Naruto – The Anime Series

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

A/N: This starts about five years later, after the end of Book 2… So you can expect certain people above, equal and just below a Jounin level. I think you should've read Book 1 before you read this one… But even if you haven't, I think you can figure out what happened in Book 1 as you read through this… I think…

And thanks for the many reviews for Book 1!!!

There Where When is Now Book 2

- Chapter 1: Old Times

It was five years ago when Naruto, Sasuke and Neji were abducted from Leaf Village and Gaara was abducted from the Sand Village. No one knew where they could be and who they were with… or even if all of them were even alive…

'This is just too tiresome… '

Throughout the years Leaf Village had not changed most things. Genins were supposed to be made today and the Hokage had summoned all Jounins to her office in the Hokage Tower. Shikamaru and Lee were amongst them. Tsunade had appointed several students to them and today would be the first day they would meet their little students. Shikamaru didn't really feel exceptionally happy today. Lee, however, was as giddy as ever. It even made Tsunade bark at him to quit the cheering.

Three teams would be made. Shikamaru, Lee and Ten-Ten, which was to many people a surprise, were among the Jounin instructors. Shikamaru had proven time and time again that his intelligence lay beyond that of the average Jounin. And Lee showed that his determination could bring him everywhere, he could very well equal his former sensei, Gai Maito. Then there was Ten-Ten, Lee's former team mate. She had improved herself so much and was the village's weapon specialist, even having created an absolute defence using her weapons.

Lee knew who his students were going to be. He knew one by name, who was Hyuga Hanabi. Hinata's little sister and the one who had a lot of potential. Lee had spoken to Hinata to know more about her. He had learned of the growth Hinata had gone through these last few years and knew Hinata had become a very powerful Hyuga. The other two students he did not really know, Gekkou Toji and Morino Ujin. Knowing their last names was sufficient for Lee anyway…

Shikamaru did not even bother to gather more information about his students. His observation skills were formidable as he could easily read people, thus he would find out in minutes how his students really were. Aoba Ruin, Moegi and Konohamaru Sarutobi. Kensu didn't have a last name, or so it seemed. Shikamaru simply didn't care enough to find out.

Ten-Ten didn't know her students, like Shikamaru, either. Udon, Kensu and Enola Mohe. Udon and Kensu were guys, while Enola was a girl. Ten-Ten was very enthusiastic about this new job of hers. She would make her students the strongest Genins ever… if they'll pass the test…

The Hokage had simply ordered to do the same as the previous Genin selections. To force the students to work together no matter what. So in other words, Tsunade was too lazy to think of another way of selecting new Genins.

Of course there were many teams with future Genins, but only nine would be chosen…

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A Mercenary group is what they have become. They've slain many people throughout the years and the kills weren't getting to him anymore. In their group there was no so-called leader. Someone suggested a plan for a mission and sometimes the others agreed, usually they didn't. They all got to know one another a lot better.

Naruto even understood how Itachi's mind worked now. He could kind of understand why Itachi did what he did, though not entirely. Then there was the aggressive Kisame, who was, once in a while, a little more friendly. He understood why he acted that way too. All of them talked to each other. Mokito kind of reminded him of Lee, only Mokito could be a true bitch at times. Sinobi simply was a nice guy, but at some times he could go completely berserk and launch all of his attacks at one time. It was a real pain to the mission they had once he went berserk. The fact that electricity was surrounding him wasn't helping. Dareda was a very silent man, but truly kind, especially to Neji. He explained why he left Leaf Village and joined the Akatsuki..

The Akatsuki, was an organization that fell apart. A few members roamed the lands, still on the hunt for the former Akatsuki members. The Akatsuki Leader was still hoping to rebuild the Akatsuki and once the former members were dead, he could restart and no one would know his secrets.

Neji opened up to people more, but had a very harsh way of putting people down. Once on a mission, Neji was totally dedicated to it. He was the one next to Gaara who actually immediately killed the person, without playing around with him or her. Neji had improved his own skills a great deal and if someone were to fight him, it would take a lot to actually hit him.

