Jeez... I'm just kicking out new story after new story, huh?
Anyways, if you've read 'Return of the Avatar' (more importantly, the A.N. Intro), then you've probably noticed the little part that said I was trying to publish a new story that was still in the works.
This is not that story.
This story was started on a complete whim, that (hopefully) doesn't bomb completely within five chapters or so.
(I mean, I love to write Fanfiction, but I seriously feel like I suck at it sometimes...)
So... yeah.
Also, this has been inspired by a story I've read. I'm trying to keep it from being plagiarism, so PLEASE don't say I'm plagiarizing someone's work! That's the LAST thing I want to do!
Now, info on the other works... 'RotA' is almost through it's second chapter! I was working on it, and then, suddenly, things stopped completely. (I'm literally writing this little bit only a few minutes after said stop) So, in an attempt to divert my finicky muse, rather than lose it completely, I'm starting this.
Everything else is still at it's same point. Nothing was changed, except I added several hundred words to 'Burning Up', which has it's beginning and end, but the middle is envisioned but not reality. Again, a work in progress.
Alright! Let's start this bad boy!
Do not own Naruto or TF2. Also, do not own the original plot bunny, so please don't hate me if you see similarities!
(October 10th, Six Years after Kyuubi Attack on Konoha)
...
..
.
It was his birthday today.
...not that anyone else cared.
...
He was seven years old today.
...not that anyone was happy for him.
...
He has been living by himself for almost three years now.
...not that anyone felt sorry for the poor boy.
Scratch that, the poor 'demon', as they so lovingly called him.
...
..
.
Naruto Uzumaki, age seven, had been living a miserable existence for the past seven years; basically, his entire life. On the day of his birth, seven years ago, a monster, known as the Kyuubi no Kitsune, had rampaged throughout the Village Hidden in the Leaves, Konoha, which happens to be the birthplace and home of young Naruto. The Kyuubi was always spoken of in fear; a humongous, nine-tailed orange fox, with so much power, a flick of it's paws could bring down a mountain. The Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, however, had put up an amazing defense against said monster, saving most of the village from the beast before killing it himself; though this was not without a price.
The Hokage had died in the battle, along with many shinobi and civilians, leaving many to mourn for their losses. In honor of their sacrifice, the village would put on a festival on the anniversary of the defeat of the Kyuubi. There was food, games, a parade, all the works, really...
...at least, that's what he had heard.
Naruto, in the few years he had been alive and aware, had not once seen this festival in person. This was even more surprising with the fact that it was his birthday, but no one else would allow him to step within a fifty-yard radius of the festival.
You see, for as long as he could remember (which was not very long a time), almost the entire village of Konoha despised the poor boy. There was never an explanation for their actions. It sometimes seemed as though he was hated simply for living, although he expected some people to scorn him for being alive.
He had heard stories, you see, about that day. All the demonic energy that was released with the death of the Kyuubi had, unfortunately, poisoned all newborn children in the hospital, except for him.
So, when he heard cries of "Demon!" aimed towards him, it was likely they believed he was a demon himself, able to survive the taint of the Kyuubi.
"There's the demon now! Let's get him!"
Speaking of which...
He had been walking home from the Training Grounds.
After he joined the Ninja Academy a year ago, he had quickly become famously known as the 'dead-last' of his class. Simply put, he sucked in almost every single aspect of shinobi skills. He could never focus enough to listen during History, he was terrible in Math, his handwriting was barely legible, his aim with kunai and shuriken was shoddy at best, and he could never pull off a successful Clone Jutsu. His only saving grace was his insane stamina; it kept him in the front of the pack during physical exercises and Taijutsu spars.
So, in an effort to become better, Naruto would head out to Training Ground 9 after school and practice his Clone Jutsu. Of course, practicing the wrong way to do something is never a good idea, but Naruto wasn't a very logical person to begin with. So, he'd spend hours trying to make a successful clone, only for it to be nothing but smoke, or to look like it was near death. And, no matter what, Naruto could never figure out why. After several hours of this, he would give up and go home, exhausted from his overuse of chakra.
