It was when the clock struck noon that Uzumaki Naruto took his first step back into his beloved village. He had just returned from a crucial mission to convince one Tsunade Senju to come back to Konoha and accept the title of Hokage.
He himself was pretty much the only reason that the ridiculously strong woman accepted such a title. He had showed her his dream and unbreakable determination to achieve it, which triggered a reaction in the woman.
And now here they were, walking down Konoha's main street as both civilians and ninja gaped at the sight of the two Sannins. However those awestruck expressions soon turned to glares when they noticed just who the orange-clad kid walking with them was.
Tsunade noticed this immediately and looked at Naruto with worried eyes. Her fellow blonde caught her gaze and grinned at her, eyes sparkling with life. She smiled back and returned her gaze forward, lest she ran into something by accident.
What she didn't notice was that immediately after she stopped looking at him, Naruto's eyes narrowed and his smile turned upside down.
'Assholes. I bring back the future Hokage and they still look at me like that.' he thought as he continued following the two Sannins and Shizune.
It wasn't the first time that he saved the village or his friends in time of crisis and received nothing but scorn and anger.
In his first fight against Orochimaru, he had been the first to jump in front of his comrades to protect them, even if he was totally outclassed. The only thanks he got when his team arrived at the tower was a 'Next time, don't get in my way' from Sasuke. Bastard, he -Naruto- was the one that brought his teammate out of his coward-like state, if he wasn't there at the time, Naruto was positive that the ungrateful bastard would have been dead meat.
There was also the time when he had defeated the rampaging Gaara, saved Sakura -and the whole village- and changed the red head's state of mind by showing him the true meaning of strength.
'I definitely should have expected the outcome.' he thought as his hands found their usual position behind his head and he looked towards the sky. In his opinion, the outcome wasn't really that bad as he made a friend, a friend that could truly understand his pain like no other did. However, that didn't mean that he wasn't pissed off that the civilian council immediately attributed the victory to his equally pissed off teammate, it seemed that he didn't like being awarded for something he didn't do. He could respect that.
"Hey brat, are you coming or not?" a voice brought him out of his musings. He looked down curiously and noticed that they were standing directly at the foot of the red Hokage tower. The voice's owner, Tsunade, was already inside and looking at him while tapping her foot impatiently. Naruto gulped and hurried inside, making the woman angry was signing your life goodbye.
As soon as he stepped inside, the Gennin grinned widely and exclaimed, "Of course I'm coming!"
Before he could continue up the tower. A hand gripped his shoulder and a face marred by a perverted grin appeared in his vision.
"Hey Gaki, what were you just thinking about so intently just now."
Jiraiya asked him as he giggled perversely.
The blond scowled. "Certainly not what your thinking, you old per- UGH!"
Before he could finish what he was saying a sharp but brief pain echoed through his head, his vision blacked out.
XXXXXXXXXXX
He couldn't see anything, nothing but a grayish background with a sound of constant static, like the screen of a malfunctioning television. He couldn't feel anything either, no floor, no wind, not even himself. It was a weird feeling, just floating there.
Where was he, why was he here? Was he supposed to see something amidst all the gray? As if someone heard his silent question, an image appeared above him.
A woman.
A woman with beautiful red hair and gray eyes.
A woman that glared at him hatefully, like he was the most disgusting thing she had ever seen.
Who was that? He didn't know. His vision was blurry, and the woman's image lapsed too frequently with the gray background to make out more features.
The static sound stopped, and a voice laced with anger was heard.
"-filthy... stay... shield... so... never ... find...-"
He could only hear those words, but couldn't make out what they meant. The image disappeared and he frowned, these 'visions' could have been important, vital even.
Like a clue to why he was always alone, to who his parents were. Yeah, that would be nice, very nice indeed.
But before he could catch a glimpse of anything else, he felt himself being shaken and his world turned to black once more.
XXXXXXXXX
"Gaki!" a distant voice was heard
"Hey! You alright!?" The voice was louder this time.
"Naruto!"
Naruto's mind finally rebooted and quickly stood up from his kneeling position, but almost instantly his head hit something hard.
"Argh!" a body fell to the ground, a huge red mark on his chin.
Naruto turned to the body, a single year lounging in his right eye as it twitched madly. "That hurt! What the hell Ero-Sennin!?"
Jiraiya quickly got back to his feet, having built an incredible resistance against physical after peaking at women for so long.
"You ungrateful brat! Fine I'll stop being concerned about your well being!" he yelled childishly while pointing at Naruto.
Naruto sweatdropped, but then got confused. "What do you mean? Did something happen to me?"
"You don't remember?" Tsunade asked him. He whipped his head in her direction. Ah, so she was still there.
Naruto shook his head, earning him a frown from both Tsunade and Shizune.
"You collapsed for about 10 seconds," the future Kage continued. "And your eyes were wide open, as if you had seen a ghost."
Naruto was taken aback. 'Collapsed? It must have been because of that vision...'
"Naruto-kun, are you sure you are feeling well? If you want talk about it, please do not hesitate." Shizune told him as she gazed at him with genuine concern. These eyes confused Naruto even more, as he had never seen this expression in someone other than Iruka-Sensei. Sure pretty much all his comrades, Kakashi-Sensei, Ero-Sennin and Tsunade Baa-chan, always expressed their concern, gratitude etc. However, all of these people had one thing in common.
