Ok, to start I want to say that this is an incomplete story, though I do have several chapters already done: like six more. I wouldn't mind it if someone adopted this, caus I have a billion little ideas and I don't really write them out except for the backgrounds. If someone wants it or wishes to enquire about anyother ideas shoot me a message and I'll just give the stuff I made up for it to you.
Universal Story Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Naruto: Shippuden or any other unnamed but already copyrighted material herein.
Chapter 1: In the Blood
"Bastard!" yelled Naruto, holding his friend in his arms as he slowly faded from conciseness, hundreds of needles sticking from his legs and arms and, more importantly, his neck, "Why? Why did you do it?"
"How the hell should I know…" he gasped out, looking on his blond friend with his Sharingan eyes. "My legs just moved on their own." And with that he passed out, never seeing the other boy's eyes turn a dark red.
This was the Battle of the Bridge, as it would later be known, where Uzumaki Naruto unlocked a power long forgotten… a power from a time of legends.
It had started as a simple C-Ranked Mission, meaning the most danger there would be would be from bandits and petty thugs, a mission that had been given to three rookie Shinobi, Genin, and their teacher. However it didn't take long for the group of four Shinobi to learn that their client had lied to them. Right from the start of things they had been attacked by Shinobi, two Chuunin brothers who felt confident enough in their abilities to attack the group not an hour out from Konoha, the greatest of the Shinobi Villages.
Attacking with a poisoned chain and claw combo they tried to attacked the man, Tazuna, injuring one of the Genin, Uzumaki Naruto, in the process. The three students refused to turn back though, mostly out of pride, and their teacher, believing he could protect them from any harm, agreed. While in itself not the smartest decision the man had made, he would have been right, had it only been Chuunin ranked Shinobi. All too soon did they meet the error of their ways; the Demon of the Bloody Mist Village, Momochi Zabuza.
Although the small team had one of the most infamous Shinobi ever produced by Konoha, Hatake Kakashi, leading them the fight that ensured was brutal and nearly ended when Copy-Nin Kakashi, as he was known, was captured by Zabuza. If not for the quick thinking and skill of Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke the day might have been lost. But luck was with them and they managed to free Kakashi, who in turn was able to defeat Zabuza.
Before the final strike could land though the body was immobilized and taken by a hidden partner. Over the course of the next week the three Genin trained, waiting for their teacher to heal and preparing for another fight with Zabuza and his partner, one that insured, seven days after their first fight. The fight had started out on a positive, Sasuke was fighting with Zabuza's partner, Kakashi with Zabuza, and Haruno Sakura was guarding the client. Naruto, meanwhile, was rescuing the client's family and then rushed to the aide of Sasuke.
Sasuke, while doing well, had the unfortunate luck to be fighting a Shinobi with a Kekkei Genkai, one that granted the young girl power over water and ice. All too soon he was fighting a losing battle, surrounded and outclassed in terms of speed. Unfortunately even the arrival of Naruto their plight seemed impossible to overcome, that is, until Sasuke awoke the power of his clan, the fabled Sharingan. For a short time it seemed that the doejutsu would tip things in their favor, only for Haku to trick them.
Focusing her attack on a weakened Naruto, Haku knew either Sasuke would protect the boy, and become the victim himself or Naruto would be taken out, either way leaving her with one opponent. Sasuke did indeed take the attack, and looked upon Naruto, his Sharingan still active.
It was now, in this moment of sadness and anger and grief that Naruto awoke his hidden power his body and, though Sasuke did not see it, his eyes burned with the might in the Sharingan in them.
"Tell me," asked Haku standing and walking to one of her ice mirrors after seeing the boy's body seemingly spasm in grief, "Is this the first time you've lost a comrade in battle? This is the way Shinobi!"
"Shut up." He said in a near whisper.
"He died to protect you!"
"I said SHUT UP! I WONT FORGIVE YOU!" and with that the boy looked up, showing the same red and black eyes as Sasuke, only one tomoe around each of the pupils. Jumping towards his enemy he attacked, throwing a barrage of punches that were blocked.