On his way home, night fell quickly, causing the streets to fade out of sight and leaving him barely able to tell where he was going. So, in a rare moment where Lady Luck didn't watch over him, Naruto ended up right at the edge of the parade.
Which led to his current predicament: running away from the angry villagers.
...
..
.
The chase had gone on for several hours, most of which was running. In a few rare instances, he was able to lose the mob long enough to hide and rest for a few minutes, after which he'd attempt to make his way home before being found again; this cycle would continue several times before Naruto ended up over by the southern gate into the village.
'I'm not gonna be able to make it home tonight with this many people searching... maybe the forest will serve as a better home for the night...' With that thought being his only available option, Naruto quickly darted outside the village walls before anybody saw him. Or, at least, he tried not to be seen...
"The demon is running through the gate! After him!"
Kami... curse his luck tonight...
He was able to put a good distance between them and him, and was faster than them regardless. If he was lucky, maybe there was a cave or a-
"AHHH!" Searing pain tore through his right shoulder, as something had pierced it all the way through. He fell to the ground in a blind panic, as pain overcame his desperation. Looking down, he saw the tip of a kunai point torn through his shoulder, thrown from...
"Well, well, well... looks like I caught a fox in a trap."
Mizuki.
He was one of the Chuunin instructors at the Academy, and he really had it out for the blonde. Every mistake he made would be ridiculed on in front of the entire class, a less-than-perfect ended up as a zero on his tests (which, oddly, had questions that no other students might have gotten), and any questions he had over the day's lesson or the taijutsu instructions were promptly ignored or shot down completely.
Seriously, this guy had problems.
Mizuki, grinning evilly the entire time, raised two fingers to his lips before giving off a loud, high-pitched whistle, clearly able to be heard from long distances. The mob quickly gathered.
"Well now, looks like the demon thought he could ruin the festival, did he?"
"He deserves punishment!"
"But what should we do?"
"Burn him alive!"
"Tie him to a tree upside-down!"
"Cut off his fingers and toes!"
"I have an idea..." The mob turned to see a stranger wearing all-black robes and a hood, preventing anybody from seeing his features, standing right at the back of his crowd.
"I've heard the little demon's dream... the dream of being the Hokage someday."
"NEVER!"
"How dare he do something like that!"
"This is unacceptable!"
"You obviously don't want this happening. So, how should we prevent this dream from ever becoming a reality?" Unsure murmurs projected from the crowd, no one having any good enough ideas. The stranger smiled evilly underneath his hood.
"We seal away his chakra... forever." The mob gasped in shock, never having heard of something like this before.
"How do you plan on doing that?! Sealing ink can always be removed by a seal master!" Mizuki questioned.
"Ink can be removed... but I'm not using ink." The stranger pulled out a metal rod with a pointed end from somewhere within his robes. After quickly clearing a small patch of earth, he ran through some handsigns before spitting out a small ball of fire that set only the area in front of him ablaze. Once he stuck the point into the flames and waited, Mizuki finally understood what the stranger was planning.
And how he wished he could have thought of this himself.
Mizuki turned to the Naruto, who was trying to crawl away using his left arm, and quickly stabbed the boy's hand into the ground with another kunai. While the boy screamed in agony, he quickly ripped off the back of Naruto's shirt, leaving a canvas for the stranger to do his work.
"I hope you scream." Mizuki whispered harshly. Then, he paused as if something occurred to him, and another sick smile spread on his face. "Maybe... maybe I'll make sure you can't do handseals anymore, just in case this doesn't work." Quick as a flash, a kunai sliced it's way through his wrist, completely severing his hand off. Naruto couldn't have screamed any louder, or his vocal chords might've exploded in his throat.
"Just making a contingency plan, in case your method doesn't work, stranger." The figure nodded, still heating up the rod in the fire.
Once the tip was glowing white-hot, it was pulled from the fire before he made his way over to Naruto.
"And now..." the stranger began. "The end of the Kyuubi's dream."
And he began to draw on Naruto's back(1).
...
..
.