It never reached their eyes.
In other words, Naruto felt that they only expressed their concern out loud, but never actually feeling it. He could actually count on one hand the people who had gone out of their way to genuinely thank him for something he did. Iruka, Neji, Hinata, Tenten and now he was almost certain that Shizune would fall in that category. Tsunade would have been in that category because of the thanks and the kiss on the forehead she had given him, but for some reason he had the feeling that she only did it out of obligation.
Naruto shook his head. Damn it! Doubting his friends like that, he had to get himself together! The reason nobody went out of their way to thank him like that was probably because they didn't know or because he actually didn't do anything for them. An image of his teammates flashed in his head for a brief second but he shook his head again.
The Gennin gave Shizune a small smile, grateful for her concern. "Thanks, but I'm fine, it's just a small headache. And it will be a cold day in Suna before such a minor problem takes down the great Uzumaki Naruto!" he said while pointing at himself with his thumb, laughing good-heartedly.
Shizune giggled at his response. "Alright then, it you are certain.''
Naruto grinned and was about to make another witty response but was interrupted by another sharp pain in his head. This time, however, there was no vision of any sort.
The blonde opened his eyes, which he had slammed shut due to the pain, and looked at Shizune apologetically. "Heh, sorry. I think I'll go home and rest a bit. Don't worry about me though, I'll be fine."
Those confusing eyes of hers returned and she nodded, bidding him goodbye.
The blonde prepared to exit the Hokage tower but remembered the main reason for which he had gone out of his way to return the blonde woman to the village.
He stopped as he reached the door and turned back to face the small group of 3 humans and a pig. "Hey Baa-chan!" he yelled with a grin, which earned him a death glare from the woman. He scratched the back of his head, a giant sweatdrop forming."Don't forget to heal Bushy brows and Sasuke!"
With that he ran out the door and to his apartment, not waiting for a response.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Naruto's apartment 2 hours later
On his bed beside the window, Naruto was breathing hard and panting, eyes shut in pain.
Immediately after getting home, he had opted to take a nap, hoping that his 'headaches' would stop with a little rest. However, as if some kind of higher being wished him suffering, the sharp pains returned as soon as he was under the covers.
With those sharp pains came visions, or precisely, the same vision he had at the Hokage tower. The image of a red haired woman glaring at him while muttering something, something that he had no doubt was important to him.
These visions were, in his humble opinion, driving him crazy as each time that the vision came, a little something was added. However, these new elements were so small and so pointless without knowing the context that all hope of understanding was crushed.
The vision appeared to him 5 times in the last 2 hours, thus allowing him to make out 5 more things. These things were the cries of an infant, the pristine white walls of a hospital, a few new words by the woman that he previously couldn't hear and the presence of two more people.
The first two things were pointless by themselves, but after hearing a few more words by the woman, he had a clue to what was going on.
''-filthy child... you stay here ... act... shield... so...they will never ... find...-"
The general meaning of this sentence was clear to him now, an infant, possibly himself, was supposed to stay somewhere, to act as a shield for someone else, so that a certain group of people will never find that person.
It was all too complicated for him. The identity of the baby wasn't clear and neither was the place that the baby was supposed to be at. Who was that woman? Why should the baby act as a shield? Who was he/she supposed to shield? From whom was the baby supposed to hide the person?
There were too many questions, and not enough answers. However, that wasn't his primary concern right now. No, what really confused him and even scared him a bit for some reason were the identities of the two men standing a few meters beside the red haired woman. Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzo, AKA Jiji and the old creep.
What scared him about their presence was the look in the old Sandaime's eyes.
His usually gentle orbs were as cold as ice.
Naruto wouldn't have cared as much if such an expression appeared in Danzo's eyes, as he always suspected that the old creep was up to something nasty. No, Jiji's eyes were always full of warmth, so seeing such an expression on his face was alien to Naruto and it scared him.
The other thing that struck him as ominous was the mere presence of Danzo. The few times he had seen the man it had been when he visited Jiji's office or the one time that he invited his younger self into some sort of organization. The man was of course refused. The man always had that look in his eyes, watching you like he was the scientist and you were the experiment.
Naruto's train of thought ended when the pain completely ended, resulting in him to sigh in relief and take huge greedy gulps of air. He sat up shakily and leaned his back against the wall, his body relaxing a bit more.
"Now I really think I should go to the hospital." he told himself as he got off his bed and stretched his muscles. "Eh, I guess I should go see how those two are doing while I'm at it."
He shook his head to clear his mind of his visions and worries and slapped himself in the face with both hands, now ready to head out... Or would have been ready if his body and orange attire weren't drenched in sweat with an equally unpleasant smell.
The blonde groaned, removed his clothes, and headed in the bathroom.
Once he was done with his shower, Naruto came out of the bathroom with a towel at his waist, and looked in his rather empty closet.
He sighed in dissatisfaction as he saw that all of his orange pants and vests were in fact dirty or partially destroyed. He looked around his closet a little more and found a decent attire that he didn't remember having.