'Dammit! They were both Uchiha? What are the odds of them both activating the Sharingan at the same time?' the girl thought to herself, finding it increasingly hard to keep up with the boy, "The Hyoton used too much of my chakra, I can't keep up with him much longer…' Blocking another strike Haku caught Naruto's hand in her own. Watching the boy suddenly spasm she took the opportunity to kick him, sending the boy back.
They had moved quite a ways from Sasuke's body by this point, and were nearer to Sakura and Tazuna, the faint sound of Kakashi and Zabuza talking in the background. "Fine then, if I cannot defeat you Naruto, then I will take the bridge builder and leave."
Naruto sat there, struggling to his feet, and watched as the Hunter nin made hand signs, everything seemed to slow for a second and his attention split between processing the words and looking at the hand seals, 'Tazuna?… but… She's going after Sakura!' even with the Sharingan though he was too slow. He was up and running for Sakura as soon as the other girl finished the last hand sign, "Hyoton: Makyo Hyoyari." With that the water, which covered the ground by now, started exploding upwards into jagged spikes, racing towards Sakura and Tazuna faster than Naruto.
Running the boy followed his instincts and reached out to them in a desperate motion. It was to everyone's surprise when the ice went around the duo, rather than through them. Stopping Naruto looked down at his hands before glaring up at Haku again, who had fallen to one knee.
'I, I've failed you Zabuza-Sama.' "Please… before you kill me," she began to ask, the boy looking up at her strangely, "who are you? You are not from my clan and no one else could command ice like you just did…"
Walking up to her Naruto started talking, "My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I am a Shinobi of Konoha! As a Shinobi, it's my job to defend the Leaf Village from any who oppose it and to avenge the deaths of my comrades." Here he started to cry and yelled at the girl, "But, killing you won't bring Sasuke back to life!"
Hearing this Sakura looked up, eyes wide and tears immediately started streaming down her face, "Naruto…" she whispered, "Tazuna… come on, we need to get away from the fight and I-" She stopped here, choking on her words.
Tazuna looked at the girl, feeling bad that he had gotten any of them into this mess. "I got it, come on."
"You must kill me!" she insisted, "I am a useless to Zabuza-sama, not worthy of being used. If you do not kill me then what purpose do I serve?"
"No!" he said in a savage voice, "There will be no more bloodshed today, not if I can help it!" In the background Zabuza and Kakashi's conversation died out completely.
"Serving and helping Zabuza is my only purpose in life, without him I would be nothing, starving and dying on the streets. If you will not kill me then I have only one other option." She said sadly, listening as the chirping of birds filled the air. "Before I die though, you should know you're a very special person Naruto… no one else would have been able to copy two Kekkei Genkai's." And with that she formed an ice mirror, jumping towards the other fight on the bridge.
Naruto couldn't stop her, only rush to see the damage. For the first time since the fight had started he saw her face, the mask having been jarred loose from the force of Kakashi's attack. 'But, but she's the one I met the other day!' he thought to himself, watching as Zabuza tried to attack Kakashi again, nearly cutting through Haku's body to do so, only to have Kakashi dodge bringing the girl with him.
"You bastard!" yelled the young Genin, "How could you even think about cutting through Haku like that, like she was some kind of tool for you to use!"
"Shut it kid! Haku knew her purpose and died how she wanted to." He said as he stared Kakashi down, "That's all Shinobi are; tools. We fight and we kill wherever the highest bidder points us to."
"How right you are Mr. Momochi, how oh so right you are!" came a greasy voice from the end of the bridge. When they turned to look, all save Kakashi, they saw a short man standing in front of a group of at least a hundred men, all carrying weapons of some sort, whether it be a simple sword or a giant scythe. "Well, at least that one got what was coming." He said point to Haku's body, "Squeezed my arm till it broke."
"Gato, what's the meaning of this?" asked the Demon,
"Well, you see there's been a change of plans. Really I had been planning to do this from the beginning. Did you really believe I was going to pay you twenty million Ryo for a simple bridge builder?"
"Why you!" yelled Naruto, still angry and sad at Haku's death.
"Enough Naruto!" was Kakashi, "Look at their numbers, you wouldn't stand a chance. Well Zabuza, looks like our fight if done and I even left you an arm!"
