Chapter 1
"Suiton: Mizurappa!"- the thirteen year old boy yelled as he spat out a wave of water directed at his sensei, who jumped over it and covered his feet soles in chakra, easily walking on the jutsu and running towards his student.
"Do not rely merely on your ninjutsu abilities, Naruto!"- the orange-haired man spoke, delivering a hard kick to the boy's skull.
Impressively, though, this attack was blocked. The blond boy had been able to raise his left arm in defense, suppressing the attack's impact just enough to only make it push him away a bit.
Of course, this wasn't the end of his sensei's flurry, as the grown man took advantage of the block, pushed off and spun, kicking with his opposite leg.
This one was merely avoided with a duck that let the leg pass over him, yet again permitting his teacher to take advantage of the momentum to rotate again and lower his roundhouse into a low kick that Naruto gripped, used to spin and threw away, forcing his sensei to kick off of a wall to stop the force and not crash against it.
"Nice response, but don't let that get to your head."- was his mentor's only comment as his Mizu Bunshin dissolved, allowing him to reveal himself to be behind the blond, with a kunai pushed agaisnt the boy's throat.
"I wouldn't, sir."- was the response he received as Naruto's own Mizu Bunshin dissolved, and he appeared behind him, his own kunai ready to strike.
"Very well. You've surpassed my expectations for today's training. I hope it continues that way. Prepare yourself, later today I will be teach you an A-rank Suiton jutsu."
"Of course. Thank you, Yahiko-sensei."
"Think nothing of it. I will be back later."
With that, the orange-haired man disappeared in a swirl of water, letting Naruto finally fall down on the ground, sprawled out. After this four hour long training session, he was exhausted.
He took the little time he had for a break to see what his two friends were up to.
His red-haired mate was having a tough time herself, facing off against Nagato, her sensei. She had been mostly trained in genjutsu, but knew one or two fire jutsu in order to defend herself otherwise. Of course, her flute was still too weak to fool the red-haired teacher's prodigious eyes, and she had much to practice. Apparently, their training was finished too, which was signalled by her flying away, hitting a wall and not being able to stand up.
A glance to his other side showed Naruto that the other girl he considered a sister, Sasuki, had her hands full against Konan, her own teacher.
She had a strong fire affinity that unfortunately was still not helping her defeat the onslaught of rather pointy paper planes and spikes that were flying against her.
"Katon: Goukakyu no jutsu!"- she managed to spit out the gigantic fireball that was so characteristic of her clan, giving her a couple of seconds to breathe, but Konan simply dissolved into many paper planes, reconstructing right behind the raven-haired ten year old, side-kicking her in the gut, sending her flying away as soon as she turned. The Uchiha still tried to get up, but she couldn't. She had ran out of gas.
"Good job, Tayuya. You lasted ten more minutes than yesterday. You can be proud of yourself."- Nagato complimented his student, bringing one of Tayuya's rare confident smiles to her face.
"You too, Sasuki. Had it not been for the chakra exhaustion, I'm sure you would have lasted through it."- Konan followed, having the girl nod in response.
"And I'd also like to congratulate you, Naruto. On your first kill against Yahiko. I'd like to talk to you in private, too."- the red-haired sensei requested, quickly receiving a nod of acceptance from his friend's student.
"Sure, sensei."
"Hurry up, sand-hair. I'm hungry."- Tayuya rushed him. He just waved in response as he and Nagato left the skyscraper's training room.
It was only when they knew they were out of earshot that Nagato spoke.
"Naruto, I wanted to ask you a few questions. Is that ok with you?"- he asked. The boy shrugged.
"Sure, as long as I can ask you some too."
Nagato smiled.
"I can see you've already figured out something's wrong."
"It wasn't too hard, sensei. Yahiko-sensei was really harsh with my training today. More so than normal. I'm not complaining, but it was noticeable. And you and Konan-sensei have tension in your voices when you speak..."- the boy confessed.
"I see...Well, there is indeed a subject that troubles us, but before I speak to you about such a thing, I wanted to ask you something."- Nagato responded, making Naruto raise an eyebrow.
"What is it, sensei?
"What is your goal, Naruto?"
The question immediately triggered memories in Naruto's brain, shooting him off into recollection.
Flashback
"Konan, who is this child?"- Yahiko asked as his beloved girlfriend brought a small, blond child through the door to their small hut. Nagato also seemed curious.
"I brought him from the Leaf. You will not believe what those bastards were doing to him!"
The orange-haired man signalled for Nagato to stop their spar before walking towards his soulmate, holding her shoulders with his hands.
"Calm down. Tell me everything."
At his command she nodded and normalized her breathing, before starting her explanation.
"I went to Konoha in order to catch up on any rumors there could be and stock us up with weapons. Nothing went wrong until I was about to leave."