Seeing as he couldn't remember where the clothes came from, he shrugged and proceeded to put them on. Much to his surprise, the red long-sleeved shirt and the black shorts fit him perfectly. In fact, once he looked in the mirror, he thought that those clothes suited him better than his previous attire. He shrugged.
Not one to dwell on such a matter longer than necessary, the blonde closed the light and exited his apartment, only to come back in a second later with a sheepish look on his face. He then grabbed his headband lying on the floor and tied it around his forehead. It was a perfect fit, according to him.
He grinned and bolted out of his apartment and to the hospital. He wanted to be rid of those visions, because they were currently more trouble than they were worth.
XXXXXXXXXXX
The hospital – Some time later
"What do you mean there aren't any doctors or nurses available!? This is a hospital for god's sake!" Naruto yelled at the hospital receptionist in outrage.
"It's just as I told you," the woman sneered at him. "There isn't anybody available to see someone like you."
Now Naruto was getting angry, which was made obvious by his madly twitching right eye and his angry expression. He turned around and pointed towards the many doctors and nurses just lounging and relaxing in the adjacent room.
"Those people aren't available for you." the woman told him once again.
"What!?" the blonde roared. "They're just sitting around doing nothing useful and they're not available!? Why!?" This was getting ridiculous! Naruto could already feel the headaches coming back from all the bullshit that the woman was giving him. As if he didn't have enough of those already!
The woman sighed in irritation and glared at him. "Once again, there is no one available for YOU!" she almost yelled, putting a big emphasis on 'you'.
Now Naruto understood. That bitch meant that there was no one available to him and only him because of his 'condition'. This realization only served to piss him off even more as he prepared to unleash his anger on the woman... Only to be sent to the floor by an incredibly powerful punch to the head.
Instantly knowing who it was, Naruto jumped back up and yelled at the person behind him. "What the hell Baa-chan! Is this how you treat all the patients in the hospital!?"
Tsunade growled at him, a tick mark blazing above her eyebrow. "No, only those who disturb the peace and quiet!"
"But it's her fault!" Naruto replied, only for Tsunade's glare to become even scarier. "Tch, never mind then."
The fifth Hokage calmed down a bit and asked him why he came to the hospital.
"At first I came to see if someone could recommend me some medicine against headaches or maybe heal me with some medical Jutsu, but since someone was being an unhelpful bitch..." he told her, mumbling the last part while glaring at the receptionist, who glared right back at him.
"I see, so do you want me to check what's wrong with you?" Tsunade asked him, sighing in exasperation.
Naruto shook his head negatively. "No, I'm not in the mood for things like this anymore. Sigh... This day sucks. Just tell me where Sasuke's room is and I'll be out of your way."
Naruto then had the strange feeling that he made the right decision by refusing Tsunade's check up offer, as strange as it was.
The Sannin told him the room number and left in a hurry, no doubt going to her office to finalize her inheritance of the Hokage position, or to find secret spots to hide her Sake in. It was probably the latter if you asked him.
Naruto walked up the stairs and down the long hallway, trying to be as quiet as possible to avoid unnecessary trouble. Arriving at the correct door, Naruto steeled his mind and entered the room.
XXXXXXXXXXXXx
"Hey Sakura-chan! How's Sasuke going?" Naruto asked as he stepped inside the room. He wasn't in a good mood, so the greeting was rather half-hearted.
As opposed to being overjoyed by the recovery of the object of her affections, Sakura's face sported a small frown. It didn't really surprise Naruto that much, considering just who it was that occupied the hospital bed. He could understand seeing such an expression on her face after being with Uchiha Sasuke for so long.
Speaking of Sasuke, he had clearly reacted when Naruto came in, judging by the growing level of strength with which he gripped the covers.
The dark haired boy turned around and glared at his blonde teammate. Naruto glared right back, not at all intimidated by Sasuke's expression.
"Naruto..." Sasuke said, anger lacing his voice.
"What? Why are you staring at me like that?" Naruto replied, narrowing his eyes.
"Fight me, now."
The blonde was taken aback and a confused look appeared on his face. "Eh? But you're still recovering..."
"Just shut up and fight me!" the Uchiha yelled as he activated his Sharingan, remembering his previous encounter with Itachi. It had been a horrible experience for him, seeing that the difference in their strength was still so big and that his brother was more interested in Naruto of all people.
The two boys then stared at each other for a few seconds, neither backing down.
"Sasuke-kun, what's wrong with you?" Sakura asked him with wide eyes, clearly distressed about the situation. "Naruto, tell him to stop! I mean..." she tried to order Naruto, not seeing that both her teammates were completely ignoring her.
Naruto smirked at his rival. "Eh, and here I thought that this day would completely suck, looks like I was wrong."
Sakura visibly panicked at his response, but her pleas were once again ignored by the two about to be opponents.
"Come with me." the black haired boy ordered as he headed for the door, crushing a piece of apple under his foot as he did so.
"Ha!" the blonde let out a sound that strangely sounded like a laugh and followed his rival up the stairs and onto the rooftop.
The weather was perfect. The sky was clear with the exception of few stray clouds and the wind blew gently on the drying sheets that were hanging here and there.
