Six Years Later...
A short child could be seen running through the streets of Konoha, bright wild blond hair flowing through the air, deep cerulean eyes looking every which way, trying to find a way out of his current predicament. Currently, little Naruto is running from a mob of angry villagers with a few shinobi thrown into the mix. Some may ask, 'Why are they chasing a poor, defenseless child?', the reason is fairly simple. They hate him and everything that he reminds them of. Naruto Uzumaki, is a constant reminder to the villagers that they lost someone precious to them, be they family or friends.
Naruto's day started out like any other day, he got up, made a breakfast of instant ramen, put on his orange jumpsuit and left his small apartment. Except that this day, October 10th, happened to be the sixth anniversary of the Kyuubi attack and today the annual festival was being held, meaning that a lot of the businesses would be closed today. It also happened to Naruto's birthday and he was going to see the 'Old Man' and see if he wanted to play.
As he made his way to the Hokage tower, most of the villagers he encountered glared at him, which wasn't at all uncommon, but the glares seemed to be especially harsh today. He learned early on to ignore the stares and the hateful curses slung at him by putting up his 'mask'. Said mask, was in fact a huge fox-like smile and appeared to be cheerful on the outside, while containing his true emotions on the inside. He managed to make it to the Hokage tower in record time, climb the several flights of stairs two at a time. Now he was in front of the secretary's desk and asked if he could see 'Gramps'.
"You will show the Hokage proper respect he deserves, you little brat. Besides he can't see you today, his schedule is completely full." The secretary sneered at him, unwilling to let the 'demon brat' in to see the Hokage. Dark thoughts of the demon assassinating the Hokage running through her head, while she continues to sneer at the boy.
Still smiling, which seem to grow just a little and a bit more forced after her statement, Naruto said loudly, "Fine, I'll just come back at another time."
Off to the left, the Hokage's office door opened, to reveal his old wrinkled face peeking through the gap in the door.
"Ah, Naruto. Just in time, as I've just finished all of my paperwork for the day. I was getting bored just sitting around." Sarutobi shot a meaningful glance at his secretary, as if saying he knew what she had said. She would be looking for another job by the end of the day, just like the last seven secretaries that have been through the office.
Little Naruto squeezed through the gap in the door and plopped down onto one of the more comfortable chairs within the office. Naruto looked throughout the office noticing a few little knick-knacks here and there. His eyes finally landed on four pictures behind the Hokage's desk, which depicted the four greatest Hokages to serve the village.
"So, I see that you've interested in my old friends, eh Naruto?" Sarutobi asked.
"Yeah, who are they?" the six year old chirped.
"Well, from left to right, they are the Shodaime and the Nidaime Hokages, whom were like older brothers to me. They in fact were the ones to find me and bring me to this village when I was just a little boy no older than yourself." Sarutobi said, memories of the day surfacing in his mind.
"Really gramps? Wow that must have been a really long time ago then." Naruto said innocently, his blue eyes widening in surprise.
"Yes, it was and such great times we had. Let me tell you a story Naruto-kun. It's how this village was formed and it involves the Shodaime and the Nidaime." Sarutobi said with a wistful smile.
"Really! I'm all ears." The boy replied and a low chuckle could be heard throughout the room.
"Well, our story begins around seventy-five years ago and many bands of shinobi still roamed the wilds of the world. Back then their was less than a handful of Hidden Villages and as the story goes my older 'brothers' were traveling far and wide, learning new techniques, making new friends, and making enough money to live. One day they decided to create a new Hidden Village and traveled farther than before looking for just the right location. After a year of searching and finding nothing, they came across a most desolate land. At the time it was called Fire country, which earned it's name from the blazing sun and the scorching winds. Basically it was an expanded part of the desert that made up Wind country." Sarutobi paused to light his pipe.
"Then how come we have all these trees now, old man?" Naruto asked impatiently.
"Patience, Naruto-kun, I'm getting to that very shortly. Because of the shape of the land nobody wanted to make a village here and anybody who thought to try, was thought of as a fool. My brothers, on the other hand were not fools and were very special. The Shodaime could use the very rare Wood Element and wood based techniques, while the Nidaime was so proficient in water jutsu that he could create water from the very air without hand seals. It took some doing, but after two years the entire face of Fire Country was completely changed. The vast forest that you know now was said to be created by a single jutsu, while all of the lakes and rivers coursing through the land was drawn up from deep underground by the Nidaime. They began to build our village, attracting other shinobi looking for a place to establish clans or trades routes." Sarutobi finished.
"WOW!" Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs.
'AH, my ears!' Thought Sarutobi.
