Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or anything related!
KONOHA STEEL
CHAPTER 1: FOUND IN THE RAIN
If there's anything Hiruma Sheena hated, it was grocery shopping day. Maybe it was because business had been slow for her husband lately. Maybe it was because it had a habit of raining when she went. Then again, it might have had to do with the fact that she had to pass through the more… dangerous areas of Konoha to get home. At any rate, the woman could tell that today was going to be different, and she could not have been more right in her thinking if she wanted to be.
A light rain was falling in the streets of the Hidden Leaf Village. The 24 year old woman was interested in simply getting home, dry, putting the groceries up, and spending time with her daughter. She ran a free hand through her shoulder length, brown hair. She wore a green dress with pink flowers, a pair of green pants, and blue shinobi sandals. As usual, she was making her way through what many called the slums of Konoha. It wasn't really too rundown mind you, but most of the poor, drunk, and least trustworthy citizens of the village lived here. She turned a corner that lead out of the slums, when she heard an outraged shout.
"I found the demon! He's over here!" a rather gruff voice cried.
Sheena couldn't help, but become interested now. She paused as she listened, hearing more shouts coming from an alley on the very street she was on. She dropped the groceries, and immediately followed the sounds of the voices to the alley, gasping in horror at what she saw. A group of angry, noisy men were surrounding a small child. The child was curled up in a ball, crying for someone, anyone to come save it. Sheena could not make out much, but she could tell that the child had golden blonde hair, and was bruised, muddy, and scared for his life. Immediately, the woman dashed forward, shoving the men out of the way.
"What the hell do you idiots think you're doing?!" she shouted as she went over to inspect the child.
"Get out of the way woman! Don't you know who that is?" one of the men shouted, one she recognized to be a Chuunin by the vest he was wearing.
Sheena eyes narrowed down on the child, and then she gasped in surprise as she looked the body over. It was a small boy, one who couldn't be older than six. He had golden blonde hair, deep ocean blue eyes, and tan skin. The most catching thing about him though, were the three whisker-like marks on each of his cheeks.
"This… This is…" she began.
"Right. It's the demon brat…" one of the men in the attacking group smirked. "The curse and nightmare of Konoha. He's trapped, and we have him right where we want him."
Sheena narrowed her eyes and walked closer to the boy. His eyes widened in fear as he backed away, trying to hide himself in the rags that you would have to be desperate to call clothes. She could here the boy sobbing in fear, tears running down the whiskered cheeks as his body began to shake.
"Please… Please don't hurt me anymore…" the child choked. "I didn't do anything… I… I just wanted to get something to eat…"
Sheena reached out and put her hand against the boy's cheek shakily. The boy slowly looked up at her, as the tears of fear and sadness raced down his cheeks. She rose to her feet and turned to face the group of attackers. The Chuunin of the group smirked as he walked forward and drew a kunai, licking the blade in anticipation.
"You see? It's the demon brat!" he shouted. "Now move so we can finish what the Yondaime started, and that fool the Sandaime stopped!"
"Not on your life…" Sheena replied. The small child looked up in surprise as the woman reached into a pouch on her belt and drew three kunai. "I will not let you harm this child… He's done nothing wrong."
"Tch… Figures we run into a sympathizer…" a rather fat man said in the group. Sheena could smell the sake hanging on his breath. "No matter, one dead woman with the brat won't make a difference."
The group began to move towards the woman and child. Pure killer intent was raining down upon both of them. Sheena could feel the boy grabbing hold of her pants leg, as if she was his anchor to life. The woman smiled weakly at him, before returning her attention to the group.
"I'm warning you…" Sheena spat. "Back off!"
"Or what?" the Chuunin asked.
"Or else I'll get involved." a voice replied.
The group looked around in confusion just in time to see a Jounin drop off a nearby roof, landing gracefully in between the attackers and ones being attacked. The woman couldn't make out much, other than he had spiky, silver hair that defied gravity and a mask that covered the lower part of his face. His Konoha hitai-ate was covering his left eye, leaving only the right one uncovered on his face. The Chuunin gasped in surprise and turned back to group.
