Heir of the Well
It was a miserable day for Naruto Uzumaki. Now, many days are miserable for this boy, but today was especially miserable. He was five years old and tried to make a friend today with a little blond girl with light blue eyes. She was very pretty and seemed very nice, but when her friends came, they told her that their parents had told them Naruto was a bad person and pulled Ino away. Afterwards, Naruto cried. Why couldn't have just one friend? Was that asking too much from the universe? What did he do to make everyone hate him?
Those were the thoughts running through his head as he walked away from the park and trudged through the streets of the Hidden Leaf village. He got the usual stares and whispers of hate. He also got hit by a potted plant that "accidentally" fell out a second story window, and then the person in that window yelled at him for breaking his pot.
Yep, another miserable day for Naruto Uzumaki.
Naruto couldn't take it anymore. He ran. His tears cascaded down his face as he ran through the streets and out the front gates. The chunnin on guard duty smirked and let Naruto run out. He'd hated Naruto but was too scared of the Third Hokages' punishment to hurt the demon brat.
Naruto ran into the forest and kept running. He needed to get away from the villagers, away from the constant hate.
After running for hours, Naruto slowed down and began to walk. He was deep in the forest and most likely lost. He was getting tired and was looking for a hollowed out tree or cave to sleep in.
That's when he saw it. It was a huge tree that looked to be many hundreds of years old. Near the tree, he saw an old well. It was covered in vines and moss and looked old.
Feeling thirsty, Naruto decided to see if he could get some water from the well.
When he looked into the well, he couldn't see the bottom. He leaned in more to get a better look and…SNAP!
"AHHHHH!" Naruto screamed as the wells' wooden tops' walls broke and he fell into the darkness.
He landed with a THUD!
"Ow, ow, ow, ow!" Naruto exclaimed as he sat up. He let his vision un-blur and looked around. The old stone walls were covered in moss and the floor of the well was a large patch of dirt. Naruto stood and looked around for a way to get out.
As he paced a little, looking up, his foot hit something.
"Ow!" Naruto called out as he held his right foot and hopped on his left leg. He did this little flamingo-hopping dance for a few minutes before the pain went away and he looked down. He saw the edge of something sticking out of the dirt and went over to it.
He dug around it and eventually pulled out a good-sized chest. It had strange markings and seal on it and Naruto looked at it in wonder.
He ran his hands over the lid…and drew back sharply as a sliver of metal pricked him.
"Ow! Why does everything in this well hurt me!"? The irate five-year-old screamed.
Naruto would have continued, except the chest started to glow and the seals on it vanished. The chest slowly opened and a small, round, jewel came floating out.
It glowed with an eerie light and floated towards Naruto. He was so fascinated that he didn't move, just watched it, like a moth watches a flame.
The jewel stopped and hovered before Naruto.
"Hello, it is a pleasure to see you, heir of the well." The voice coming from the jewel was ghostly, but soothing too.
"Are…Are you talking to m-me?" Naruto asked.
"Yes, you found the well, opened the chest, and I can tell you are a good person. The chest would not have opened if you were evil. I call you the heir of the well because, long ago, there were a group of great warriors and also a group of great evil demons. The warriors fought the demons and won, eventually, and seal all their power and weapons, along with the powers and weapons of the evil ones, in this jewel. Only when someone proves worthy will this jewel shatter and disappear and the one who it chooses will become the most powerful being in these lands. I, the jewel, am not alive, merely made to look it and judge if someone is worthy. I have seen into your mind and soul and see you are worthy. Will you accept the power and shape the world as you see fit, Naruto Uzumaki?" The jewels' voice and story mesmerized Naruto.
He was being offered power, ancient power, but should he accept? He'd always hated those spoiled kids like the Uchiha and Hyuuga who flaunted their power just because they had a renowned family name. Naruto looked up at the jewel.
"I…I want the power, but I don't want to think I'm better than anyone else because of it. I would feel better if I earned it." Naruto admitted truthfully.
"Of course," The jewel responded, "I can give you the gifts, but not the experience to use them. You will have to study the various scroll and practice tirelessly to master what I give you. There is no short cut to power. I am just opening the door and allowing you to walk through it. It is you who must make use of what lies within and whether or not it will be of any value will be judged by how hard you work with it.
Naruto smiled and nodded. "Then, I accept."
The jewel glowed brighter. "Then, all hail the new Honorable Ruler of the Elemental Lands!"
Bright energy surged out of the jewel and all around Naruto. He could feel himself change and light burst out of the well and into the sky, and just as quickly, was gone.
