Chapter 3: Stress

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted as she dodged over a Zetsu and quickly smashed her fist into its, sending it flying through the air. "He's coming!" Naruto groaned as he pulled his chakra rod out of the dead Zetsu. 

"Everyone get back!" He shouted. "Sasuke, you ready?" Sasuke strolled up the blonde, a small frown on his face.

"Ready as I'll ever be." He said as his Rinnegan flared, drawing out his sword. "I think we can stop him this time." Naruto laughed a little bit, but it was stiff and filled with tenseness. 

"We'll make sure to beat him, we won't lose!" 

They had lost. Terribly. Naruto's eyes fluttered open in his bed, his entire body aching. He had been training. A lot. He would spend most of the days fighting his own shadow clones, working on his speed. 

He also had his clones training nonstop on perfecting the Rasengan, but it was a lot harder than he could remember it being in the past. He had spent hours upon hours trying to perform it better but had failed in all of his attempts so far. 

Sitting up on the bed, he wiped away the sleep from his eyes and stretched before slowly getting up, his bare feet touching the cold wooden floor. What was his next move? Besides training, what else could he do to improve himself in order to save the future?

A lightbulb lit up in his mind and he quickly hurried to get dressed, not worried since it was his day off. 

Hiruzen Sarutobi was visibly frowning as he peered outside the Hokage Tower's windows, gazing upon his village with a troubled look in his eye. If Naruto was indeed Naruto and spoke the truth, then he would die soon, and the village would soon fall as well. 

He did not wish for that to happen, even if Naruto was an impostor and possibly lying, he would still take the necessary precautions that needed to happen. 

While thinking about Naruto, his frown only deepened. 

The blonde boy knew too much, and the absolute best-case scenario of him knowing this knowledge was that he was indeed from a broken future, instead of a knowledgable shinobi skilled in the art of the Transformation Jutsu, which Hiruzen could feel no chakra of the such coming off the boy who claimed to be Naruto Uzumaki.  

The Seventh Hokage. . . such a claim was almost ridiculous if not for the fact that Naruto could go into deep detail about how things would go in the future. Tsunade as the Fifth, Kakashi Hatake, who was dead in this timeline, the Sixth, and then Naruto as the Seventh. He didn't know what else to truly believe. 

His thoughts were interrupted when Naruto walked through the door. "Hokage-sama, I need your help." Hiruzen turned around, quickly putting on his grandfatherly smile. 

"And what can I help with you, Naruto-kun?" He asked slowly, trying his best to study the boy, but he remained a blank slate, almost emotionless like one of Danzo's Root agents. 

"I need you to help me go shopping," Naruto admitted, immediately breaking his entire emotionless stature, a small, embarrassed blush appearing on his face. Hiruzen rose an eyebrow. 

"I thought the Seventh-" He began, only to stop as Naruto immediately placed a finger over his mouth, causing the Hokage to stop speaking. 

"Not around them." Hiruzen's eyes widened slightly. He had sensed the Anbu hiding in the ceiling? 

"How did you know?" 

"I'm not speaking any further until they leave. While I realize they are your protection, I am no threat as of right now." 

"And how can we be so sure?" Naruto felt his eyebrow raise. 

"Are you implying that I have been lying?" Hiruzen shrugged. 

"I've been alive for a very long time, you could be anyone pretending to be Naruto Uzumaki. How am I to believe such a ridiculous tale as you talk?" 

"Then why have you let me run rampant? Train? I haven't felt any of your Anbu on me, or within a five-hundred yard radius of me. If you distrust me, then why haven't you taken the necessary precautions?" 

"Perhaps your sensing abilities aren't what they used to be?" Hiruzen countered. Naruto narrowed his eyes. 

"How can I prove to you that I've been speaking the truth?" 

"Do something that only Naruto Uzumaki could do." Naruto cocked his head to the side. 

"That's it, okay." It took a second, but Naruto managed to summon some of Kurama's chakra as it surrounded him, his blue eyes quickly changing into a vermillion red as the thin black lines spread vertically, a small crack appearing in the wood below him.

"Is this enough?" Naruto growled out, irritation lacing his voice. Hiruzen felt a wave of ease pass through his system. 

"So you are not lying after all, good," Hiruzen said with a sigh of relief. He snapped his fingers and Naruto felt the Anbu leave the room. "Now why can't the Seventh Hokage go shopping for himself?" 