Afterwards, when the pain ceased and the cheering stopped, the rest of the mob having given out their own 'justice', Naruto was left where he was. The kunai had been removed, having been used as other instruments of torture, and so, Naruto slowly picked himself off the ground and trudged forward. He didn't care about where he was going, he just needed to find some sort of shelter. He whimpered in pain every time he took a step, his left leg dragging along behind him as he awkwardly hopped on his right to keep moving. Suddenly, an orange glow flashed into life in between the trees, lighting a path for him in the darkness.
Naruto didn't care who it was; he needed help, and this fire was the best chance he had.
Dell sighed as he kept striking the flint. This was why he built things; he'd never be able to survive like this without them. He cracked open his pack of daily rations, and shuddered as he pulled out his dinner... if it could even be called food. All it did was give him nutrition, even if the method of 'how' was absolutely terrible. He quickly choked it down, washing his mouth out with his ration of water (which, thankfully, was real water). Once he finished gagging, he sighed and pulled out a small notebook and a pencil.
...
Okay, hang on... let's start with why Dell was out here in the first place.
He had been fighting the in Gravel War for the past six years or so as the RED Engineer, with the threat of dying having no hold on him, his teammates, nor the BLU team. However, in the past six months, the outside world had been making huge technological achievements; most specifically, Space Exploration. One day, it occured to somebody in NASA to take pictures of the earth from space, and when Redmond, the owner of RED, saw the photos, he was ready to hand over his half of the land to his brother, owner of BLU, in a heartbeat.
An entire landmass that had never been discovered before was seen smack-dab in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Obviously, Redmond immediately wanted to claim it as his own. The Administrator, however, implored him to think ahead, and have someone scout the land out first. Which somehow led to Redmond choosing Engineer as his 20th Century conquistador. After being given nothing but a small sailboat, several months' worth of rations, a set of coordinates, and anything else he owned that he thought would help, Dell had been dropped off at a port in Hawaii and he had soon set sail. Now that he had the time to rest, though, he had a job to do.
As he began writing, he talked aloud to himself. Some time ago, he found out it somehow made it a little easier for him to voice his thoughts while putting them on paper.
"'I first sailed 'long, what I reckon was, a desert that stretched fer miles. I didn' see any signs a' people, though, so I kept 'long the coast. As I kept truckin', the desert soon turned t'a marshland. I would'a stopped there, but the water was deep 'nough that I couldn' walk in it safely, but shallow 'nough that the boat would be done fer iffin' I tried ta sail through; so, I went past it. Finally, I saw this forest land that was the most...'" He paused for a moment, considering. "'Hospitable'? Yeah... that'll work..." He quickly jotted it down before continuing.
"Still, I hadn' seen any people, and I kept sailin' 'long 'til the land curved 'round and headed back out the way I came in. So, I had the option of either sailin' back out and, possibly, findin' no better place to land (which would'a wasted 'bout a week's worth a' rations), or stop here and head in ta the forest. I chose the latter, and I been explorin' for 'bout three days.'" Dell sighed. He stopped writing.
"I jus' don' get it! These weapons I'mma findin' all over these woods look new!... or at least a coupl'a years old..." He looked over to his little collection to see several knife-looking weapons, and some kind of four-pointed star that was sharp and the same metal as the knives. "If there were folks 'round here, I'm just not findin' any of 'em..."
And then, as if Dell's words magically summoned him, a blonde boy staggered into the clearing. Dell dropped his notebook out of shock, and, acting on instinct alone, quickly pulled out his shotgun before aiming at the boy. He instantly regretted it, seeing the boy flinch in fear. And that's when Dell finally noticed the state of the boy: he was covered in scratches, burns, bruises, and stab marks. He looked like he had been used as one of Heavy's punching bags before being given to Medic and Pyro to play with.
Dell instantly lowered the gun and put it on the ground. It seemed to calm the blonde somewhat, and Dell raised his hands to show he was unarmed.
"Hey..." he said softly. "I'm not gonna hurt you; you just surprised me s'all..." The boy just stared at him blankly.