"Shit, it's Kakashi! Everyone get out of here!" he cried.
The group turned to run, but before they could get far they found themselves surrounded by a group of ANBU. Sheena sighed in relief as she knew the child was safe. The group secured the men and teleported out of the area.
"Arigato…" she told the Jounin.
He turned back at the woman. A smile was evident on his face as his uncovered eye formed a "U" as it shut.
"No problem…" he said. "The boy's father was a friend of mine. It's the least I could do."
He disappeared in a swirl of leaves, leaving Sheena and the child alone. The woman turned to the boy, and knelt down to his eye-level. He still shook some as the tears in his eyes were still evident. She felt a lump in her throat as she put a smile on her face.
"That was a close one… Are you alright?" she asked.
"Y-yes…" the child replied. He looked up at her with those blue eyes that Sheena seemed to become lost in. "A-are you g-gonna hurt me too?"
"No… Of course not…" Sheena replied. She looked up as the rain started to stop, and then back at the child. "Tell me, do you have a name?"
"N-Naruto…" the boy replied.
"Well then, Naruto…" Sheena said. "How would you like to come home with me? I could clean you up, maybe get you a fresh change of clothes, and maybe even give you something to eat… What do you say?"
The boy hesitated for a moment, but then nodded his head in agreement. Sheena smiled, and she carried him away from the alley, towards her home.
Meanwhile, a small girl sighed in boredom as she gazed back at the clock hanging on the wall. She was wearing a simple pair of black shirts, and a pink tank top. She had brown hair, both pulled up into two messy pigtails, and deep brown eyes. The girl picked up a crayon, and began to move it across the paper in front of her again. This lasted for about three seconds, before she looked up at the clock and sighed again.
"For Kami's sake, Tenten." a woman sighed as she watched the girl. "Your kaa-san will be home soon…"
Tenten did a pout glare as she looked up at her baby sitter. The woman was wearing a long tan trench coat, a fishnet shirt, a tan miniskirt, and blue shinobi sandals with some ankle guards. She had her hair bulled up into a rather messy bun, with a hitai-ate tied around her forehead.
"Gomen, Anko-nee-chan." Tenten replied. "I just can't help it… Kaa-san never takes this long at the store!"
"Relax, Ten-chan…" Anko said as she ruffled the small seven year old's hair. "She'll be home any second. I know it!"
"How can you tell?" Tenten asked.
"Call it a shinobi's intuition!" the older woman replied with a grin. No sooner had those words left her mouth, did she hear someone stepping up to the front door. "See, that's probably Sheena now! Wait here, and I'll go find out, okay?"
Tenten nodded, and Anko walked to the front door of the house. The door opened, and in walked Sheena. Anko was confused as to why the woman didn't have any groceries in her hands. Sheena simply smiled in response.
"Um… Is there something I'm missing here?" Anko asked.
"You'll see…" Sheena replied. She stepped in a bit and looked around. "Ten-chan? Can you come here for a minute?"
The sound of Tenten running through the apartment was heard. A brown blur dashed past Anko, and leapt right into Sheena's arms. The small girl hugged her mother tightly, and Sheena kissed her on the forehead. Ten-chan's small eyes looked around with confusion in her eyes.
"Kaa-san? Where are the groceries?" the small girl asked.
"Something happened on the way home…" Sheena replied. "It's nothing to worry about though…" She put Tenten down and bent down, looking her in the eyes. "Ten-chan, I have someone I'd like you to meet… Would you like to meet a new friend?"
"Yes!" Tenten shouted energetically.
Sheena laughed lightly and turned around.
"It's ok, little one… Come on…" she said.
Tenten watched as a small boy came out from behind her mother and frowned. She had never seen a kid that looked so bruised and unhappy, and it made her feel sad. She slowly walked to the boy and hugged him. He tensed up at the touch, but found himself slowly returning the hug.
"My name is Tenten." the little girl told him. "What's your name?"
"N-Naruto…" the boy replied.
"That's a cool name!" Tenten replied. "Your name means maelstrom!"
