Full Summary: As a neutral country of the current era of the pirates, Konohagakure banished anyone who ate a Devil Fruit due to the potential threat they would pose to the village. Unfortunately, a certain trio were no exception to this rule. —SSN-centric
Desperate to find nakama, the trio were surprised when their last hope came in the form of the Strawhats, who suddenly entered their lives and deemed their existence important, and not insignificant like the rest of the Konohagakure citizens.
The trio are ecstatic, for they were accepted and loved for who they were, and not what they were cursed with. Follow the Strawhats crew and their new addition in the New World, on their quest to fulfill their dreams!
Halcyon Days
Prologue
by you're beautiful
"Those whose character is mean and vicious will rouse others to animosity against them."
- Xun Zi
Fifteen years ago...
It was to Anko's knowledge that Konohagakure was in a state of despair. Unfortunately, having been a neutral country of the Great Era of the Pirates, the village never received aid from the government. Being a very intelligent information collector, Mitarashi Anko had at least known this much. It has approximately been five years since the death of the infamous Pirate King, Gol D. Rogers. Even as a revolutionist, Anko had always wanted to taste the freedom that a pirate had. Sailing the seas, finding treasure... Not to mention, openly opposing the corrupt World Government. Nevertheless, Anko wanted to feel how it felt like to be a pirate.
"Mitarashi Anko," a deep and husky voice pulled her out of her reverie.
Anko whipped her head around to see the Leader of the Revolutionary Army, himself. Flinching, she cursed his unbelievably stealthy entrance. Considering the fact that she was once a renowned shinobi of Konoha, being successfully snuck on was an amazing feat. "Dragon," she acknowledged him with a small nod, before focusing her gaze back at the mountain vista.
"So, this is Konoha," Dragon mumbled, as he silently surveyed the country before him with solemn eyes. The once great Konohagakure was in a state of ruin. It was only two years ago since a new leader was chosen. Those two years were apparently all that it took for the major clans of Konoha to commence a Civil War amongst each other. Fire was a symbol of the country, but seeing as it was literally being destroyed due to the growing flames made it seem almost ironic.
Anko could only stare with disbelieving eyes. "This...was his doing," She seethed through gritted teeth.
Dragon turned to her with a curious gleam in his eyes. "You seem to know the man responsible behind this mess—no, you seem to hold a grudge against him, considering the tone of your voice."
Anko's throat emitted a low growl, and she narrowed her eyes at Dragon. She heard rumors about his strange persona, but she had never ever considered that he would be this observant. She examined Dragon, as he walked towards the burning lands. Anko, as a proctor of the young ninjas once, was always very calculating. She was able to tell potential when she saw one, and she knew how to mould it to her liking.
But, Dragon was a case she had never seen before. Being an informant, it frustrated Anko to no end because she knew nothing at all about Dragon.
"Anko. Follow." Dragon commanded with a tone of finality.
Anko looked at him hesitantly, before she begrudgingly nodded. It has been a year since she's been at Konohagakure. The country it was now barely resembled the country it was prior to his rule, and her blood boiled due to this. How he managed to seduce the whole country to do his bidding, she will never know. Although, seeing as there was a war within country only meant that the citizens, whether ninjas or mere civilians, have come to their senses.
"The fools..." She muttered, as she watched her world burn before her. The burning wood and flesh left a suffocating stench in the air that even Anko, a lifelong assassin, could not handle. She glanced at her leader, and noticed he was quite a few yards ahead of her, and she hastily quickened her pace.
"O-Oneechan...!" Anko lashed her line of sight from Dragon to the sound of the voice. The sight before her terrified her. There was an unrecognizable heap of burning humans, and a girl roughly around the age of eight, pitifully calling out to her from beneath the charred bodies. Anko knew the girl cannot be saved. Her petite body was most likely crushed below all the rubble and her singed hair was already acting as a fuse to end her life.
The girl shakily pointed at a dirtied pink bear that laid on a cemented area that was not affected by the fire. "P-Please...take care...of...Sakura-chan...!"
