A single change upset the entire timeline. A simple change that altered the history of events that led to the final sealing of Ootsutsuki Kaguya, and everyone suddenly had a different part to play.
For, you see, a certain Umino Iruka had passed out. And instead of a certain blonde coming to his rescue due to heightened emotional connection, the blonde surfaced out of obligation.
"Even lay a finger on Iruka sensei, and I'll kill you."
Uzumaki Naruto was certainly not a normal boy by any standard. An orphan with not even a most distant relative to care for him, the young boy had grown up wild, completely alien to any concept of familial bonds or love, yet craving it all the same. Despite having the hand of the village head, Sarutobi Hiruzen, over his wellbeing, none had reached out to guide him, or even encourage him.
Hell, barring getting beaten up, there as not much this village had left to show that they hated him. In a sense, his life in the village was what others would perhaps call a 'personal hell'. Yet, he labored on, eager to one day prove that he was worth their respect. This… did not seem to deter the village in the slightest from hating him, however.
Prior to today, however, he hadn't known why they acted the way they did. He knew that they'd rather see him die than take another breath, even though he could not recall what he had done to personally deserve such ire. He remembered asking people many times, only to either be ignored or have things thrown at him in return. As far back as he could remember, all he could recall was loneliness and tears. The latter, however, he never let a single person see.
"You? What are you going to do to me, Demon?" Mizuki laughed, not even slightly tensed. To his credit, however, he did not know the threat looming under the surface.
Of course, he knew that somewhere buried deep within the jinchuuriki in front of him was undiluted hate due to circumstance, which could even perhaps be amplified by now through the presence of the nine-tailed demon fox. His lord, Orochimaru Sama, had commanded him to either eliminate the container, or unearth the rage within. He could see the benefit, either rob the village of their weapon or see their own weapon turned against them entirely, thus making it easier for the man to exact his own revenge. And who better to do that than his second-best spy Mofuko Shiro? Second only to Kabuto, Shiro hailed from the now extinct Mofuko clan of Kirigakure, who had been rescue from the village by his lord. Granted, his lord had hurt him more than any single person had ever done, but he was assured it was all for his benefit. And indeed, where the Mofuko clan was only able to transform their faces once, Shiro had been altered to such an extent that he could take on entirely different forms, be they of person, animal, or even plant. His lord Orochimaru had then dispatched him as a spy into Konoha's ranks. First, as the ANBU Suzume, then as shopkeeper Figo Akishi, and most recently as the kind but irritable orphan academy teacher, Mizuki. Shiro had been sending reports to his Orochimaru sama for at least two years now, and this was meant to be the final mission, brining in the scroll.
Naruto, however, was seeing red. There was that word again, 'Demon'. Why did everyone accuse him of being one? Bar Hokage-jiji and Iruka sensei, everyone either openly hated him or ignored him. Sure, the Kyuubi was sealed in him, but that did not make him the kyuubi himself!
Deep within Naruto's seal, a small line blurred, the matrix overloading slightly with Naruto's heightened agitation. Alongside the biggest circle that symbolized the nine-tails, one of the two small circles seemingly melted, being absorbed into Naruto's skin like water through sponge.
Fine! If that's what they wanted him to be, if that's all they saw in him, Naruto would be exactly that! No longer would he try his best to be acknowledged positively, no longer would he be that same old naïve boy! He is Uzumaki Naruto, and suddenly, his entire worldview changed with that simple decision.
He gasped, however, when he felt something whirl past him. In his thought process, he failed to keep an alert eye on 'Mizuki'. The man was obviously not going to let this chance slip by – both to wipe out witnesses and to enrage the demon-container more. The man has smirked, before unsealing another Fuuma Shuriken, charging it with a spin, and hurling it towards the downed man a few ways behind Naruto.
When the poor boy turned, he gasped, and tears finally brimmed over his eyes and fell to the unforgiving forest floor.
The shuriken had impaled his teacher in the chest, a blade popping out from his back. The man himself seemed shocked, looking down at the weapon with wide eyes, before he fell.
Naruto rushed to the man, catching him just before he hit the ground with a slide, the scroll of seals falling off and dispersing, proving that it was either a transformed pebble or a timed illusion. Shiro's eyes narrowed, and, unknown to him, so did another set of eyes above them all.
Slit yellow eyes seethed in anger, knowing now that the final component for his specialized jutsu was forever beyond his reach. 'If he was intuitive enough to leave out a fake scroll, then he will never let it see daylight again.' The man thought, grinding his teeth in irritation. 'That darn brat! That old man would never guess I was after it, not after so many years – this boy must have told him!' When he spotted what was going on beneath him, however, he smirked. 'Well, at least this trip won't be entirely wasted.' He then made a sign with his hands, and focused a brief pulse of energy between Naruto and Iruka.