"What! No, this guy's still my enemy! That girl there, she died for you, she would have done anything for you. She died because she cared about you, she said she would do anything for you because you were the only reason she wasn't dead or dying on the streets! She cared for you an all you could think about is using her! How can you live with yourself? Huh?" Naruto himself was crying now, "How can you just stay so cold like that? Is this what a Shinobi is, a tool? If I get to be as strong as you is this what I'll become? She gave up her life for you, without a dream of her own! She loved you that much…"
"Enough kid!" was all he said, looking anyplace but at Naruto, "You need say no more. It pained her to fight you, she was too kind." Turning he looked right at Naruto, taking in his eyes, the Sharingan still blazing, "Yeah kid… you may be right. A Shinobi's still a human and… even I'm not an emotionless tool. I loved her too kid, but helping me's what made her happy, so I did all that I could, so she could help me…I guess I only have one thing left before the day is done."
With those words he lifted up his sword with his one good arm and charged right into Gato's men.
"Come here Naruto. Watch him; this is how a Shinobi lives."
Together the two of them watched Zabuza as he carved a path through the men, killing all of them in his way, till he finally decapitated Gato himself. He left none living.
About half way through Naruto heard something that made him turn, "Sasuke!"
"He made it Naruto!" yelled Sakura, looking up at the boy briefly, "Oh Sasuke, I'm so happy!"
"Hehe, well Kakashi-sensei, it looks like we all made it!" he said looking up at the silver haired Jounin, his left eye covered once more. Under his mask he was smiling, until he looked down at Naruto.
"Naruto? What happened to your eyes?" he asked worriedly, leaning down to look at them closer, not believing what he was seeing, "Naruto, you… do you have any goggles or sun glasses?" he said quickly.
"Huh? Yeah, I got my Goggles in my pack here." And with that he reached around inside his kunai pack pulling out a pair of goggles he hadn't worn in nearly two months.
"Um, put them on and… do you usually carry useless stuff in your weapon's holster? No, never mind just put them on."
Mumbling to himself about strange sensei's he asked the man, "What's the big deal? My eyesight's perfect!"
Looking the boy over he sighed when he couldn't see the eyes themselves, "Well it's not every day that someone develops a bloodline that belongs to another clan, especially when that clan is the Uchiha."
"The Uchiha, you mean Sasuke's clan? But, what do you mean?" he asked, confused.
Looking down at the boy he told him, "Naruto, I believe you have a bloodline, a very powerful and dangerous one… one that I have seen in only one other person before." And then it began to snow.
-two weeks later
Naruto sat before a grave, looking down at the simple wooden cross. Around the top of it was Haku's scarf, at the base her mask sat beside a bowl of offerings. Behind him stood Kakashi and Sakura, Sasuke was still recovering from both the death like state and chakra exhaustion.
"Kakashi-sensei?" asked the pink haired girl, "Is what Haku believed true, are we just tools… I know that, in the end, even Zabuza said we are humans, but… What if they were right from the beginning?"
The silver haired jonin sighed, "Well, yes and no. We are human, but a shinobi's job is to become a tool for the village above all else. That's true even for Konoha."
With that they all just sat there in quiet, even Naruto had nothing so say.
"Well, I'm going to check on Sasuke-kun. Are you coming Naruto?"
Looking up at her through the goggles he smiled, "No thanks Sakura-chan, I'm going to stay here for a little while longer."
"Oh, all right." And with that she was gone.
Long minutes went by before Kakashi turned to leave, "So are you just going to ignore this sensei?" asked the blond, causing his teacher to stop in place, "Well? It's been two weeks, the first two days after the bridge you looked at my eyes and did a few medical jutsu and gave me a few things to practice, but since then you haven't said a word to me, choosing to read that book of yours instead." Standing up the boy took off his goggles and stared at the jounin, the Sharingan blazing in his eyes, "Well? What do you know, Why can't I turn them off, why do I have a Sharingan when you said I have no Uchiha's in my family history? For that matter why do I have Haku's?"
"So," Kakashi responded in a disinterested voice, "You still haven't been able to turn them off." It was a statement, not a question, "And what about the other one, what were you able to do with that one?"