"S-sa...(H-help...)" he whispered, before faceplanting into the ground. Dell, shocked at the turn of events stared at him for a moment. When he did, he saw two of the most cruel and inhumane things ever done to another person. On the boy's back was a pattern consisting of scribbles and lines, branded into the boy's skin. He had seen his Pop brand the family cattle, but it was always a small mark on their rump. This... no one would do this to anything...
Of course, it wasn't as bad as the fact that someone also cut the boy's hand clean off.
Dell finally snapped into action, rushing into his truck before pulling out one of his machines and a medical kit. He ran to the body on the ground and, after placing the machine down (which began to crank and whir as it set itself up), he opened the kit and started treating as many of the injuries as he could with what little first-aid experience he had.
"Come on, kid... don't die on me! Don't die!"
...
..
.
Naruto was floating.
There was nothing but darkness around him.
"Do... on me! Don't..."
Naruto's brow furrowed.
Who was talking? It wasn't a language he knew...
Oh yes, that man. The man with the weird language, and the stick the man pointed at him.
Naruto wasn't sure what the man was going to do with the stick, but whatever...
He was content to just stay here.
No worries
...
No cares
...
No pain
...
Nothing
...
Nothing in the darkness.
...
..
.
"Shit..." Dell breathed. The boy seemed to be breathing steadily, and the wounds were slowly starting to heal.
But this wouldn't be enough.
The Dispenser was designed to heal minor wounds, enough until his teammates could get to Medic. However, there were injuries that were too big for his machine to fix, especially the stump where the boy's hand used to be.
He needed to get the boy back to... somewhere!
...Where did he come from anyways? There had to be people with him; no animal could do damage like this, and the brand was too concentrated and precise for the boy to have done it accidentally or to himself.
Dell swallowed heavily, needing people to get here, and to get here now.
A thought struck him, and he ran back to his tent, searching for the good-luck gift Pyro gave him. Finding it after a few minutes, Dell pointed in the air...
...and fired the flare gun.
...
..
.
The first thing he saw was the mask.
It was a little terrifying, honestly, to see a white mask and nothing else, just staring at him.
Then, people suddenly appeared into existence, enclosing him in a circle.
He had yelled in fright, admittedly, due to his many years of experience with the BLU Spy. One more suddenly appeared in front of him, wearing a mask that looked slightly like a dog, separating him from the boy. The (apparent) leader quickly held a knife in front of Dell's face, prompting the engineer to hold his hands up as a sign of surrender. As he did, he couldn't help but stare in shock at the gravity-defying silver hair the man possessed.
"Anata dare?! Naze anata wa Naruto ni shite iru?!(Who are you?! What did you do to Naruto?!)" Dell stared at the man (at least, he assumed it was a man). stunned that the man was speaking perfect Japanese, as far as he could tell.
"I don't speak Japanese... I'm sorry." The masked man tilted his head, like he was confused.
"Anata wa nani o itte iru no? Watashi wa anata o rikai shite inai...(What did you just say? I can't understand you...)"
"Watashitachiha, Hokage-sama ni Inu-san o tsureteiku hitsuyō ga arimasu. Kono hito wa doko ni demo kono atari karade wa nai yōdesu...(We should take this guy to Hokage-sama, Inu-san. This guy doesn't look like he's from around here...)" one of the masked people in the circle said to the leader.
"Shinken ni, kono otoko wa kite iru fuku o mitekudasai!(Seriously, look at the clothes he's wearing!)"
"Watashi wa, jibun jishin de sore o kangaedashi dōmo arigatōgozaimashita, baka!(I figured that out on my own, thank you very much, idiot!)" he barked back. He snapped his fingers, and two of the masks quickly grabbed Dell's arms. Dell struggled to get free, and managed to get his arm free before pointing to the boy.
"KARE O TASUKERU!(HELP HIM!)" Dell yelled. Everyone froze, as they heard the man, who was speaking a completely foreign language before, say something they understood completely. The leader silently stared at Dell, who swallowed nervously. Did he say it wrong?
"Kare... o... tasukeru?" he said, more like a question this time. The leader crouched down and studied the boy. There were fresh bandages covering wounds, and that strange metal box that had chakra flowing into Naruto was, slowly, healing the scratches and burns. He stood back up and turned to the stranger in the yellow helmet, before nodding his head and giving a thumbs-up. The man sighed, glad that they seemed to be on the boy's side.
