Hey, welcome to the first chapter of The Shinin! I don't own Naruto!
The Village Hidden in the Leaves
Inside a large crater, a newborn baby laid asleep, a complicated, black seal slowly fading from view on his stomach. Appearing out of thin air, an old man, wearing black battle armor and wielding a large battle staff, knelt down and picked the blond infant up, clutching the child protectively to his chest, as if he was afraid something would attack at any moment. Hardening his features in an effort to hide the pain he felt from watching his successor, and said successor's wife, be stabbed through the chest, the grandfatherly figure turned to one of the several masked ninjas that surrounded the crater.
"Pig!" The aging man commanded.
Turning, an ironically thin figure, wearing a stylized pig mask and nondescript black clothes under a gray vest, bowed respectfully to the armored elder. "Yes, Lord Hokage!"
"The most immediate danger has passed, but there could still be invaders who slipped in during the chaos. Take half of the remaining jonin and sweep the village, checking for intruders!"
"Yes, sir!" In a blur of motion the emaciated figure was gone.
"Horse!" The Hokage shouted out once more.
In response, another androgynous figure bowed, although this one was much taller and stockier than the first, along with wearing a stylized horse mask, instead of a pig. "Yes, Lord Third!"
"You, along with the other half of the jonin, reinforce the protection detail of the civilians!"
"Yes, sir!" Came the repeated affirmation, before the figure also disappeared in a silent blur.
Feeling all the chakra signatures in the vicinity finally disappear, the old warrior let loose the sigh of a man who had seen too much death, but knew he would be forced to see more. Turning his haggard gaze downwards, the man's face twitched slightly into a bittersweet smile upon seeing the only light to come from such a dark night. Almost immediately, however, he frowned again, remembering his duty. Without so much as a disturbance of air, the elder copied his subordinates in disappearing from the crater.
o0o
Reappearing in a clearing several dozen miles from the Hidden Leaf, the Third Hokage huffed tiredly, as sweat beaded on his brow.
'...I hate old age,' The man frowned mentally, as he felt the aches in his knees and back.
Shrugging off his discomfort, the elderly ninja pulled out a storage scroll, and, with a one-handed gesture, retrieved the blanket that appeared in a poof of smoke. After swaddling the still snoozing baby, the old man lowered the bundle onto the grass. As the infant continued to sleep, the Hokage took several steps away from the child, before sitting cross legged on the ground and began meditating. With another poof of smoke, the large battle staff that hung from his back transformed into a white haired monkey that wore similar armor to the Hokage.
"If you don't need my assistance anymore, you could have let me know, Hiruzen," the monkey ninja grumbled irritably. "You're not the only one getting old, ya' know?"
"Sorry, Enma, but I still do need your presence," The finally-named Hokage sighed wearily.
"What for?" The boss summon questioned, looking for their opponent. Eventually, his eyes settled upon the blanket that lay in the middle of the clearing. "You don't mean the infant, right? You're not that old. Yet."
Unless you knew Hiruzen well, you wouldn't notice the tremor of annoyance that ran through the aging ninja. Enma, however, did and smirked slightly at getting a rise out of the usually stoic man. Clearing his throat, the Hokage's face became serious once again, causing the Monkey King to sober as well.
"The first twenty-four hours of a Jinchuuriki's time as jailer are very dangerous." Hiruzen began, only to be cut off.
"Jinchuuriki?! The child?!" Enma demanded, suddenly enraged. "How could you do something so dangerous and cruel?!"
"I understand, but it was necessary-"
"Necessary?!" The Monkey King interrupted again, baring his teeth. "Where was that resolve when it came to Orochimaru?! There are thousands of adult ninja that could be its host, but you choose a child?!"
Emma knew bringing up Orochimaru was a low blow, and he did feel a bit bad for doing so, but he had thought his friend had learned from his past mistakes, but here he was endangering the village, again!
"It wasn't me!" Hiruzen roared, the bit about his prodigal student cutting his patience short. "It was Minato! And the Nine Tails was about to go on a rampage if he didn't! And you were there! How do you not know this?!"
Looking sufficiently embarrassed, Enma scratched his beard awkwardly, while staring at the ground. "Oh." After a short pause, he spoke again. "My senses are heavily restricted when I am transformed."
As the Monkey King continued to look at the dirt in shame, the Third Hokage walked forward and placed a hand on his oldest friend's shoulder. "I understand, I hate that it was forced to be this way, as well. But we need to make sure that the seal doesn't waver. I'm sure you know, but when a Tailed Beast is sealed it tries it's hardest to escape right after being trapped, just like any animal."
Raising his head, Enma stared at Hiruzen, a new look of determination on his face. "And if the beast starts to succeed, you need the sealing properties of the Adamantine Staff." The summon finished, with a slight nod from the Hokage to confirm his thoughts.
Their conflict resolved, the aging warriors both sat on the grass in meditative poses, so they could sense even the tiniest hint of the seal beginning to fail.
o0o
While the two geezers argued about ethics, inside the child's mind, the Nine Tails was furious. Not only had he been caught in a genjutsu, something all the Tailed Beasts prided themselves in being almost impervious to, but then he was forced do the bidding of that damned Uchiha. And even that wasn't the last thing he had been forced to experience, oh no. He had then been ripped in half, and then, sealed into this tiny, weak human. Needless to say, If rage could be weaponized, the Nine Tails' would be a nuclear bomb. Unfortunately for the fox, however, it could not, so he was stuck with futally pounding on the cage he was in with all his power. Try as he might, the Fourth's seal was holding strong, and the beast was forced to pause to catch his breath.