Glad that he at least got the man to talk with him, he answered, "Well I did the different exercises you told me to do, from hardest to easiest and well… I was able to control water pretty well, though I did have to concentrate with hand seals to do it. As for the ice part I was… well for lack of a better term, less than bad. I mean I froze it, mostly, but it took a lot of concentration to do it without a justu."
"And the only person we knew who could have taught you is dead. Well, go on. What about the Sharingan exercises?"
At this Naruto's eyes narrowed, "Well, I will admit it I can see a change, but it's so small that I might not have noticed it otherwise. But my fights with my clones go on longer, went I move fast I was able to see things out of the corner of my eyes I would have missed, and I was able to see through my regular clones like they weren't even there. Hell, the fact that I was able to make clones speaks for itself."
Kakashi shook his head at that last part, "No, in order for a person's ability in Genjustu to increase because of the Sharingan it must be there in the first place. Most likely it was the tree climbing exercise I had you do. Now that you're able to use less chakra the clones are making it."
"Well what about my Transformation jutsu?" he asked with a small frown, "That's a Genjutsu, right?" this time the man laughed.
"Naruto, I don't know where you learned what you've been calling the Transformation jutsu, but the technique you've been using is call the Shape Shifting Jutsu. It allows you to actually transform into something, rather than into an illusion of something. Since you've been on my team you haven't used a single Genjustu. Sakura and Sasuke haven't noticed because they aren't trained to spot it yet.
"As to why you barely notice the change with the Sharingan is twofold: First, because you have a single Tomoe in each eye, meaning it is the lowest of the lows as far as that bloodline is concerned." Hearing this actually made Naruto's shoulders sulk a bit, "Second is because how strongly you have the bloodline, which is very weak. As of right now, if I were to compare your eyes to Sasuke's his are probably twice as good, maybe even better." And the shoulders fell the rest of the way.
"Don't feel bad Naruto, it's not because of anything with you, Sasuke's eyes are very strong compared to the other Uchiha's were. When I first got this eye of mine it was at the point you are now, and that was with two Tomoe. But, just as will happen with you and Sasuke both, the more I used the eye the better it became, and each new Tomoe will simply multiply that progress."
Naruto just sat there and thought about what his sensei told him, "So, sensei, since you're like me, and can't turn it off…"
"Nope," he said, nodding, "I always have the eye active but it's not training my eye, only if it's actually using it. As for the big question though," he started, getting the younger boy to look up eager to know, "you have a Kekkei Genkai of your own. One that I have only seen in a single person. I don't know the name of it but it grants the ability to copy the powers of others. I believe you have it weaker than anyone in your family history ever has."
"HEY!" Naruto yelled, getting a chuckle from the other man.
"Oh, don't worry, I doubt being able to copy bloodlines, even if it's a weak version of the ability, is a bad thing. And I want to help you… at a price." He ended evilly.
His eyes narrowing down to slits, the boy asked, "What price?" more afraid to hear it than anything.
Crouching down to be eye level with the boy Kakashi spoke, "Here's the deal, I'll keep your secret from everyone, even the Hokage, and I'll help you master your bloodline and any others you might pick up. My price is that you must tell me everything you can figure out about the bloodlines and let me monitor your progression with each one. Oh, and you have to tell me whenever you get a new one."
To himself Naruto couldn't help but think the man seemed awfully excited about all of this, "So what's in it for you?" he asked suspiciously.
"Well, once we gather enough information I want to publish the research." The man said bluntly, "With this eye of mine I'm living proof that bloodline theft is possible, in fact I've done much research on the subject myself on behalf of the Hokage. With the data you can help provide we can take another step forward into bloodlines. Clans very rarely part with information on their Kekkei Genkai, with you we can potentially bypass them."
Looking at the man he didn't know what to think, 'It doesn't seem like that bad of a deal… why not? He is my senei.'
"Deal!" he said, putting an arm out to Kakashi, who grasped it with an evil smile, knowing exactly what was going to happen.
As soon as their skin met Naruto started to spasm, Kakashi holding on for the full two seconds as it happened. Listening to Naruto's explanation of the battle he realized that when Naruto gained the bloodlines, by touching the bloodline user, he had a spasm. That would be the first thing he would show Naruto, as it could easily get him killed.
