The Wood Style Lives On

Naruto walked through the bustling streets of konoha with no precise destination in mind. He had just returned to the village about a half an hour ago, from his little visit to the sand team, and now he was just bored.

He knew that despite hinata not making it into the finals, she was currently training with kurenai while shino and kiba trained with their respective clans, so he couldnt bug any of them. Sakura was with tsunade training out in the country side while sasuke was with kakashi training, they were also out of the village. He had passed team ten while they were sitting in a window booth at one of chojis family restaurants and decided not to bug them.

So here he was.. bored as hell..

" why dont you train brat?" Kurama asked." Its been awhile since youve worked on that one thing.." he stated in a lazy tone.

Naruto mentally shrugged.' I dont feel like messing with that damned seal right now kurama.' Naruto mentality whined.

"You should go find a strong swordsman and duel with him." Amaya chimed in." I wanna taste blood." Naruto shivered as he got a mental image of amaya grinning like a maniac.

"Crazy ass women.." kurama muttered out.

"What was that half-breed?"

"Nothing!" Kurama replied rather quickly, a slight look of panic in his slitted eyes. The beast heard narutos amused snort and narrowed his eyes." Oh fuck off brat!"

'Oi! I didnt say anything you rabbit!'

"Im done talking to you!" Kurama let out a huff as he turned his head away while cutting the connection between him and naruto.

"Boss!"

Naruto spun around as he heard three simultaneous shouts. He watched with a raised eyebrow as konohamaru, moegi and udon ran up to him. Once they reached him, all three of the academy students began to huff and gasp for air, it seemed like theyd been running for awhile now.

"Oh hey guys." The blond greeted." Arent you three supposed to be in the academy?" He asked with a blank look.

Little kono was the first out of the three to catch his breath." The academies boring boss!" He cried out." And anyways! We discovered something amazing!" He added.

Naruto leaned forward a bit." Amazing you say?" He asked skeptically. All three kids nodded quickly." Well what is it?" He wondered.

"Okay so listen-" konohamaru began." We ditched school cause schools boring right?" Naruto nodded." And we were running around training field eighteen-"

"The one with the pretty flowers?" Naruto cut in and konohamaru sweatdropped.

"Yeah, the pretty flower one." Kono replied." Anyways! Udon and i were practicing throwing kunai right? And moegi was picking flowers and look!" Konohamaru suddenly rounded on moegi, grabbed the girl by her shoulders and placed her in front of him." Do it moegi!" He ordered.

Naruto and moegi stared at one another for a few seconds." So?.." naruto motioned for her to do whatever it is she apparently could do.

Moegis face flared up in a bright blush." W-well boss i was playing in the flowers and i thought 'h-hey, itd be cool if i could just make my own flowers' y-you know?" Naruto nodded." W-well i grabbed some dirt and focused, imagining a bunch of pretty flowers in my head and then- well ill just show you boss." Naruto watched curiously as moegi reached down and grabbed a fist full of dry dirt from the road. He watched as she closed her eyes and scrunched her face up as she began to concentrate.

The blonds ringed eyes almost popped out of his head as he saw a small sapling begin to grow out of the now damp dirt from in between the girls fingers. He watched as the sapling continued to grow until it turned into a red rose. Once done moegi opened her eyes, saw the flower and grinned happily up at him.

Naruto felt a bit faint as he quickly rubbed his eyes and looked down at the obviously happy moegi." Holy shit.." he muttered.

"See boss!" Kono jumped in with a big grin on his face." Isnt that awesome!" Moegi blushed as her friends praise.

"Moegi." Naruto squatted down in front of the girl. He reached up and gently took the rose from her hand, letting the excess dirt fall of its healthy roots." Do that again." His voice was calm but his mind was racing.

"Okay boss!" Moegi replied as she reached down to the road once more.

Naruto activated his rinnegan and watched moegi produce another red rose. His eyes picked up on the chakra moegi was both using and subconsciously letting off and narrowed his eyes a bit. The girls chakra was tinted a light green and it reminded him of a few medical ninjutsu hed seen before, but he knew that whatever moegi was doing, it wasnt medical jutsu.