Once they reached the center of the rooftop, they faced off, staring, or glaring in Sasuke's case, at each other.
Naruto, who was about to comment on his teammates weird behavior, felt pain slowly returning in his head. He held back a wince and grimaced. 'Talk about bad timing' he thought, but when he refocused his sight on his deadly serious rival, a new feeling arose within him. 'But... It isn't as bad as before... No, this feeling... This excitement... They are way more overwhelming than this pain!"
"Ha!" the blonde laughed in happiness while his body shivered in excitement, the pain forgotten.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes at him. "What's so funny?" he asked.
Naruto smirked. "Funny? No. I'm overjoyed actually. I thought that this would be the worst day ever, but to think that today is the day where I'll finally kick your ass, it might not be so bad after all."
"What did you say?" Sasuke was enraged. "Stop blabbering nonsense you loser!" No, as he recalled the brutal way he was dismissed by his brother, his frustration took a peak.
Naruto would have taunted his teammate further, but was once again assaulted by the pain in his head. It still wasn't a painful as before though, so he was still able to bear with it.
Recovering, the blonde then pointed at the headband resting on his forehead. "First put your headband on, so it will symbolize our fight between two equal leaf ninjas, then we'll fight!"
Sasuke snarled at hearing this, his rage and frustration now fully visible on his face. "That's why I think you're full of yourself! You won't even be able to touch me, let alone my forehead, and you still think you're on par with me!?"
"Of course I do! I've never considered myself weaker then you!"
"Naruto!" "Sasuke!"
Both boys rushed forward and attempted to punch the other, and both blocked with their free hand. Sasuke jumped and tried to kick Naruto in face, only for the blonde to duck, grab his foot and throw him back a couple meters.
Sasuke flipped in the air and landed on his feet just in time to dodge a heel kick from Naruto who had jumped after him. Sasuke spun on his foot and attempted his own kick to Naruto midsection. The blonde barely managed to raise both his hands to block the kick coming from his right, feeling the blow hammer into him.
Naruto skidded back a few feet and regained his balance.
"What's wrong loser? Not going to gang up on me with Shadow clones like you do with everyone else!?" Sasuke mocked him.
Naruto merely smirked at the attempt to rile him up. "No, I've had a really bad day, so I need to let out my frustrations with my own fists, and it just so happens that your face looks like a really good punching bag."
Sasuke narrowed his eyes once again and disappeared, which alarmed Naruto. As his senses were dulled by the pain in his head, he couldn't see his teammate appear below him until it was too late.
"Argh!" Naruto was sent flying in the air by Sasuke's kick, but immediately prepared for the follow up. To his surprise however, his rival wasn't using his Lion's barrage like he did with that guy in the Chunin exam.
Naruto hurried and twisted his body in the air so that he faced the ground and was alarmed by what he saw.
'Shit, Tiger seal!'
Down on the rooftop, Sasuke finished his last hand sign and yelled "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!l"
A giant ball made of fire erupted for the dark haired boy's mouth and headed straight for the airborne Naruto.
Naruto, who had surprisingly came up with a counter in a few seconds, reached into his pouch and took out a few smoke bombs. He frantically threw them in the fireball's general direction and they exploded upon impact, causing a large cloud of purple smoke to form.
Feeling the heat from the nearing fire, Naruto used his technique. "Shadow clone Jutsu." he murmured as two clones appeared beside him. Understanding the plan, one of the clones grabbed both Naruto and the other clone and threw them to the side right in the nick of time, as he got hit by the fireball right after.
Now away from the fire, Naruto positioned himself just above his other clone and propelled himself towards his temporarily blinded teammate by using his clone as a springboard.
Being blinded by the infuriating purple smoke, Sasuke didn't even remotely suspect the punch coming to his face until it hit him, sending him tumbling away on the floor. He didn't stay down for long as he stood back up almost instantly, glaring towards the cloud of smoke.
"What's wrong Sasuke?" Naruto's mocking voice echoed in the air. "You look really~ angry."
The smoke cleared and revealed that Naruto's red shirt had only been slightly burnt.
The two rivals stared at each other for a moment and a serious expression appeared on both of their faces. The message was clear; it was time to end it.
Naruto formed a clone and held out his hand, a light blue ball of chakra appearing in his hand.
'What? What is that Jutsu?' Sasuke asked himself as he did the hand seals for the Chidori. A second later, his hand was engulfed by raging blue electricity.
They then both rushed toward each other, intent on finding out which technique was the best.
It was at that time that a nuisance in the form of a pink haired girl appeared between them.
"Please! Stop it now!" she cried, but it was futile, as the two boys couldn't stop moving, albeit for very different reasons.
'Damn! I'm moving too fast, I can't stop!' Sasuke thought as he struggled to turn just a little bit, but the Chidori was a technique that only went one way, so his efforts brought nothing but more frustration.
At the same time, Naruto was having a similar but very different dilemma. Just as he was about to redirect his Rasengan towards the floor, the pain in his head escalated to new levels. His world was now pitch black while his body ran on autopilot.
Suddenly, amidst the darkness, an image appeared.
It was the dying moments of blonde man sporting a white cloak with red flame designs on the bottom, apologizing to him. Anybody in this village would know who this man was, after all, it was their beloved leader that sacrificed his life 13 years to protect the village.