"What. The. HELL!" he said, immediately jumping into Kakashi's face, "What was that?"
"Well, that would be you gaining another bloodline." He said casually, "You see, when you told me about the fight I connected some dots. You yourself mentioned that you were, let's see: 'Shaking with anger' when you thought Sasuke was dead, the only point when you could have stolen it. Then, when you were fighting Haku and she caught a punch, you said you suddenly started shaking for no reason. That would have been when you took her bloodline. It's when you touch someone. Just now I touched you because I wanted to test my theory and I felt that you would benefit from my bloodline."
"You got a Kekkei Genkai? What is it?" he asked eagerly, showing more emotion than he had in the past two weeks.
'Was starting to worry about the brat for a few days there.' "Yes, I have bloodline, a minor one, but still. It's called the Jinton or Swift Release! It lets- hey, why are you laughing?" indeed the boy was laughing, rolling on the ground because of the name, something he let Kakashi know at great lengths.
"Everyone's a critic."
It was later that night when Naruto snuck out of the small house by the sea, making his way down to the docks to sit and think for a while. Looking up at the nights sky he couldn't help but remember that this was their last night here. 'The skies are never this beautiful in Konoha.' Indeed Konoha had fallen prey to technology in the past fifty years, the roads lit by electric lights that made the whole village glow. It had the unfortunate side effect of blocking out the stars.
Right now the boy wanted to think, try and get everything in his head straightened out. 'Well, for starters I got a bloodline!' Yes, he did. One that was very powerful, giving him the ability to steal other bloodlines. Already he had three, the Sharingan, the Hyoton, and the Jinton, which was pretty cool, despite the name.
The Swift Release, he preferred Jinton, was named by Kakashi's father, a powerful man who first discovered the bloodline. It granted the user heightened reflexes and reaction time by increasing the electric pulses in the body and then decreasing wind resistance around them. It also gave the possessor a natural lightning Affinity. Kakashi was amazingly aided by it, saying it let his body react better to the Sharingan, so he could keep up with his own eye.
The Hyoton or Ice release, was an alternative element, combing Wind and Water to form Ice. The fact that it granted an amazing tolerance to cold and a natural water affinity was just a bonus. Well, that's what Zabuza had said before he left, staying a full week after Haku's death to heal up a little.
Then there was the Sharingan. According to Kakashi it would get stronger the more he used it, eventually getting to the state that the copy nin himself had it at. Increased eyesight, copying and memorization abilities, the power to see chakra and see though genjutsu, and lastly a time slowdown, letting him see things in slow motion basically. It was in its weakest form right now and pretty weak at that, he barely noticed anything at all.
Unfortunately his naturally occurring bloodline seemed to be weak too, as he couldn't turn off the Sharingan. If Kakashi was right then he would be unable to turn off any of his bloodlines, or at least the ones that turn on and off. This wouldn't have been a problem if it weren't for the fact that Konoha was in love with its bloodlines and nearly every clan possessed one. Within two months he would be talking to bugs and dogs and seeing through walls and who knows what else, since the clans never talked about exactly WHAT their bloodlines were.
It was all so confusing and in addition to all this he would have to start playing guinea pig for Kakashi, who wanted to publish literature about bloodlines for some odd reason.
"You know what, fuck it all! I'm gunnna use this! Yeah, I'll show them I'm the greatest Shinobi who ever lived! I'll gather as many bloodlines as I can and train them all. That's it, from the minute I get home I start training, I can use water, ice, and lightning now so I'll train with them all, and find some chakra techniques like the one sensei showed us for training! The more I use the Sharingan the better it gets so I'll just start training all the time, a thousand clones a day to get that and the Jinton stronger. It's not that I can't turn them off, it's that I'm able to always keep them on!"
Quieter, to himself he whispered, "And I'll do it all for you Haku, for you, Oji-san, Iruka, and Ayame and old man Teuchi too! Believe it, because that's my ninja way, my Way of the Shinobi!"
And with that Naruto stood up and walked to the beach, trying to remember the Kata's they had been taught in the Academy.