Gaara had gotten worse… He enjoyed killing and did get straight to the point. Once in a while, though… he tore limbs apart before the person was actually dead. And he wore a very gleeful smile performing his deadly skills. It actually gave Kisame the chills..

Naruto remembered his own first kill… Itachi forced him to kill that day. But he didn't blame him, he actually enjoyed it. Like getting something back he lost a long time ago. Mishu Usadi was the one he had to kill.

On that faithful night, Gaara and Neji came along. Gaara just for safety, or maybe to just observe and Neji because he had his Sanmai no Jutsu. Itachi went with them to give orders. Mishu was sitting on the edge of a small river, deep in thought. Naruto watched the expression on her face as Neji was busy moving his Chakra with the Sanmai no Jutsu. The expression she wore was that of an innocent young, pretty girl who was remembering what seemed like awful thing that happened in her past. Naruto saw she was a sad person. Through the few years she had trained him, he started to get to know her a lot better than most people. And now Itachi had given him the mission to kill her.

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"Sanmai no Jutsu!!"

That was the sign, so Itachi had planned. Naruto rushed forward to stand face to face with Mishu.

"Naruto-kun?" Mishu questioned as she felt a lot of Chakra ripped from her. "What are you doing?"

Naruto's expression softened as he looked at her. "I'm so.. I'm so sorry, Mishu-chan…" Naruto's eye colour changed to red and he glared at her, before her terrible shriek filled the silent night…

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Naruto had never asked Itachi why she had to die but he could easily venture a guess. Mishu Usadi was very strong woman. Even Itachi feared her a bit, since she could summon two summon Bosses at once. A trait Naruto took over from her. But Itachi didn't seem to fear Naruto as he could now do the same. So that certain perspective could be wrong.

Naruto didn't dare to summon GamaBunta anymore, since he would know the look on his face when he would see Naruto. He could imagine GamaBunta asking him: "What the hell happened to you?!"

And any form of cooperation could be forgotten, since GamaBunta simply couldn't understand Naruto. Naruto didn't even need GamaBunta anymore, since he had a lot of other summonings now, thanks to someone he had so harshly killed.

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As the years passed, Tsunade had listed Naruto, Sasuke and Neji as missing-nins. The new Hokage of the Sand had listed Gaara as a missing-nin as well. A few days ago, Tsunade saw Kakashi's hunting team come back empty-handed once again. She than made the decision to leave it to the hunter-nins and gave the Jounins other missions, missions where they could actually succeed in. Jiraiya's team would come back soon as well. She would tell that team the same thing.

More terrifying, were the rumours that had spread throughout the lands. The Akatsuki was no more, or maybe all members had left and went on their merry way, occasionally visiting villages and killing its inhabitants. But another rumour was a new Mercenary group. A very successful one at that. She had already sent a Chuunin Team to investigate. Most Mercenary Groups weren't very powerful so Chuunins would be sufficient, or so Tsunade figured. The Chuunin team's leader was Hyuga Hinata, and her subordinates were Haruno Sakura, Yamanaka Ino, Inuzuka Kiba and Akamichi Chouji. A Chuunin Team of five would do the trick..  And this Chuunin Team was Konoha's strongest Chuunin Team anyway.

Tsunade had ordered Aburame Shino to come to her office this afternoon. She expected him any time now. Aburame Shino had become a very powerful Shinobi and had declined Tsunade's offer to become a Jounin instructor. He already was a Jounin last year and had several missions already. Usually, his missions were together with the ANBU. This year, Tsunade had promoted him to an ANBU Leader. The mission Tsunade was going to give him was a very tiring one. It was the same mission where Kakashi came back from a few years ago. Shino was the ANBU Leader of the best ANBU hunter squad of Konoha.

"Hokage-sama."

Tsunade looked up to look straight into Shino's bug mask. 'Damn… I didn't even hear him come in.'