"Watashi... tasukeru... kare. Hai?(I... help... him. Yes?)" Inu nodded, and the man sighed in relief again, before staring intently at him. "Shōsaina tasuke!(More help!)" Inu nodded again, and turned to his subordinates.
"Darekaga sugu ni byōin ni kare o eru!(Someone get him to the hospital immediately!)" One who was wearing a mask that resembled a hawk, slightly, came forward, grabbing the boy's arm, and quickly disappeared with the boy in tow. Dell stared at the spot where the blonde used to be, gaping like a large-mouth bass.
Inu saw this, and wondered. 'How can he be shocked at the use of chakra? Maybe he's just never seen a ninja before...' He walked up to the man in the yellow hat, and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Kuru.(Come.)" Dell nodded, glad he understood that part, and the world suddenly seemed to shift. One moment, he was sitting in the middle of a forest, the next, he was suddenly sitting in an office with panoramic windows and an old man sitting at a desk. The old man seemed surprised at his sudden arrival, and stood up to greet him.
Of course, that was when the nausea and dizziness kicked in. Dell held his stomach in pain as he wobbled on his feet slightly. The old man looked to the masked-man, completely confused.
"Kare wa mae ni Shunshin o heta koto ga nai no ka?(He's never gone through a Shunshin before?)" The mask quickly shook his head 'no'.
"Hokage-sama, watashi wa kono otoko ga imademo mae ni chakra o mite iru to wa omowanai... (Hokage-sama, I don't think this man has ever even seen chakra before...)" came the reply.
...
..
.
Sarutobi sighed.
So... that had finally started.
"ANBU! Leave the room immediately! No one is allowed to listen in to this conversation!" he ordered, his 'God of Shinobi' side showing for an instant.
"Sir..." Inu started. "We don't speak the same language as him. What conversation would you have with the language barrier?" Sarutobi smirked.
"I... have my ways... now go." Inu nodded, before vanishing in a Shunshin. Sounds in the ceiling alerted him that the rest of the ANBU Guard had gone as well. He quickly put up the silencing seals and the barrier seal that would keep everyone else out.
Sarutobi finally looked back at his guest who had managed to reorient himself before the puking started. He wore an... interesting outfit, with the yellow helmet and blue shirt, not to mention the overalls and tool-belt. He went over to his drawer, and released the false bottom before pulling out two sheets of paper. He pulled out a kunai, slowly, as to not startle the man, and, after making sure the stranger was watching, pricked his finger with the tip until he drew blood. He then smeared some across the first paper, before cleaning the kunai of his blood and handing both kunai and the second paper to the man. He motioned for the stranger to do the same thing on the other sheet and, after some confusion, the man did so.
Satisfied, Sarutobi went back to his desk and pulled out two pens, one of which he handed to his guest. Sarutobi started writing on his sheet, then looked up and mimed the man looking down at his own paper. When he did, the stranger gaped at the paper like he had just seen a miracle.
(So, for this little portion, Sarutobi's writing will be italicized, and Dell's will be bolded, so that there's no confusion as to who's talking)
"Hello. My name is Sarutobi. Might I ask who you are?" The stranger looked up at Sarutobi in disbelief.
"Sarutobi." he said, placing a hand on his chest, trying to show that, yes, it was his name and his writing. He motioned for the stranger to do the same on his paper.
"Uhhh... Well, sir, my name is... well, my TITLE is Engineer. I'm not allowed to tell you my name, I'm afraid..." Sarutobi's brow raised in amusement. The stranger (Engineer, as he said) was, once again, gaping at the fact that Sarutobi's previous message disappeared once he finished writing.
"It's another trick the paper does. Besides allowing us to communicate (even if it's not very efficient), it saves us the trouble of running out of space on the paper. You and I have a lot to talk about, Engineer-san." Engineer looked extremely confused.
"How is this even possible?! The translation; the writing; the teleporting thing that made me want to throw up, for crying out loud!"