If anything was well known in Konoha, it was the fact that Naruto was one of the loudest kids in the village. After a few moments, his hearing finally came back and he noticed that Naruto was uncommonly quite. That was when he notices the child's head bowed with his blond bangs covering his eyes from view. When he looked up, Sarutobi saw the look of great sadness.
"Hey old man, it's that day again. You know the one I'm talking about."
"What are you talking about, Naruto?" Sarutobi blinked, his mind still frazzled from all of the paperwork he had from earlier.
"You know, October 10th, my birthday. It's already starting and the sun is still up. They don't usually start till nightfall." The child said slowly.
A strained grunt came from the elder man, while he was pinching the bridge of his nose in agitation.
'It gets worse every year.' The Hokage thought solemnly.
"Try to be patient with them Naruto, they don't understand, give them time." Sarutobi said reassuringly.
"I'll try old man, I'll try." He almost whispered and then proceeded to plaster a wide cheesy grin on his face.
The mask was now back on and it hurt the older man to see someone so young have to resort to such a defense mechanism.
"Naruto, what is your dream?" asked Sarutobi as he puffed on his pipe.
"Well... I guess, I want people to see me for me and not curse at me or throw things at me. I want them to show me respect!" Naruto exclaimed his little fist thrusted in the air, his eyes full of determination.
"So, your going to take my job then, eh? Cause the title Hokage, means that you've the skills and ability to be the best of the best out of all the ninja." Sarutobi smirked.
"Yeah! If I had your job then they'll have to show me respect." Naruto said.
"Remember though, Naruto, you'll have to train very hard and you'll have to prove to your peers that your are the best if you want to become Hokage one day." the old man said, making sure the kid didn't get to far ahead of himself.
"Right got it. Don't get too comfortable in that seat gramps, cause before you know it it'll be mine. Believe it!" Naruto said before he disappeared out through the office door.
Sarutobi chuckled at the antics of a six year old and shook his head ruefully. That was until his secretary came in with a large stack of papers needed to be reviewed before being signed. Sarutobi stared in horror as his dreaded enemy reared it's ugly head yet again, which cause the old man to break down and cry.
'Naruto, please hurry up and become Hokage, damn paperwork, why Kami why must you torment me so?' he thought sadly.
Naruto was feeling pretty hungry after his chat with the old man and decided that lunch was in order. He made his way towards his favorite eatery, Ichiraku's Ramen Bar, where the best ramen in the world is made.
'Hope the old man didn't close today. Cause I'm starvin' Naruto thought as he ran down some back alleys.
Making his way through the seedier parts of Konoha, avoiding the already crowded bars and other establishments of such note. After twenty minutes of running he finally made it to his destination, only to find that they had closed for the day.
"Ah, man now what am I going to eat? All the other places in the village would just throw me out or try to add me to the menu, if I'm not quick enough." Naruto said to himself.
'I better just head back to the apartment. Hopefully no one will try to break in this year, like they did last year or the year before that or the year before that.' He thought, while vivid memories of past occurrences flashed through his head.
Quickly backtracking his way to his home, Naruto move from shadow to shadow, barely making any noise. It was already late afternoon and he need to get home before dark or before some rowdy drunks stumbled out of some bar. Fifteen agonizing minutes later, Naruto was less than thirty yards from his apartment building and it seemed like the coast was clear, not a villager in sight.
'That's strange, even on a day like today, their should be a few people out and about. But the streets are completely deserted. Hell even the stray dogs, that are normally scrounging around the alley next to my apartment building are missing. This isn't good.' He thought with a little trepidation.
"Come on, Naruto. You can do it! It's only thirty yards to the building. Only thirty long yards, while making a mad dash on short legs, out in the open for all to see. Yeah, no sweat. What's the worse that could happen?" He says trying to build-up his confidence.
'Damn my short legs! Why couldn't I be tall!?' he thought mournfully.
He took four long even breaths, trying to calm his already shaky nerves. On the fourth breath he charged out of his hiding place and made for his sanctuary. Slowly the distance began to dwindle between himself and the apartment building. He was less than ten feet from his goal, when suddenly pain erupted from the back of his skull and stars filled his vision. He crumbled to the ground like a sack of potatoes, his breathing causing a few clouds of dirt to appear. He felt the back of his head and drew back from the intense throbbing pain it caused. When he looked at his hand, he saw the warm sticky liquid that was his blood covering his hand. He looked to see what had caused his misfortune and discovered a broken saké bottle.
"Wh... where d... o you think you're going b... brat?" a slurred and sour voice sounded not far behind Naruto.
