Growth of a Shinobi

As this is probably my first serious fic, I won't say anything and just get on with the story.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto.

Prologue:

Uzumaki Naruto stared out from his hill. It had been four, no, five years since he had come into human contact. He was perhaps the youngest hermit yet. He chuckled at that thought. He did not know his own history, he was only told that he would be raised as a Mist Shinobi. He had been born into the Leaf, that much he knew. How he had gotten into the Mist, he had yet to work out. His earliest memories were of a man, towering over him, his silhouetted in the sun, shadowing his figure.

"You will be a God amongst men."

Those were the earliest words said to him. He never understood how, or why. What he did know was ever since childhood, he had been trained by the best. The Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. Each training session was a gruelling ordeal for the child back then. He was taught to wield the blade, to use it with lethality. He was taught how to fight other Swordsmen and Shinobi. He was born to kill.

His training had been split by the Six Master Swordsmen still loyal to the Mist as Daimyo Killer Kisame had already done his deeds. Out of the six, the most personal of his trainers was Momochi Zabuza. Naruto looked up to the masked Shinobi like a son would look to a father. Since awareness had come to the child, Zabuza had always been a constant, as a father, trainer, brother and master. No surprise that when Momochi had explained to the then seven year old child of his plot to assassinate the Mizukage and lead the Mist to its former glory he had pledged his support to his master. Then it had failed.

One of the earliest things he had been taught, along with his difficult Chakra control, was to always win. If you cannot win, do the next best thing. At the beginning of the rebellion, Naruto had already seen its future failure. There was just too many loyal to the Mizukage to succeed. Of course, Zabuza directly assaulted the Mizukage in an attempt to kill him in the chaos of the battle within the Hidden Village's walls. Naruto had made his way up into the Tower to try to support his Master in some way, small or large. As he watched , hidden against a wall, he knew Zabuza would lose. So he did as the Lessons taught him, he did the next best thing. As the chaos surrounded the Tower, its guards were lacking, he had snuck into the Vault. The Vault was simply a safe to hold the secrets of the Mist, Bloodline Limits, Ninjutsu skills, Taijutsu skills and Gengutsu skills. Normally, it is guarded by at least three Jounin, but considering the battle, there were none. Naruto had grabbed as many as he could with his childish hands and then dashed out the window.

The next day, in the aftermath of the battle, all supporters of Momochi Zabuza was considered a Missin-Nin, those that were not Shinobi were thrown into prison for life and those that resisted were execute on the spot. The Headquarters of the Rebellion was raided and as such, Naruto had no place to go and find his Master. He fled, as far and wide away from the Mist as possible. Six days of constant travel, making only stops to appease his bodily functions did he stop.

He was on a high hill, surrounded by forest with none of the cold and dampness. From what he could make out, it looked like one of those fairytale lands in the stories. The grass was a beautiful green, the hill overlooked an enormous lake, and the sunset dyed the sky crimson. In that moment, Naruto decided this would be his home.

As a student of the Swordsmasters, he had been given a sword, at his childish height back then, barely 4 feet, he was given a weapon that would fit him. He was given a straight blade, a cleaver very similar to Zabuza's. While made well, in smithing and tempering, it had nothing in comparison of size to the monstrosity of a blade that his former Master used. It was barely a meter long and its flat was just half of that of Kubikiri Houcho's flat side. Kubikiri Houcho, Zabuza blade, and probably one of the names that had been ingrained into Naruto's head. With the blade he had been given, as he grew he realised that it would no longer fit him to use. Living alone for five years had given him ample time for physical training and ample space to grow. He was currently wearing home-sewed clothing, taught by chance to one of his more feminine teachers. He wore grey pants with which had some faded blue patches on it, held up by a black sash tied around his waist. His torso bore a faded blue shirt with its fragile sleeves rolled up at the elbows with a pair of black wrist guards. He wore traditional Shinobi footwear, black sandals and his slashed Mist Forehead-Protector was worn at its place at his forehead. His sword, being small enough for his 5'7 frame, was worn at his waist, it hanging diagonally at his back.

Five years he had practised and honed his skills to be ready for the real world. He knew he could not do without human contact, as little humanity he had. He was a Nukenin, a criminal, if any Shinobi happened upon him, he would be taken as the criminal he was if he could not defend himself. At first the training was simply to defend himself at his Sanctuary, but then he had the yearning for intelligent contact. Afterall, talking to your sword could only keep the insanity at bay for so long. He had trained to survive if he was attacked, but then began training to survive when he left.

The scrolls he had provided himself were useful for him to learn. Some were just about basics like Kawaramis, however some had the rather destructive jutsu's like the Suiton: Suiryuidan. Others were about upper class swordsmen techniques to both defend and attack. One of the larger scrolls had an entire style neatly printed down, the Forbidden technique and style of Daimyo Killer Kisame. In his training, he had compared the successes of the Seven Swordsmen and pinned down who he admired and respected. Hoshigake Kisame wassomeone to be reckoned with, as per his reputation, Zabuza was well respected in his mind due to his ability in fighting off so many Mist Jounin to get at the Mizukage so he created his own techniques and style with what Zabuza taught him and what the scroll taught him, of course, he needed a bigger sword to take the style into its real power, but even then, he thought himself quite formidable.

His personal favourite techniques would be the Mizu Bunshin, Suiryuudan and the Ninpou- Kirigakure no Jutsu. However, his personal style would be to simply, aided with Mizu Bunshins, get in close to the opposition and slash him or her to pieces. Having killed in the Rebellion, Naruto wasn't averse to get in close and personal.

Naruto slowly turned away from the view over the land, facing his small wooden hut. He raised one hand to it as if to say goodbye, before turning away again and begin his descent from the hill.