"Let me start off with a question for you: how did you discover this place?"
"Well, Sarutobi, the country I came from had recently decided to take photos of the earth from space; for what purpose, you're guess is as good as mine. Anyways, the photos revealed this landmass just sitting out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, so I was sent here to explore the place. Of course, a storm blew me off course by about twenty miles south, but I made it here..."
"Space?! Your civilization has already discovered space travel?!"
"Yeah. And air travel. ...what's your country's greatest technological achievement so far?"
"Not my country. I am a leader of a village, not the country. We have a Daimyo for that, which, in your language, would be the equivalent of a king. However, in our land, named The Elemental Nations, Frost Country, up in the north, has recently revealed they had made a vehicle called a train. Of course, it is a tiny thing that can barely move five people on it's own power, but they have started making improvements."
"Well, we've made trains as well, along with carts that run without horses, vehicles that can fly people across long distances, and boats that don't require oars or sails to move. Also, the rocket, which is what brings people to space."
"Amazing... after all these years separated from the rest of the world, and we have been left far behind..."
"You mean, you knew about my people?!"
"Of course. The Kages and Daimyos of every village and country, respectively, have had the knowledge passed down through our predecessors ever since we first made civilization."
"What is a Kage?"
"Well... do you know what a ninja is?"
"...you're kidding, right?"
"What? What do you think a ninja is?"
"Like... dressed in black. Not showing their faces by wearing a hood. Using little throwing stars and swords to kill people from the shadows. Things like that."
"You are, actually, completely correct. But we are more than that. The place we are in right now is called a Hidden Village, specifically, the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Take a look if you want." He waved his hand to the window invitingly.
Dell got up from his chair hesitantly, and walked over to the panoramic window surrounding the office. His jaw slowly dropped to match his shocked state of mind.
The village, in a word, was beautiful. The streets were filled with people, happily chatting to each other as they went about their business of the day. There were many stores and houses through out the village, with a modern Japanese style to it (for whatever reason). The village was lines with tall, thick walls of white stone, adding a level of security and safety to the village. The kicker, though, was the giant mountain the village was backed to, which had four faces carved into it, almost resembling Mt. Rushmore in Dell's eyes.
"Sweet Jesus..." Dell breathed. Hiruzen chuckled to himself, guessing (correctly) that Engineer was astounded by what he saw.
"I've been around a lot, and I have never seen such a sight..."
"I understand. I had the same reaction when I first saw the village from the window here." Both men shared a laugh with each other before returning to the conversation. "In any case, what makes us more than the ninjas you described, is that we have an energy within our bodies; an energy that allows us to shoot fire, walk on water, and heal injuries. We call it chakra, and it is the lifeforce of every human being in the Nations."
"Lifeforce? You mean-"
"If someone was to lose all their chakra, they'd die? Yes."
"Damn... But, how come the people where I come from don't have this... 'chakra'?"
"Well,... first off, have you studied genetics?"
"Yeah. The traits that humans acquire from their ancestors."
"Yes, well the humans in the Nations have the gene that gives us usage of chakra. Honestly, all humans have chakra in their bodies. I believe that you simply can't access it, and forgot it over time."
"You mean that you were once connected to the rest of the world?"
"We were, and it was an awful time. Our lands haven't always been divided into countries; before, we were grouped into our clans, which would be all the members of your family. The clans, however, were always at war with each other, causing uncountable deaths of clan members, and innocents. Before the end of the Clan wars, non-chakra users began to fear us, and planned to invade and kill us all. The strongest chakra user in our recorded history, the Sage of Six Paths, decided that we would separate ourselves from the non-chakra users and, by using the power of the Tailed Beasts, split our landmass off of the mainland and sent it deep into the middle of the ocean. He was then able to use chakra and completely hide the landmass from outside view; any ships that made it this far would, somehow, always end up turning backwards by some other force. Thinking that we had vanished completely, they gave up on finding us; however, over time, you had forgotten about us arrival here, however, means that the barrier has finally vanished, which brings you here today."
"That's a lot to take in at once..."
