Naruto of the Sound Chapter 1, a naruto fanfic

Naruto of the Sound

By Michael Callistus

Summary: AU, Naruto is taken in by Orochimaru and trained as a Sound Ninja, but a mission to Konoha causes him and his comrades to question their loyalties.

Description: This is a Sound!Naruto fic, but there will be no NaruTayu anywhere in this fic. At all. However, there will be: Character crossovers (Evangelion, Pokemon and Ouran Host Club), NaruHaku, ZakuKinDosu, and a lot more Sound Genin than you may remember.

Chapter 1: An Invitation from the Sound

Naruto Uzumaki hugged the wall of the side alley, as two furious sounding Leaf Chunin leapt passed, momentarily blocking out the sunlight shining down the alleyway as they searched for him. All around Naruto could hear the clamour of the Shinobi on the hunt for him after his latest prank. They were yelling at him about what they were going to do when they caught up with him, and Naruto tried to ignore their threats as he waited until the coast was clear. With luck if he could keep out of their way until nightfall then they'd give up and, and with even more luck they'd have forgotten all about him by morning.

The alley in which he was hiding was dark, and filled with shadows. He hardly needed to use the fake wall disguise he'd brought, and after a few moments without hearing anything Naruto cautiously lowered the canvas and peaked around him.

To see a chunin with long white hair and a handsome bishonen face standing at the entrance to the alley looking straight at him. Mizuki sensei, Naruto thought as his blood froze. They'd caught up with him, man he had been so stupid. They were going to kill him this time.

Naruto dropped the disguise and stood facing the academy instructor, trying to judge whether he could make it to the rooftop before the Sensei caught up with him. If he could make this a chase again he had a good chance of outrunning the pursuit, he'd done it before enough times, but if Mizuki caught him mid leap he wouldn't stand a chance.

His face showing nothing, except perhaps a little disappointment; Mizuki took a step closer to Naruto but then, abruptly, he stopped. He looked at something above Naruto's head, and then abruptly he turned away. He didn't say anything, didn't show what made him forget all about the blonde troublemaker right in front of him, he just left; bounding up into the air and out of sight.

The hell? Naruto thought, scratching the back of his spiky blonde head as he tried to work out what was going on.

"You have potential boy," a soft, sibilant voice said from behind him.

Naruto spun around to see a man looming up before him. At least he thought it was a man, in the darkness he seemed almost like some kind of apparition. His face was white, but his hair was long and black. He was dressed in long, flowing robes but what made Naruto gasp was the stranger's eyes, which were exactly like the eyes of a serpent.

"Yes, you have great potential within you, boy," the stranger repeated in that same hissing voice.

"Who are you?" Naruto said. "Did you make Mizuki Sensei go away?"

The stranger laughed, "You will find out who I am soon enough. And yes, Mizuki knows when he ought to make himself scarce. But that isn't what's important now, what matters is the opportunity that I am offering you?"

"Opportunity?"

"Indeed, I collect people like you Naruto: outcasts, people who have been rejected through no fault of their own, people who show great promise that is ignored by those around them are blind to what true potential is. I help those people to realise their great promise, I help them to become strong. Come with me Naruto, and I shall help you achieve power beyond your imaginings. Or you can stay here, where the children laugh at you and the adults hate you for something that isn't even your fault. The choice, is yours."

Naruto thought about it, and the more he thought the harder a time he had thinking what there was for him in this stupid village. Nobody cared about him, nobody wanted to know him. Everyone ignored him when they saw him on the street, the ones who didn't yell at him that he was a freak who should die or go away. No one in the Academy liked him, not the instructors or the other students. None of them would be sorry to see him go. What was there for him here? No friends, no family, nothing. And from the sound of it, the place this guy came from was full of people just like him. Maybe, just maybe, he could get a fresh start there, wherever it was, where nobody would shun him for some reason he didn't even know why. And maybe, just maybe, that was a chance worth taking.

The stranger chuckled, "As I said, it's up to you boy. Stay here and hide until they find you, or follow me, and let me help you become strong."

By this point, for Naruto, the choice had become no choice at all, "I'll come."