Naruto risked a quick glance of his surroundings and what he saw would ruin the rest of his week. A few dozen people began to mill out of the surrounding alleyways, quite a few of them smelling strongly of alcohol. Each was armed with whatever makeshift weapon that was handy. At this discovery Naruto thought it was high time to make his exit. He scrambled to his feet and dashed for the nearest ally as five men tried to stop him by swinging their clubs, which were fished out of a nearby dumpster. One managed to clip his shoulder and the rest missed, if barely by a hairs width tearing his clothes a little. Once in the alleyway he found a ladder connected to a fire escape and launched himself up the ladder. Not far behind the mob gave chase, few of the members already climbing up the ladder, mumbling curses under their breath and slipping every now and again.
Naruto made it to the roof and charged towards the next building, jumping over the four foot gap between buildings and rolling as he landed. Sweat trickled down his face causing some of the blond locks of hair to become plastered to his forehead. The thuds of feet hitting roof tar alerted him that the drunkards hadn't given up just yet. A fresh wave of adrenaline hit his system forcing him to move as fast as he could away from his pursuers. He ran jumping from roof top to roof top, avoiding incoming glass bottles and stones thrown by the mob.
'I just need to get back to the old man and he'll protect me.' Naruto thought.
His goal was a few blocks away and his pursuers were slowly falling behind. He was so distracted that he didn't notice the incoming kunai, until they pierced his skin. A strangle scream barely escaped his mouth as he tumbled off one of the roof tops and fell into a nearby tree. A sickening crunch was heard and a blinding pain erupted from his ribcage. Naruto slid out of the tree and hit the ground with a dull thud, this time his scream was not strangled or muffled at all.
'Didn't think a knee bent in that direction.' Naruto thought to himself, a little in shock and mild curiosity.
Two ninja's appeared out of the shadows, dressed in dark fitted clothes and white ANBU armor, as they lazily approached the bleeding child. Their ANBU masks hiding them from being identified and hope of being rescued began to grow.
"Seems you missed, eh Rooster?" one of them said casually, like he didn't have a care in the world.
"Yes, so it would appear so, Ram. The little demon shit moved at the last moment and the kunai nailed him in the shoulder instead of the heart." Rooster replied reaching up over his shoulder to draw his standard issue ANBU katana. The sword cleared it's sheath with barely an audible noise and appeared entirely black so light wouldn't reflect off of it.
After hearing this Naruto gave up hope of being rescued anytime soon and was trying to figure out a way to escape. The last rays of the sun were becoming unbearable to his skin and when he saw the katana being raise over the ANBU's head.
"Any last words demon scum?" Ram asked.
Naruto was scared and he was about to die before he could even complete his dream. And he was going to start at the Academy next month too. He wouldn't get to say goodbye to old man Teuchi and his daughter Ayame, whom ran the ramen stand, or to 'gramps'. Then something inside of him stirred, like something was becoming restless. That was the deciding moment for Naruto, he would not show his fear to these bastards. If this was to be his last moment on earth, then he would go out with whatever dignity he had left to him and he wouldn't give them the satisfaction.
"Give it your best shot, you little crack whore bitch!!" he managed to scream at the top of his lungs, as determination burned in his eyes. He learned that one from one of his neighbors numerous fights with his girlfriend.
Both ANBU were taken aback by his last words, but the one holding the katana seem to become enraged at the boy's words.
"DIE YOU FILTHY PIECE OF SHIT!! GO BACK TO HELL WHERE YOU BELONG FOX!" Rooster bellowed and swung down with all of his might.
Naruto just stared at the incoming weapon as it loomed closer and closer to him. Everything seemed to slow down, the sword moving barley a fraction of an inch, the sweat sliding down Naruto's face, even the birds in the sky came to a stop. Then the world became black as pitch, all of Naruto's senses were smothered by it. He could see nothing, hear nothing, it was as if he was in an endless void. He closed his eyes trying to advert the oncoming panic attack and when he opened his eyes he was in what appeared to be a sewer.
"What the... where am I? What's going on? And why the am I sitting in water?" Naruto questioned, trying to understand what was going on.
He stood up and the water came up level with his knees. He looked around the dim settings and sloshed his way down the tunnel. Eventually his eyes grew accustomed to the low light levels and saw many smaller offshoot tunnels, but all of them felt wrong for some reason. He had been walking for what seemed like hours, wondering if he was making any progress at all, until he saw a faint glow up ahead. As he drew closer, he noticed that the glow was red in color and had a evil taint to it. When he finally reached the source of the glow, he found that it was a pair of huge double hinged doors. The metal fitting looked to be made out of brass, while the wood that made up the door appeared to be a dark oak.
