Book One : Hidden Potential
konohagakure
(Village Hidden in the Leaves)
11:47 pm.
October Tenth
Cries of agony rang out through the night as the source radiated from a park that was, only this morning filled with people. The cries became screams, pleading for someone to help him. The source is one Naruto Uzumaki,bound to the central tree of the park. One after another, villagers came and took a turn at beating the young boy senseless. All while being beaten, Naruto struggled against the coarse bindings that kept him held to the tree. But to no avail, the bindings hold fast and the beating continues untill the stroke of midnight. When at last the villagers had gone, he took one last look to the sky hoping for a savior.
Far behind a tree opposite to where Naruto is facing, hid a girl. Having witnessed the beating she fell to her knees and sobbed at such a sight. But regaining focus she stood, running to aid him in his time of need. Reaching the tree she quickly set to work untying his hands. Turning his head slightly, Naruto tried to see who was behind him. "Who's there...?" She remained silent as she continued to work. "Please, Who are you..?" ... The girl finished untying his wrists and she moved to the front and gasped at what she saw. The countless cuts, gashes, burns, and bruises were sickening. A single tear fall from her pale skin "Naruto-kun..." " Ah Hinata its...yo...u" and with that Naruto fell unconscious. "What did they do to you Naruto-kun?". Taking hold of both arms, Hinata struggled to pull naruto behind her. ' I have a long way to go'..
~~~ Twenty minutes Later ~~~
Dragging Naruto into a back alleyway, Hinata slumped against a wall. 'He's heavier than he looks, or maybe I'm just to weak'. Laying naruto down, she place his head on her lap. Running her hand through his blond spikes, she felt just a little better. ' Even when your asleep, you can still make me feel so much better Naruto-kun. If only I could tell you how I feel. Then I could face anything like you do, if we were together...'. Hinata snapped back to reality when she saw a man walk out of the building they were leanning against. He was unquestionably drunk and swaying back and
forth. Mumbling to himself the drunk continued forward until suddenly he spun on his heels and looked straight at the pair. "Oh look aaat what i'f found, a Little clan girl annd a braaty deemon." Stumbling over himself a little, the man started shuffling toward the two. Quickly standing up with Naruto in tow, Hinata ran as fast as her legs could carry her in the opposite direction. Dodging piles of trash and discarded boxes she came up to an intersection. Looking right, there was a main road the most of the village uses. Without a second thought she ran down and out into the street hopping to make it
back to her home in time. Quickly turning left Hinata ran into something hard, making her fall back onto Naruto who, made an audible groan out of discomfort. "Well look here, seems like my luck is changing. I get a little hyuga girl dragging the 'Demon' up to be eliminated once and for all". Reaching down, this new man brushed Hinata aside and picked up Naruto by the scruff of his neck. "No! You leave Naruto-kun alone. He hasn't done anything to you so just put him down". Rushing forward, she called upon her clans teachings in the basic forms of Jyuken hoping to disable her target. Upon closing in on her target she shifted her weight and struck towards the mans knee hoping to bring him down. Just as she made connection, a hand came down and caught her by the wrist. "Now now, that inn't anyway to thank a new hero". He smiled lecherously, sending a chill down Hinata's spine. "I think I'll claim you as a reward, my little Hyuga-chan."
Time slowed as the strangers hand drew ever closer, causing fear to well up in Hinata's body. She didn't want this man anywhere near her, or Naruto for that matter. Now but a few inches away, the mans hand was stopped by another. Time began its usual coarse as Hinata looked for the source. There next to her was a familiar face, family perhaps? Upon
further inspection revealed him to be Ko, Hinata's overseer. "Ano... Ko-san". Raising his free hand Ko silenced her. "Hinata-sama it is past curfew and it seems there are those who make such a thing necessary out here. I would advise you not to travel out so late anymore. Now as for you" turning back to the villager. " I advise you put the boy down and walk away". The man unceremoniously dropped naruto and retracted his hand away from hinata. Turning back to the direction or the bar, the man then walked off into the night. "Hinata-sama if you would collect the boy we will be on our way". Nodding,
Hinata walked over and once again picked up naruto and fell in behind Ko. "Ko-san... Thank you..". "Think nothing of it". 'If Ko-san hadn't shown up when he did I may have been in a lot of trouble'.