Down, beneath the canopy of the trees, none of the three men heard a mere whisper of, "Genjutsu: Nise no Kashaku!". Two of them were too focused on the last. Seemingly dead for one second, Iruka suddenly jerked, gasping for air. He panted deep breaths, and looked at Naruto. "Naruto…"
"Don't talk, sensei!" Naruto said through sniffles. "I'll get you to the hospital right away!"
"No…" Iruka said, and Naruto froze. "I don't want… a demon… to save me…."
"I- Iruka sensei?" Naruto asked, his heart dropping. 'No….'
"I… always hated… you, Naruto." The man seemed to say. "You… took my parents… away. I… never loved… you, you… damned demon. I hope you… die."
The man then collapsed again, eerily into the very same position he was before his sudden bout of wakefulness.
Naruto just stared at the man he had considered his older brother. In more ways than one, Iruka had been what was keeping him grounded to the world, tethered to reality. Naruto had even recently debating whether he had feelings for the older man. Damnit, Iruka was what made him happy!
And now…
All that was a lie.
Iruka… no… Umino was a liar.
Naruto shakily stood. How many had lied to him? Did no one ever like him? Was Hiruzen and the Ichirakus lying to him too? Why? He wasn't the Kyuubi! What had he done wrong?!
That is when the Nandaime Hokage died before even his ascension, and instead, something much less benevolent stepped forth from the darkest recesses of the mind of a boy – a young boy, a naïve boy, an innocent boy.
A boy who locked away everything he was, and threw the key into the ocean.
"Show me what you got, kyuubi no kitsune!" Shiro snarled, drawing the boy's attention. ready to phase into a stronger form. He had heard what Iruka had said, and was frankly surprised He always believed that Iruka truly loved the boy, but… well, he turned out to be a good actor.
"I… am not the Kyuubi no Kitsune." Naruto said, head bowed.
Shiro narrowed his eyes. "What are you-"
"I am the Konohagakure no Akuma."
Shiro felt something… just something. He decided to dodge-
But he never got that chance, because he suddenly felt something punch him in his chest.
Surprised, and feeling blood fall from his slightly open mouth, he looked down towards his chest to see a glowing orange chain had impaled him. He followed the taut chakra construct towards the palm of the demon brat's outstretched right hand, when his eyes widened in realization.
"Im…possi…ble…" he said hoarsely, mind clouded with pain, before giving into the blackness.
However, that was not all that Sarutobi Hiruzen witnessed through his crystal ball that gave him chills that night.
"Fuinkusari" Naruto whispered, but his voice carried over the slight breeze around him nonetheless, "Shohi Suru."
An unearthly male cream rent the air, as the chain embedded in Shiro retracted, dragging along a white silhouette reminiscent of the man's outline. Then rapidly, the chain retracted, until even the silhouette was sucked into Naruto's palm.
All was silent for a few seconds, until Naruto abruptly passed out.
Seeing that, Hiruzen shook himself out of his daze and immediately leapt out of the window, intent on bringing Naruto to his office immediately, before the poor boy was killed in blind misinformation by his subordinates. Sometimes, he wished people were different.
Meanwhile, Naruto dreamt.
He dreamt of running, of fleeing home home home because he would die otherwise. He dreamt of finding a twisted angel, who gave him so much pain pain pain that he would rather die than feel that again. But then, after the ordeal was finished, he had so much power power power, that he felt like no one could ever feel him near when he struck ever again.
Then, in an explosion of colors, he remembered other things.
He remembered learning to walk on walls, on water. He remembered learning to wade through the earth. He remembered raising earth walls, making earth doppelgangers. He remembered feeling as weightless as the very air itself.
But most of all, he remembered changing changing changing.
He remembered flying through the sky as a bird, swimming in deep oceans as a whale, racing around as a leopard, hopping around as a bunny, spying on people as a mosquito…
He remembered everything, and only a fleeting thought told him it wasn't his own memories.
It was Mizuki's recollection. Or was it Shiro? Yes, most of the memories had the Shiro Marker rather than Mizuki. He Naruto was surprised to find several other names, all jumbled. The original Mizuki, a steadfastly loyal ninja, was probably rolling in his unmarked grave with all the misdeeds this imposter had committed in his name, however secretively.
Besides memories, however, he was also sifting through something else.
It was something akin to two twisting lines, connected by several other lines of their own. Through Shiro's memories, he learnt this was called deoxyribonucleic acid, a sort of blueprint for the person one is. A particular line, however, piqued his interest. The line was constantly changing, morphing in different colors. This type of line, however, seemed prevalent every thirty or so lines later. Naruto analyzed he line and then reached out with his mind and assimilated it, unknowingly doing something a certain snake sannin would die to do without having to have ever resorted to crude measures as he had.