"What happened then?"- Nagato asked, approaching and handing the frightened boy a cup of water. The little blond child couldn't take his eyes off of the redhead's eyes, amazed with the multiple irises.
"I heard a screech and followed it to a dark alley. There, a whole damn crowd of civilians were having fun beating him with spiked sticks, bricks, hammers and pretty much any household weapon you could find! They were actually having fun seeing who could do the worse damage!"
"Crap..."- Nagato commented, but Yahiko narrowed his eyes, as if seeing something the others couldn't see.
"Wait, when did this happen?"
"Not two days ago."
"But there's not a mark on the kid."
Konan was about to protest when she too realized Naruto had no mark from whatever happened. He sighed.
"I'm always like that. Look."- he said, and before the three could even stop him, he pulled out Nagato's kunai from his knee pouch and sliced through his own left wrist.
"NO!"- the woman shouted, but Naruto had already dropped the kunai, extending his arm to show steam coming out of the cut as it sealed itself.
"No matter what I do, my injuries always heal. Always."- he revealed, making Yahiko sigh in relief before turning to his loved one.
"Well, what do you want us to do with him?"- he asked. Konan shrugged.
"When we were small and defenceless like him, Jiraiya-sensei took us in and trained us. Why don't we pass the "random act of kindness"?"- she replied.
"Well, alright. What do you say, kid? Want to be trained by us?"
Naruto looked hesitant.
"There are more.."- he muttered.
"Sorry, didnt catch that?"
"There are more like me from where I came from. They're all in pain too..."- the boy concluded his sentence, making the other three raise an eyebrow.
"There is this girl, Uchiha Sasuki. Her whole clan was murdered, and she's all alone. And there's this other girl. I think her name's Tayuya. I saw her once or twice around the Konoha East Forest. She doesn't have any parents and only lives out of the animals she kills after she captures them with her genjutsu flute."- he explained. Yahiko gave it a moment's thought before smiling and placing a hand on the boy's hair, ruffling it.
"No need to worry, little child. Konan, Nagato, you two go to Konoha and bring those children. We were once like them and received help. The least we can do is pay back the favor to the Universe."- he ordered, receiving nods from his friends who immediately disappeared in swirls of paper and leaves respectively.
"Now, what's your name?"
"Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto."
End Flashback
"At first, I had no goal, really. You, Konan-sensei and Yahiko-sensei saved me from misery and I was determined to repay you by being the best student you could possibly have. But then, those two came along..."- he responded. Nagato smiled.
"And they changed your life, correct?"
"Correct. Well, not at first. Tayuya cursed and distrusted every single one of us like you remember, and Sasuki didn't even recognized me as a human being. But everything turned out the other way when that happened."
"You mean last year? When-"
"Yes."
Flashback (I know, two in such rapid succession is a bit shitty for you guys, but I'm just trying to explain a couple of things before we jump into the story)
"God fucking damn it, these shitty cock-sucking, cunt-licking umbrellas aren't doing a piece of nigger crap to protect us against the satan-forsaken rain!"- Tayuya protested against the never-ending precipitation so characteristic of Amegakure. Sasuki gave off a nod as if agreeing.
"It's not too bad. Besides, it's not like we weren't going to get wet anyway because of our mission. Just think of it as pain and discomfort resistance training."- Naruto replied, making Tayuya blush at his sudden response before quickly regaining her facade.
"Yeah, well, how can you get so fucking happy in this, sand-head? You can't tell me you like having your balls soaking wet!"
"I just deal with it. Come on, I think it's over there."- he responded, turning right, ignoring the annoyed redhead. They were in an alley, eyeing the building that supposedly was being used as a drug lab.
"Yep, this is it. Everyone ready?"
"If wet as fuck is what you mean by ready, yeah, jackass!"
Suddenly, sounds of footsteps and kunai being drawn were heard, and Naruto only had time to forcefully push his two companions away, sending them flying into another nearby alley.
Tayuya was about to protest with a torrent of the most foul swears when a hand closed around her mouth, quieting her.
"Naruto managed to get us out of the way of those sentries. He both protected us from danger and gave us a great position to infiltrate and spy by placing himself as a decoy. The least we can do is not fuck it up."- Sasuki's voice made her realize, shutting her up quickly.
"Look who it is! Blondie! The guy that has a nice little bounty on his head for escaping with the Uchiha and Fuma clan heiresses. Our boss will be pleased to know we captured you. Where are your two hot friends?"- the leader of the group of three sentinels asked as Naruto rose his hands.
"It's just me, today. Sorry to disappoint, your highness."
"Hehe, he's got a smart mouth. Guys, cuff him and take him inside. We'll make him talk."
After the four left, one of them in chains, Tayuya finally broke Sasuki's grip on her mouth.
"Fuck!"
…...