~~~ At the Huyga Compound ~~~
Two guard stood ever vigilant, even during the darkest of night as this one. One let out a breathy sigh, ko had just left in a hurry without any word to either of them. That was over twenty minutes ago, and now anxiety ran rampant as they awaited his return. Then suddenly cresting over the hill came a familiar sight of Ko with Hinata. Although this time an unusual sight of an unconscious Naruto Uzumaki strewn over Ko's shoulder. A moment later the were at the gate, standing waiting to go inside. "I see why you left so suddenly Ko-san" looking down at Hinata. "Although now I'm curious as to why
you've brought the boy here as well. You know the elders would have a field day when the knowledge reaches them". Knowing full well that it would be impossible to keep him hidden in a clan full of those who can see through walls. "This is merely temporary, as he needs a safe place to recover from these grievous wounds instilled upon him earlier". Both guards looked to naruto and gasped as they had not noticed earlier he was injured. "Why didn't you bring him to the hospital instead? Surely they can treat him there". "As you know today is the anniversary of th Kyuubi attack. I have reason to believe that his care would be 'tampered with'. Shifting nervously the guard sighed, "Alright but Lord Hiashi-sama finds out then..." "Finds out what exactly"? Everyone jumped at the sudden response and quickly tuned to the now open gate. "Hi...Hiashi-sama"! Walking out of the gates shadow a tall man with long black hair and piercing white eyes. "Ko-san" he began, "Bring naruto inside, I have a room prepared already. Now come". He immediately turned and Ko followed along with Hinata.
The group stopped at a non-descriptive door, and Hiashi moved to open. Inside was much more empty than anyone had original thought, with its white walls and lack of decor. Each moved to the large bed in the farthest corner of the room. Ko then laid naruto down and turned to Hiashi. "Hiashi-sama about tonight..". A hand raised to signal a stop, "Ko-san your actions tonight have kept my daughter and another child safe. Anything you wish to say, you may in the morning as you deserve to
rest. With this now resolved I too shall retire for the night". With That Hiashi exited the room. Ko turned back to look at Hinata who was staring intently at Naruto. "You know if you stare that hard at him, you may just burn a hole straight through his chest". 'Eep' In an instant Hinata turned multiple shades of red all at once. "Do not fret Hinata-sama, he should be fine in the morning. For now I recommend getting some sleep, its been a long day". Nodding she turned to leave but stopped as she reached door frame. Taking one last long look at Naruto's sleeping form she sighed and left with Ko following suit.
~~ Inside Naruto's Mind-scape ~~
Absolute darkness... Everything around him was dark, and piercing silence took place. Then suddenly Naruto's eyes shot open and the world became bright for moments. Blinded, Naruto brought his arms up instinctively to block out whatever radiated the light. After a few seconds the light died down revealing the surroundings. Naruto sat up and looked around, searching the room for anything that could hav produced the light earlier. 'Weird, there's nothing here.' Observing his surroundings more he found he was in a square room with a single hallway behind him. Standing up he quickly noticed that wherever he was, was flooded. Although he didn't feel wet after laying in obvious liquid. Suddenly a sound brought him out of his thoughts, a pipe overhead began screeching as if it were stretching to acommidate something larger than it. The pipes continued on in their noise making for a few seconds before another further away made a similar sound. Something began tugging Naruto's curiosity as he began to walk seemingly aimlessly through the winding corridors that made up his surroundings. Minutes passed and each step Naruto took felt like he was closer to his unknown goal. Another few minutes passed until finaly Naruto stood in front of a massive gate. "What... What is this thing?" Suddenly as if in response to his question a large gust of wind rushed passed the bars and knocked Naruto over. The the sound of thundering footsteps echoed throughout the room as a pair of glowing red eyes appeared. " So Finally we meet...Naruto..."
A.N
Hey everyone that should do it on my prolog. I'm just getting into the swing of things, so i'll be uploading relatively slow for a while. Enough of this note though, R & R if you could ass i'm still new to writing.