The Lone Wolf
Prologue: A Broken Sword
It was a dark and stormy… Jack: Ok, STOP RIGHT THERE!
Author: What do you want Jack?
Jack: You're seriously opening a story like THAT!
Author: Ok fine then. What's your idea for an intro genius?
Jack: Hmm… *whispers in author's ear*
Author: Hmm not bad, but first things first: Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto, not me. All respective characters of said series (excluding OC's) also belong to him.
As the sun set on the horizon, an aging man stood on the balcony of his home looking over the village he had been protecting for the past 15 years as its leader. He turned back inside to pick up where he left off on every leader's greatest annoyance, paperwork. Personally, he would rather have been fishing or playing games with his beautiful wife and 12-year-old trouble making son. *CRASH* 'Speak of the devil,' he thought. 'One week until team placements and he's still a klutz.' "ARASHI! What did I tell you about running in the house!"
The boy entered the room nervously rubbing the back of his head "Sorry tou-san," he said.
The man rubbed his forehead groaning. "Son, you've graduated from the academy. By legal standards you're an adult now. You're being placed with teammates that may have their lives depend on you one day. Could you please be a bit more careful?"
Arashi nodded his head in response. "Okay so what did you knock over this time?" His son led him down the hall to a broken case holding a broken sword before seeing his father take the whole mess back to his office. He then double checked that every piece of the sword was there.
Arashi was rather confused by this and asked his father why he kept and old sword that seemed broken beyond repair.
The old man sat back in his chair recalling years gone by. He stared at the sword several minutes before finally answering, "This sword belonged to a man I once knew rather well. He was a hero, a monster, a pariah, a renegade, a lone wolf. In fact that last bit was what he was most well known as: 'The Lone Wolf.' Since we have a week before you get placed on your team, would you care to hear his story?"
Arashi nodded again, half-heatedly as he was half-expecting another boring history lesson like the ones the just finished hearing at the academy.
The father chuckled at his son's expression before beginning. "Normally, wolves are known for hunting in packs. They group together, coordinate their strikes and overwhelm their prey. But not all wolves operate in such a manner. This wolf preferred hunting ALONE."
~25 years ago~
"Safe at last," Jack sighed in relief, having fled from yet another town. "Man! Why does it seem trouble follows me wherever I go? All I did was bump into the guy, and he went nuts on me."
~mini flashback~
*bumps into the guy*
"Hey! Watch where you're going!"
"Sorry about that sir, I didn't mean to bump into you," He said in an attempt to calm things down. Unfortunately for him this guy was in that violent, poor decision making state known as drunkenness.
"Sorry? SORRY! You made me break my sake bottle! SORRY AIN'T GONNA CUT IT PAL!"
"'Oh boy, here we go again.'Look sir, I'm just passing through and I don't want any trouble."
"Yeah well TOO BAD! GET HIM BOYS!" He looked around to find himself surrounded by a gang of thugs.
'Of course the guy has a gang. Hmm, let's see. There's one of me and one, two, three, twenty of them… not the best odds for me, so I guess I need to… LEG IT!' With that thought he knocked out the thug directly in front of him with a chop to the neck and ran as fast as his legs could carry him. As far as he knew he was no shinobi, but then again he had no idea if he had been one at one point as he was faster than most.
~end mini flashback~
"I just can't catch a break, can I?" he asked to the skies, not expecting any answer. 'And now it looks like a storm's coming. Just my luck…'
Jack was a loner. He was that way for as long as he could remember. Of course, most jinchuriki like himself were alone (save for the company kept by their tenants). However, he could not even remember who he was. He had no idea how he could move so quickly, jump so high, or fight. He had no memory, no family, no friends, no home, and nearly no hope. For years he had been wandering aimlessly, until he recently heard of a place where he could live and develop his abilities. So he left the last town behind and continued on his trek to this Konoha along the road, made muddy by the storm that had arrived.
He was Jack: a lone wolf, looking for a place to call home.
Jack: YES! THAT'S HOW YOU DO AN INTRO!
Author: I have to admit. That was better than what I first had in mind.
Jack: Dang straight.
Author: However, next time please remember something.
Jack: Oh yeah? What's that?
Author: I'M THE AUTHOR! YOU'RE THE CHARACTER! STOP DOING MY JOB OR ELSE!
Naruto: I'd listen to him if I were you.
Jack: And… why is that?
Naruto: Because he can make you something you would hate. For example: *whispers in Jack's ear*
Jack: *eyes shoot WIDE open* Right… I'll keep it quiet then.
Author: Some readers may wonder why I removed the story before. I'm not entirely sure why myself, but I know I wanted to do some editing to try improving the story. Hope returning readers like the changes.