The Cost of Secrecy
Or
You Would Think They Would Know This
A Oneshot
by
EvilFuzzy9
A/N: I finally have a computer of my own again! However, don't expect too many fanfic updates just yet, because I'm taking part in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).
In other news, October Twenty-ninth was my birthday. Yay!
In the history of the ninja world, among all the varied and diverse creeds and philosophies of the ancient tradition of ninjutsu, there has been one thought, one belief, held in common by all: secrecy is paramount. For since the days of the venerated Sage of the Six Paths, the ninja has lived in the shadows.
In the early days, when ninjutsu was as much a philosophy as it was an art, the purpose of this was to avoid persecution from those who feared them. For as the disciples of the Six-fold Path grew in numbers, opposition to them and their beliefs only grew harsher. Indeed, there was a time when any suspected ninja (a title that was originally applied to followers of the Six-fold Path by their persecutors as an insult – one of the most venomous epithets to exist in any language at the time) was to be arrested on the spot and forced to fight to the death for the amusement of the people in an exceptionally barbaric method of public execution.
Of course, as any who understand human nature can attest, such oppression rarely succeeds in its purpose, and for those known as ninja, those followers of the teachings of the Sage of Six Paths, it was no different. Indeed, between fighting for their lives in the arena and fighting for their rights in the world at large, the followers of Six-fold Path quickly discovered the more… pragmatic applications of their teachings.
It is unknown when the devotees of the Sage first decided to adopt the epithet of 'ninja' as a badge of honor, but it is widely accepted as fact that first individuals to refer themselves as such were the bearers of the three "Holy Eyes" – those descended from the elder of the two legendary brothers, the one who had, according to tradition, been given the eyes of the Sage – the bearers of the three noble dōjutsu: Byakugan, Sharingan, and Rin'negan. And the first ninja to openly bear arms against their oppressors were the Kaguya, the ancestral protectors of the Sage's remains who were blessed with the Corpse Bone Pulse to aid them in their sacred duty.
Eventually, this age of conflict drew to an end, but the lesson learned by the survivors was not easily forgotten. They used secrecy in their dealings to avoid persecution, they used secrecy to keep ninjutsu out of the hands of those who would abuse it, and they used secrecy to hide their past. And these practices ever thrived among the ninja, continuing up through the age of the hidden villages.
Were someone else in the place of Iruka Umino -a teacher at the Hidden Leaf Ninja Academy- Tsunade likely would not have been so blunt. After all, in the short time she had spent as the leader of Konoha, she had learned that one of the few things you could rely on was the fact that, as long as none of his students were in danger, Iruka was a pleasantly patient individual with a remarkably mild temper, which was why the infamous granddaughter of the First Hokage had felt safe in telling him what she had to tell him in the way she did. Bluntly.
However, Tsunade had made one grave miscalculation: the information she had just given to the man was an important part of the history of the Leaf Village – one that had been kept secret by the ruling elite since the village's inception. For, you see, in spite of possessing greater combat prowess than many jōnin, Iruka Umino remained a chūnin because he was a teacher at heart. And no true teacher could ever even imagine willfully keeping such information hidden from those who deserved to be taught it.
"… what…?" Iruka twitched, his eyes hidden in shadow, "Did you just say… that the Uchiha who helped Lord Hashirama found the village was the same man he fought at the Valley of the End AND the head of the Uchiha clan? And that he's still alive? And that he is apparently not just the leader of the most dangerous terrorist organization in the world, but was also the person behind the infamous policies of the 'Bloody Mist'?"
Tsunade nodded nervously, "Well, yes, but the first thing was the only one we knew, either, until recently," she added defensively, speaking for herself and her predecessors.
Iruka nodded his head. "Okay, I'll give you that," he said reasonably, "But what about the fact that apparently the Uzumaki were a great and noble ninja clan closely allied with the Senju? Or that the first Hokage's wife was both an Uzumaki AND vessel of the Nine-tailed Demon Fox? Or that Naruto's mother was both a descendant of the wife of the First Hokage and also a vessel of the Nine-tails?-!" he screamed, "Because this seems to me like the kind of thing you would want the people of the village to know!" he ranted.
"It wasn't my decision–" Tsunade began, only to be interrupted by Iruka decisively driving the point of a kunai into the surface of her desk.
"I don't care whose decision it was!" the ordinarily calm man bellowed, his face flushed bright red and the scar of his nose becoming decidedly more prominent, causing him to look remarkably threatening.
A lesser individual would have been cowed by the display, but Tsunade remained unflappable, letting the man continue ranting until he ran out of steam. "Now," she said slowly and evenly, once Iruka had finally calmed down, "I understand your concerns, and I must concede that you have a point – these kinds of things should be included in the academy curriculum, and I fully intend to remedy this as soon as possible," she assured him, before adding a hint of steel to her tone, "but as I am sure you are aware, we are in the middle of the Fourth Ninja World War–"
"– I still say it's a terrorist action…" Iruka grumbled.
"–so your concerns will have to wait for now," she continued, pointedly ignoring Iruka's interruption, no matter how reasonable his sentiments might be. "Now, if you would be so kind as to leave so that I can meet with my strategic advisors..." she gestured absently towards the exit.
"Very well – on one condition," Iruka said.
Tsunade had to fight down the frustrated twitch, but she ultimately decided to humor the man one last time. "And what might that condition be?" she inquired shrewdly.
"I want to fight."
A/N: Well, that's the end of that. This is just an idea that's been nibbling at the back of my mind for a few months about how everyone seems to be so surprised to hear things that one would think would be more widely know, considering how important they are to the history of the Leaf Village. I mean, you'd think that people would realize that the kid they're ostracizing is one of the last living members of an ancient and noble clan whose history is almost as closely intertwined with that of their village as the Senju and Uchiha. I mean, good heavens, Too Dumb To Live doesn't even begin to cover it!
So I decided to think of a likely intradiegetic explanation for this gross ignorance on the part of the village, and the best excuse I could think of was that these things were made top secret by the ruling class for some stupidly paranoid reason. (Interestingly, my earlier ideas for this story had been the inverse of this: all these things were included in the curriculum, but nobody ever paid attention in history class. Seriously, that was the only other explanation I could think of, though the image of Iruka frustratedly exclaiming "Did anyone actually pay attention in class?-!" is fairly chuckle-worthy.)
And my present interpretation of the early history of ninjutsu in the Naruto world is heavily influenced by the early history of Christianity, partly out of convenience and partly out of my relative familiarity with the early history of Christianity in comparison to that other religions and philosophies. Of course, pretty much the only way I could have made it any more obvious would have been to actually refer to gladiatorial combat. Also, I think this casts the third stage of the Chūnin Exams in an interesting new light, which is nice.
The line about the Fourth Ninja World War being a terrorist action was inspired by one of many, many minor running jokes in the Naruto fanfics of Sarah 1281, namely 'Madara Wants to do WHAT to the Moon?' and 'That's It?'. Go read those fics, and then read the rest of her work while you're at it. Sarah 1281 has a remarkable skill for poking fun at all the little bits of Fridge Logic in a series and a good sense of humor. And I figure that it's fitting to plug her work in a fic that is at least partly inspired by her style.
And lastly, no, I do not have any (present) intentions of continuing this fic. I wrote it to be a self-contained one-shot. And I figure that the rather open-ended ending might inspire someone to do a fic with Iruka as a central character that doesn't do to pair him up Kakashi.
Well, I might as well stop now while the Author's note is still shorter than the actual story, hahaha. v^.^Uv
TTFN and R&R!