Chapter 1: Average Morning Blues
The skies darkened on yet another fall afternoon in the hidden leaf village. The town's folk seemed to walk along with there normal lives, the mountain showing the Hokage's faces carved into its side seemed to be there only guardian. The wind blew madly making the tree branches dance in there silent music, there leaves clapping to the movements of there branches. Everything seemed normal as one young boy looked up into the darkening sky with a soft smile. He was Naruto Uzamaki and he seemed in an average mood, his spiky blonde hair moved with the wind and his blue eyes gazed into the scene. He sat on his bed in his normal clothes, his orange jacket against a chair in the corner of the room. He yawned and planted the back of his head against the cold pillow with a long sigh escaping his lips. He placed his head band on the dresser beside his bed and dozed off into another night of deep sleep.
But somewhere on the outskirts of the town, another set of eyes were wide awake and seemed not to gaze at the sky, more of on the gate to the village where two young guards stood at there posts in the standard green jacket. These eyes seemed empty, blank, lost of all life or care for life. They were a ash grey color and seemed glazed over, the person with these eyes was probably as lifeless as they were. The shadowy figure shifted his foot just enough to let a rather loud sound of crunching leaves, one of the guards reached into his pocket and pulled out a kunai.
"You there come out of the shadows with your hands up!" he cried in a younger male voice, seeming quite afraid.
The other guard seemed asleep at his post, he snored lightly and moved his head back to a more comfortable position, and the young guard was alone with his weapon for now.
"I said come out of there now! I am authorized to use force if necessary!"
The was a soft chuckle coming from the shadows, it sounded like the man had made a grunt but close enough and it was a laugh, he did not step out of the shadows, so the guard threw his kunai dead on towards the man's face, right between the eyes. But by some means the blade stopped, it didn't slow down, it didn't fall, it just completely froze in mid air right in front of the man's eyes. The younger guard gulped and took a step back, before he knew it, his own kunai was flung out and jammed into his throat, the sickening sound of ripping flesh and oozing blood filled the night's air. The young guard fell to his knees and wrapped his hands around his wound, his eyes glazing over.
"It seems I am the one who used force now eh?" came the voice of the shadowed man, he sounded almost like a lay back type of person, like a surfer boy, it was a un-evil voice, but it had a tone to it that made anyone's blood dry out in fear.
A trail in the earth traveled from the shadows and directly under the bleeding man, he didn't do a thing, he made a choking sound from his throat and he was going to fall back, but a long iron blade extended from the ground almost like a hand had thrown it from the dirt, but it had flied out of there with no holder. The blade slammed through the bottom of the guards chin and out of the top of his skull, bone crunched and brain matter flew from his head, a long trail of blood trickled from his head and when the blade removed a waterfall of the warm crimson liquid came from the man's bottom chin. The guard collapsed in a cloud of dust and the blade returned to the hole in the ground.
"Such a simple human." spoke the man from the shadows.
Just as he said that, the sleeping guard awoke with a start, he gasped and looked at his comrade, "Kinaki! What happened?" he asked, hoping for an answer from the dead guard.
The man in the shadows formed a large amount of hand signs and spoke under his breath, "Ninja art of Black Fire, charcoal dragon." As he spoke those words a long black serpent came from his palm, it made a soft growl and charged the guard who was still watching his fallen comrade, and the black dragon slammed into his gut and blew a hole in his back, sending his entrails and organs splashing up against the hard wood gate. The dragon returned to his callers palm and the shadowed man let out a louder chuckle, this one almost maddening.
The Next Morning
Naruto awoke with a yawn and scratched his stomach with another yawn, he rose from his bed and put on his orange jumpsuit like any other day, but this time leaving it unzipped, he walked out of his home and searched for the Ramen Shop in town. He had enough change for a couple bowels so he had to make it last. When he reached the shop the owner nodded as he walked in.
"Good morning Naruto, how's the ninja life going?" asked the kind man.
Naruto shrugged with a sigh, "Boring, Kakashi Sensei has not shown up for training for the last few days, and the Purvey Sage is out of town on some 'business' trip, he is going to another alcoholic town and try to pick up any women there, single of married."
The shop owner let out a soft laugh, "I'll get you the usual, super bowel with beef right?"
The blonde ninja nodded and the shop owner went to work, no one noticed the cloaked man walking into the bar. He wore a straw hat the shadowed his face but his grey eyes seemed to stand out from anything. He wore a black and grey cloak that wrapped around his figure, only letting his feet be seen. He wore a standard pair of sandals that most town folk had as well.