Alone figure jumped out of the well. It was human in shape, but was covered by a red cloak made of fur, and a fox's head, skinned as the top of the cloak, hid the mans' face. He chuckled and, with a single hand reaching out of the cloak, held a small stick that split in the middle and ended in a human doll-shaped head.
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Back in the village, it was nighttime and the old Hokage was worried. He'd not seen Naruto today and couldn't find him on his crystal ball.
He wished he knew if the boy was alright. He was about to summon Anbu to go look for the boy, and then a poof was heard in front of his desk.
The old man looked over the desk and saw a small red fox sitting there.
"What the-" Sarutobi started, only to be cut off.
"Hey, old man!" Narutos' voice came out of the little fox.
Sarutobis' pipe fell from his mouth and the Anbu hidden in the room had their jaws hanging.
"N-Naruto!"? The old man asked as he looked down at the fox in disbelief.
"Well, yes and no." All the ninja present were set on edge and feared what that phrase meant. "I am actually talking to you through this golem. I am a few miles from the village. Think of this fox as a long-range puppet made of earth, wood, and chakra." The fox stated.
Everyone let out a sigh in relief. "The fox hasn't taken over."
Then the Hokage snapped back to attention. "Naruto, how are you doing this, and why are you so far from the village? Should I send Some ninja to pick you up?"
"No." Naruto stated. The fox sighed. "Hokage-sama," Okay, that was a BIG sign something was wrong. Naruto never referred to anyone by his or her title or last name unless he was absolutely serious of under threat of pain. Judging from his tone, he was serious. "I am tired of it. I'm tired of the hate and loneliness. I know you visit, but I can't seem to make friends. I figured it out you know, about Kyuubi." That shocked everyone. "I just…need to get away for a while. I'm going on a trip; call it a training trip if you want. I'll be back in eight years to take the gennin exam and be that much closer to taking your job and silly hat, believe it!" that made everyone chuckle, it was definitely Naruto. "Please understand, I need this old man. The fox I'm talking to works like a shadow clone. It will talk like me, act like me, and follow my orders. And, when dispelled, it will send all info it had gained back to me. It's like a shadow clone, but can take a lot of hits before it is destroyed.
Just tell everyone I had a mental break down and take my clone somewhere where it will be safe and watched by those idiots on the civilian council and that creepy old guy in bandages can watch "me". That will give me time and privacy to get stronger so I can fulfill my dream. Don't worry, if anything happens to me, the golem will tell you. It will grow as I do, so it will be convincing. Just shy away from medical checkups unless they're by doctors who don't hate me and you can trust.
Oh, and before I forget, you should know that, while I've been talking through this golem, I have copied all of the forbidden scroll of sealing with another golem."
That shocked them. They looked over and, sure enough, there was another fox, reading the scroll. It had just finished and rolled the scrod back up. "That fox, as it was reading sent images to another golem with me and he wrote down everything. Relax, I can tell you're all about to have a heart attack; I left the seal that holds Kyuubi off my copy. You have my word. I'll learn these as I go for the next eight years. I'll take it slow, but I know I have too much chakra for low-level techniques, so I need some higher level ones to compensate. I'm keeping the scroll in a blood seal scroll, I bought it last month…at triple price, so that I wouldn't have to worry about my stuff being stolen by villagers when I was away." That made everyone in the room cringe a bit. "It will be safe." There was a pause. "Well, that's about it old man. I'll be going now. And since I'm not a ninja, if the council finds out or you abject to this idea, I'm not a ninja so neither of you can touch me lawfully, so you can't send ninja after me, and no non-ninja will be able to catch me, as Anbu who tried after one of my pranks can attest." The Anbu in the room snickered at that. He was right. "Well, bye old man, see you in eight years, believe it!"
Then, the fox that was looking at the scroll fell to dust and woodchips, while the first one reshaped into a perfect replica of Naruto.
"The boss is moving away now and I'll need you to tell me how I need to act to go along with whatever story you have in mind." The Naruto/golem stated.
Sarutobi sighed. "Very well." He looked at the Anbu. "This is now an s-class secret. Am I understood, Inu?, Hebi?" Asked the Hokage. They both Nodded.
The Hokage stood up and motioned for the Naruto/golem to follow. "Well, lets go and figure out what to do."
The golem smiled and followed.
Inu walked behind them and left. Hebi removed her mask and looked out the window. Anko Mitarashi smirked. "Train hard Naruto-kun, then comeback and kick ass!" She said and then put her mask on and walked out of the office.
In the corner of the office, on top of a bookcase, a small fox smiled and turned to dust.
