My New Journal, (purchased at the previous town.)
Hi my name is Naru Namikaze and there are only five six people in the entire world who know who I reealy am. The rest of the worlds, and trust I mean the entire world, knows me as Naruto Uzamaki, the extremely loudmouth idiot on Konoha's team 7. Really I could the Old man, who gave me my fake name all those years ago. I mean, fishcake, Co me on! But at the time I had been so happy to be getting a second chance at life, that I hadn't questioned it at all. Anyway, this morning, my team, consisting of broody (Sasuke), Banshee (Sakura), and Oblivious (Kakashi-sensei). You know I really wanted to give Kakashi a nickname starting with B, but I couldn't think of one…oh well…
Naru
P.S. if you're reading this then I'm either dead or in serious danger. Or you're a future version of me. Either way, please ignore the rambling and side notes. Sometime I have trouble keeping my thoughts in line. I blame it on having to act like a boy. Thinking like them is contagious.
-End Journal-
I stood up and popped my neck before closing my journal and quietly activating the binding seal I had engraved on it, sealing it shut. Then I walked out of the tent in my usual rambunctious manner. I was greeted with a glance from Kakashi, a grunt from Sasuke and a screeching "be quiet" from Sakura. Hypocrite. I turned around and rolled up my tent, using the movement to hide my eye roll. Once my stuff was put away I turned to see the rest of the group waiting for.
"To Konoha!" I yelled and leapt off. We soon fell into step and it was only a couple of quiet hours, well as quiet as team 7 ever got, tell we arrived. And it was a good thing to, for I was only a few feet inside the gate when I felt a shiver run up my spine, along with a sense of danger. Shit.
"Hey guys! I got something to do! Give the Old man my regards and if he needs me, he'll know where I am!" I yelled quickly and dashed into the alley. I don't know if any of them tried to follow me, though I doubted it. I had already disappeared into the alley ways that I knew so well.
-X-
"…and then Naruto just ran off."
"Really…" the Hokage of Konoha frowned, as he turned to stare at the calendar. Silently he counted the days until he reached the current date. Seconds later he was off the chair and the calendar was in his hand.
"Hokage-sama…" Kakashi started.
"Yes Kakashi?" the Hokage asked, looking at him.
"Is something wrong with Naruto?"
"You could say that…" he muttered. Turning around suddenly he said, Sakura, Sasuke, your dismissed.
Startled by the sudden dismissal, the two Genin nodded and left.
The leader of Konoha turned to team 7's sensei. "There's something I want you to see. Actually, I wanted to show this to you for quite a while now but I was forbidden from doing so. Now I'm over-riding that decision.
Kakashi blinked as His leader walked over to him and grabbed f=his shoulder. Using his free hand, the Hokage did a rapid series of hand seals. The world blurred and Kakashi stumbled for a second. When the world resettled, he was standing in a dim alley and the Hokage was standing next to him, looking grim. "Let's go." The Hokage walked quickly as Kakashi looked around. They were in the old part of town, the part that never really recovered from the Kyuubi attack. Finally the Hokage stopped at a door, and laid his palm against the door. Seals spread through the entire door and a big part of the front wall lit up and then disappeared. The Hokage stepped inside and Kakashi followed.
"Naruto actually lives across the street, but he's currently .in here." The Hokage stated calmly.
Kakashi looked surprised. "Naruto? But I thought he lived uptown, in that apartment.
The Hokage looked back. "Well he did live there, during the school year. He had to, so he wouldn't be late for class everyday. "I offered to let his stay there full time, or even buy him a house, but he refused." The Hokage lowered his voice and muttered to himself, "And I have got to stop saying 'he', nasty habit." Kakashi, picking up on it, frowned.
The aging man turned a corner and sighed. "I thought so. The seal did wear off."
"What!" Kakashi hand jumped to his kunai pouch, despite knowing they'd make no difference against the demon.
Seeing the motion the Hokage shook his head. "Wrong seal, Kakashi. Come look." Peeking his head around the corner, Kakashi gasped. A young girl lay on the bed. In too large clothing, she looked out of place in the neat room. She faced away from him. Her back was facing him and tangled locks of long blonde hair were sprawled across the bed. "Hokage, what…" Kakashi whispered but the words froze in his throat as the girl reacted to the slight sound, rolling out of bed, a kunai finding a way into her hand as she snapped awake. Facing him, could now see what her position had hid from him. To bright blue eye were set above whisker-marked cheeks. The girl blinked, surprised. "Sen…" her mouth snapped shut as her voice reached her ears and she quickly did a set of hand seals and melted into the background.
"That's…"
"…Naru, who you know as Naruto. Event of years past made a few of us decide that she had to be hid where she'd be safe. The best way we could think of was in plain site." I a quick motion, h is hand snatched out and closed on empty air, which materialized into the back of Naru's tee-shirt.
Ignoring the glare that Naru sent him, The Hokage shoved some money into her hand. "Go buy some real battle gear!" he ordered her.
"But…"
"No buts Naru! I doing something I should have done long ago. Now go and meet me in my office."
Mouth set, she stomped out of the house.
"Umm..." Kakashi said, not sure where to start.
"I'll explain everything back in my office Kakashi, lets go." The two headed back towards the Hokages tower the long way, jumping over the roofs. When they finally settled into the office the old man rubbed his temples.
"You ok, grandpa?" Kakashi turned to see Konohamaru enter the office.
"Yes, I'm just not sure where to start."
"Start on what?"
"Naru's story"
"Oh…so she's finally letting you tell him."
"Not exactly, I'm telling him anyway."
"Oh…so that's why she's storming around the marketplace, looking like she's ready to murder someone, namely you."
"Yep…"
"W…wait, you know about this too!"