Shino bowed his head in honour and took off his mask. Tsunade smiled as she looked straight into Shino's eyes, without the glasses. She was one of few that actually got to see Shino's eyes.

"Aburame Shino. I'm glad you've come. I am sure you have heard the latest news of Kakashi's team." She paused to see Shino nod his head. "Well, I'm giving you his mission." Tsunade continued as she read Shino's puzzlement. "I know it's very high ranked mission, but you and your team will be quite enough for it."

Shino frowned as he stared at the ground for a little while. 'This mission might take a very long time…' He looked up to look at Tsunade and nodded his mission. "I understand, Hokage-sama."

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'This is just too much… she just won't listen to me!' Lee thought as he watched how Hanabi rushed forward again, completely ignoring the yelps coming from her would-be team mates. Lee smiled as he threw a few Kunais to halted Hanabi's movements and then he could easily grab her by the legs to throw her into a nearby tree.

Lee easily deflected four Kunais with one Kunai in his right hand and faced his other two students Gekkou Toji and Morino Ujin. He watched as Ujin revealed a tape on both his wrists that held two long knives each. Toji simply gripped two swords that were on his back and faced him. Lee smiled. 'Those two can probably work together a little better, since they seem to know each other. This might be more interesting.' He watched as Hanabi hopped down from the tree and watched how Toji and Ujin started attacking.

Ujin started with simple slashing movements with his hands, the two knives barely missing Lee and from behind Lee, Toji used very skilled sword techniques. But both stood petrified as Lee was about twenty feet away from them in mere seconds. Even Hanabi's eyes were widened.

Lee smiled. 'It feels pretty good showing off once in a while… This should make them try harder.. And it should make Hanabi realize that she can never get these two bells without the help of the other two..'

On another training field, Shikamaru was whining his ass off. 'This is just so amazingly tiresome…' Shikamaru watched as his three students were huddled up together, probably thinking up of a plan. 'If that isn't teamwork, I don't know what is… On the other side, I should be happy… This way, it won't even take long… But I at least expected one of them to screw up.'

Ten-Ten's students were Udon, Kensu and Enola Mohe. Udon was one of Konohamaru's friends, Kensu was a silent guy so far and mostly wore bandages over his face, only his green eyes were revealed. Enola Mohe was a girl with long curly kind of hair and she seemed to be quite giddy. So far, all they've done was stare at her.

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Naruto was on a mission together with Gaara. They were both heading very fast towards the Mist Village. Apparently someone had told Itachi that some goody-two-shoe guy was succeeding in hunting Hidden-nins from the Mist down. Their mission was to wait outside of the Mist Village and deal with the man and his group of hunters.

Naruto remembered the few times he had to come in Mist Village for missions. He had killed someone who was very close to him once. He didn't really wanted to, but the fact that the kid was yelling his name in sheer glee, happy in seeing Naruto, didn't help Naruto and his efforts in remaining unseen. Itachi was with him that day and told Naruto it would be best to kill him now, instead of later… And so, Naruto had killed Inari… He had watched his new comrades kill others easily in cold blood. And somehow, it didn't really bother him to join the killing.

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"Say what?!" The tall man yelled, straight in the Hokage's face, her hair blown up because of the yell.

"You're not serious, right? There's no way the ANBU can handle about three S-Class Criminals at once, especially if they've been together for more than two years. Their teamwork is probably top notch! Even if you're sending the best ANBU, they might kill off one or two, but I know for sure they won't be winning.."

"You don't have to yell, you know! Aburame can deal with it, he has grown to be the strongest of the Aburame clan and he's got few of the best in the village with him. He'll manage!" Tsunade yelled back.

Jiraiya shook his head. "If that's what you think… I guess I'll have to back down… but only because you are the Hokage now. So… what do you want me to do?"

Tsunade cracked a smile and tilted her head to the side. "Jiraiya… I think there's going to be trouble… I want you to train."