Miles away, Naruto lowered his wooden golem source and smiled. "Will do, Anko-chan, will do." He then leapt into the trees, a red blur careening through the dense treetops, heading away from the Hidden Leaf village, where he wouldn't return for the next eight years.
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It has been eight years since that faithful night when Naruto accepted the jewels' gifts. He has changed greatly since then.
He is now very muscular, not body builder, but bigger slightly larger than a track runner. He stands as about 6' 1"
As he jumps through the trees on his way to the Leaf Village, he is still clad in the red fox pelt cloak that covers his face and body from view.
His clothing and appearance underneath are a mystery to all who see him pass by.
He reached the villages' wall, a bit far from one of the gates, and smirks under his cloak. He takes one mighty leap and jumps over it, going unnoticed by a sleeping chunnin guard.
As Naruto moves swiftly and silently across the rooftops, he sees' a sight that makes his blood boil. There are five boys surrounding a young blonde haired girl. She's wearing a purple outfit and white bandages that make her look very attractive, but also reserved.
Naruto moves closer, unnoticed by the five boys and girl, and listens from up in the tree above the group.
"Come on Ino, just relax and have some fun." One of the boys called out.
"No way! Let me go you lechers!" she yells.
Naruto sneers. He didn't like the way this was going.
The largest of the boys stepped forward. "Shut up pig-slut. You should just accept your role in this world. You would be the Uchiha-emos' sex toy, but he'll never want you. Just realize you're a cheap whore, give us our fun so we can stop wasting time on you."
Ino looked shocked and then angry at them. Naruto could see tears forming in her eyes.
He'd had enough. "You know, I hate it when horn-dogs sniff around beautiful and pure flowers."
They all looked up to see a man covered in a giant red fox pelt looking down at them. They couldn't see his eyes, but the eyeless gaze of the pelts head part was freaking them out.
The largest boy spoke. "O-Oh yeah, well what we do to this Uchiha loving whore is no business of your!" He yelled, only to be silenced as a strong Killing Intent (KI) was sent as him and caused him to drop to his knees. The other boys were similarly affected, but Ino only felt a little of it.
She marveled at how this man was basically scaring then shitless.
"Now," the fox-man said, "You will apologize, or I will increase my KI further and your hearts will explode from fear and over active adrenaline."
The five boys wet themselves and hurriedly apologized. Once Naruto was satisfied, he released his KI and the boys got up and ran away.
He looked down at Ino and she looked up, gratefully at him. "Thank you, I-" she was cut off as he raised his hand.
"Think nothing of it. There is a great shortage of pure flowers of your beauty in this world. I would hate to see you soiled by mindless horn-dogs who have no business ever breeding."
Ino chuckled and smiled. "Hey," she asked, "what's your name?"
He was silent for a moment. "I…am someone you have met before. You were kind to me once, until popular opinion took you away. You'll see me again soon, and if you can guess my name, I'll give you something I rarely give anyone." Then, in a swirl of red mist.
Ino looked on at where the mystery man was. She had a light blush on her face as she smiled. "I'll find out who you are and get my reward…foxy-kun." She then turned around and walked down the street and had a spring in her step as she thought about a certain red-fur wearing foxy-kun.
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Naruto, while keeping to the shadows, leapt up to the Hokage tower balcony and slipped into the Hokages' office without detection. He looked down and saw the old man…reading a little orange book.
"Still a pervert, old man." Naruto said with a smirk.
Sarutobi nearly fell out of his chair and turned to see a sight that nearly stopped his heart. There was a tall man, wearing a pelt, that looked like…Kyuubi!
"W-Who are you?" The old man asked as he dropped his book and got into a defensive stance.
"Ouch, old man. I'm hurt. I know I've grown, but what do you expect when I can finally eat something other than ramen?" Naruto chuckled.
Realization struck Sarutobi. "N-N-Naruto!" The old man exclaimed.
"Got it in one, old man." Naruto said as he sas down in the seat across the Hokages' desk.
The old man sat down. "Naruto, what happened to you"?
Naruto sighed. Tell the Anbu to get out, put up a privacy jutsu, order some lunch for both of us, and I'll tell you."
Sarutobi looked to his hidden Anbu and nodded. He stepped out and told his secretary to order ramen and they waited. When the food got there, Sarutobi put up the privacy jutsu and sat back down.
Naruto removed his cloak and Sarutobi gasped at what he saw. He was about to say something when Naruto raised his hand.
"I know, old man, but let me tell my story and then ask your questions."
Sarutobi nodded. "Go on, Naruto."
Naruto sighed. "Well, you see…"
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