"There!" Moegi said as she held out another rose to naruto. The blond gently took it before opening his mouth." How many people have you shown this to?" He questioned the three of them in a calm yet stern tone as he deactivated his eyes. The three kids looked at each other curiously due to the change in narutos attitude.

"Well just you boss, why?" Udon asked curiously.

"Kono, udon, promise me that you both wont say a word to anyone about moegis abilities." Both boys looked confused but nodded their heads anyways.

." Okay boss."

"Sure." Kono shrugged.

"Moegi-" naruto began as he stood up." We need to go see the hokage." He told her as he held a hand out to her.

Moegi looked down at her feet." A-am i in trouble boss? Did i do something wrong?" The worry was evident in her voice.

"No no." Naruto shook his head before picking her up." Youre not in trouble but the hokage needs to see your knew abilities okay?" He gave the girl an eye smile, which seemed to calm her down as she gave him a bright grin before she nodded her head.

"You two." Naruto looked back at the boys." Go back to school and if iruka-sensei asks about moegi tell him shes with me, if he asks why tell him youre under my orders to not disclose that info." He told them sternly." This is now a high A-ranked shinobi secret, got it?" It wasnt really a secret of any kind. He just didnt want any of the wrong ears to hear about moegis newfound ability.

He watched as both boys gave him a salute, adopting serious looks on their faces." Yes sir!" And they ran off.

"Alright, climb on my back moegi, this will be a fast ride." He told her. Moegi wordlessly swung herself onto his back and wrapped her arms around his neck." Ready?" He asked.

"Yes!" She replied happily.

She wasnt ready at all.

The moment naruto shot off the ground in a burst of speed the young girl shrieked.

* hokages office*

Hiruzen stood up and smiled as his office door was opened by a land of fire samurai. He gave a small bow as the fire lord, ikemo, entered the office followed by two guards." Ikemo-sama, its wonderful to see you again." He greeted.

"Bah! Enough of the formalities you old monkey." Ikemo waved the man off with his handheld fan, a grin on his face." Its good to see you once again old friend." The lord took a seat in one of the chairs located in front of hiruzens desk. His two guards stayed back and stood at attention on either side of the office door.

Hiruzen let out a small chuckle at his long time friends attitude." So youre here to watch the chunnin finals i take it?" He asked as he sat down in his chair.

"Of course!" Ikemo replied happily." Plus i heard that one of your shinobi managed to kill that vile snake orochimaru." He added.

Hiruzen nodded his head." Yes, but id stay on guard old friend, knowing orochimaru, he has back up plans in case he was to die." Hiruzen stated seriously. He knew first hand just how smart orochimaru truly was and he had no doubt within his aged mind that his old student would have some sort of back up plan, even if he was dead.

"Yes, i agree." Ikemo replied with a nod of his head as he gently fanned himself." So tell me, how is my shinobi village doing since i last saw it?" He wondered.

"Very good in fact." The third began." Our forces are nearly back to the level they once were before the third war and the kyubi attack. Our shinobi reserve list is getting smaller thanks to us sending the reserved genin out on missions with experienced chunnins and new jonins." He explained.

"Good good." Ikemo replied with a small nod." I was quite disappointed last i saw the reserve list. It was quite long as well. Im happy to know that your able to send them out on missions, even if they dont have a jonin sensei." He added.

Hiruzen nodded in agreement." Missions of all ranks are flowing in rapidly which is good, it means were making more money." Hiruzen told him." The wind lord was sending us missions that were supposed to go to suna but that will not be the case in a few weeks."

"Oh?" That caught ikemos attention." Are we turning away the wind lord now?"

Hiruzen shrugged." We were able to find out that suna planned on attacking us during the finals due to their lord sending us their missions. Sunas weak right now and its resources are running dry. Their attack wouldve been an attempt to impress their lord." Hiruzen explained.

"Theyd attack their ally?" Ikemo asked with furrowed brows." You shinobi and your shifting loyalties." He huffed.