Anko knew Dragon's eyes were on her, but she did not care about duty before honor. To her, it was always the lives of the innocent that mattered most at times like these. Call it the instinct of a Konoha ninja. She approached the burning body of the young girl and she fell silent, as she hummed her prayers. Turning, she grabbed hold of the bear and continued to follow Dragon.
"That was quite a display," Dragon announced.
Anko sighed, preferring to not talk about the episode. "Could we...just get this mission over with?"
Dragon chuckled, and his eyes fell on her once more. "Ruin is the destination toward which all men who rush," He responded wisely, before continuing on his trek towards the battlefield.
Anko stared at his back, stunned, before she quietly agreed at his statement. The state of the country, Konohagakure, proved the statement itself to be true.
"Now, if you don't mind, brief me on the situation at hand," The Revolutionary leader, more or less, ordered his newly-recruited subordinate.
Anko found no reason to delay the inevitable and she spoke with a depressed tone of voice, "Konohagakure, as you may see, has been in a Civil War for a year and a half now—" She swallowed the lump in her throat, as she fought the urge to sneer. "—Now, the village was in quite a predicament with a pirate crew two and a half years ago, and fortunately enough a certain man managed to defeat the notorious group of pirates. Seeing him as a hero, the man became a candidate of the role, Hokage. Eventually, he was given the title and he was inaugurated. The country was at peace, for they were under the protection of such a powerful man."
Dragon rubbed the stubble that was forming on his chin, and he silently gave Anko permission to proceed with her report.
"This peace lasted for a duration of six months. During the man's rule, he's shown himself to be quite...sadistic. Not to mention, the child abduction rate only seemed to increase daily. It wasn't long before an underground organization realized who the perpetrator was."
"The so-called Hokage."
Anko shook her head, yes. "The Hokage was responsible for the sudden descent of the infant population, and it was due to his obsession with Devil Fruits—well, to be more accurate, he wanted to achieve immortality through the consumption of what he had called the 'Eien Eien no Mi'. Now, the existence of such a fruit has never been confirmed," She paused, struggling with her choice of words, "The Hokage...was never a rational man, to begin with. To be honest, I don't quite know how he managed to become the leader due to his deranged ideology. He experimented on the children, without ever thinking about the consequences of his actions."
"What was the purpose of experimenting on innocent children?" Dragon asked, as he clenched his hands tightly.
Anko did not fail to notice this, and she approved of her leader's action. "He wanted to create an artificial devil fruit."
Dragon did not show surprise occasionally, and seeing it now only meant her and Dragon's thoughts on such a research were similar. "Ridiculous," the older revolutionist uttered, lost for words. The two walked silently, with the sporadic sounds of gunshots and clangs in the background. "Was he successful?"
The dark-haired woman harrumph. "He was not. It is an impossible task after all. Even with all the resources in the world, how can man create such a phenomenon, like the devil fruit?"
"It would be best to not underestimate a desperate man," Dragon replied, before proceeding to the main topic, "What happened to your Rokudaime Hokage, afterwards?"
"Punishment," Anko answered, her voice ecstatic, "That bastard was eventually forced to step down from his throne. He was to be executed before every citizen, but he escaped. To this day, we believe that he is still attempting to figure out the structure of the devil fruit."
Dragon shook his head disapprovingly. "I see...I could piece everything together now. The clans within your village are currently in this war amongst each other because of the opened Hokage title. Additionally, the reason why you've ambiguously appeared before Iva six months ago, could only mean that you wanted to redeem those children—or rather..." He looked Anko with a cryptic expression, "...you seek revenge. Tell me, Mitarashi Anko: why is an uncaring young woman, such as yourself, so hellbent on capturing this mad scientist?"
Anko stopped her tracks, and the stuffed bear was almost crushed beneath her grip. She looked at Dragon with such passion and rage, before she fell on her knees, tears pouring out angrily. With an animalistic cry, she shamelessly looked Dragon in the eye.
"BECAUSE I WAS HIS FIRST GUINEA PIG!"