Naruto was confused, here was the man that condemned him to a life of pain and loneliness, apologizing to him with tears in his eyes.
Why would that man cry for him? Was he not a simple sacrifice? A child chosen randomly among countless others for the sole purpose of containing the Kyuubi?
More questions were formed, questions that he couldn't answer.
Suddenly, he was reeled back to reality when he felt himself impact with a large metal surface, his face directly connecting while his Rasengan drilled into it.
Naruto groaned as his body hit the floor and was attacked by a small jet of water coming from the water tank he had rammed his technique into. He slowly stood up, supporting himself with the tank. "Uhhh... again..." he looked around him, "What happened?"
To his right, he saw Sasuke in pretty much the same position he was at the moment, his hand rammed into the water tank. He saw Kakashi crouching on Sasuke's tank and scolding the dark haired Gennin on how such a powerful Chidori would have killed him -Naruto-.
Naruto didn't really care about that though, even if he seriously thought that his Rasengan wouldn't have lost to the A-rank assassination technique. No, all he cared about right now was getting back to his apartment as soon as possible. He was very confused by his previous vision and his head still hurt like hell.
He saw Sasuke scowl angrily and glare hatefully at their Sensei, probably because he was mad that their fight was interrupted. He didn't blame him, as he felt the same.
Then, when Kakashi stopped blabbering, Sasuke looked over to Naruto's tank and smirked inwardly at his Chidori's apparent superiority. After that, he casually back flipped off the edge of the building and onto a ledge below.
The dark haired teen, who was still scowling, prepared to leave but was interrupted by a drop of liquid dropping on his face.
He looked up and his eyes widened at the damage the Naruto's Jutsu had caused to the tank.
Angered at being upstaged by his loser of a teammate once again, he raises his fist and smashed it against the wall beside him.
'Naruto... Just how strong are you really?' he thought as his glare returned. He needed to find a place where he could think, so he jumped down and left.
Naruto, whose head now felt like a Bijuu trampled it, scoffed at his teammate's exit. He always has to show off, eh? Well no matter, he had the right idea, leaving would probably be a good thing to do right now.
Completely ignoring his Sensei staring at him from his perch, Naruto walked to the rooftop door. However, just before could go through, Sakura decided that she had other plans for him.
"Naruto wait!" she ran up to him as he winced at her very loud and high-pitched voice.
"Wh-what is it Sakura-chan?" he asked her half-heartedly, pain badly hidden in his voice. Any other time he would have been overjoyed that she would come talk to him on her own, but not today. He seriously felt like shit right now.
Sakura, being the oblivious fan girl that she was, didn't notice that the blonde was hurting and instead opted to order him around.
"Come with me, I need to talk to you about something, so I'll go on a date with you." she told him seriously, leaving no place for rebuttal.
Initially taken aback by her request, Naruto felt rather sad. By the seriousness of her tone, he had no doubt of whom she wanted to talk to him about. He sighed.
"Sorry Sakura-chan, but as you probably didn't notice, I'm not any condition to go on a date right now. I just want to go home and rest."
It wasn't only that he was having a really hard time staying on his feet, he also was in no mood the hear her go on and on about Sasuke again.
Nodding Sakura goodbye, Naruto walked in the hospital and left Sakura standing there, gaping like a fish in shock. It seemed she had never anticipated the day that Naruto would refuse her something.
XXXXXXXXX
"Are you sure it was a good idea to teach that brat such a powerful technique?" Kakashi asked seemingly no one from his perch atop the water tank.
"I wouldn't talk if I were you, teaching the Uchiha kid a technique like that." a voice appeared from under the Jounin. It was Jiraiya, leaning on the fence.
Ignoring the older man's statement Kakashi continued. "It's almost time for their return, so we need to get on with the plan soon."
Jiraiya nodded seriously. "Yeah. It's a shame though; I was starting to actually like the kid."
Kakashi turned around and looked at him like he was an alien. Naruto is likable? That's like saying that you like having your home infested by rats.
The silver haired man then closed his eyes and sighed. "I'm going to ask again. Why would you teach the Rasengan to that brat, isn't he becoming too powerful?"
"Of course not." Jiraiya deadpanned. "Even if thought him the Rasengan, he still isn't a match for stronger ninjas. I seriously doubt that it's going to jeopardize the plan. Besides, someone had to teach him something eventually, or he would become suspicious."
Having his question answered, Kakashi merely nodded. He then looked towards the sky with his lone visible eye and thought back to the plan that was made almost 14 years ago.
In two weeks, it would be October 10th.
In those two weeks, they had to get rid of Naruto, permanently.
XXXXXXXXXX
"G-guh...! Huh... Huh..."
It was painful, like he was being tortured by extreme sadists.
Naruto closed one of his eyes in pain and leaned his right shoulder on the wall next to him once again. It had been like this ever since he had exited the hospital.
As soon as he has stepped outside, the pain in his head became almost unbearable, to the point where he had trouble walking and seeing properly.
Also, every few minutes, a set of images appeared for a very brief moment, a moment too short for him to be able to discern anything.