'Looks like if I want answers, then I'll find them in here.' Naruto thought to himself.
He pushed with all of his might and the doors swung open barely making a sound. Inside the room was a massive cage built into the back wall and everything appeared to be made of stone; the floor, the ceiling, the walls, even the bars of the cage. He walked further into the room and notice the water level was higher here than outside of the room. That and he was now walking on top of the water, instead of sloshing through it. He was bought out of his observations by a loud rumble that nearly shook the room. He looked towards the cage and saw a piece of paper on it that had the kanji for seal on it. The rumble got louder and something shifted from within the cage. Two glowing red eyes could be seen coming from the darkness. As the creature drew closer to the bars of the cell, it looked to be a furry mass of some sort. All Naruto could see was red fur and nine tails.
"So my jailer has finally come to pay me a visit?" the furry mass questioned, curious as to why the boy was here.
"Kitty!" Naruto squealed loudly. After that exclamation, silence ensued and all was still for a brief moment.
"I AM NOT A GOD DAMN KITTY!! I AM THE MOST POWERDUL DEMON LORD TO EVER EXIST, DEMONS AND HUMANS ALIKE WOULD QUAKE AT THE MEAR SOUND OF MY NAME!!" the furry mass finished, breathing heavily.
Our blond hero on the other hand, wasn't paying attention to the outburst and completely missed it.
"Hn, sorry what did you say?" Naruto asked feeling a little foolish for not paying attention.
That seemed to be the wrong thing to say at the moment as the creature thrashed around in it's cage cursing Kami above for his fate being sealed away into a "Dumb Blonde" and went to go sulk in the corner of it's cell.
"Hey kitty, can you tell me the way out of here? I need to find Old Man Hokage, so he can stop the villagers and ninja from hurting me." Naruto pleaded with the beast.
"Oy, little meat sack, you're not that bright, are ya?" the 'kitty' half asked, half stated.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto demanded angrily.
'Sweet Kami, this kid is thick. He doesn't even realize what's going on' the furry creature thought to itself.
"Alright kid, listen and listen good, cause I'm not repeating myself. No questions till the end of the presentation, thank you. Now you remember running from the mob, right?", at this Naruto nodded his head,"Then you should remember getting nailed by that kunai and falling off a two story building. Then the ANBU came and admitted that they were trying to kill you. When the ANBU drew his sword and swung it at you, I had to use a bit of my chakra to pull you into your own mind." Kyuubi paused to let that last little fact sink in.
Naruto had plopped down in front of the cage listening to the furry beast, waiting for something important to pop up. In other words, he completely missed the big fucking hint at where he is. This was not lost on the Kyuubi and possibly rethinking letting the 'flesh monkey' die.
"Alright idiot, this is YOUR MIND. I AM SEALED WITHIN YOU. I AM THE KYUUBI. ARE YOU FOLLOWING ME ON THIS LITTLE FELLA, OR DO I NEED TO BREAK OUT THE FLASH CARDS TO HELP YOU OUT." Kyuubi said very loudly, but painstakingly slow so as to not go over the blonde's head.
"Oh my Kami, you're the Kyuubi! But I thought the Yondaime killed you years ago?" asked Naruto.
"Nope kit, no mere human can kill me, hell even the death god couldn't kill me, only seal me away, into you. With a being of my caliber, no normal object or animal could hold me for long. Not even a full grown adult could hope to contain my power, which would over load their chakra system freeing after their death. But a baby with it's chakra pathways still in it's underdeveloped stage could hold and become accustomed to my power with only a few side effects. F.Y.I.; those whisker marks on your face and your freakish stamina."
"So, what now?" he asked.
"Well, now you're a mere inch away from having your melon split in half and there is nothing I can do about it. I only had enough time to bring you down here and not enough time to mount a defense with my power." Kyuubi sighed in a loud exasperation.
"So that's it! You're just going to give up!" Naruto screamed at the demon.
Kyuubi snorted at the kid's outburst, a little impressed and a little irritated. "Kit, what would you have me do? I'm trapped here, until you die and then I die along with you taking me to whatever judgment awaits for me on the other side. The blonde monkey really knew how to make his seals, I'll give him that."
"No... I can't die. Not now, not like this. I haven't even achieved my dream yet, I still have so much left to do. I can't let it end like this." Naruto said, as if on the verge of a mental breakdown.