Dragon's eyes widened, feeling sympathetic for the woman. He placed a firm hand on her shoulder, before he gave his promise, "We will capture this man...Orochimaru!"
Anko believed in every single word he said. There is hope.
Somewhere in the outskirts of Konohagakure, a man with snake-like features carried a slumbering infant in his arms. A white snake with protruding sharp scales and terrifying dilated eyes circled the man tentatively, hissing voraciously at the sleeping infant. The man chuckled, amused by his summoned companion's behavior around young prey. The man himself shivered as he stared at the infant.
The infant was two years old, and he was no mere civilian child.
The snake could only stare at the young boy with hungry eyes. "Isss he...?"
The man nodded. "Uchiha Sasuke, the son of the oh-so great Uchiha Fugaku, Chief of the Police Department," the man, Orochimaru, responded. He could not fight the urge to laugh triumphantly at his new catch, "Kukuku...The blood of a cursed Uchiha is now in my hands. There is no doubt about it. Uchihas are renowned for their durability and power, and an infant like himself will survive the tests he will undergo back in the lab."
"Artificial devil fruits," the snake trailed off, with a horrifying tint of lust for power in its eyes, "you really are an ambitious bastard, Orochimaru."
Orochimaru patiently corrected his summon, "Silence. It will not be ambition for long. It will become reality."
The snake snickered at its master's confidence. "It really is quite a shame...The older brother—Itachi, was it?—showed much more potential than this one. It's frightening, just thinking about it. Unfortunately, we are not the only ones who deemed him unique. It seems Fugaku took precautions and had some of his men constantly watching his heir."
Orochimaru chuckled. "Those Konoha ninjas are fools. What they call justice is nothing but a lie. Their justice system is made simply to look like it is the true path to righteousness, and anyone with different values is considered wrong. Hypocrites, they all are, especially the Uchiha clan. Justice and equality differ in many ways, and it's quite a shame that many hypocrites are unaware of the distinction."
"Quite philosophical, aren't you, Orochimaru?" The snake bowed, as a sign of respect, before it disappeared in a resounding pop.
"Kukuku, a man who is not passionate about his own beliefs, is a puppet to someone else's own," Orochimaru looked down at Sasuke's peaceful face, before a wicked grin formed on his lips, "An Uzumaki and a Haruno...now an Uchiha—" He disappeared in a pop of smoke, but not before he said,
"—Soon...I will be immortal."
TBC.
Next chapter on Halcyon Days
Kizashi nodded, but he still seemed quite perplexed. "Orochimaru might be a renowned scientist, but how did he retain information of this knowledge? There are a selection of few people in this world capable of such things, like DNA replication."
"Your clan, right?" Koharu squinted her eyes at the Haruno clanhead.
Kizashi looked offended. "Are you saying that my clan has something to do with Orochimaru's experimentations?"
Shikaku sighed. "This is not the time to be quarreling amongst ourselves," He stared at Kizashi with apologetic eyes, before he proceeded, "I regret to inform you this, Kizashi, but Elder Koharu is correct..."
"...what?" Kizashi uttered, his breath hitched in his throat.
"Orochimaru had a Haruno under his wing. One of the four children, in fact..." Inoichi mumbled, afraid of the clanhead's response.
"I—my—daughter—alive—" Kizashi sputtered, before he stood up, anger blazing in his eyes, "—THAT BASTARD OROCHIMARU DARE USE MY DAUGHTER?" He struck the table, and this time, it was destroyed under his powerful right fist.
notes: Why must I be obsessed with cross-over fanfics? Anyways, I'm not really certain whether this story will be regularly updated or not. I wrote it in under an hour, because this plot was in my head for days! I hope you One Piece/Naruto fanatics enjoyed this prologue, and come back for more! Additionally, to avoid unnecessary arguments and, thus drama, later on, I will say this now: Pairings or Romance will not occur, and even if it does, it will be subtle. I also support no other pairings other than SasuSaku, NaruHina, ZoRo, and especially LuNa. This story is strictly about Friendship, Family, and etc. Thank you for reading! Reviewing motivates me to work harder!