"It's not that I can't," Naruto immediately defended himself. "It's just that, I want a weapon. Back in my timeline, I only used kunai and a chakra rod, and only one person in this world has a chakra rod and I'm not even close to their level right now. Besides, I would need my Sage of Six Paths power back to wield it even remotely correctly." He trailed off, going into deep thought. 

Hiruzen felt a small smile appear on his face. "So you want my help in finding a replacement until you can gain that power back?" Naruto nodded. "Ah, well, I think I can spare some time. What's your budget?" Naruto felt his eyes narrow comically. 

"Did my father have nothing to leave me?" Hiruzen coughed a little, he had forgotten that this Naruto knew of his lineage. 

"He did, but it was supposed to go to you when you became a Chunin or hit the age of eighteen, whichever came first. But, given the circumstances of this, I believe I can be lenient and give it to you now." Naruto felt a small smirk come to his lips. 

"How much did they leave me?"

"You know the answer to that already, you're rich," Hiruzen said with a soft chuckle as he walked over to the picture of Minato Namikaze on the wall, slowly taking the picture off the wall, carefully as not to damage the few pictures they had of Minato Namikaze, revealing a small safe. 

Typing in a few numbers, the safe let out an audible crackle as it unlocked and swung open, a small scroll in it. Hiruzen grabbed it and walked over to Naruto, who took it graciously. 

"Huh, I never knew that existed." Naruto murmured. "The war took a lot of free time, and it was around the start of the war that I found out who my parents really were, so I have never seen this before. Any idea as to what it contains?" Hiruzen felt his own smirk cross his lips as he watched Naruto look at the scroll with awe. 

"Everything they've ever had of value. From jewelry, which you won't be interested in, to Minato and Kushina's Jutsu, which you will be very interested if I were a betting man. There are weapons in there along with hundreds upon hundreds of millions of you." Naruto's eyes boggled out of his head.

"Hundreds of millions? How much do you make old man?!" Hiruzen laughed openly, a laughter Naruto had not heard in a long time. A small, nostalgic smile graced Naruto's face as he watched the old man laugh. 

"Oh my boy, being Hokage pays quite well, but the majority of that money is from the Third Shinobi War, your father took down several hundred enemy shinobi who had bounties on their head, and of course, being Minato Namikaze, he made sure to cash every single one of them in."

"Weird, he never mentioned any of that when we met." Hiruzen rose an eyebrow at that. Naruto, seeing the look, sighed. "It's a long story, but to make it short, I almost went crazy and unlocked the Kyuubi's cage and he stopped me somehow." 

"Ah, I don't understand, but I'm sure that the Reaper Death Seal can lead to almost anything due to it being a Summon Contract with the Shinigami." Hiruzen then stretched. "Okay, let's find you that weapon." 

Naruto and Hiruzen walked out an exclusive Shinobi-only weapons shop, Naruto holding a sealing scroll in his right hand, a satisfied smile on his face. He had bought a dozen kunai, several dozens of Fuma Shuriken, one regular shuriken, and a new short sword, about the same length as an average adult's arm. 

"Thank you, old man," Naruto said as Hiruzen smiled faintly at the boy, a sadness creeping onto his face. This boy had gone through so much, and he could tell. Naruto did not walk like a Genin, he walked like a veteran shinobi who's seen several wars, and lost several comrades, well, it seemed Naruto lost ALL of his comrades. 

Naruto's eyes lacked the shininess that they once had before he changed and was replaced by this Naruto, and it made him sad. He had wanted to keep the innocence of Minato's child intact for a bit longer, but it was taken away by Madara Uchiha, the one who basically started the war. 

He also never smiled, and if he did, it was a brief smile before it died, smothered by the burden that was on his shoulders, refusing to let go of the blonde. Hiruzen only shivered at the thought of what was going through the storm in Naruto's mind. 

"It's no problem, Naruto-kun. It's the least I can do. Now I assume you are going to be training?" Naruto nodded. 

"I need to get stronger. By the time of my first C-Rank, I want to be able to put up a good fight." Hiruzen looked at Naruto strangely. 

"I'm sure you are quite capable of defeating bandits?" Naruto chuckled.

"I've never had a C-Rank go right for me, old man. My first C-Rank in my timeline was an A-Rank, which I would still like to request by the way." He saw the confused look in Hiruzen's eyes and explained further. "In about a month and a half, a man from Wave named Tazuna will request a C-Rank mission, please give that mission to us. It was required for us to grow and Sayuri and Sakura will know what the shinobi world really is out there. If Obito is as strong as Kakashi, then we won't die." 