The stranger smiled, "I thought you might."

"Lord Hokage! Lord Hokage!" Izuma burst into the Hokage's office, brandishing a scrunched up piece of paper in his hands. "Lord Hokage, the nine tailed fox has gone!"

"Gone?" Sarutobi stood up, a sudden sense of dread threatening to overwhelm him. "What do you mean, how can Naruto have just disappeared?"

"His apartment has been cleared out, Lord Hokage," Izuma said, taking a nervous gulp. "And we found this there."

Slowly, Sarutobi reached out and took the paper from the chuunin's unresisting hand and read on it the confirmation of his worst fears.

Sarutobi Sensei,

How kind of you to leave your nine tails lying around for me to pick up. Rest assured I'll take better care of young Naruto then you ever did.

Yours

Orochimaru.

As Sarutobi sagged a little in despair, having never felt older in his entire life, he began to wonder if there was any way that Konoha could possibly recover from this disaster.

Or whether there was any way that he could possibly redeem himself for allowing it to happen.

Minato forgive me, for I have failed you utterly.

The Village Hidden in the Sound wasn't a real village at all. Certainly not like the Leaf Village. There was no actual village at all, in fact when they got there all Naruto could see was large square building half sunk into the ground, with a few steps leading downwards into a dark and gaping entrance. Nothing about it looked very impressive or imposing; in fact as Naruto looked around it all looked like a bit of a dump. Certainly there was no Ramen shop anywhere in sight.

Lord Orochimaru, standing beside him, must have been able to read his thoughts for he chuckled, "Everything we need is underground, Naruto, for secrecy and protection."

"Oh," Naruto said, though it still didn't explain why there wasn't, you know, a village in the so called Village Hidden in the Sound. "Right."

"The Leaf Village has gotten soft," Orochimaru said. "They have forgotten that the true purpose of a Hidden Village is as a fortress for Shinobi, invisible, impregnable. By letting a village build up around them, the Shinobi of the leaf have robbed themselves of both secrecy and ease of defence. Foolish really, a lesson I do not intend to forget so lightly. Now come, our return is most eagerly awaited."

Orochimaru led the way down the steps towards the half submerged entrance to the Sound Village, and the two of them had only gotten half way before two ninja appeared before them with a swoosh, as if they had come out of thin air or something. One of them had two white haired heads, one of which looked like it was sleeping while the other looked down at Naruto with a sardonic look on his face. The second guy was even more of a weirdo, he had six arms hanging down by his side!

"What is this, a village of freaks or something?" Naruto said.

The white haired guy with two heads laughed, "Pretty much, yes. But then you'd know all about that, wouldn't you, nine tailed fox?"

Naruto swallowed. Orochimaru Sensei had told him all about the nine tailed fox that the Fourth Hokage had sealed inside him, and the stupendous power that he would possess if he could learn to harness the fox's chakra as his own, and it only increased his sense that the decision to put Konoha behind him had been the right one. Those jerks, blaming him for something that had never been his fault, or his decision. What did they think he was, some kind of monster! Even so, finding that everyone here knew about him and what he was came as a bit of a shock.

The freak with six arms laughed, "Everyone knows about you, kid, you're the jewel in the crown."

"For now," the two headed man said, barely audibly.

Orochimaru chuckled, "Sakon and Kidomaru here are two of my strongest shinobi. You could learn a lot from them, Naruto, but first your fellow students are waiting for you."

As Naruto followed Orochimaru into the Village Hidden in the Sound, he reflected that while this might be a village full of freaks; that meant that at least he wouldn't be the only one any more. And that was a good thought to hold on to.

The student quarters of the Hidden Sound where little more than a long row of bunk beds stacked up in a airy hall that looked like a kind of underground warehouse. No windows, only one door in and out, dull sandstone walls lit by the light of flickering torches. And the beds lining the walls. And the people dossing around them, not doing very much of anything.

As Naruto stepped in through the open doorway his impression that this really was a village full of freaks was half dispelled by the normality of most of the people around him. Most of them anyway, there was still that one guy sitting there covered in bandages like some kind of mummy. But he was the exception that proved the rule, because after a guy with six arms and another with two heads the Sound Genin proved looked reassuringly like normal humans.

