcome (as long as you give me advice on how to improve and not just flame me).

I hope you will enjoy it.

Posted : 2015/01/04

Last edited : 2015/01/05

Chapter 1 : Awakening

Despair. That was the only emotion Naruto could feel at the moment. A feeling he had grown accustomed to.

He looked beside him and for a split second, surprise etched on his face. 'At least those rumors are not completely unfounded.' He thought with a slight point of distaste.

Standing beside him, was his teammate Sasuke Uchiha. The boy, two years his younger, yet far stronger than he, didn't seem bothered by the pressure their opponent was producing.

"Oh… you can shrug off this much killing intent already?" The silky soft voice he was starting to hate, filled his ears. Yet he dared not to gaze at its owner.

"I've faced worse from my brother!" Sasuke's response held an undertone of arrogance in them but Naruto knew it came from confidence gained through hardships.

Suddenly his vision blurred and he became disoriented as the world around him shifted completely. Before he had time to understand what had happened, explosions detonated far below him. Quickly moving his gaze towards it, he saw for a split second, Sasuke and their aggressor clashing kunai.

Then they vanished once more. The only indication of their presences being the rhythmic sound of clashing blade.

Frustration gripped him as he was once again reminded of his inadequacy in the face of such strong ninjas.

"You are both a shameful and gleeful sight to my eyes, little Naruto-kun." Reflexively, he bolted to another branch upon hearing that voice. His heart beating fast in the presence of such predator.

As his feet touched the branch, he frantically moved his head side to side, hoping to catch his opponent. But it wasn't to be.

A chill crept up his back just before an indescribable pain surged through his body. Unconsciously, he moved his hand towards his backside, trying but failing to remove the kunai he could feel planted on his back.

"To think you are from that man's blood! How the apple has fallen far." He ignored the maniacal laughter that accompanied those words.

Finally, his hand gripped the kunai. Anticipating the pain that'd be brought by removing the weapon, was the only thing that stopped him from screaming bloody murder when his opponent kicked the blade further into his back.

Sasuke appeared just in time to see Naruto's flying body and gnashed his teeth in exasperation. 'Why couldn't I have gotten his brother as teammate? At least I wouldn't be forced to carry his weight!'

He was forced back to reality as he jumped backward just in time to dodge a large snake that snapped his mouth shut.

"Impressive Sasuke-kun. You were able to dispatch my clone. Unfortunately, I can't keep playing with you." The predator mused out loud, his voice hard.

Catching himself on another tree branch, Sasuke's gaze focused on him, the two commas of his sharingan spinning faster and faster. "Afraid my brother his gonna come for you once again?"

The smirk on his lips doing the intended job of pissing of his opponent, if the narrowing of his eyes were any indication.

"So he did tell you about our encounter then?"

Despite the chillness of his opponent's voice, Sasuke kept going. "Don't assume he was bragging about defeating a Sanin. Quite the contrary in fact. Then again, nobody expects much from the snake sannin these days with the monsters harbored in Konoha…"

Without warning, pain wracked his body as he spat blood in front of him. The fist that was embedded on his stomach having long vanished, same with its owner. Having lost his balance, he slowly fell toward the floor, when a hand caught his hairs from behind.

Unceremoniously, he was raised from the tree, his feet dangling above him, before being slammed on the branch, cracking the material.

"You think because your brother was able to beat me, you stand a chance against me? How arrogant of you!" Orochimaru snarled has he drop kicked Sasuke towards the ground.

Halfway towards it, a puff of smoke replaced the body. Orochimaru seeing this, just smiled before vanishing once again, as if he had never been present in the first place.

Several meters away from their earlier position, Sasuke was crouched on the ground, his back on a tree. He was slowly regaining his breath, carefully thinking of his options.

"Did you think you could escape from me?" The voice sounded just beside his ear and before he could do anything, an offending hand gripped his face, and smashed it to the tree trunk.

His hand still on the boy's face, Orochimaru proceeded to crush the back of his head upon the cracking tree.

"Or maybe you think someone is gonna come to your rescue after you launched that flare?"

Sasuke's body stiffened upon hearing that. Something that was immediately noticed by the snake sannin.

A deranged laugh filled the forest.

"You are right about one thing boy. Your brother is stronger than me… at the moment. But make no mistake, this is about to change very soon. And all this thanks to you… or rather your body."