"Um… Arigato…" Naruto said back.
Sheena bent down to the kids eye level and put her hand on Tenten's shoulder.
"Ten-chan, why don't you take Naruto into the other room to color, why I talk to Anko-chan for a bit, okay?" she asked her daughter.
Tenten nodded enthusiastically, and drug Naruto into the other room with a smile on her face. He looked back at Sheena for a moment, but the smile on her face told her that he was alright. He allowed a weak smile on his face as the two kids turned the corner to the room where Tenten's coloring book and crayons were. Sheena sighed in relief that Tenten took to Naruto so well, but Anko was speechless.
"That was…" she began.
"Yes…" Sheena responded. "Uzumaki Naruto, vessel for the Kyuubi…"
"What happened to him?" Anko demanded. "It was those goddamned villagers again, wasn't it?!"
"Yeah…" Sheena replied in a hushed voice. "I just can't seem to figure out why they treat him like that. Even though the Yondaime's last wish was to see him as hero, most of the village still see him as just that damn demon. Not for what he really is…"
"A child." Anko concluded.
"Yes…" Sheena said again. She began to walk to the other room with Anko walking behind. "Naruto would have been finished had I not stopped them for the moment. Thank Kami that a Jounin and some ANBU showed up to help too."
She peered into the other room where Naruto and Tenten were coloring. Tenten was telling the boy a story about her father when he was a shinobi, and the little boy would giggle at the story from time to time. Sheena walked over and put a hand on the boy's shoulder. He jumped for a moment, but when he saw it was her, he allowed a smile to grace his lips.
"You ready for a bath?" she asked happily. Naruto made an audible gulp that caused the two women to laugh. Sheena scooped Naruto up in her arms and walked with Anko back to the front of the house. Tenten followed closely behind
"Well, I'm gonna get out of here." Anko said as she walked out the door. "Talk to ya later, Sheena-chan! Be good, Ten-chan and Naruto-kun!"
As the woman left Sheena turned to Tenten.
"Be a dear and go get me one of your otou-san's old shirts?" she asked the girl. Tenten nodded and bounced up the stairs, while Sheena took Naruto to the bathroom. "I know someone who's a stinky boy…"
"Gomen…" Naruto replied looking down.
"Don't worry about it, Naruto-kun!" Sheena replied. "A nice warm bath will fix that in no time!"
Soon, Naruto found himself standing in a tub with Sheena scrubbing all the dirt, mud, and dried blood out of his hair. She was humming a small song that made Naruto relax somewhat. She really had a pretty voice, Naruto was sure of that. Tenten was downstairs coloring while waiting for her mother to finish up. As Sheena poured another bucket of water over top of the blonde's soapy hair.
"So, Naruto-kun… Where do you live?" she asked. Naruto looked down a bit, and the woman rubbed his cheek reassuringly. "You can tell me."
"Nowhere." the boy replied.
"What?"
"I used to live in a place with a lady, and lots of other kids… She made me leave though. She said no one would ever want me, and I was just a waste of space…"
Sheena felt a lump in her throat as she picked Naruto out of the tub to dry him off. How long had the boy been on his own? Did the Hokage know anything about this? She'd definitely have to talk to him later about this. She reached out and put the shirt Tenten had brought on Naruto, when suddenly, there was a knock on the door. She ruffled his long, shoulder-length blonde hair, and opened the door to reveal Tenten.
"What is it, Ten-chan?" Sheena asked the small girl.
"It's the Hokage!" the small girl cheered. "He's downstairs, with a bunch of guys in masks, and this one man with silver hair! Oh, and he's only got one eye too!"
She nodded and rose to her feet, holding out her hand for Naruto to take, he was still a little reluctant, but he didn't get much choice before Tenten ran up and took his hand. She started dragging him out of the bathroom, down the hall towards where she said the Hokage and others were.
"You gotta see the Hokage!" she told Naruto. "He's the coolest old man in the whole village! And the one eyed man looks so neat!"
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Yeah, I decided to repost this... I don't really know why, but the thought of this story captivated me again. Please read, review, and enjoy.