"I'll trust your judgment," Hiruzen said quickly. "But I have to go, get strong Naruto-kun, you are this world's only hope." Naruto darkened as his hand gripped tightly on the scroll. 

"I know." He whispered before walking away from the elderly Hokage. Hiruzen watched the boy disappear in the crowd, heading towards the training grounds. He suppressed a sigh, turning around and walking back to the Hokage Tower, greeting and smiling at the citizens of Konoha on his way back. 

Naruto sat crisscrossed on Training Grounds 1, several leaves spinning slowly on his forehead as he read the scroll his father and mother have left him. It had dozens of jutsu that he had seen Kakashi as well as several other shinobi throughout the Fourth Shinobi War, while also holding some exclusives, like his father's Flying Thunder God technique as well his fighting style along with his mother's own fighting style, the papers that contained these going through each motion. 

He would have to master the Flying Thunder God at a later date, knowing that it would take a long time for him to be able to get the skill his father had with fuinjutsu, as well being able to separate Kurama's chakra from his own so he could imprint of the special kunai. 

He was interrupted when he sensed two chakra signatures approaching the training grounds, probably a pair of shinobi wanted to spar. He immediately began packing up his scroll, sealing everything back up before standing up, letting the leaves fall of his head as they floated to the ground slowly. 

He turned to leave the training ground, only to meet the beady eyes of Rock Lee, large beady eyes he hadn't seen in almost two years, the Genin having his bowl cut along with his hideous green jumpsuit. 

"Hello there! My name is Rock Lee! A pleasure to make your acquaintance!" He said, sticking out his hand. Naruto then saw two figures behind Rock Lee, who he recognized as Neji and Tenten. 

"Hold them off Lee!" Neji shouted as he conducted another Rotation, propelling the wooden spikes off of him. Rock Lee was not wearing his usual self-confident smirk, but rather, a slightly scared and distressed frown as he fought the hordes of Zetsu, his muscles screaming in agony at him as he slowly came out of the Sixth Gate, his body aching. 

"I cannot go for much longer!" He said as he quickly bashed in the head of another Zetsu. 

"AGGHH!" Tenten shouted as a wooden spike pierced her leg. Neji's and Lee's eyes widened in shock before they saw Tenten's head get pierced by a small branch of spiked wood, a Zetsu holding it as he grinned maliciously. 

"Oh no, two more to go!" 

"TENTEN!" Rock Lee shouted in pain as he quickly activated all of the gates he could, his body protesting with every cell as he rushed towards the dead teen. 

"LEE NO!" Neji shouted as he stopped his rotation, only to be impaled right in the heart by a stray wooden stake, is going right through his heart as he was pinned to the floor, unable to do anything but watch as Rock Lee fought, only to feel his heart shatter as Lee's body gave out, his teammate getting stabbed repeatedly in the chest by a group of Zetsu.

"Forgive me, Naruto, Hinata-sama, I couldn't be of much use after all." Was his last thought before his eyes glazed over, his breathing stilled as he laid on the battleground. 

Naruto froze as he felt Rock Lee, Tenten, and Neji all die within a minute of each other, the source being a hoard of Zetsu. He grit his teeth as he could do nothing but wait as Sakura healed him, tears flowing down his face. 

"We've lost Team Guy." He announced, ignoring the pain in his chest. 

"Hi, I'm Naruto." He said in a small voice. "Sorry, I was just leaving." 

"Nonsense, would you like to spar as a fellow Genin of Konoha?" Naruto was about to decline, but Neji beat him in terms of replying. 

"Don't waste your energy Lee, he's not even worth your attention. I heard he was the dead last throughout his entire career of the Academy, even you had better stats than him." Naruto felt his eyes narrowed at Neji. 

This Neji was more of a douche than the last one. Rock Lee deflated. 

"Oh, I see. I guess I shall see you later then, Naruto." 

"I want to fight you," Naruto said, pointing at Neji. "And I'll make you eat your words, or force them down your throat, whichever comes first," Neji smirked. 

"If you wish, but fate has declared me the winner already, so this will be quick." Naruto quickly unsealed the short sword, brandishing the grey-steeled blade, it glowing a small bright blue as he sent his chakra through the metal. 

"My fate was a lot more interesting than yours, Neji Hyuga, but the fruit it bore was nothing but the devil's apple." Neji narrowed his eyes. 