Jiraiya's eyes widened. "Say what?! You want ME, the strongest SenNin, to train?"

Tsunade frowned. "Who ever said you were the strongest? It could as well be me or Orochimaru. I want you to select a few of the strongest persons here in the village and make them stronger… And err.. just to let you know… I'll be training with you, next to doing my job as Hokage, of course."

Jiraiya chuckled. "So, you think we're going to have big problems in the nearby future, and you want us to train because that's how you feel about it, ey? Well, I don't see why we should train… I think we are ready for what's come already. But.. your wish is my command.. Hokage-sama." Jiraiya stated with a wink and turned around, jumping out of the window.

Tsunade pondered as he left. 'Yes… there are far too many threats out there for this village.. We don't have the power to deal with it all at once, so we have to gain that power… I wonder how Naruto is doing out there…'

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Far away from the Leaf Village, in a village where no Shinobis were supposed to live, people were seated around a small campfire. Uchiha Itachi, Hyuga Dareda, Mokito, Sinobi Raidou, Hoshigaki Kisame, Hyuga Neji, Gaara and Naruto. Itachi was about to speak.

"We'll infiltrate Leaf Village in a few days. I don't want them seeing our faces. Kisame, Gaara and Sinobi will create a diversion, so Naruto and Mokito can snatch the Scroll of forbidden Seals. Me, Dareda and Neji will knock out any form of obstacle in your path." Itachi looked at everyone once. "Does everyone agree?"

"I do not see why we shouldn't just kill everyone…" Gaara brought in. "I expect a lot of the people in that village to be on missions. "

"I disagree, if we begin our killing spree, there will be survivors, that's just how it is. And then our identities will be known everywhere. We can not let that happen." Dareda countered. "I do think one of us three.." Dareda began, looking at Itachi and Neji. "should act us back-up for Naruto and Mokito."

Neji nodded. "I volunteer, In case something goes wrong, I'll set things straight again."

"Hmm, I'll send a few Kyuubi Bunshins along with Kisame, Gaara and Sinobi." Naruto threw in the conversation.

Everyone nodded, while Gaara shook his head. "So, we should try not to kill too many people?" Gaara asked in a whiny and bored voice. "Sometimes you guys are no fun.."

Kisame chuckled, while the others grinned, except for Itachi, who didn't change his most occurring expression… a neutral expression….

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Tsunade watched the Jounins step up and waited for their statements. She wondered which three Jounins would be the next Jounin instructors for the future Genins.

Shikamaru started talking. "Hokage-sama. The team that you established for me to lead… is excellent at teamwork.. The three of them got along perfectly from the start. I… think they're ready to become Genin."

Lee stepped forward and took a bow. "Hokage-sama! The three that you recommended for me to lead is formidable. Hyuga Hanabi started attacking me individually, though, while the other two, Gekkou Toji and Morino Ujin, were good friends and awfully good with their own weapons. Their teamwork was very good. When I showed them I was serious and they simply couldn't win fighting alone, even Hanabi started working together with the other two. She was the one that came up with a plan to get the bells from me. Of course, they didn't succeed, but they were close. I recommend them to be Genins as well."

Tsunade nodded, glad Lee was finished talking. After five Jounins told her that their new students were all too stubborn or too stupid to try and work together, Ten-Ten stepped up. "Hokage-sama. Two of the three students I lead think very high of themselves, while they bully the third student, Udon. They are quite impressive and Udon is also very good. When they saw there was simply no way getting past my own weapons, they also started working together, although occasionally yelling their heads off telling Udon was screwing up. But, I think they're ready, given the time."

Tsunade nodded, and four Jounins had recommended their students to be the new Genins. She had to pick three of the four. But she already knew who would be the next three Jounin instructors anyway. "Nara, Lee and Ten-Ten, I hereby promote you to the new Jounin instructors."

'How troublesome…'

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"Well… you two seem to be knowing the strongest Shinobis of this village. Why don't you tell me?" Jiraiya asked as he stood before two ANBU Leaders.

