Naruto & it's characters © of Masashi Kishimoto
NOTE: Possible minor crossover characters. They belong to other people who aren't me
"Our human compassion binds us the one to the other - not in pity or patronizingly, but as human beings who have learnt how to turn our common suffering into hope for the future." ~Nelson Mandela
AMONG the STONES: Prologue
OPENING THEME – そのままで (Sonomama de) by BACK-ON [NEW Ver.]
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Those who move on impulse often look back on their actions and re-evaluate the situation. Shinobi, regardless of their rank in the system, were especially prone to that line of thought.
For Han, the motivation for his unusually hasty decision was the bloody child cradled securely in his arms as he fled from Konoha: the Hidden Leaf Village. Among all the words his fellow Iwa-Nin would use to describe him, "compassionate" was not among them. Hell, he pretty much outright hated everyone with the exception of Roshi.
But that was to be expected: Han was a Jinchūriki. Very few people tolerated their kind, much less LIKED them.
The treatment of Jinchūriki was not necessarily the same throughout the Elemental Countries. The Hidden Cloud Village of Kumo greatly respected the Jinchūriki of the Eight-Tailed Ox, who was incidentally the younger brother of the Raikage. The Jinchūriki for the Two-Tailed Cat enjoyed a certain amount of respect as well, but the status they had was a fairly recent development and atypical of the norm.
Jinchūriki were, in short, viewed as the ultimate weapons and/or protectors for their village. Unfortunately, not much care went out beyond that and the life of these "ultimate weapons" was often a painful, lonely one. Sometimes they were just ignored, as if people believed they would suddenly dissolve away like a bad nightmare if they pretended a Jinchūriki didn't exist long enough. More often than not though, they were treated as less than human beings: practically garbage meant to be stepped or spat on. A Jinchūriki had to plow through a mountain of hatred just to grow old long enough to exchange it for fear.
The blonde in Han's arms was tangible evidence of just how extreme that hatred could get.
At four years old, he was more of small collection of skin and bones as opposed to a properly nourished child. Yet for how thin and frail the boy was, the amount of blood that had been split would be enough to kill anyone his age from blood loss three times over.
Irony was a nasty bitch in this case, as the very thing "responsible" for Konoha's cruel treatment against the child was also the very thing that kept the blonde from bleeding out.
The Nine-Tailed Fox.
Considering how the Tailed Beast in question was responsible for extensive damage and a sizable list of casualties when it attacked Konoha, it was to be expected that such wounds had yet to truly heal. The death of their beloved Fourth Hokage was one particular loss that would leave a scar behind, as many people who called Konoha their home had believed the man would usher in a new era of prosperity that would outshine any seen in the previous generations.
Pain like that would not heal for a long time, and four years didn't reduce it by much.
So like any human would do, they sought an outlet: something to vent all their anger, hatred, and pain at so that they themselves would hurt just a little less everyday. There were only a few problems with that.
The being responsible for their suffering was far beyond their reach, and even if it suddenly manifested before them, it would be suicide to even think of trying to "settle the score" with a Tailed Beast. Add to that the fact that the creature responsible was the strongest of its kind and only the insanely stupid or suicidal would attempt to attack the creature first. Very few shinobi ever grew powerful enough to SURVIVE an encounter with a Tailed Beast, and only two men in history ever had the distinction of emerging "victorious" from a battle with the strongest Bijuu.
As such, a pitiful gathering of civilians and low-level ninja had virtually no chance of causing any sort of injury, however minor, to the Nine-Tailed Beast. But the child it was sealed into? THAT they could handle.
Never mind the fact that the boy himself was completely innocent, or the fact that he himself was in many ways the Fox's greatest victim. He was the closest thing by proxy to the Nine-Tails, and that was enough for many people to make the leap to treating the boy as the Fox itself in human form.
The entire village might not have been jumping at the chance to kill the child, but pretending the boy's plight didn't exist was just as bad if not outright worse. The blonde could bleed to death in the middle of the street and only a handful of people would do anything to help keep him alive.
And most nobles believed Konoha was the "kindest" village in the Elemental Nations?
Han would spit at the notion for how foul it tasted to his tongue, but saving the young life bleeding away in his arms was a higher priority than reducing the village responsible for the child's injuries to rubble.
Considering how heavy his red Steam Armor was, Han was making pretty good time to his village without relying on the abilities granted to him by the Gobi. It wasn't exactly a stealthy piece of equipment either, but stealth was thrown out the window the moment Han jumped out of cover and let loose a heavily restrained beatdown on their cowardly asses. No one had died, but more than a few would probably never move a limb or two like they used to when they woke up.
It was a far more generous offer than they'd ever bestowed upon the blonde he recently liberated from their number. If it weren't for the Kyuubi, the child would have enough crippling injuries to handicap most Jonin well past the point that they could retain even a shadow of their former strength.
Han knew his "home" would likely not show a great improvement in attitude by comparison, especially with the child bearing a significant resemblance to the Yellow Flash of Konoha, who had been responsible for over 1000 deaths of Iwa Shinobi in a single battle during the Third Shinobi World War.
Han personally bore no more ill will towards the Namikaze or his kin than he did the rest of humanity. The older Jinchūriki was aware that Onoki, the Third Tsuchikage, was likely to believe the boy was that man's offspring, and that going for any option other than the child's execution wouldn't earn him any more favors from the people of Iwa.
In some ways, it might be something of a kindness to allow them to end the child's life. No life that young deserved anything even remotely cruel as the existence he had in the village he had called home. If it were any other case, Han probably wouldn't care one way or the other, preferring to remain as far from "human matters" as he could remove himself from.
But Jinchūriki were "not human" by most people's definition, and Han could not truly bring himself to hate or ignore his fellow outcasts, no matter their village or origins.
Regardless of the consequences, Han would ensure that the child would live a better life than the one he had.
Howdy! Thanks for reading the prologue of Among the Stones.
If you'd kindly leave a review, I'd appreciate it. This is my first posted story on the site: I have a few others that are still mostly in the concept stages right now. Anyone who'd like a creative outlet and help me with them would be awesome to have on board as a Beta.
Now the gist of this story idea came from wondering about how to do a story where Naruto ends up being raised in Iwa. Theft of a Hero by Apex Soldier was a major inspiration to start with, but I still wanted to handle it differently. Oddly enough, at some point I got stuck with the story until I threw in a few minor elements from Fullmetal Alchemist into the mix. Still, I think it has potential. I jokingly created a small side project for this story to a friend and he's all but threatening me to make it happen! xD
This "side project" will have to wait until later though since at the very least, the story has to get past the Wave arc. Ideally, I'd also have the Land of Snow events covered. I could probably get away with it earlier, but it feels like the juiciest starting point for a particular running gag.
While the side project is not the only reason, it is a notable one to explain why my battle scenes might feel a bit short and/or rushed. I'll also admit that at this point, battles scenes are not one of my stronger points. I'll do what I can, but ultimately I do want to get to more interesting points in the story. I'll try to balance the best quality I'm capable of with setting a reasonable pace as best I can, but please be understanding in that it's not really one of my stronger skills at the moment. A Beta Reader/Writer who could go over and touch up the battle scenes would be awesome, but until I get some takers you'll have to settle with my best efforts until we get to the point in the story I'd like to get to as quickly as possible.