Knowing that time was of the essence, Orochimaru wasted no time and knocked out the boy. Then swiftly, he moved through hand seals before slamming them on the ground.

Smoke erupted beside him, just as a snake appeared and deftly swallowed Sasuke whole. And just as fast as it appeared, the snake vanished once again, leaving behind a grinning Sannin.

"Phase one of the plan done. Now I just need to confirm that Minato's boy is taken care of. If he thought I'd take him destroying my labs lying down, he has another thing coming!" His fists tightened involuntary as he recalled the past years on the run.

Only through the skin of his teeth had he escaped each encounter. But the loss had been so high sometimes he found himself wondering if it wasn't better to just end it. 'All my researches and experiments lost because of a brat!' He thought angrily.

Focusing back on the matter at hands, his gaze shifted to the area he sent Naruto flying. With a mere thought, he focused inward to sense the boy's energy. It took him less than a second to find it, and without delay, he vanished once more, intent on finishing off the boy in the most gruesome way possible.

Meanwhile, deep inside the forest where Naruto's body lay. Something strange was happening. Surrounding the boy, was a sphere made of archaic glyphs. Diagrams and sealing script were floating around the boy. It was like looking at a slot machine running through the different pattern until the correct one was found.

Except instead of just three pattern, there were thousand of them.

The thing was, only one last glyph seemed to be searching for the correct pattern, as everything else wasn't moving anymore.

By the time Orochimaru appeared a few meters above Naruto's body, the last pattern had been found and a bright light exploded from the body. It forced the sannin to cover his eyes in apprehension.

When he opened them, looking at his prey, his eyes narrowed dangerously.

Despite the grave injuries done to the boy, the latter had his eyes opened. What made Orochimaru narrow his eyes though, was the grin adorning his face. With his countless years of experience in this world, he knew something truly dangerous was lurking behind that grin.

Not one to take any chance, he shot towards the boy at a speed far surpassing even his earlier one. To him, the world seemed to crawl. By the time he was in front of Naruto, his kunai directed at the boy's head, the latter hadn't even blinked yet, and his gaze was still focused on Orochimaru's earlier position.

Unceremoniously, he pushed the kunai towards his target, expecting to feel the soft tissue being pierced.

Though the first thing that told him something was wrong, was when instead of flesh, his kunai met an invisible wall that didn't budge in the slightest.

Next his eyes widened when his kunai shattered like glass, from the resistance it met.

Then instinctively, he replaced himself with a log, appearing several meters to the left of the boy. Just in time to see the log get cleanly cut by what looked like a wind blade.

But this was just the start of his surprises.

Shifting his gaze once more on the boy, he swallowed hard, having never expected to see something like that. 'The last person I've seen doing something like this was Tsunade! How does a mere boy can replicate such thing?'

This just made him keenly aware of the dangerous turn things were taking. Because below him, he could see green chakra covering Naruto's whole body.

The kunai planted on the boy back was pushed out, while at the same time, the wound was sealed shut, leaving no blemish on the skin. All over his body, cuts and bruises were cleared. In less than five seconds, all his wounds were gone, and Naruto slowly pushed himself to a standing position. His grin still plastered on his face.

He could see the incredulous stare of the snake sannin. He knew that his opponent was wondering what was going on. And unlike said opponent, he knew exactly what was going on with him.

After all, he had made this project at the tender age of nine. And he was just now ripping the benefits of it. 'Five years of waiting for the calculus to end, five years of being ridiculed for being weak. And now I can reap the benefits of my sacrifices!'. His grin shifted to a smirk as those thoughts passed through his mind.

His smirk vanished and his eyes widened when he felt something smack on the translucent shield that protected him. All around him he could see trees being ripped from the ground and violent gust of winds destroying anything in their path.

'I didn't even see him prepare the technique, let alone see him do the hand seals! The difference between us is just too much right now. I better finish the preparations before it's too late.' He thought, a little surprised by the strength of his shield.

Knowing he had little time before Orochimaru renewed his attack, he closed his eyes and focused intensely on what he wanted. He had had five years to prepare the techniques he was about to activate. Five years to think thoroughly on what was essential.

And it was now time for a field test.

If someone could see through his clothing, they would see the kanji Heal upon his back on the upper left.

Then on the upper right, another kanji for Filter formed.

On the lower left, the kanji for Reflex formed next.

And finally, the one for Clairvoyance appeared on the lower right.

And just like that, Naruto's head exploded from the sudden intake of information.