Ibiki smiled. "Jiraiya-sama. You know as well as I do, that you know just as much as me. Not much has changed since your departure. A few Jounins became stronger, few became older, thus weaker."

Jiraiya nodded. "Very well, I want Sarutobi Asuma and Hatake Kakashi.. Fetch them, Ibiki." Jiraiya turned towards Anko. "Mitarashi-chan.." Jiraiya slurred, receiving a glare from Anko. "Well, yeah…. Uhm, why don't you get Aoba and Genma for me. I'll get Hyuga Hiashi and Maito Gai. We will become Konoha's…. absolute defence…"

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Shadows were moving all around Leaf Village. The guards had already noticed and when they were about to sound the alarms, they got knocked out by the silent-killing Kisame and speedy Mokito.

Naruto landed next to Mokito and the two set off towards the Hokage Tower, where the Scroll of Hidden Seals is. Kisame waited and watched as Gaara and Sinobi landed next to him. They nodded and split up through the village. Behind them… three of Naruto's Kyuubi Clones were following, watching their backs.

Itachi and Dareda stood a little farther ahead and nodded to Neji that he should head for Naruto and Mokito, to watch their backs. Dareda silently activated his Senshin-Byakugan and pointed to a location where guards would be a problem. Itachi nodded and the two of them head off.

'Jumping over these roofs kind of reminds me of all those years ago. Heh, I expected being here would make a greater impact. But now, I don't seem to care too much… Maybe because I don't see the familiar faces.' Naruto thought as he glanced sideways at Mokito. They were both jumping at very high pace. Mokito had trained Naruto especially in speed; the two of them were the fastest of their Mercenary Group. That's why Itachi had chosen them to quickly steal the Secret Scroll.

"Mokito… you'll have to stall the Hokage while I head for the Scroll, she'll recognise me if I stall her, you see? Oh.. and…the Hokage.. she's very powerful, don't try to attack her, cause she really has this inhuman strength.. But you know that already.. I hope we can do this the fast way.."

Mokito nodded. She had heard of the new Hokage of the Leaf Village. 'The legendary Tsunade, a woman as a Hokage, I thought that would never happen…' Mokito thought with a smile. 'Tsunade is a medical specialist and she possesses a very powerful strength. I hope I don't make a mistake against this woman..'

'Hmm.. I remember these roofs. I remember that place right there..' Neji thought as he glanced downwards during his jumping. 'That's where I defeated Lee once… one of the many times.. I wonder how that loser is doing now..' Neji glanced forward at Naruto and Mokito. 'So far, so good… We've all been trained by Kisame how to be very silent… And since he's the specialist in silent-killing… Well, we're pretty good at this…'

And then a lightning show came to all eyes. Sinobi had started his distraction method. A Lightning show that seemed to reach the stars. Gaara had already surrounded himself, Sinobi and Kisame with sand that would blow by a mere touch of another, while Kisame was busy flooding several houses with water techniques. "Heh, this is actually fun, isn't it?"

Gaara looked at Kisame with a bored expression. "Not really."

Dareda watched via his Senshin-Byakugan how many Jounins and Chuunins were rushing over towards them. "Now here comes the tricky part, Itachi…"

Itachi nodded. "Indeed, they'll have to get away from there fast and lead them out of the village. Naruto and Mokito should already be in the Hokage Tower."

Sinobi stopped his lightning show and had sensed many people were heading for them. "Oy, it's time to go!!" He yelled. Kisame jumped away after releasing a gigantic wave of water towards a few houses. Gaara simply jumped after Sinobi. Gaara glanced backwards and saw how many Jounins and Chuunins were in pursuit. Gaara smiled. 'Boom….'

The sand that was still present at the place they just were, exploded harshly. Many Chuunins were caught in the blow but jumped through and remained following them, though now they were slightly damaged. The Jounins had jumped over the explosion and continued their pursuit.