"Hello there, you open?" questioned the man in his different tone of voice, like a surfer boy.
The shop keeper nodded without turning around but Naruto couldn't help but stare, he was entranced by the empty grey eyes the man had. The figure looked to Naruto for a split second but returned his gaze to the shop owner as he placed the large bowel of Ramen in front of the ninja.
"Thank you." spoke the young ninja as he dug into the Ramen, his mouth watering waiting for the flavor.
"What would you like stranger?"
The cloaked man looked at the board with all the selections, "Give me the Mega Bowel with Chicken and Beef."
The shop keep smiled and looked at him, "You know how big that thing is don't ya? Do you have a little lady friend coming by to help you finish it?"
The shadowed man let out a soft chuckle and shook his head, "No I haven't eaten in a couple days, and I bet I could eat a full cow."
The shop keeper nodded and went to work, the cloaked figure looked at Naruto and let out a soft laugh, "Hey there, that head band means you're a ninja right?"
Naruto nodded and slurped his Ramen, "You got that right. Why, you a ninja?"
"You could say that, I'm a traveler looking for all sorts of trades."
Naruto nodded again, "So you're a merchant ninja? Never heard of that kind of profession before."
"No, I am a ninja, but I like the trade profession. I am what some call a rouge ninja, but I like all other villages, I want to see the world." he smiled and scratched in the shadows.
Naruto nodded and watched as the shop keeper placed a huge bowl of Ramen in front of the stranger, he eyed it almost like a child and began to dig into the piles of fresh noodles,
"I never caught your name Mr. Rouge Ninja sir; I'm Naruto Uzamaki by the way."
The man chuckled and slurped his Ramen and made a loud gulping sound, "The names Michael Subotski, but everyone calls me Cha."
Naruto eyed him with a little suspicion, "Why do they call you Cha?"
The man picked up the large bowl and took in a large mouthful of noodles, "For chakra, I have a lot of it in my village I was the top in my class. I can never run out, if I do I must have fought a village." he laughed.
Naruto was going to say something witty but a long haired ninja ran into the shop. He looked like a standard guard and approached Naruto, "Master Kakashi needs you to join him in the main gate! He says it's very urgent! I have already located your team members and they are waiting!"
Naruto nodded and bowed to the shop keeper and to Cha, "It was nice meeting you Cha." And he ran out of the bar and began to charge to the main gate.
The rouge ninja chuckled and watched him leave with a large grin on his face, "The feelings mutual Naruto Uzamaki."
At the Main Gate
Naruto swung down from a hanging tree branch to see Kakashi looking at the grim sight of two bloody and mutilated guards; he bit his lower lip not wanting to disturb him in his thought.
"I guess I don't even need to tell you what happened." came the always calm voice of his sensei.
The blonde ninja nodded with a frown
"Sasuke is searching through the forest with Sakura, I want you to snoop around the village; whoever did this is still in the city I can just feel it. But we can't be to sure, find anything suspicious come back to here immediately the faster we can get through this the better."
Naruto nodded and zipped off to look through the village, Kakashi sighed and turned around coming face to face with Guy, "Kakashi you old dog, how are ya?" asked his bowl haired comrade.
Kakashi shrugged and walked with Guy down the pathway, "Have you seen anything suspicious?"
"Actually yes I have, the Ramen shop owner says there was a rogue ninja in his shop earlier with Naruto. He said they chatted for a while and when Naruto left so did the strange man.
Kakashi eyed the scene again and turned back to face Guy, "This is dangerous, whoever killed these guards was using a forbidden style."
Guy looked confused but nodded, "What style would that be?"
"Black fire, I found strange charcoal on there bodies, usually charcoal is black but this was a soft blue, almost ocean blue. It took me a moment to realize it. Guy I believe we are in a much deeper situation then anyone would have thought."
From the shadowed forest the cloaked man named Cha listened in, his grey eyes seemed almost joyful but still a hateful dull.
"Oh yes, you are in way over your heads."
While he turned he heard a sound so familiar it couldn't be true, breathing, and crunching leaves, someone had snuck up on him.
So what do you think? This is my first Naruto fic so I would appreciate it if I didn't get flames, if you don't like it just say I need to work on some things, I hate getting flames for no reason.
Shadey