30 Minutes Later
The two girls had managed to infiltrate the small warehouse unnoticed, and were now just settling into a position where they could set their eyes on their friend.
Naruto was tied to a chair, and had his mouth already dripping blood. The three men from before had now joined seven others and they were having fun questioning the boy one at a time.
"I'm going to ask you again. Where are those two sluts?"- the leader of the sentinels asked.
"I'll never tell."- was his response. He shrugged and nodded to one of his men, who held a pair of metal knuckledusters.
The man proceeded to kiss his weapon before giving Naruto a hell of a right jab, striking him right in his left cheekbone, breaking it and causing the boy to spit out blood. Despite this, he never once winced in pain.
This went on for the next dozen of minutes as Tayuya silently swore every time her friend got hit by a baseball bat, sledgehammer, knuckleduster, or sliced up by knives, swords and the such. Never once wincing, never once faltering on his will to not rat out his comrades. But no matter what, the redhead knew she couldn't do a thing without Sasuki even speaking. They were simply too weak to battle ten ninja at the same time.
Suddenly, one particular event stopped the beating, as the backdoor of the warehouse opened, letting through a short man who wore a black suit and black, round glasses. He had a ridiculous hairstyle and moustache to go along with it.
"Gato-sama, what are you doing here?"- one of the sentinels asked, receiving a disregarding wave of hand from his superior.
"I'm here to personally handle this situation. When I was told you people would be handling the interrogation, I somehow knew you'd screw it up by beating someone that you just can't beat into submission. Apparently, I was right. Now step back!"- he responded, and immediately, his subordinates took a few steps away as he rose Naruto's head by his chin. Even with the fox's miraculous regeneration powers, he was all busted up.
"Tssk,tssk, tssk. I apologize for my people's lack of sensitivity. I am Gato, you've probably heard of me. What is your name?"
"Naruto."
"Naruto, I'm a businessman. And you, as a ninja and someone I think intelligent, also are one. Let me tell you, a clan's heiress is worth triple her weight in gold. The most frequent buyers are people who get off on dominating powerful women, people who use their bodies for research on Kekkei Genkai and people who just simply want to kill them. And my friend, they pay handsomely for their desires."
"So? What does that have to do with me? Even if Sasuki comes from a clan, I don't get your interest in Tayuya."
Gato snickered at this, it was obvious the kid had no clue.
"I see she hasn't said a thing. You know, that little redhead beaut used to be one of my personal concubines until the day I found out something about her past. That was also the day she escaped from my home. Tayuya is not some nameless peasant that walks in the streets. She's the only alive member and heiress to the Fuma clan, one I'm sure you know well."
Naruto's mind raced. No way, she can't be! But she is an expert at Bukijutsu. Especially with that flute of hers. Weapons like the Fuma shuriken were pretty self explanatory, and it was said that they prefered sound-related ninjutsu, just like the redhead girl.
Tayuya herself was lowering her head as Sasuki looked at her with her onyx eyes. She always had known there was more to the redhead than had been said.
"So that makes two heiresses that you can lure into a trap. We'll split the money and you get away rich enough to buy an island. What do you say?"- the man finished his proposal, waiting for an answer as his henchmen greedily looked at the boy. Naruto gave it a moment's thought before replying.
"No. Never in this life and the next. Sure, Tayuya lied to me about her past, but it's not just because of that that I'm going to betray her and Sasuki. I cherish both as two of the five most important people in my life, and I'd never even consider selling them out."- he declared, making Gato shrug in acceptance.
"Sure thing, kiddo. If that's the way you want it to be, fine. I was thinking of treating them nicely, just sell them without even harming them too much. But now, just for the added trouble, I'm going to have my boys take rounds with them. Then beat them, and then take rounds again!"
"Boss! We found them!"- a voice called out as one of the watch guards walked down the set of stairs that led to the metal catwalk above where the girls had been hiding behind some crates.
"I managed to see them after the redhead went on a cursing-spree when you threatened to kill blondie over there."- he explained as Gato smiled at him and threw him a roll of ryou bills.
"Good job, take that and go to the strip-club two blocks away from here. You've earned it."
"Thanks Boss! See ya tomorrow!"- he bid farewell as he ran out of the warehouse, excited to waste every single ryou he had just earned. Gato smirked.
"Alright. I've got a great idea. Why just have them suffer? You were the one who made the mistake to come after us, right Naruto? You were the one who thought you had to end our little operation in Amegakure. Well now you're going to suffer just as much as they are. Men, do whatever you want with these two bitches, but make sure that every thrust, every cumshot and every bitchslap is done infront of that little idiot."
All of the guards roared in satisfaction and excitement as Gato pulled a chair and sat on it, determined to watch Naruto's agony from the start. He knew he couldn't make himself be heard over the sounds of anxiety and excitement of his men, so he just spelled a single sentence with his lips.