There was one guy who looked a couple of years older than Naruto, with black eyes and wild brown hair who had looked up sharply as Naruto entered, and was staring at him with veiled hostility mixed in with curiousity.

Lying on her bed across from him was a girl with incredibly long black hair that reached down past her waist. Next to her was the guy covered in bandages.

Standing back straight against the wall of the barrack room, staring vacantly into nothingness, was an albino girl with blue hair cropped short, and distinctive red eyes. Nothing about her was commonplace, in fact she seemed to come with an aura of exoticism that hung about her like perfume. Naruto wasn't used to thinking of girls that way, but it was kind of hard to notice that she was wearing a skin tight white catsuit that showed off every curve of her body.

"Avert your eyes, you perv!" snapped the third girl, with red hair tied in a sideways pony tail.

Lastly there were two more boys, sitting back to back on the floor. One was tall, one of the tallest guys Naruto had ever seen, with short black hair and a grim but expressionless face. His companion, on the other hand, was absolutely tiny, had fluffy blond hair, and was smiling peacefully as he dozed, a pink stuffed bunny held tight in his arms.

"Um, hi everybody," Naruto began nervously. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, and I-"

"Yeah, you just got here, new acquisition by Lord Orochimaru, blah blah, whatever," the older kid with the wild brown hair got up off his bunk and strolled over to Naruto. "Listen kid, my name's Zaku Abumi and from now on I'm your Senpai; that means you do whatever I say, got that? Now go get me something to eat, I'm starving."

The girl with the long black hair laughed.

"What?" Naruto said. "I'm not your goddamned slave, get your own food if you're hungry."

Zaku growled, his hands balling into fists by his side, "You want me to kick your ass, is that it you little brat?"

"Like you could," Naruto said, making fists of his own as he instinctively felt that this was some sort of test that he had to pass if he was going to make anything of himself here in the Sound Village.

"Think you're so tough punk! We'll have to do something about that attitude!" Zaku yelled, as he went for Naruto swinging.

"Don't underestimate me!" Naruto shouted, charging to intercept.

When the dust settled, Naruto's face was a morass of bruises and he groaned faintly as he lay against the wall. But Zaku, sitting against the other wall taking great gasping breaths, wasn't much better. He had a black eye, a cut lip and his nose was looking in a very awkward position.

"You doe kid," Zaku paused, and rolled the eye that wasn't bruised and swollen. "A little helb, someone?"

The girl with the long black hair sighed as she got up and strolled over to Zaku, grabbing his nose and pulling forcefully back into place.

"Aaaargh!" Zaku yelled. "Damn it Kin, I asked you to set it, not pull it off."

"Serves you right for breaking it in the first place," Kin smiled as she sauntered back to her bunk.

Zaku glared at her retreating back before returning his attention to Naruto, "Not bad kid, not bad at all."

"My name is Naruto," Naruto said.

"Yeah, you said already," Zaku said. "I'm Zaku, the angel of sweetness over there is Kin Tsuchi-"

"Bite me," Kin said.

"I wish."

Kin gave Zaku the finger without looking up.

Zaku laughed, "Dosu Kinuta is the mummy over there, while the statue's name is Rei Ayanami. Don't try to talk to her she won't say much to you. Then that's Kasumi sitting over there." He gestured with his head towards the red headed girl, "And then out of the last two, the big guy is Takashi Morinozuka- call him Mori Senpai, everyone does- and the little one is Mizkuni Haninozuka, call him Honey Senpai, and remember he's older than he looks."

Zaku grinned, a feral smile crossing his lips, "Hey everybody, say hello to Naruto!"

Mori turned his head and said, in a gruff bass voice, "Hi."

"Naru-chan! You want to go have some cake with me?" Honey yelled out cheerfully.

"Welcome to the club, kid," Zaku said. "Just act weird every now and then and you'll fit right in."

And Naruto, in spite of the bruises covering his face, laughed, for he knew that finally he had found somewhere he belonged.