Demon on Puppet Strings
By
Ragnorokrising
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Chapter One: Silver Sand
Naruto didn't remember the trip through the desert, or when he got separated from the ANBU and the Hokage, but somehow he had arrived in a strange alley. He ran a hand over the wall, and found an indention. He squinted and saw the faded red paint in the shape of scorpion. Naruto pushed on it, and the ground beneath him fell away.
He was sent shooting down a slide, and landed on an old mattress in a large room, which quickly filled with dust. Naruto started coughing violently, and when he stopped, the dust had settled revealing the room. Hanging on the walls were wooden body parts, weapons, clothing, scrolls and even some bags full of hair. Naruto was wondering what this room was, when an image of a teenager popped up from a seal.
He was five foot six, with short, spiky red hair, dressed in a black cloak with red clouds on it. "Attention whoever found this room. My name is Sasori of the Red Sand. I am the greatest puppeteer of all time. My prowess is unlimited. My age is unending. Within this room you will find parts for a puppet, as well as the scrolls containing all of my knowledge up to this point. I leave this for Suna. As one last mocking acting on its people."
The image flickered away, and Naruto began to search through the scrolls. He pulled one down that said Beginnings of Puppetry on it and opened it up. Inside were several diagrams, showing how to make something called chakra strings. Naruto turned his head to the side in confusion. "What the crap is chakra?"
He went searching through the scrolls until he found one that explained chakra to him. Then he returned back to the first scroll. He followed the instructions and reached out towards a puppet arm on the wall. It twitched and started to lift up off its hooks, but clattered back into place. Naruto clenched his teeth and tried again.
For the next week, Naruto trained with the chakra strings. Eventually he was able to easily move the arm with only one finger. At the end of the week, he was spinning it around the room, when a bat flew down from the ceiling. There was a click and a blade flew out of the arm and into the bat, pinning it to the wall.
Naruto smiled and pulled the arm back. He opened up the scroll again, and smiled at the title of the next section, Making Your Own Puppet, and began to read. It took him three hours to read the whole section, because even though he was seven he couldn't read very well. But once he was finished, he quickly found all the tools he would need.
He examined the tools carefully. He had three screw drivers, four swords, a torso, a head, some hair, a blow torch, a zanbato, a device to fire senbon, kunai and shuriken, a tail, a blow torch, some poison, oil, and a demon windmill shuriken. He began to assemble the pieces using the instructions inside Sasori's scroll.
It took another month to get it down, but when it was done, the puppet had the body of a man about to be in his twenties, with spiky silver hair. The eyes were red with fox pupils, and a mouth full of fangs. The jaw could open up large enough for shuriken, senbon or kunai to be fired out. It was dressed in a tattered back cloak, and had the large zanbato strapped to his back. The inside of his left arm was filled with the oil, with the blow torch built into the wrist. The right arm was could shoot out poison. The demon windmill shuriken and the katana were strapped to his back. The tail was covered in more silver hair, and could split into four pieces that fired weapons.
Naruto examined the puppet. He smiled, putting his hands on his hips, and said, "I'll name you Quick Silver." With a few finger movements, he began to test out the puppet. Once he was satisfied that everything was in order, he grabbed a large backpack from the corner. He began stuffing all the remaining tools and parts and scrolls into the bag.
Naruto moved his fingers in a complex pattern and the back of Quick Silver opened up revealing a hollow shell. Naruto climbed in and the back closed up. Quick Silver pushed the bag in with Naruto and they took off. He climbed up the chute like a spider and shot out of the hole and into the air. Quick Silver landed on the roof of the building by the chute. Instantly, he was surrounded by the Konoha ANBU, the two Kages, and several Suna ninja.
"Oh calm down Sarutobi. It's just a puppet." They started to leave, when the back split open and out popped Naruto.
"Hey old man how's it going?"
"Naruto!" the Hokage shot forward and wrapped Naruto in a bear hug. "Where have you been? And whose puppet is this?"
"I found this old cave with a bunch of scrolls and parts in it and made this puppet. Watch this."
Quick Silver shot up into the air and did a flip. As it did, the flames ignited, turning the puppet into a spinning flame wheel. Naruto jerked his fingers, and the flames exploded outward. Quick Silver landed next to him and clicked a few times before becoming still. All the ninjas stared in shock as Naruto moved the puppet around in complex patterns.
"Well Sarutobi, it seems you have a natural puppeteer here." The man took off his hat, revealing a kind face with a burr of dark brown hair. Suddenly he straightened up, and his faced hardened. "What is it you want Gaara?"
"I was just wondering what all the commotion was." Said a tiny voice. A small boy appeared on a cloud of sand, dressed in a light brown shirt and pale blue pants. He had a bright crop of red hair and a blue scarf.
"Sarutobi, Konoha-nin, this is my son, Gaara. He is our village's Jinchuuriki."
The Hokage gasped. "You turned your own son into a Jinchuuriki?!"
