Reunion

Naruto stood before a wooden door. He lifted his resting right arm from his pockets and knocked on the door.

Echoes of footsteps reverberant through the quiet atmosphere, and then, with a creaking slide, the door opened. A man with striking white stood before him, the lower part of his face hidden beneath a mask attached to his black vest.

"Hello, Kakashi... Mind if I come in?"

Kakashi gave an eye smile. "Sure, be at home". Naruto left his boots outside and stepped into the hall. He found a sofa at the centre with a small cupboard in front. He took a seat and leaned his back against the soft fabric.

Kakashi, too, took a seat beside him.

"What brings you here?", Kakashi asked as he

hung his head, relaxing. The blonde glanced at him and stared at the cupboard.

"Teach me the Chidori"

"Cough! Cough!"

Kakashi choked on his spit... After he recovered, he stared at Naruto with dumbfounded eye.

"I'm sorry to say this, Naruto... But you nee-"

Naruto raised his hand, and yellow sparks appeared, making Kakashi's eye widen. The veteran stared blankly for a minute before he crashed his back onto the sofa... and laughed.

"Oh, why am I even surprised... First a seal master in a year... Now you suddenly have an affinity towards Lightning"... Kakashi found it overbearingly funny, the Uzumaki just kept on giving him mini heart attacks.

The Jutsu died down, and Naruto leaned forward to give a ghastly look.

"So...?"

Kakashi gave a side-eye and chuckled.

"I knew you gave me that scroll for something in return... " Kakashi stayed silent for a brief moment before he willingly nodded his head and closed his eyes. "Fine."

Naruto smiled.

"So, let's begin"

Kakashi gave a puzzled look. "Now?"

Naruto stood up and reached for the door. He threw his head over his shoulders and gave a small smirk. "Yes, time is short... I need all the help I can"

His tone was shrouded in mystery.

'Not ominous at all', Kakashi shook his head. He got up, put his green vest on and body flickered.

After a minute, both of them were standing on green grass. Training ground Three.

Kakashi stared at Naruto before he held out his palm and spoke:

"Chidori is a technique created solely by me. It was by accident, I tried to add an element to the Rasengan... However, it turned into something else. A Ninjutsu powerful enough to even penetrate tempered steel like a hot knife through butter"

Kakashi weaved a set of seals, then held out his palm again.

As he spoke, a Rasengan emerged in his palm... Then, sparkles of blue lightning started to form near it.

Naruto's right eye slightly opened. Kakashi, however, was unknown to it as he was concentrated on creating the Chidori in a slow process so that Naruto could fully see the procedures.

The Uzumaki's Jougan activated, allowing him to see the way Chakra molded through Kakashi's hand, and every detail of how the Jutsu formed into its final form.

"Chidori is created by concentrated lightning to a single point, like the edge of an arrow. From the suppression, it sounds like the cry of a thousand birds, hence the name; Chidori"

As the final words left his lips, the chirps of a thousand birds cried out at the volume of a wardrum's clang.

An arrow-like Jutsu appeared in Kakashi's palm, with lightning dancing around.

Naruto closed his right eye before Kakashi raised his head.

The blonde smiled and held out his hands, making Kakashi chuckle.

A concentrated ball of Chakra appeared in his hands, and then, small sparkles of Lightning slowly hummed into existence. Kakashi shook his head.

"It takes time, Naruto. I get you're impatient, but even Sasu-"

His words were cut off as the lightning sparkles became more frequent. A slight humming sound appeared, and the sparkles transformed into actual strokes of lightning... Then, with a sound as deafening as thunder, the chirp of a thousand birds echoed through the vicinity of training ground three... Making all animals and birds flee.

The wind howled and intensified, and Kakashi stared at the Chidori in Naruto's hands with wide eyes... Yes, he unconsciously opened his left eye, revealing his Sharingan.

The veteran Shinobi's pupils shrunk when he met his eyes with Naruto's. The glistering coldness in them momentarily shook him.

He couldn't help it... "How?", He asked. Kakashi knew how hard it was to pull off such a feat, it was near impossible... Yet, there was proof before him, his former student. Naruto Uzumaki had done it on his first try... On his fucking first try!!

Kakashi pinched himself, just to confirm he wasn't seeing things, and sure it wasn't. He couldn't take his eyes off the Jutsu in Naruto's hand, humming with a static sound.

A cold sweat ran down his forehead as a thought flashed through his mind. 'This kid... He's even more talented than the proclaimed Geniuses of the Uchiha clan, Sasuke and Itachi.'

He couldn't help but stare at Naruto in bewilderment.

The Chidori slowly died down. Naruto gave a sly smirk before his body flickered away, and vanished without a trace. He had got what he came for, so he left.

Kakashi sighed. "At least a thanks... Yeah?"

He murmured before his body, too, flickered away.

***

Three days passed, and Friday came.

The birds sang while bathed in the morning sunshine, and the cascades sang with an echo in the place with planks and steel lying around.

Leaning on a pile of wooden planks, Naruto hung his head over his shoulders and stared at the blue with his hands tucked inside the pockets of his pants.

"Hey, morning Naruto"

Shikamaru appeared around the corner and stood beside him. Naruto brought down his head and stared at him after a nod.

A second or two later, two figures emerged from the corner. A girl with wheat-blonde hair, teal eyes and wore purple clothing.

It was Ino Yamanaka.

The other one had spirals around his cheek and was fat. Choji Akimichimi.