'What is happening to me?' the blonde asked himself in as he panted and heaved in frustration. Usually, running to his apartment would have taken no less than 10 minutes. But now, he was reaching the 40 minutes mark and he was barely halfway there.
This was because he couldn't run or even walk fast, and he had to support himself with a wall to take a break every few steps.
To tell the truth, Naruto doubted that he would even make it home and at the rate this was going, it was a reasonable claim to make.
Pushing himself off the wall, the blonde took a few careful steps. 10 seconds later, he was forced to lean on the wall once again as his legs became too weak to support his own weight.
He repeated the process again and again, until he reached the dirty and unkept neighborhood where his apartment was located.
It was in this place that most of the civilians came to do their little illegal trades and where gangs usually hung out. The missions to investigate this place were rare, so crime reigned almost freely most of the time.
Seeing the familiar streets, Naruto sighed in relief and closed his eyes. It wouldn't be long now, he was almost there.
He pushed himself off the wall once again and tried to walk forward. However, as he did so, the pain started increasing again and his legs gave out.
Not having the focus or energy to cushion his fall, Naruto crashed into an alley and into a metal trash bin, scaring a few stray cats out of their temporary home.
The blonde fell to the floor like a puppet that had its strings cut, and didn't move after. The pain was becoming too intense for him to stay conscious, so after a few seconds pointless struggling, his world went black.
XXXXXXXX
When he came to, Naruto found himself in a familiar sewer tunnel. He had already been here before, so he knew where this was and who called him here.
He got up, grimaced at the feeling of wet clothes, and stated walking towards the chamber where a certain beast was kept imprisoned.
A minute later, the whiskered boy reached the chamber where Kyuubi's cage was.
He approached the cage, still not seeing the giant beast hidden in the darkness, but as soon as he came close to the paper seal, a giant paw lashed out.
Having expected this, the blonde quickly jumped back and glared at the paw. Moments later, the fox's giant grinning face made itself known.
"Ah, so my jailor graces me with his presence..."the Kyuubi remarked in a malicious tone laced with what seemed to be amusement.
"What do you want, Kyuubi!?" Naruto yelled to the beast in irritation. "I'm in a really bad mood so you better have a good reason for calling me here!"
Instead of reacting like Naruto thought and starting raging about being the mighty Kyuubi and that humans should cower in fear before him, the fox merely chucked maliciously.
"What? So you didn't like my little gifts to you?"
At that, Naruto was confused. 'Gifts? What gifts?' he asked himself. However, it wasn't long before he recalled exactly what he had gotten in extra all day.
"So it was you! Damn you Furball, it hurt like hell!" he yelled furiously at the fox who chucked even more at seeing the blonde's reaction.
"Oh? But isn't a little pain a small price to pay for learning the truth?"
Still angry, Naruto continued yelling. "Like hell a little pain! I had trouble walking for more than a few— wait a second... What do you mean truth!? Are you talking about those weird visions!?"
If possible, the fox's grin became even wider. "Yes... that is exactly what I am talking about. These 'visions' as you call them, they indeed are the truth..."
Having calmed down a little, Naruto squinted his eyes at the beast. "Truth? About what?"
He was really confused. What sort of truth included people like Jiji, Danzo and the fourth Hokage. The blonde racked his brain, trying to remember a major event or meeting between the three men, but couldn't recall anything.
Suddenly, a voice brought him out of his thoughts. "The truth of what really happened on the night that I was sealed, and about who you really are..."the fox said as it trained its huge intimidating red eyes on Naruto.
Hearing this, Naruto's opened wide in disbelief and his mind immediately shut down. When it rebooted, he glanced at the giant fox in front of him, eyes still wide open.
"The truth... About my birth? Wha-?"
"Of course." Kyuubi interrupted him. "Wouldn't you really like to know what really happened that night? Don't you want to know who you really are? Who your parents are?"
It really sounded like the fox was trying to trick the blonde into doing what it wanted, but Naruto didn't realize it.
"Of course I want to know!" the blonde cried out. " But even if it's true that you know everything, how did you even find out if you are sealed here!?"
"How I know doesn't matter, human. But, if you really want to know the truth, come inside the cage. Hurry up, before I change my mind..."the fox said as it continued grinning, adding an edge to the last part.
As soon as the beast finished talking, Naruto visibly panicked and rushed forward. "N-no wait! I'm coming so wait!"
Reaching the entrance of the cave, Naruto stopped. He was still a bit hesitant to go in, as he really didn't trust the fox at all, However, he was willing to do anything to know who his parents were, so he steeled his nerve and walked inside.
Seeing the boy pass the bars, the fox gained a triumphant look and abruptly moved its head to a mere meter in front of the blonde, causing him to fall on his ass in surprise.
"Well then, Uzumaki Naruto. Prepare yourself..." the fox's eyes bore into Naruto's. "For after this, you will never be the same again..."
Then, an intense pain rang in the blonde's head, making him fall unconscious.
XXXXXXX
When he came to, Naruto was welcomed with the somewhat familiar feeling of nothingness that always accompanied his 'visions'.
A second later, or perhaps it was a minute or an hour, he heard the screams of a newborn baby. Then, just after, the blonde was blinded by a shining white light.