"Did your fourth Hokage not do the same?!" the Kazekage yelled back.
The Hokage glared at him. "That is an isolated incident." He said. He threw a glance at Naruto. The Kazekage calmed down and turned towards Gaara, only to find him and Naruto playing together.
"They must know they are a sort of family." One of the other ninja pointed out. Sarutobi began to stroke his beard.
"You don't seem to like your son."
"Truthfully, we're all afraid he'll lose control one day and kill us."
"Well, I could take him off your hands. Maybe one day fix his seal."
The Kazekage considered it. Then he saw Gaara lift a gleeful Naruto into the air with a burst of sand.
"Well Sarutobi, I'll trade you Gaara for supplies. We're running low on medical herbs and tobacco."
"You got yourself a deal Lord Kazekage."
(Time Skip)
Gaara stared back at the gates of Suna as they slowly grew smaller and smaller. The Kazekage's eyes bore through him, even at that distance, but there was something inside them. Anger? Rage? Disappointment? Or could it be…regret?"
Gaara turned away and began to talk to Naruto.
An ANBU in a weasel mask appeared and whispered to the Hokage. The old man nodded and turned to the two smiling boys playing with each other.
"Naruto, could you and Gaara get inside your puppet for a while? We have to rush back to Konoha for urgent business."
Naruto pulled back his fingers and Quick Silver exploded up from beneath the sand. It landed on the ground and Gaara quickly pulled the sand from the joints. The back opened up and they climbed in. As soon as the back closed, the puppet was picked up by someone who began running at incredible speeds down through the desert.
(Time Skip)
Two hours later, Sarutobi kicked down the door of the council room. He glared at an older man, whose body was wrapped in bandages. The man had a shocked look on his face as Sarutobi swiped a bowl full of paper from him. On the paper were names and a title explaining that the vote was for a new Hokage.
"Lord Hokage." Said a woman in a red kimono with bright pink hair. "We thought you were dead."
"Sit down Haruno!" he growled. The woman sat back down as Sarutobi walked back and forth. "An assassin was discovered and killed by my ANBU escort. He was sent to kill Naruto, and if possible me, and then to disappear if both were successful. He wouldn't tell us who he was hired by. But that doesn't matter." He stopped and slammed his fist into the solid oak desk, shattering it beneath his fist. "I can't prove that someone from this council was responsible, but if it was, be warned. Next time, I'll have you all executed, guilty or not."
He disappeared out the door, and the council members began to talk angrily among themselves.
Meanwhile, Gaara and Naruto were playing around the village. Villagers shied away when they saw the puppet being controlled by the blond haired boy, and when Gaara used his sand to stop a rotten fruit from hitting them, rumors began to fly.
Eventually, as Gaara and Naruto approached the ninja academy, a group of adult civilians appeared around them.
"So, a pair of demons wants to hurt our children?" one of them said. "I don't think so." The crowd yelled in agreement and jumped on them. Naruto and Gaara were so surprised they couldn't react. But they didn't have to. The sand exploded out from Gaara's body and gourd and wrapped around them protectively. Fists pounded on the shell of sand to no avail. Naruto took a deep breath and connected his chakra strings to the weapons on Quick silver.
The top opened up and the puppet explode into the air. The dome's top closed, and poison spewed from the puppet. As the villagers choked, Quick Silver ignited the poison and it exploded. The explosion drew most of the teachers and some surrounding ninja to the area. As the puppet was pulled back into the dome, a teacher with a scar across his face named Iruka stepped forward.
"Naruto, is that you?"
The dome fell apart and the blonde shot forward and wrapped his arms around the man's waist.
"Iruka-sensei!"
The man laughed and returned the hug. Naruto stepped back and with a huge smile said, "Iruka-sensei, check out my cool new puppet. I made it myself."
Quick Silver jumped over Naruto and landed between him and Iruka. The puppet drew its blade and Naruto had it show Iruka some of its abilities. Students began to come out to see what the commission was. Ninja stared in amazement as this young boy demonstrated one of Suna's greatest techniques.
"Die demon scum!" someone yelled. Three kunai, with exploding notes tied to them, soared through the air. Gaara's sand rushed forward in a wave and engulfed them in a ball of sand. The sphere expanded slightly as they detonated, but other than that nothing happened. The surprise rose as Gaara formed the sand into a gourd behind his back.
The Hokage landed next to Naruto as a group of ANBU carried away a Chuunin. "Ah, this is where you two are. Showing off are we?"
Naruto smiled at Gaara, and the redhead made an attempt to smile back.
"Lord Hokage?" Iruka asked.
"Yes Iruka, how may I help you?"
"I'm guessing Naruto and his friend are going to be enrolled into the academy?"
The Hokage laughed loudly, making smiles spread over most of the other ninjas faces. "Of course. You know I hate to waste talent. That and the fact Naruto would pester me to death all day if he didn't have something to do."
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Well that's the first chapter guys. I hope you all enjoy it.