He copied Mizuki's abilities and bloodline.
Hiruzen looked upon the boy on his office table with barely concealed anxiousness. Yamanaka Inoichi had informed him that Mizuki's memories were completely gone – the Shintenshin no Jutsu was completely ineffective. Normally, when used on a dead target, the jutsu showed the most recent memories, however when the jutsu showed no results, it only meant one thing – there were no memories to show.
This meant that Naruto had awoken the Uzumaki bloodline, the Fuinkusari – otherwise known as sealing chains. This was already evidenced by his blond hair morphing into the natural Uzumaki blood-red before his very eyes. The bloodline was at the heart of the Uzumaki reign and longevity – it allowed the user to absorb the impression of someone's yin and yang chakra, effectively copying not only their memories and chakra, but also their bloodline and lifeforce as well. However, the sealing technique had a physical impression as well, able to interact with physical objects and, thus, able to be used in real life scenarios to enhance combat and locomotive capability.
Uzumaki Kushina was infamous for their use, using them after they awakened during the kidnapping attempt she was victim of to become a feared kunoichi. Where the Yondaime was hated in Iwa for his decimation of a quarter of the entire Iwagakure and Kumogakure joint forces by himself, Uzumaki Kushina was why they hadn't retaliated. Already having failed an attempt once at possessing her, Kumo faced another severe blow when Kushina consumed a high ranking Kumo Sofuki, which is essentially the Kumo version of the ANBU, and unleashed their own techniques against them with help of the Kyuubi's initial jinchuuriki state resulting in the loss of half of Kumo's ninja force, since Iwa had made a hasty retreat.
Hiruzen was interrupted from his thoughts when Naruto suddenly bolted awake and dry heaved, retching on bare air. Hiruzen made to help the boy, but he was held at bay with a raised hand. Naruto coughed badly for another minute or so, before abruptly stopping with a loud burp.
Hiruzen arched an eyebrow, while internally anxious.
Naruto looked at his surroundings, then hopped off the table he was laid on, turning to the Hokage and bowing respectfully. "Hokage-sama."
Hiruzen sighed. It seemed that Kushina was right, absorbing the memories of someone also resulted in absorbing personality. It seemed Mizuki's true personality and Naruto's own meshed together to form this amalgam. "Rise, Naruto-kun." Naruto stood, and Hiruzen had to work hard to conceal his grandfatherly tendencies. Naruto's once blue irises were now blazing orange, and his sclera a pitch black. His pupils seemed to be shining from within with a bright yellow light. "Your eyes…."
Naruto cocked his head to the side and then closed his eyes in concentration, opening them to reveal his old cerulean-blue eyes. Hiruzen frowned. "It seems, gaki, that you have awoken a dojutsu."
"Not exactly, Hokage sama." Naruto said, dipping his head a little in apology to the contradiction. "The Mofuko kekkei genkai leaves its users with these eyes naturally, as the line first began when an ancestor gave birth while in chameleon sage mode. These eyes are simply a reminder of that very fact."
When the Sandaime gaped, Naruto gave off a frustrated sound and gestured to the Hokage's tea, urging the man to continue drinking before beginning to explain what he learnt from Shiro's memories.
When Naruto finally left bearing a black-cloth hitai-ate, with the use of a soundless shushin that left no trace, Hiruzen fell into a meditative thinking state until Inu and Neko emerged from the shadows a few hours later.
"To think that Suzume was a spy…" Neko began, fists clenched.
"Don't dishonor him that way." Inu chastised. "Suzume was an ANBU for longer than seven years, while this imposter only emerged recently. Your mentor is still untainted! I can only imagine the fight he must have put up, being a master of his trade. May he rest in peace."
"Inu is correct." Hiruzen said, and the two ANBU agents straightened when they recognized his Hokage voice. "As of now, summon Tora and Hebi. They have an important delivery to make to a certain toad who has been out of his pond for too long."
Inu almost shuddered but restrained himself. He was just glad he wasn't going with Hebi on this one.
"As for you, Inu, you may remove your mask." The Sandaime commanded.
Inu sighed, and smoothly slid his mask off, revealing a half facemask further below that one and an eyepatch covering his left eye. "I know I agreed to be a Jonin for the Uchiha, Hokage sama, but I'll be damned if you keep me away from Naruto after today an-"
"I was going to suggest he be on your team, Kakashi." Hiruzen said, setting his chin on his clasped hands. "While Naruto has certainly changed, especially if what we know about the Uzumaki Fuinkusari from Kushina is true, he will still need moral guidance and a gentle hand when it comes to guiding him on using this newfound gift, not to mention putting into practice what he… assimilates. Currently, he has more reason than anyone to leave the village, and you very well know what actions the council will resort to if this comes to pass."