Moments later the whole chamber started to shake, fragments of ceiling came down followed by clouds of dust. Unnoticed till now, a stone like object wrapped in chains, began to pulsate in an eerily silver glow. This rock soon began to emerge from the floor and the chains surrounding it tightened and broke apart. Naruto suddenly felt a surge of power enter his system. The Kyuubi was trying to figure out what the hell was going on. But before he could voice any opinion that he might have had, Naruto was ejected out of the chamber and back to consciousness.
The blade moved closer to its target as Naruto started to become aware again and stared as the blade was but a mere inch away from his skull. On some instinct unknown to Naruto, he felt the sword coming and reach out for it, not with his hand but with some unseen force. The blade stopped in it's track, like it collided with a barrier of some sort. The two ANBU were at a loss as to what was happening, Rooster applied more pressure to the blade trying to make it move, but it just wouldn't budge. He removed his hands from the pommel and the sword stayed exactly where it was, stationary in midair.
"What the hell is happening Ram?" Rooster asked, unsure on how to respond to their predicament.
"Why do you think I know? I'm just as lost as you are." His partner responded in a snide manner.
As they were talking every metallic object within a thirty foot radius, began to shake and quiver. The noise these items were making became so great that the ANBU were looking around frantically trying to find the source of the disturbance. A rusted over can flew through the air and nailed Ram in the back, while a lead pipe spun and kneecapped Rooster. The sickening scrunch and his scream rang out through the back alley and his partner was trying in vain to defend himself from numerous metallic objects trying to bash his head in. The objects stopped moving all together and floated in midair as if this was the calm before the storm. Ram and Rooster look in a strange sense of awe as all of the metal objects began to break apart and fell to the ground like little black grains of sand. This sand moved on it's own accord away from the ANBU toward Naruto, who they had forgotten till now. The sight that greeted them would haunt them for the rest of their short lives. Naruto stood stock still his injuries seemingly healed, the katana blade still hovering in front of his face, as the black sand move faster to him. The sand swirled and danced around Naruto like a rehearsed dance, until it stopped.
[r}Naruto looked at them, his eyes glowing with an intense blue glow, they would find no mercy in those eyes. Ram broke the spell casted by those eerie eyes and reach in his weapons pouch and let loose a handful of shuriken. The small throwing stars were heading for most of his major organs, but they stopped just like the katana and began to circle around him. The black swirled with such intensity that soon Naruto became obscured from their sight. Naruto forced his will onto the shuriken andswiftly shot them off back at their owner. One shuriken pierced his thigh, another bounced off the armor protecting his stomach. Two more succeeded in hitting their target, one lodging itself in the left wrist while the other left a good sized gash in his collar bone. The others sailed off harmlessly to the surrounding buildings, chipping pieces of brick as they passed.
Naruto took control over the sand and it rushed towards Ram and covered him in a tight embrace and lifted him three feet off the ground.
"Hey!! Let me down you damn monster!" Ram screamed at him, spittle flying out of his mouth.
"No... I won't die. You... will... die!!!" Naruto screamed at the top of his lungs.
"Iron Sand Bullets!" Naruto attack rang out and the black sand formed into what looked like ball bearings and shot off like a bat out of hell.
The 'bullets' pierced through Ram body armor like, a rock though tissue paper, a gargled scream escaped his lips as a mist of blood waft in the air. He slumped to the ground unmoving, his eyesvacant and stared into nothingness. His partner watched in fascinated horror as he watched his teammate be brutalized by a small boy. The specks of tiny sand particles fell slowly to the ground and snaked their way back to Naruto.
Rooster seeing his chance hobbled away the best he could with his injury. His sudden jerky movements drew Naruto's attention back onto him and as he was about to attack, he felt the energy quickly leaving his body. With a last ditch effort, the small boy focused all of his new found power onto Rooster's body, feeling the trace elements of iron with his blood. With all of his might he sent a good amount of the iron into his brain and blocking a major artery. Rooster jerked to a stop and trembled, his limbs almost failing, about gurgling noises could be heard coming from the man mouth. Then Naruto released his hold on the iron in the man's brain, causing it to shoot out through veins, arteries and popping blood vessels along the way. This led the man known only as 'Rooster", to die of a fatal aneurysm.
His enemies dead, Naruto fell over from exhaustion, slowly slipping into unconsciousness; the last thing he saw was another ANBU with a weasel mask jump out of a tree and approached our fall in hero.
"Well, Naruto Uzumaki, you are quite interesting for a six year.
Yes, interesting indeed." The weasel said as he remove his mask to
reveal two fully matured Sharingan eyes spinning wildly in ex
citement,
a sly smirk played across his face.