Konohamaru spared him a glance. "Yeah, she is helping teach me, after all. Just don't tell Ebisu."
"Umm…okay" sitting in the second chair, the student leaned back and sighed. "The beginning"
"What" the Hokage and Kakashi spoke in unison.
"Start at the beginning. Otherwise you'll just have to go back and explain her decisions anyway."
"A child's mind is truly a wondrous thing, able to see the answer so much quicker than us."
"I'm gonna ignore that child remark…" Konohamaru muttered.
The Hokage ignored him and sat up. "Okay, listen Kakashi, because I only want to say this once. It's to depressing to repeat.
Naru as five years old when I first got news of the beatings. They'd been happening for a couple of years, and she'd been hiding them from me. Really it was luck I found out at all, for I was going to visit her, since I had some rare free time. When I showed up at her house, I was shocked to when I discovered she wasn't there, ands hadn't been there in weeks, by the look of things. I tracked her to a small section of forest where I found her sleeping, covered in cuts and bruises that the Kyuubi had yet to fix. I yelled at her when she woke, and she looked me in the eye and flat out told me, that she would not take charity. I wanted to put guards on her then, to protect her, but she talked me out of it, saying they could actually be the ones to hurt her. And the horrible part was, she was right. So I put it off, though I did check in on her more that year. But on her sixth birthday is when everything changed. I was in my office waiting for her, and I was getting worried, for she had missed our appointment for lunch, something we'd done every year on her birthday. She had always been on time before, and this year I had found the courage to tell her why she was hated so much, and she knew it. There was no way she'd miss the appointment. So when she did, I asked Jariya, who was with me at the time, to look for her.
It took him three hours to find her, and I tell you, they were three of the most harrowing hours of my life, and that's saying something. When he found her, he sent a frog for me. The frog told me that he didn't dare move her, it was that bad. I followed the frog to the outskirts of Konoha, where she had been dumped and left for dead. I won't describe the condition she was in, but I tell you, it was sickening. Jariya tracked down Tsunade, who agreed to help as long as she didn't have to enter Konoha, and she arrived on location, where I had been helping the Kyuubi keep her alive with the medical Ninjutsu I knew. I had managed to clean up the blood, so she could work, fear-free. She diagnosed her before she began healing her. It took her a day in a half, before she was deemed well enough to move, and another 7 hours of non-stop treatment to finish healing her. After that, she looked at me with a look on her face I will never forget. If it wasn't for the fact that Naru was sleeping, she would have yelled at me. As it was, she told me, very fiercely, just what was wrong with me to ever let a child get like that! And the worst part came when she told me that not only had she been violently raped before being dumped, but that it had happened before. She left then, saying that Naru was in a deep coma, and that when she woke was anybody's guess. I took her back to my house then, where she slept for another week. While there, Jariya helped me devise the way to hide her as a boy. Not long after she woke, we presented the plan to her and she agreed. Jariya started working on the seal, and I got someone I could trust to start training her. The training took hold with amazing speed; her high-pain tolerance and charka capacity help go on as far longer than any six year-old should. When the seal was finish, we decided that Naru would hide under the guise of a boy, and work her way through the academy, gaining strength and respect until we felt she could defend herself from possible enemies/ At that point we would then reveal her true identity."
Kakashi spoke up then. "Then what happened, why the act, all this time?"
Before the Hokage could answer, the door opened and Naru walked in. Kakashi studied her knew clothes. A green tang top covered by a baggy coat and tight-fitting shorts. Bandages wound around both legs, also securing her weapons pouch and kunai holder to her body. Standard Ninja sandals where on her feet and a Katana was slung on her back.
"Ahh Naru, I see you dug out your katana."
Naru shrugged and walked up to the desk. "I felt I might need it." She placed money down on the table. "Your change." She sat down in a third chair she dragged form the corner.
"Naru I meant, oh never mind…" The Hokage gave a cross sigh. Any way, I think the best way to do this is to have you continue working with team 7. We'll say you're a replacement for Naruto, who Garra (1), asked to borrow for a mission. Jariya should be here in a month, and he'll fix you seal.
"Will Garra support that, if someone asks him?" Kakashi asked.
"Garra will cover for me. I'll send a private message with the details.
"You sure?"
"Of course. Garra knows after all. I told him when I discovered we were both held demons. He'll back me up."
Good, now why don't you go get some sleep Naru? The seal wearing off must have exhausted you. Me and Kakashi will concoct a background for you and you guys will meet tomorrow." Naru nodded and left.
"Umm…Hokage, I hate to say it, but can we do this in the morning. I'm pretty beat myself."
The Hokage looked started. "Of course. This is probably a lot to mull over as well. See you in the morning Kakashi."
Kakashi turned to leave, before looking at Konohamaru, who had stayed silent this entire time. "By the way…Why do you know Naru's secret."
The boy flushed deep red. A couple years ago, I came to visit grandpa, and I was told Naruto was visiting. I burst into the room, intending to challenge him to a fight and, umm…"
The Hokage took over. "I was giving Naru a tri-yearly check-up at the time. Konohamaru happened to bust in during the middle, and well, lets just say Naru had hit a maturity streak…and had a growth spurt as well…"(2)
Kakashi chuckled. "I get the picture" he patted the boy on his head. "Good work kid."
"It was an accident! Leave me alone!" Konohamaru shouted, pushing the hand away. His cheeks were putting a tomato to shame.
Kakashi, laughing silently and yet still was managing to pity the boy for his embarrassment.
-X-
1: I know it's early but Garra the Kazekage already, because I say so.
2: during the scene he's describing Konohamaru's about twelve, and hitting his own puberty, and Naru fourteen. They are 14 and 16 now, respectively.