Hiruzen brushed the insult off and continued." In order to avoid war with suna ill be sending all the wind lords missions back to suna, even if they are another hidden village, they are needed in order to keep the balance." He admitted.

"Yes, we dont need any of those smaller villages trying rise up in order to become one of the great fives. Thatd do nothing but start needless wars." The fire lord relented. He didnt much like the other four great hidden villages, nor did he like the smaller ones. He only like his ninja village because he knew the villages history, the ideals it was born upon and how the people and shinobi here alike embraced the will of fire.

Their conversation was cut off by the office door swinging open. The samurai guarding the door grabbed the hilts of their katanas and readied themselves while hiruzen and ikemo looked towards the door.

Everyone watched as naruto, with a frazzled moegi on his back, entered the room." Ol- hokage-sama!" Naruto quickly caught himself as he saw the fire lord and his guards." U-uh-" he cleared his throat as he eyed everyone in the room."im sorry for  interrupting whatever it was you guys were talking about-" the blond began." But everyone except bear, hokage-sama and ikemo-sama need to leave the room.." he saw no one move so he flared his chakra." Now!" He ordered.

Ikemo watched in fascination as a bear masked anbu appeared standing next to hiruzens desk while three other shadows seemed to appear around his guards before they all vanished from the room.

"Oh this better be good naruto or i swear im gonna demote you." Hiruzen stated as he watched naruto close the office door and slap a privacy seal onto the wall.

"Old man, this shits gonna blow your mind." Naruto promised, not catching the fact that he just called the hokage 'old man' in front of the most powerful man in the land of fire.

"Its good to see you again naruto-kun." Ikemo greeted the boy." My, how youve grown since we last seen each other." He added. Hed never forget naruto nor how the boy looked. His spiky blond hair and his unique purplish ringed eyes made him stand out.

"You too my lord." Naruto replied as he placed moegi on the ground in front of him." Alright, bear, give me one of your seeds." Without replying the anbu captain pulled a small brown seed out of his pouch and flicked it to the blond.

Catching it, naruto gave him a nod before he kneeled down next to moegi and handed her the seed." Alright moegi, show them what you showed me okay?" He asked the girl with an eye smile.

"Okay boss but how do i do it with a seed?" She asked as she eyed the little object in her hand.

"Remember how you focused on the dirt?" Moegi nodded her head." Good, this time try focusing on the seed." He explained with a small nod towards said seed.

"R-right." Moegi nodded before she covered the seed with her other hand. She closed her eyes and began to focus.

The other occupants leaned forward and watched in utter shock and fascination as tiny roots began to grow out from in between the tiny gap of moegis hands and fingers.

"Wood style.." hiruzen breathed out with wide eyes.

With a small grunt moegi snapped her eyes open before she opened her hands and the small tree began to grow upright. A thin, two foot tree was the end result and it left moegi panting with a few beads of sweat running down her face.  If naruto hadn't put his arm around her for support the young girl would've fallen over in exhaustion.

"Fascinating.." ikemo said with a smile on his face.

"But.. how?" Bear asked, his voice was filled with utter shock.

"Boss.." moegi panted out." Im super tired now." She whined a bit and naruto gently patted her head.

"Sorry bout that moegi." He told her as he took the tree from her and placed it off to the side." Now that you showed hokage-sama your ability, you can rest now." He promised.

"Moegi-chan." Hiruzen breathed as he walked out from behind his desk. He walked up to the small girl and patted her head with a small on his face." Thats an amazing power you have there." He complemented the young girl and she gave him a tired smile.

"Thanks hokage-sama." She replied with a happy blush on her face. Shed never been complemented by the hokage before.

Naruto looked up at the third." I trust youll handle this accordingly?" He asked with a raised brow.

Hiruzen nodded his head." Yes. Thank you for bringing this to my attention naruto-kun. Why dont you take moegi-chan to her home so she can rest." He ordered calmly.