"Congratulations, it's a healthy baby boy." Naruto heard a gentle but strained voice.
A birth, no doubt about it...
As the blinding white ceiling of the hospital was too much for the baby to handle, he closed his eyes, seeking a brief relief. As the baby's eyes shut tight, Naruto's vision also turned black.
It was then that he realized that Kyuubi was no doubt showing him these 'visions', no, memories, from the baby's perspective. Naruto remembered what the fox had said, that these memories would reveal who he really was. So, the blonde had no doubt that this baby was in fact his younger self.
"Yes..." an even softer voice filled with love called out to the nurse holding him."Please, can I see him?"
The woman was panting rather badly and sounded as if she needed more than a good night's sleep to recover, but she immediately wanted to see him, her baby boy.
"He's very handsome... Just like his father..." the voice called again. Naruto couldn't feel it, but he was sure that his younger self was now safely snuggled into the woman's arms.
A large set of innocent blue eyes flickered open at the warm soothing feeling, and Naruto's vision returned.
What the teen saw next would be forever imprinted in his most cherished and important memories.
It was a the beautiful face of a tired woman. Her light brown hair was stuck to her forehead due to the sweat and her shining deep blue eyes were only half opened in exhaustion, but Naruto could honestly say that the woman was a beauty without comparison.
The woman reached for his younger self with her index finger and tickled his nose, making the baby boy giggle happily.
By now, Naruto was certain that if he were in his real body, he would be crying. No one had ever smiled at him like that, never with this much love.
If possible, Naruto would give anything to see this smile again, not in his forgotten memories, but in the present.
"So what is his name going to be?" a man's voice questioned. The doctor in charge of the birth, no doubt.
Without hesitating, the woman, his mother, continued smiling gently and responded; "Naruto... Yagami Naruto... Yes that will be his name."
"Maelstrom eh? A good name indeed, Ms. Yagami." the doctor responded, the distinctive sound of writing echoing in the background.
The peaceful and warm scene continued for a good moment. The baby was getting tired, having been born only minutes earlier, so his tired eyes eventually closed, temporarily shutting Naruto's only link with the world that he could never reach.
These scenes of peaceful and happy times continued for three days, but as everyone knows, good gongs never last long.
Yes... Just as Naruto thought that everything was going alright and that the situation was perfect, it happened.
October 10th, the day that a beast from hell was unleashed upon Konohagakure.
The memories shown to him on that day were brief, but even though Naruto couldn't feel his body at all, he could still feel that icy chill that went down his spine.
A flash of lightning, a woman's desperate cries of "No! Please don't take him!" and a man's half-sobbed "Sorry" before everything went black.
At that moment, when he heard his mother's panicked voice and sobs, something in Naruto's mind broke.
It was a long time before his younger self opened his eyes again, but when he opened them, Naruto saw the face of a woman he had seen he had seen far too much in the previous day.
The red haired woman, the one that glared at him with the entirety of her hatred.
"Are you sure about this Kushina?" the familiar but distinctively different voice of an old man was heard from some ways beside the woman.
Hearing a new sound, baby Naruto turned his head towards hit, revealing the presence of two old men to his older self. Sarutobi Hiruzen and Danzo Shimura, the third Hokage and the old WarHawk.
"Yes, I can guarantee that if he was given to me, you wouldn't see him once in your entire life and Konoha would gain another potentially powerful weapon at its disposal." Danzo proposed as he gazed at the woman impassively.
"No." the woman replied firmly, earning herself the attention of baby Naruto once again. "We will proceed as I planned, is that clear, Sarutobi, Danzo?"
Naruto heard the third Hokage sigh; it seemed as if he didn't really agree with that 'plan' after all.
"Minato really screwed up didn't he, sealing the remnants of Kyuubi's chakra into his son like this..."
Remnants? What was Jiji talking about? He had the whole beast sealed in him didn't he? Didn't he?
"Don't call him his son! I will not allow anybody to associate that whore and her son to Minato in any way! I am his only love and our daughter his only child!" Kushina yelled, enraged.
The amount of pure woman fury was too much for the old Hokage as he immediately nodded frantically and made a zipping motion over his mouth with his finger, earning him a strange look from Danzo.
The woman's yell had also affected baby Naruto as he started to cry, wanting to return to his Mama's soothing embrace.
Hearing the cries, the red haired woman glared at him even harder and spoke.
"Yes, this filthy child will stay here and serve his only purpose. To act as a shield from the Masked man and his organization, so that they will never be able to hear about, let alone find about my daughter, Namikaze Uzumaki Akiha, the real container of the Kyuubi no Kitsune! Listen Sarutobi, I will return with my daughter on October 10th 14 years from now. Use that thing as a shield until then, but just before we arrive, eliminate him."
With the woman's declaration, Naruto finally understood the truth, and his whole life fell apart.
"Yes of course. I will inform Kakashi, Tsunade and Jiraiya when I see them." Jiji's cold voice echoed in his head.
XXXXXXX
With a splash, a body fell backwards into dirty sewer water.
Naruto opened his eyes, staring at the ceiling emotionlessly.
He got up, miserably, and started walking away from the fox's cage, deliberately avoiding looking at the giant beast.