As the Tailed Beast rested, he faintly heard a tiny giggle, and whirled in confusion, wondering where the sound had originated. As the fox twisted and turned, trying to find the sound, he could hear it getting louder until it turned into full blown laughter. Finally, the Nine Tails caught a glimpse of something no longer than half of one of his claws, laying on its back just outside his cage. It was his new jailor, the brat of that damned Namikaze and that doubly damned Uzumaki.
With a roar of rage, the Nine Tails swung his right hand towards the child, but the baby was just out of his reach. Instead, the child bounced slightly, causing him to burp.
"Seriously?" The Nine Tails sweatdropped at the result of his attack.
With the irritation in his stomach eased by the fox, the baby babbled happily, waving his tiny hands at the giant demon. Grumbling angrily, the Tailed Beast continued to try to reach the child, but only managed to rock the baby left and right, making him squeal in amusement and his blue eyes to sparkle innocently.
"Stop looking at me like that!" The Nine Tails growled menacingly. "I killed your parents! Stop looking at me like him!"
Instead of being scared, or crying, like a normal child or adult, the blond bundle simply gurgled, trying to copy the demon fox.
With a sigh of exasperation, the Nine Tails turned his back on the child, unable to look at the happiness and innocence in those eyes. No one looked at him that way, not even his siblings. Only…
"Waa! Waa!"
The fox was pulled from his reminiscing, by the sound of crying behind him. Turning, the living mass of chakra could see tears streaming down the baby's face, accompanied with that infernal sound.
'And they say I'm a demon…' The beast mused in irritation.
"Shut up!" The fox bellowed, hoping to silence the crotch goblin.
Upon hearing the monster's voice, the child silenced momentarily, before babbling excitedly again. Slightly taken aback, the fox huffed again and tried to turn away once more. Much to his chagrin, however, the child began to sob when he couldn't see the giant demon. Growling, the fox decided he would just give the human what it must want. The only thing anyone ever wanted. Maybe that would shut it up.
Instantly, red, lava-esque chakra began to flow from between the bars of the Nine Tails' prison and towards the baby, coating it in a layer of pure energy. As soon as the chakra had covered the child, he began to scream even harder, as the viscous energy simultaneously burned and healed his flesh.
Hearing the sound do the opposite of what he was expecting, the fox turned on the baby, staring yet again into those pure, innocent eyes. "What?! What do you want?! I gave you my power! That's what you want isn't it?!"
As he stared at the child, he began to see a hint of pleading? As if it expected him to save it, or something equally ridiculous. As he continued to stare, the beast felt something he hadn't for a very long time. Guilt. Eventually, the fox couldn't deal with it any longer, and retook his chakra. The moment the child wasn't covered in a red silhouette, it calmed down and began to gurgle at the demon.
'Why? You just want me? Why?' The Nine Tails was stumped, and, in an attempt at keeping the brat quiet, slumped to the floor of its cage, making sure his face was visible to the child, and decided to sleep this whole irritating situation away.
The baby, on the other hand, continued to watch the fox happily, until the rumbling snores of the massive creature lulled the child into its own slumber.
o0o
After about ten hours of meditation, the duo keeping watch over the child finally felt a new chakra signature. Immediately, they were on their feet and next to the infant, watching in shock as he was coated in a layer of red, malevolent energy.
"Is the seal failing?!" Enma questioned, wincing slightly at the level of killing intent the baby was exuding.
"...No…" The 'Professor' stated, as he checked the pattern that had reappeared on the boy's stomach.
"Then what is it?!" The Monkey King demanded, ready to turn into the Adamantine Staff at a moments notice.
"I believe the Nine Tails is supplying the child with chakra, for some reason," The Hokage surmised, stroking his goatee thoughtfully.
Almost as soon as it had come, the chakra began to dissipate, leaving the child to sleep peacefully. With a shrug of his shoulders, Hiruzen walked back and resumed his meditations. Seeing no immediate danger, and his friend seemingly unconcerned, Enma also returned to his roost and began to meditate once more.
o0o
Much to everyone's relief, nothing else interesting happened for the next fourteen hours of the vigil. When it had passed the twenty four mark, the Hokage stood and scooped up the tiny form of the blond haired child, before turning to the monkey ninja.
"We should be in the clear now," Hiruzen stated, slightly adjusting the weight in his arms. "Thanks for your help."
Enma smirked. "If I didn't, you'd be dead by now."
"Yeah, yeah, I know," The old man chuckled back, loosening the stiffness in his muscles.
"Alright, I'm out," The boss summon declared, clapping his hands together. "And don't call me too soon, I have a banana pudding with my name on it!"
With that the Monkey King proofed back to the dimension of summons, leaving a deadpanning Hokage in his smoke.
"It's always banana pudding…"
So there we have the first chapter! Let me know what you liked and disliked so review!
Shameless plug incoming!
If you like One Piece, I also have a fanfic of that, so check it out!
Shameless plug over!
Swordnoob signing out!