Should have taken the deal.
As soon as he heard Sasuki's and Tayuya's first screams as their hair was pulled in order to make them kneel, his eyes turned into black slits surrounded by a red iris, and the whole world went black.
End Flashback
"Tayuya and Sasuki say I killed every single one of them slowly and mercilessly. I don't remember a thing. But from that they forward, they've been treating me differently. And I still think of them as some of the most precious people in my life."
"So let me guess, that day, when you couldn't defend yourself or them from anything, you realized that this wasn't going to be enough, and that next time, you might not be able to use whatever you used last time. That's why you push yourself so hard in practice with Yahiko. Am I correct?"- Nagato guessed. Naruto nodded as he lowered his head.
"I just want to protect those two."
Those words struck home as Nagato heard the little thirteen year old say to him exactly the same thing he had said to his old teacher, years before. He then had no doubts anymore as to what to do.
"I see. Well, Naruto, you answered honestly, so I will fulfill my part of the agreement."- he said, having Naruto nod in acknowledgement.
"There is something going on. I, Konan-sensei and Yahiko-sensei are all the top people of an organization named Akatsuki. We fight for Peace, and so far, I think we've been successful. But things aren't so simple. Hanzo of the Salamender, the leader of Amegakure, has called Yahiko for diplomacy tomorrow. We have no choice but to attend."
"Is it a trap?"
"We think so. Peace wouldn't do an old war dog such as Hanzo much good. He will be there tomorrow with plenty of ninja to support him if I dare to guess. I know that tomorrow, no matter what we do, we're going to die. Konan knows it too. But Yahiko still believes Hanzo could have a change of heart."
Naruto didn't take this very well.
"Then don't go! You can't die! Not with the goal you have! And what will happen to Sasuki and Tayuya?"
"Please, Naruto. Calm down. I'm telling you this because I thought you would be mature enough to take it well. We have no choice. Konan and I have already planned out what you'll be doing, and it's all in a piece of paper that I'm going to give you. But that's not all I'm giving you. You know why my eyes are different than most people's?"
"I don't know...doujutsu?"- he replied, desperate with the whole situation.
"Exactly. I possess the Rinnegan, something that grants me several powers to protect myself and my friends, but even all that will not be enough tomorrow. You, however, will need to be protecting those two for a long time while you fulfill your own, or even our goal."
Naruto was finally getting it. In the last, desperate, meaningful act of his life, his sensei was giving him a tool so he could live his own, before probably passing it down himself to someone who needed it.
"B-but-"
"We don't have much time. We're leaving in an hour. I leave it to you to explain why to the girls. I'm giving you my Rinnegan. It's all I can do to help. I want no buts and no excuses. Will you accept it or will you not?"
Several moments went by as the blond had an inner struggle. Why should he make the choice anyway? He was just a thirteen year old kid!
But then, an image of the two girls came to mind. He wanted to protect them. And if to do so he had to accept this, he would.
"I do. But how?"
"Leave that to me."
…...
Thirty Minutes Later
Naruto batted his eyelids quickly, still trying to get himself used to the new pair of eyes. Everything seemed so clear.
Not like it hadn't before. He had actually been quite proud of his vision, as he could see well even in the darkness. But these new eyes just let him see so much more.
In front of him sat Nagato, looking back at him with the pair of clear-sky blue eyes he used to own. He was smiling, for some reason, before looking at the clock that was stuck to the wall above, standing up with urgency.
"I have to go. Naruto, I don't want any goodbyes or I love you so much's. I want you to swear to me, right here and now, I want you to give me my word that no matter what you do, you put those two ahead of it always, and that you'll never stray from the right path."
"I swear."- the boy replied, dragging a smile out of his teacher's face.
"Good. Anything you need will be in this envelope. Good luck, Naruto."- he bid as he handed the small paper-made container over, before disappearing in a swirl of fire, leaving him alone.
He remembered that he had left Tayuya and Sasuki in the other room and quickly hurried over, still trying to get accustomed to the new vision.
"What the hell, Naruto, I told you I was hungr-"- Tayuya started with her complain before looking at the blond, simply staring at him with an open mouth. Sasuki noticed this and followed her stare before opening her own mouth.
"Hey, Naruto?"- the redhead asked.
"Yes?"
"What's wrong with your eyes?"
And that was Chapter 1, my friends. For those who are wondering, Ex Deo means "From God" in latin. Any doubts or suggestions you may have please reveal them in a review or a private message and I'll answer as quickly as possible. I love you all for reading this and please Follow or Favorite if you like it. Also, Review. It only takes a couple of seconds to give a decent review (try to avoid "good chapter, can't wait for the next one" reviews, please), and it makes my whole day, so. Without further adue, see you next time!