Prowess by Pandora-Pandemonium
Published: 4-24-12 EDIT: 5-14-12; New chapter added as per Warrior of Sangre's review. Yay.
1.
Uzumaki Naruto was indeed intended to be a weapon for the Leaf. As a Jinchuriki, it was wholly expected of him, not only to excel on the field of battle, but to surpass all others. As the Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails, it was practically a requirement. It was like this Sarutobi Hiruzen defended Naruto's continued existence. Better the power be put to use as protection than snuffed out forever.
It wasn't as if the child had another place to belong. As a civilian? Pah. Untrained, a temper tantrum could level a city block. If his ever-burgeoning power was to be put to use (and more importantly, held in check) the life of a shinobi was a must.
No one estimated the true extent of his future ability.
2.
On the night he was betrayed by Mizuki, Naruto tapped into his monstrous potential for the first time. Summoning roughly three hundred Shadow Clones without even becoming winded is a momentous, unsurpassed feat. The only one have exceeded it, on numerous occasions, is Naruto himself – something he takes no small amount of pride in.
Surrounded by his hated foe, Mizuki fought against the horde orange. Theoretically a well-trained Chunin should have no problem killing hundreds upon hundreds of snot-nosed brats with little training and power.
Theoretically.
But Naruto was murderous and hardly lacking in power. The absence of training had little weight in the equation. Every time Mizuki managed to exterminate a blond pest, each one that filled its place was a little faster, a little smarter, a little stronger. Glancing blows quickly became heavy hits that were unconsciously and increasingly powered by the enormous pool of highly-concentrated chakra only a Jinchuriki was capable of producing.
Eventually succumbing under the weight of his once-student's fists, Mizuki didn't even touch the ground until each Clone got in a solid hit and then dispersed. Iruka could only watch in morbid fascination as his little hellion pounded the living shit out of his former colleague. Eventually the silver-haired Chunin, reduced to a quivering wreck, fell to his knees only to receive one last destructive punch from the real Naruto.
"That was for Iruka-sensei," he spat.
He turned around and Iruka started at the positively fierce look on Naruto's face. The strange invisible aura around the boy dimmed as the fight rushed out of his system, overridden by concern for his teacher.
It may have been a trick of the light, but for a moment those eyes looked a deep purple.
"Congradulations," With shaking hands (it had nothing to do with the injury) the injured man reached for the student he had no trouble touching until then to bestow the symbol of Genin status. When he got within an inch of the tanned skin electric tingles passed over his arms and he trembled ('So this is what you can really do?') before the raw power of one who was born for combat.
3.
In the aftermath, Mizuki's autopsy revealed that his internal organs were liquefied by repeated blunt force trauma. Naruto would never know, but Mizuki had been his first kill, the traitor dead before he hit the ground.
4.
"Fight me."
Hanging upside down from a tree, Naruto turned towards his male teammate. "What? Why?"
Uchiha Sasuke, wishing their tardy sensei would burst into flames or suffer something equally painful, growled "We aren't going to get any stronger if we just sit around doing nothing, waiting for out bastard of a teacher to show up. So fight me."
Actually, Naruto mused, that sounded like a really good way to kill some time. He flipped down and landed, springing to his feet. Staring deep into the endless obisidian eyes of his comrade he felt them bore deep into his own eyes, piercing directly into his soul while anticipation rose in his chest.
Sasuke panted on the ground, completely spent as he relived the fight over and over in his mind. Bruised and battered he gingerly rubbed his arm. There was a strip of purple across his forearm where he distinctly remembered Naruto grabbing him. The Uchiha had thought his place was on the battlefield, levelling his enemies in a silent display of skill while he emerged victorious and satisfied. He realized he was shaking. He forced himself to stop.
He could not shake the impression of a gigantic red maw filled with infinite teeth still bearing down on him, and the feeling that Naruto was something higher altogether.
5.
Deep within a dimly lit cell, Naruto grinned, red irises glowing-
-and Haku's world exploded into pain as the little orange Leaf shinobi bore down on him in a storm of red. The sensation of angry hornets struck as the Uzumaki boy bathed him in his cloaking red miasma. The last thing he was truly aware of before instinctively defending Zabuza-sama was the image of gleeful crimson eyes regarding him as a true adversary and a blow like a thousand sledgehammers to his face.
6.
Standing before the makeshift graves of the two former Mist shinobi, Naruto knelt and offered a prayer to Haku and thanked him. He told himself it was for the ideal of protecting those precious to him.
The growing warrior in the cell cackled and said it was a good battle.
7.
Naruto watched the helpless Sasuke and Sakura get tossed around in the Forest of Death and quickly assessed the situation of the weird woman-thing assaulting his team. He knew he was outclassed as he rushed in to help fight, but when had that ever mattered?
The God of battle within raised his head and roared defiance.
8.
Orochimaru growled in frustration as the blond package of inhuman endurance came at him again, moving exceptionally faster than before. 'But of course, he is the Jinchuriki,' the Sannin reasoned. But all the reason in the world did not stop the gradually changing bullet from impacting again and again straining the stolen body. And that ridiculous smile! It drove him insane. Perhaps it was the child who was insane. He growled and lashed out, his patience finally run dry and sent the annoyance tumbling to the air with a blow to the head that would - should kill any human being.
His ragged hopes were dashed and a spark of unbidden awe rose within him as the boy – Uzumaki Naruto – landed perfectly ran towards him on all fours with a frenzied whoop of exhilaration.
9.
Sakura (and Sasuke) had never heard Naruto laugh while fighting, but as she watched him cut completely loose and weave a deadly dance with the strange ninja from Kusagakure she decided it was a sound she never wanted to hear again. It was short and breathless, filled with a euphoric mania that echoed in his facial expression and eyes that were assuredly not their usual sky blue.
And it scared her more than the previous illusion of death.
Later a clueless Naruto would notice Sakura's marked improvement in attitude towards him and her distinct lack of presence when he was fighting.
10.
Looking across at his reflection, he was a different boy. His forehead was bare of any tattoo, and his head was adorned with golden locks instead of maroon. His purple-red-blue – not green – eyes were devoid of any dark rings; instead there were three deep whisker marks on each cheek. Both boys – both human weapons, destined to spend their lives living, breathing, drinking battle – were on the edge of collapse, pushed to the limit and spent from their epic miniature war.
Sabaku no Gaara's face was carefully controlled, unwilling to show the depths of his exhaustion but barely succeeding.
Uzumaki Naruto still wore the shit-eating grin that drove his opponent to madness throughout.
Readying for one last punch, the desert boy had to ask, because he had to know – he needed to know where the source of his strength was.
"Why do you fight?"
And as they leapt towards each other, fists cocked in a final attempt to prove one superior, to claim victory over the other warrior, to grow stronger and experience and weather even greater battles, Uzumaki Naruto's existence flared far greater than anything he'd ever seen as he smiled feverishly, as if he'd finally found the place he belonged, and he socked the redhead right across the jaw while proclaiming himself to the world.
"Because it's what I live for!"