"He-"

Naruto cut off Ino by raising his hand and gave her a passive smile. "Formalities can be later, Ino. First, the meeting"

She seemed somewhat upset but nodded and stood beside Shikamaru. Choji, too with his bag of chips.

Another three figures appeared from a corner, with a giant Ninja-dog in white fur.

It was Kiba Inuzuuka with his faithful companion Ninja Hound, accompanied by Hinata Hyuga and Shino Aburame.

Naruto repeated what he said to Ino, and they all nodded and took a corner to relax. Another figure also arrived at the meeting place:

Rock Lee, Neji Hyuga and TenTen. He repeated what he said and gestured for them to take a place, and they compiled.

Then, a single figure emerged. Sakura Haruno stayed silent and took a spot for herself.

After everyone had taken a corner for themselves, Naruto cleared his throat and stepped into the middle of the site, attracting all of their attention.

"Now that all of us are here, we shall begin the meeting"

Kiba grunted, but Naruto simply avoided his annoyed gaze.

"First of all, thank you for gathering for this meeting, I greatly appreciate the hospitality. Now, I don't want to beat around the bush too much... Shall I get straight to the point?"

They hesitated for a moment before nodding, seeing no complaints, Naruto gave a faint smile... So faint that no one even noticed it.

"So... I have gathered all of you to tell a very important piece of information that even the elders of Konoha don't even know..."

Hearing his words, everyone's ears perked and leaned a little further to hear it. Even Kiba, who was acting like he didn't care, was intrigued.

"That is... Someone plans to assassinate Tsunade Senji, and take her place as Hokage"

"WHAT!?"

The first one to react to the bomb that Naruto dropped was Sakura. Following her, several gasps resounded through the vicinity. Even Shikamaru had his eyes slightly widened, because Naruto had not revealed it to him earlier.

However, he quickly gained his composure. "Clam down, everyone... Let him finish"

Nodding at Shikamaru, Naruto released a bit of his Chakra pressure to gain their attention and then continued.

"I'm sure you guys are surprised, I was as well when I heard of it... But, unfortunately, it's true. There is a man in Konoha, among us, in the shadows... Who plans to kill her and take her throne"

Silence reigned over the somber atmosphere, the newly promoted Chunins had horror in their eyes as they heard Naruto speak.

"And... Where did you learn this from?"

Seeing no one else asking any questions, Shikamaru decided to voice his thoughts. It wasn't that he did not trust Naruto's words, just... Curious as to how Naruto got information that not even the elders were aware of.

Naruto didn't turn his head, he simply responded:

"A very good friend... A very good friend I would trust with my life", It was a lie as plain as broad daylight, but nobody seemed to be overly concerned about where he had learnt it from... The reveal was too much to bear to ask such triviality.

Naruto cleared his throat and gave Sakura a quick glance before he spoke:

"Some of you have bonds surpassing just Hokage to civilians", Sakura's eyes turned dropy, but then suddenly lit up with blazing fire in them. "So... To save her life, and promise Konoha their Hokage's life... We must kill the culprit"

Sakura stepped forward, surprising all of them except Naruto, who gave a small grin.

"What's his name?!"

Sakura could not contain her voice, she was enraged... Why wouldn't she? She had just learnt that some evil guy was after her mentor's life.

A cold glint shone in Naruto's eye before he stepped back and leaned against the pile of wood again.

"I can't tell you that now... And before you lash out at me, I can put you to sleep without even moving, Sakura"

His voice contained a hint of threat, that made Sakura's steps halt. She was indeed going to force him to tell her the name, but that tone... It made her hesitant, she knew he wasn't playing jokes when he said that.

"W-Why... Don't you tell us the n-name... Naruto-kun?"

A barely audible voice reverberated through the chilling silence, breaking the ice. Naruto gave Hinata a blank look before he sighed.

"It's because we have to prepare... And knowing Sakura and you lot, you guys will ruin my plan by acting on emotions"

Naruto picked up a stick beside him and held it, he placed his thumb at the middle and raised his head.

"Every move we do have to be critical, but step by step... He has aids to help him see..." Kiba's eyes wandered around with a helpless look in them.

"He has manpower beyond our power... We have to mask our moves by such timing that he won't suspect a thing. We will hunt him down, slowly... " Naruto's thumb pressed on the stick, and slowly applied pressure.

"We will break him down mentally..." The pressure on the stick rose, bending it slightly.

"We will break him down physically..." Small cracks appeared on the stick.

"We will break him down spiritually..." The pressure increased, and small parts cracked and flew away in the wind.

"Until finally, he breaks apart by our hands... Wholey" The stick snapped and fell on the ground in two pieces, and the last words parted from Naruto's lips sent a shudder through everyone present.

"Dead"

There was not a hint of fear, hesitation or loss of confidence in his eye. Instead, it appeared blazing with determination, and firm like tempered steel.

"So... " Naruto lifted his hand from his pocket and held out his palm. His eyes scanned through everyone. "Are you with me? To take down this corruption within our village"

All hints of fear, hesitation and question disappeared from Sakura's eyes. She gazed at him firmly with her emerald eyes and stepped forward to put her hand on his palm.

"I am!"

She yelled with unmatched resolution.

Then, Shikamaru stepped forward, placed his hand on top of Sakura's and nodded. "I am!"

Choji stepped forward. "I am!"

"Count me in!"

Then Hinata, then Ino, then Kiba, then Neji, then Lee... One by one, all of them placed their hands on top of each other.

Naruto gazed at them with a murderous grin. And the others returned a confident smirk of their own, with resolute eyes.

"Alright then... Mission: Destroy Konoha's wicked seed... Begin!"