Instinctively, he filtered through useless data, and focused solely on what mattered right now. Like the fact that a dragon made of fire was flying towards him, its fang opened to devour him.

Unlike before when he couldn't even see the attack because of its speed, he now could easily see the offending technique moving through the air. Knowing already what he had to do, he focused on another piece of information and was immediately aware of the exact position Orochimaru was.

With a mere thought, the kanji for speed appeared on his belly. And he vanished without leaving a trace of his presence.

Orochimaru from his position behind the fire attack, widened his eyes, having lost track of his target. An explosion behind him made him look from the corner of his eyes only to see another him flying through the air, clutching his missing right arm.

Beyond the smoke generated by the explosion, he saw the shape of his target slowly taking form. He cancelled his technique before fully turning around. Abruptly, he move his head to the side, just as he felt a wind bullet graze his cheek.

"How does it feel to be the prey for once?"

He heard the voice from his left, and reflexively jump backward to put some distance between the one he knew the voice belonged to, and him.

Time seemed to slow down as he saw Naruto looking at him in the eyes while he was mid-air and then too fast for him to see, a sword made of wind cleaved through his belly.

Before closing his eyes for the last time, he disrupted his chakra, murder clear into his eyes.

Naruto, seeing this, once again vanished just in time to dodge the violent explosion of the clone. He reappeared at the top of a tree, once again focusing inwards.

Widening his eyes, he quickly manifested the kanji for shield in front of him but still hidden by his clothing. At the same time, a sword slammed on a translucent barrier, stopping dead on track.

He traced the sword back to his opponent several hundred meters away from him. The sword having been extended like a sling. Narrowing his eyes, another kanji for sting manifested next.

The air was distorted, formed a thin blade that travelled toward Orochimaru's head. Less than two seconds later, the distortion met its target and went through it, continuing until it stopped on the floor.

Naruto's smirk though vanished when smoke replaced Orochimaru's body to show a pierced log in his place. The sword too vanished.

Tiring of this fight, and not wanting to test the limits of his technique yet, Naruto manifested the kanji for disrupt beside him, before a shockwave exploded from him. It travelled more than a thousand meters before clashing with a chakra barrier.

The clash lasted a few seconds before the barrier was shattered.

Orochimaru, appeared several meters in front of Naruto, his eyes narrowed to a slit and his fist clenched from his anger.

"What the fuck are you boy? How did you become so strong so fast? Were you hiding your strength so far !?" He fired the questions, unable to believe what he had just witnessed.

How could a mere genin, one whom had been labelled talentless even by his parents, became strong enough to rival a sannin like him ?

It didn't make any sense whatsoever. 'The level of wind manipulation displayed so far doesn't add up!' He thought hungry for an explanation.

Naruto just smirked at the snake sannin, delighted to see that expression on his opponent face. "You are mistaken. I wasn't hiding my real strength. Let's just say that I've awaken and leave it at that."

"You think I'm gonna let you live after witnessing such thing? I don't make an habit of sparing potential threat!" Orochimaru replied as his chakra violently swirled around him in preparation for the battle.

Yet if anything, Naruto grinned even more. "Are you sure you want to stay around with the ninjas that are quickly approaching?"

"Sorry to dash your hopes but no one is going through my barrier, anytime soon!" Orochimaru smiled sinisterly. "You are all alone…"

A shudder went through his body at once when he felt the overwhelming quickly closing on them. He knew exactly who this chakra belonged to and that alone made him pale.

'How is that possible, I made that barrier specifically to counter him. How did he bypass it?' Snarling, he went through hand seals knowing he had to escape before it was too late.

Just before he finished, he shot a last look at the boy whom he was starting to feel apprehensive about. 'Somehow that boy was able to remove my barrier. That's just too many unrelated techniques to be normal. Whatever he did to himself, I'll have to find out for myself!'

He licked his lips at the prospect of solving another puzzle. "Mark my words boy, this isn't over. I'll be coming for you sooner than you think."

And just like that, he vanished in a poof of smoke, having been reverse summoned.

And at the same time, Naruto raised his head to look at the ninja that just appeared above him, his golden hairs lazily swaying with the wind current. A white cap covering his body, with the kanji for yondaime in fiery red ink.

"Hello hokage-sama!" Naruto simply said, his eyes narrowed.

Author's note :

That's it for the first chapter. Don't forget to review.

To be continued...