"I understand. Even then, I only gave you a brief history of how we came to be."
"Still, how did every Kage know about this?"
"Well, the Sage kept the knowledge alive in the minds of every clan leader; everyone else just... forgot. After the creation of the Hidden Villages and the different kingdoms, the knowledge remained with the leaders of each country and village, while everyone else lost all knowledge. I'm not certain how, but it seems to be a jutsu of some sort..."
"Jutsu?"
"The techniques we can use with chakra."
"Oh. So, what are the Tailed Beasts?"
"I was hoping you would ask..." Sarutobi pulled a face. "The chakra I just mentioned earlier... imagine that there were nine beings, taller than the mountains themselves, that were completely comprised of chakra." Dell gaped.
"Is that even possible?!"
"It is. The nine beasts are classified by the number of tails each possess; both strength-wise and name-wise. There is the Ichibi no Tanuki, the Nibi no Bakeneko, the Sanbi no Kame, the Yonbi no Saru, the Gobi no Iruka-ba, the Rokubi no Suraggu, the Nanabi no Kabutomushi, the Hachibi no Ushi-oni, and the Kyuubi no Kitsune. Of course, we wouldn't allow such creatures to roam free throughout our world. So, some time before the Clan Wars' end, the first leader of this village, Hashirama Senju, captured each beast and gave them out to the different countries as a balance of power. Fighting a Tailed Beast is something no one would be willing to go up against." Dell nodded.
"Makes sense. It's like a deterrent for war." Hiruzen sighed.
"If only that were the case... we have had three separate wars since the Clan Wars, with the five villages choosing sides and attempting to kill each other." Dell hummed sadly.
"But... where would you keep one of these creatures? There's no logical place for it, unless you plan on burying it miles underground..." Hiruzen chuckled lightly.
"No. We use a branch of the ninja arts known as Fuinjutsu, the Art of Sealing. By using special chakra ink, sealwork can do... almost anything, if you have the mind for it."
"So... this paper we're holding right now..."
"Yes. Seals were written on it so that, when you put your blood on the paper, it automatically translates writing into your own dialect. Both sheets have also been made into 'twins' of a sort, so that what happens on one sheet is copied onto the other."
"You said anything..."
"I did. Sealing objects into a pocket-dimension is beginner-level Fuinjutsu compared to this work."
"Wait, sealing objects?!" Hiruzen raised a finger, and pulled out a sheet of sealing paper from within his desk. He placed a pen on top, and, after putting his hands in the Tora seal, shouted, "Fuin!" There was a puff of smoke, and, after it dissipated, the pen had vanished. Hiruzen then put his hands in the Ram seal, and shouted, "Kai!" In another puff of smoke, the pen returned(2).
Dell's jaw was officially on the ground.
"Yes, sealing objects." Dell swallowed heavily, and returned to his train of thought.
"So, you seal giant monsters into that tiny piece of paper-"
"What, are you crazy?! There's no way a Tailed Beast could be held in an everyday object!"
"But, you just said-"
"Forgive me, I forgot that you had no idea how this works. No, sealing a Bijuu, which is another name for the Tailed Beasts, into a piece of paper... well, if the attempt doesn't kill you, the explosion from when the paper is destroyed just might."
"So, seals do have limits to what they can do, including sealing a mass of chakra into a tiny piece of paper."
"It would be like injecting about twenty tons of chakra into the paper."
"I see... so what do you seal the Bijuu into, if you can't put it into paper?"
"...newborn children."
"WHAT IN TARNATIONGIVES YOU PEOPLE THE RIGHT-"
"Ochitsuite kudasai!(Please calm down!)" Dell huffed angrily, knowing the Hokage couldn't understand him in the first place.
"I cannot believe you people! What would make you do something like that?!"
"It's either that, or let the Bijuu destroy the entire village! These aren't peaceful creatures, Engineer; they would crush you underfoot in a heartbeat, with no remorse! We Kages have to make a choice: either that one person, or our entire peoples."
"...still, that's no excuse."