Kakashi seemed lost for words, and soft chuckles could be heard from behind the cat mask Neko wore. The Sandaime sighed, before standing and walking to the window that gave him a view of Konoha and the Hokage Mountain. How many sacrifices had he made for this village? How much had Naruto suffered to maintain the illusion of peace? Sometimes he wished Danzo and he were back like what they used to be – rivals, but rivals who helped each other. Now, thy were simply enemies. The Professor and the war Hawk… both poised over the village like common thugs over loot. But where Hiruzen wanted to protect his village, Danzo wanted to…
Now was not the time.
"Since his grades have been abysmal, making him the dead last, I do not believe this will be an issue. The Rookie of the Year with the academy dead last… we could add in the Academic of the year to make it more believable." Hiruzen continued. "Haruno Sakura, I believe."
Kakashi's single visible eye bugged out. "Haruno?! Granddaughter of Haruno Nisha?! She enrolled? I'm surprised her parents let her."
"I do not know how she pulled it off either, but I won't look a gift horse in the mouth." Hiruzen said, a smile tugging on his lips although he fought to stay in serious mode. "Most of the ANBU and Jonin know exactly how much Ichigo hates his mother for dying in the middle of a battle, no matter if anyone else knew her identity or not. I believe being a father softened his heart to his daughter's ambitions, even if he disliked his mother being the shinobi world's genjutsu mistress, so much so, that no one but her husband, son, and I knew exactly what her face looked like."
Kakashi sighed, dropping his head in thought. "We'd be the perfect frontline time if all things pass ideally. Sasuke, once broken out of his current phase, could be a potential taijutsu combat master, especially using his Sharingan to predict and copy. Naruto, having such high reserves and near limitless potential, could be a ninjutsu powerhouse. Sakura, falling into her ancestor's footsteps, a genjutsu user with no rival, especially so since Haruno Nisha had married into the family from the Kurama Clan. These three together could just be the next big deal."
"Which is the reason you need to be careful, Kakashi." Hiruzen said finally turning away from the window and looking at the copy-nin dead in the eyes. "They have untapped potential, but potential goes both ways. I can't have you holding back when I'm handing such resources to you on a silver platter." He then sighed, and retook his seat. "However, they still are children, so be careful to gauge their limits. And act accordingly. While you yourself are an exceptional ninja, you have never before taught children of this age after… that incident. Just be careful."
Kakashi nodded solemnly, making a promise to himself not to slack off.
"Now then, that is all. Kakashi, prepare for the Team selections in one week. You are only allowed to be late on the first day." The Hokage said, smirking. Neko let something out that sounded suspiciously like a cough. "I want a rough report on each week's activities on my desk every Saturday, and I definitely want to be notified if Sasuke or Sakura awaken their bloodline, or Naruto assimilates another ninja. Am I understood?"
"Hai, Hokage-sama." Kakashi said, tilting his head in acquiesce.
"Good. Dismissed." Hiruzen said, thoughts drifting to Naruto, and wondering where he was at the moment. He only hoped the personality merge had not corrupted the boy beyond help.
Meanwhile, on top of the head of the Yondaime at the fabled Hokage monument, if one were to look closely, they would see a figure sitting.
Immediately after talking with the Hokage, he had sneaked into a shinobi clothing store and stolen an ensemble. Now garbed in a sleeveless red unzipped hoodie over a bare torso, black knee length cargo shorts, and black shinobi sandals, Naruto stared at the orange clothes of his past, folded next to him. His new black cloth konoha hitai-ate held his jacket in place, being tied though the edge of the seams of the zipper sides, leaving a gap the size of the metal plate. A black version of his goggles was firmly secured over his eyes.
He had spent hours wandering through the village before that action. He spent hours remembering every interaction he had with those he deemed 'friendly', or even 'civil'. Were they all lying to him? Was he forever destined to be toyed with, lied to, and cheated?
The young boy stood, and sniffed once. He gazed out over the village he once called home, deciding it truly wasn't worth the effort to reverse his fame entirely and get them to acknowledge him, no. If everyone lied to him, why should he bother?
He wiped his eyes dry. 'No more.' He thought, expression morphing from agonized to stony. 'What I said in the forest was purely heat of the moment, but I meant it. This village has given me nothing but pain, so I will not bother. In fact, I'll give them pain right back.'
With a throw that seems well rehearsed, he flung the tracksuit and goggles into the air, and sent an exploding tag attached to a kunai straight at it.
There was a soft yet fiery explosion, and he could see burning strips of orange cloth drift down towards the village below.
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto whispered, unshed tears glinting in his unblinking eyes as he stared at the clothes that was once a part of his identity. "And I swear to myself, I will find out the truth, be it as an angel... or a demon."