"Aye aye sir." Naruto replied as he picked moegi up, the younger girl buried her face into his neck while wrapping her arms around him." Ill talk to her parents as well, see if we can get her checked out by granny tsunade when she and sakura return."

Hiruzen nodded at that." Did you use your rinnegan to see how moegi used her chakra?" He asked as he gently rubbed the, now, passed out academy student. 'She must have used up a lot of her chakra for her to fall asleep so quickly' he thought to himself

"Yeah." Naruto replied with a nod." Its her chakra alright, i didnt see anything off about it like bears but i did notice something.."

"Hmm?"

"Her chakra was.. green." Naruto stated with furrowed brows.

Hiruzen rubbed his chin curiously at that." Like medical chakra?" He asked curiously.

"Yeah but she wasnt preforming any medical jutsu and i highly doubt she even knows any." The blond stated with a small shrug.

"Well.." everyone looked to bear as he spoke up." When i was younger and i was learning to control my wood style, i read a bunch about lord first and in one of the books i read it stated that he had green chakra, it had something to do with his wood style and it gave him an incredible healing ability as well as allowing him to connect to nature a lot easier than jiraya-sama, heck i found out that he didnt need a summons training him in order to enter sage mode." Bear explained with a small tilt of his head. It was both fascinating to know that there was another that could preform wood style. Plus, even if his wood release was grafted into him by orochimaru, it was nice to know that he could possibly pass on his knowledge of wood style to young moegi.

Hiruzen nodded a bit." So we might have a future sage on our hands then hmm?" He smiled at that." Go on and take her home now naruto-kun, ill speak with you later about all this and see was kind of ideas we can come up with for moegi." He told the boy.

"Sure, ill see you all later then." With a small nod the blond body flickered away.

"So.." hiruzen and bear looked at ikemo who was gently fanning himself and smiling at the same time." It seems the first hokages wood style lives on.." he stated.

"Well you know what they say old friend." Hiruzen began with a smile." The new generation always surpasses the old, and i for one believe that our village will be in good hands once we pass on."

Ikemo nodded his head at that." Now where did we leave off?" He asked." I believe we were talking about how konohas been?"

"Yes-" Hiruzen replied as he walked back to his seat while bear vanished in order to allow the other anbu and the fire lords guards back into the room."we were." The third nodded as he sat back down with a content look on his face.

* akatsuki hide out- unknown location*

".. so you plan on attacking the leaf with the three tails?" Pein asked in his ever present monotoned voice. He and 'madara' were standing in a barely lit room with the statue of the ten tails behind them.

"Yes." Madara answered." The kyubi jinchuriky has grown far stronger than you or i couldve imagined, he has the rinnegan as well which makes him a lot more versatile, as im sure you know." Pein nodded his head at that." Plus, i will use the attack on the finals as a distraction while i rescue hidans head from his prison and we need to find someone to replace kisame. Itachi needs a partner." He reminded.

"I thought you brought kabuto in to replace kisame?" Pein asked with a small tilt of his head.

"Please-" madara scoffed." Kabuto isnt nearly strong enough to do what we need done. Hes mid-jonin level at best. I only brought him into the akatsuki to use as a spy. Thanks to my sharingan hes under my control, even if he doesnt know it, and he'll give us any info on orochimaru. We need that snakes ring back."

"Then who will replace kisame?" Pein asked.

"I dont know yet." Madara admitted." Ill continue to scour through the bingo books in order to find a worthy candidate  -" he said with a nod." Once i find one youll send itachi out to test them."

"Very well." Pein replied." And what of konan?"

"What of her?"

"Will she play a part in your attack on the leaf?" Pein asked with a raised brow.

"No. We cant afford to risk her being exposed, though i doubt she'd go out in the open after the nine tailed brat saw her when we had him captured." Madara muttered as he rubbed one of his arms. Getting both of his arms ripped off was rather painful. He didnt wish to relive that again any time soon.

"Very well, ill send a zetsu to inform her of your attack."

"Do as you wish, in the mean time, i have to go inform our dear ol' mizukage of his upcoming battle." With that said madara vanished into a vortex that was centered around his only exposed eye.