"I feel terrible every day, Engineer. The person chosen, which we call a jinchuuriki, is destined to a life of loneliness. They are scorned by the civilians, and are the pariahs of the village. Jinchuuriki cannot retain control of the Bijuu forever, Engineer. The seal can falter, the jinchuuriki can die, or, Kami forbid, the Bijuu is willingly released. Most of those people lose family when the jinchuuriki loses control of the Bijuu, and the next jinchuuriki has to bear all of their hatred... and the cycle starts all over again."
"So, that boy..." Hiruzen sighed heavily. This was the moment of truth.
"Yes. He is the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, the strongest of the nine. It has been his burden since birth, and the entire adult population sees him as nothing but the fox itself."
"THAT'S FUCKING STUPID!" Hiruzen stared at the words on the page, jaw on the floor. "Pardon my language. But still! You just said that... sealing an object is like storing an object into another space. If that's the case, then that boy is like a piece of paper; he holds it, but is not it!" Hiruzen stared at the words, before smiling widely.
"In half an hour, you've already understood more about Naruto than the entire village could fathom."
"Naruto's his name then... so, why don't his parents protect him? If letting his entire back get branded while his right hand gets chopped off is 'protection', I'll eat my hat."
"He's an orphan. Both his parents died the night of his birth; the day the Kyuubi attacked our village."
"Then why isn't the orphanage protect- no, wait. I answered my own question."
"You would be correct. He was kicked out at the age of four, and I purchased an apartment for him to live in. He has a weekly allowance for groceries, and the utilities are paid for, but he lives by himself."
"Not one person in this village would want to adopt him?"
"If they do, they either can't afford it or their job is too... much... for them to be able to take care of him effectively."
"I see... where's Naruto now?"
"He's in the hospital. His injuries are being treated by a doctor I do trust with Naruto, so he should be okay within a day or two. He has an unusually high healing rate, allowing him to recover in days what would usually take weeks for a normal person."
"I would like to see him soon... but I need my tools for something."
"Your... tools?"
"Ask one of your masked ninja to bring me back at the clearing they found me. I have something useful there."
...
...
(Half an hour later...)
"Well? Is this workin'?" Hiruzen reached for the paper on his desk, slack-jawed all the while. "No no, you don' need ta do that. Jus' talk ta me normal."
"Engineer?"
"Yep! Do ya like mah invention? It'sa translator device; whatever I say comes out in your language, and anythin' I hear, I hear in mine." Dell explained.
"But- but how do you have our entire language translated already?"
"Oh, that's easy! Y'all are speakin' Japanese!"
"Japa... what?"
"It's an island country off tha coast 'a China, probably right 'round where y'all split away from tha mainland. Tha dialect remains tha same, and it's already in mah machine's database, so it translates perfectly!"
"Is that why you were able to communicate with us in the forest?" Inu suddenly asked from his place next to Dell.
"Naw! That was because I studied Japanese in school! I don' remember much, but I knew 'nough to get y'all off my back."
"Sorry about that, by the way... it's just that-"
"When a stranger is standin' over a bloody kid, while a weird machine is doing some glowy-thing ta him, you'd rather attack first n' ask questions later."
"In a nutshell, yeah."
"Anyways, is Naruto doin' okay?"
"A messenger from the hospital came in while you two were gone. While Naruto is on the mend, there are some... complications... that he needs to know about." Dell nodded.
"Alright. Can I wait fer him ta wake up?"
"Of course you can. I'd think that Naruto would want to meet his savior sooner rather than later."
I'm DONE!
Oh my GOD this took too long to write! I started in August, and it's September!
A.N.'s:
(1): I'm not writing this out. Use your own imagination on how this played out. I'm not a violent guy, and I don't think violent thoughts, so this was a no-no for me.
(2): I don't know if these are the correct hand-seals for Fuin and Kai. Let me know if I screwed up! :)
In other news, I'm leaving for a vacation over the weekend. I'm bringing my laptop, but I'm not sure whether or not I'll have Internet access. If I don't, the chapter will not be updated anytime soon. If I do... probably the same thing.
Check me out on kage-musha742369. tumblr. com (no spaces) to see all my recent work!
Until then,
~Kage Musha