"How do you know of my name?"

"Beat me and I'll tell you." 

"And what will you get if a miracle happens and you win?" Neji countered quickly. 

"I get the satisfaction of kicking your ass properly," Naruto answered quickly. "We begin when you activate your doujutsu." Neji shook his head.

"I won't need it," He began charging Naruto. "I'll beat you without it!" 

Naruto smirked. Having been in this world for two weeks, he had plenty of time in order to get his chakra back to the fraction of control it had been when he was alive, but the amount of control he had still surpassed the control he had when he began his training trip with Jiraiya all those years ago.

And Naruto beat ninja before that even occurred, and now. . . 

Naruto watched as Neji began trying to hit him in the same style every Hyuga used, trying to hit the boy in whichever place he could. Naruto narrowly avoided every blow, his eyes never leaving Neji's, who became increasingly frustrated due to the fact that Naruto, who was the dead last of his class, was able to dodge not just one, but all of his attacks. 

Neji quickly grabbed a kunai from his pouch and hurled it at Naruto, who stopped backing away and dodged it, only for Neji to be upon him. Unable to avoid being hit, Naruto watched as Neji's two pointed fingers hit him square in the shoulder, only for Naruto to disappear in a big puff of smoke. 

His eyes widening, Neji quickly activated his Byakugan and he whirled around just a tad bit too late as Naruto used his right foot to kick the Hyuga in the temple, sending him flying across the training ground.

"No way," Tenten said breathlessly. "He landed a hit on Neji?" Even Rock Lee was in a state of shock, not even he was able to land a hit like that on Neji! 

"What's wrong?" Naruto said as he spun his sword in the air, the light blue chakra still glowing on the metal. "I thought you were the prodigy of the Hyuga Clan?" 

Neji stood up, glaring furiously at the blonde Jinchuuriki. "Don't you dare mock me!" He charged Naruto again. 

A cruel smirk appeared on Naruto's face, his dull blue eyes twinkling with amusement as he shifted the blade in his hand into a reverse grip, pressing the dull side of the sword to his forearm as he crouched suddenly, a small blade of wind appearing on the tip of the sword as he sent the blade of air to the ground, a large crack appearing in it before his smirk turned into a crack. 

"Let the earth crumble at your feet so I can watch you sink to hell!" He shouted as he shoved his sword in the earth, as he made a one-handed sign, shocking Neji so much, he stopped his charge. 

"What? That's not possible!" 

"Anything is impossible if you put in the work for it! You believe everything in life is handed to you due to fate and worked for my strength," Naruto said as the earth exploded, dust spreading throughout the training grounds. "And I have no intention of stopping till I become the strongest shinobi to ever live, past, present, and future," Naruto whispered in Neji's ear, his sword placed gently on the Hyuga's throat. 

"Do you yield?" Naruto said in a firm tone, leaving no room of doubt in Neji's mind. 

He has lost. 

"I yield." He said, admitting defeat. In an instant, Naruto sealed the sword away again. "How did you defeat me?" Naruto pondered on telling the Hyuga on his strategy, and shrugged, not seeing why not. 

"Well, I infused my sword with wind chakra and used it to loosen the dirt below both of us, then I spread my chakra throughout the dirt and made it explode with my chakra. Using that distraction, I ran behind you. You would've beaten me if I didn't have my speed."

"You're acting like beating Neji wasn't a big deal!" Tenten basically shouted, completely awestruck. "How the hell did you beat the genius of our graduating year?!" 

"I guess hard work beats a genius, huh?" Naruto said cryptically. Rock Lee then spoke up.

"THAT WAS A VERY YOUTHFUL FIGHT NARUTO-SAN! ONE DAY WE ARE GOING TO SPAR AND I WILL DEFEAT YOU!" Naruto let a small smile cross his face. 

"I'll look forward to it, bushy brows." He said before walking off. "I'll see you guys later then, and Neji," He looked back at the white-eyed boy. "I'll be looking forward to our next spar." A determined smirk appeared on the Genin's face. 

"Count on it." With a wave, Naruto disappeared within the trees. 

He still had training to do. 

And done. So yeah, Naruto is slowly getting stronger, but not OP just yet. I want to say he's high Genin level, or super low Chunin level. He won't be Chunin level till around. . .

Ahaha, no spoilers! 

Anyways, yeah. 

Til next time my lil demons!