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'"What's going on?' Tsunade thought as she heard the loud explosion from outside. She jumped out of her bed and immediately ran towards the window to look. The only remains of the explosion was a huge dustcloud. Suddenly, she sensed two intruders and both of them jumped past her in a very high speed. One of them rushed inside, while the other landed behind her. She sensed another one just outside, waiting to come inside, perhaps. Suddenly, the one outside, jumped downwards, probably towards the guards who were guarding the doors.

"You must be the Hokage, ey?" Mokito asked. "It's an honour to stand face to face with you."

Tsunade whipped around and tried to recognise the stranger. She narrowed her eyes when she didn't. "Who are you?"

Mokito smiled a big smile. "No, I'm not telling."

Tsunade growled. "I'll force it out you then!" Tsunade rushed forward and rammed her fist straight… through… Mokito's face. 'What..?!'

The image of Mokito slowly disappeared and Tsunade sensed her behind herself. "Bunshin?"

Mokito shook her head as Tsunade turned around. "Nope, that's just my regular speed."

Tsunade's eyes slightly widened. 'But that… is rather impossible. I was only a few inches away from her when I attacked her. And she simply moved away from me.. just like that.. How to attack one with such speed?'

"What the?! Who the hell are you?!" One of the two guards yelled as a stranger landed before them.

Neji looked them straight in the eyes and smiled. He shook his head at them as their eyes widened at his Senshin-Byakugan. "You two are not fit to be the Hokage's guard. You two have way too many weaknesses. You." Neji started with the guard to the left. "Your legs are tired.. probably from a mission you went through some days before. Your eyes aren't very sharp, so your aim should off a little. You can't afford that in a battle."

Neji continued with the guard to the right. "And you, you have received several wounds by Kunais in your right arm… while that's the arm you can use best. I bet you forgot to tell the Hokage this, after she told you would be guard tonight. Must be your pride… How foolish. You two don't stand a chance against me.. I have already formulated a plan."

The two guards swallowed nervously as everything Neji had just said was absolutely true. They took on a fighting stance nonetheless. Neji shook his head. "It's over."

Suddenly, the two guards winced in pain as they were hit straight through the chest, against their hearts. The two guards slowly fell to the ground, before sawing two of Neji's advanced clones disappear. Neji smiled and stared upwards. He saw everything between Mokito and Tsunade happen. 'Mokito… don't get her angry…'

Naruto was quickly going through all the scrolls. 'Damnit, damnit! How the hell did that damn scroll look like again?!'

Naruto threw scroll after scroll behind his back. 'And why the hell are there so many?!'

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"Wait!" One of the Jounins suddenly yelled as he made a few Jounins stop. Many Jounins and Chuunins jumped past them to continue their pursuit on Gaara, Kisame and Sinobi. The Jounin who yelled for them to stop turned around to the few Jounins behind him and revealed his Byakugan.

"I'm afraid we have more problems here… Leaf Village is under attack… I'm guessing the ones we are following are just a distraction."

Kakashi and Jiraiya looked at each other as they heard this. "Let's go back then.."

The Hyuga Jounin named Hat nodded as well. And the few Jounins jumped back towards Leaf Village. Kakashi, Jiraiya and Anko were amongst them.

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"A few are coming back, Itachi… What should we do?" Dareda asked.

Itachi stared at the Hokage Tower. "I think Naruto and Mokito are just about done… If they are not, we'll have to stop these few Jounins coming this way.."

Dareda nodded and used Gentle fist to hit the air, thus resulting a small Chakra wave to be shot into the air.

Neji, who was standing by the Hokage Tower, easily noticed the Chakra wave in the air and leaped towards Dareda and Itachi. 'I see… so they must've figured out the distraction…'

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TBC

A/N: Well, I hoped you liked the new developments. In the next chapter, I will go look through many old characters' perspectives… Or I'll try to. Anyway, I'm signing off!

Buh-Bye!

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