However, the blonde didn't go far and quickly collapsed face first into the water. He tried to get up again, but only manage to turn himself on his back.
Naruto didn't know what to think. His whole life, his whole existence was a lie.
He wasn't the jailor of the nine tailed beast that sought acknowledgment from the population and companions he could protect. No, he was the sacrifice, a decoy only meant to attract negative attention and evil plots.
He wasn't the cheerful kid that dreamed of a long and fulfilling life as the Hokage of his village. No, he was the kid that was meant to die at a young age from birth, forgotten by all.
All his life, he had wanted friends. When he got them, he protected them with his life. But now he realized, he was always alone, so very alone.
Nobody could fit in his shoes; nobody could understand him, the sacrifice chosen from birth. In return, he couldn't put himself in anybody's shoes, those that lived a normal life; he could never understand what it's like to be like them.
Jiji had lied to him, gave him a horrible fake smile each and every day. Jiraiya, Tsunade and Kakashi had lied to him too.
He could already see the pattern.
Jiji was the one tasked with raising him, not intervening too much in his activities so that he would only become a sub-par Ninja.
Then, when he graduated the academy by some sort of 'miracle', here comes Kakashi to be his teacher and barely teach him anything.
Then, when he gets desperate for a Sensei to train him, the great Jiraiya would magically appear out of nowhere to teach him a few techniques and even one of the fourth's secret technique so that e would get attached to him.
Then, a mission would come up. It would be a big one that required Jiraiya to convince Tsunade to come back to the village. The white haired man would make him believe that he wanted him to come, to teach him the fourth's technique.
There they would meet Tsunade where he would impress her with his 'skill' and determination, making her come back to Konoha just in time to receive his Step-mother and his sister.
His life was planned for the start; he never had any freedom of his own.
But that wasn't even the most painful thing in all of this. No, what hurt him the most was that he actually had living relatives, but they had abandoned him.
His step-mother, Kushina, was the one the one that was responsible for his life of misery.
His sister, while probably unaware of him or what happened in his life, got loved and appreciated, while he did not.
His father, the fourth Hokage, was someone that still confused him, so he wasn't sure what to think of him yet.
But it was his mother's -Tears fell from his eyes- absence that got to him the most. Where was she? What happened to her? She couldn't have abandoned him, no never, not when she had smiled at him like that...
At that moment, Naruto's emotionless eyes shifted to the fox watching him in dark amusement.
Slowly, the blonde got up to his feet and faced the nine tailed beast, his state unwavering.
"You, you aren't the real Kyuubi aren't you?" Naruto asked the fox in a flat tone.
The 'Kyuubi' grinned maliciously once again, showing all his sharp, dangerous looking teeth. "That's right. I'm not the real Kyuubi no Kitsune, I am merely a fragment of his power."
Seeing the blonde's impassive face, the fox continued. "On the night where Kyuubi-sama was sealed into your sister, huge amounts of his chakra remained in air and poisoned the people nearby. So, just as the fourth Hokage was dying, he sealed these remnants of demonic chakra into you, his son. But, what people didn't know was Kyuubi-sama's control over his Chakra was something that no human could ever reach, as he was a being made of chakra. So, on that night, Kyuubi-sama made a part of this chakra sentient, or in other words, he created me."
"That doesn't make any sense. Why would he waste his time to do such a thing instead of trying to find ways to trick his container into letting him escape?"
In the next instant, the giant beast burst out laughing darkly. "Hahahaha! Why? Because being stuck into a puny human doing absolutely nothing for decades is boring, so boring that Kyuubi-sama wished to for his end more than once! Entertainment! Amusement! Those are the only reasons why Kyuubi-Sama created me to show you these memories..."
Irritation seeped into Naruto's gaze, as he clenched his fist hard enough to draw blood. "Yes, I'm sure it's really amusing for him, showing me those memories while keeping the ones that mattered the most to me out of my reach! Tell me, what happened to my mother! Where is she!?" yelled Naruto as hatred was added to the mix and tears once again fell from his eyes. However, this time, they were tears of rage.
"Well... Wouldn't you like to know?"the fox replied in a mocking tone, angering the blonde even more than he already was.
But, before the blonde could say anything, the fox continued. "Uzumaki Naruto, you know exactly who to pursue to answer this question. So, will you allow yourself to die without finding the answer? Will you let yourself be sacrificed when you finally know the truth? Will you become some nobody like you were destined to be, or will you become a legend and destroy all of those that dared lie to you!?"
At the fox's declaration, Naruto was rendered speechless. But, seconds after, his fist slackened and his eyes hardened in determination.
Now, Naruto's eyes filled with various emotions. Hatred, irritation and determination, the emotions of the new Naruto. However, there was also kindness, resolve, sadness and mischief, the core emotions of his entire being.
Yes, this was the look of a person who would do anything to achieve his goal, killing if necessary. However, these were also the eyes of a person that would protect the ones that he cares deeply about with his life.
Seeing the teen's determination, the Kyuubi-Copy's grin threatened to split his face. Kyuubi-Sama would be very pleased at this development.
Then, Naruto's eyes shifted back to the giant fox inside the cage. "Don't get me wrong, I still hate you with all my heart, but... Thanks I guess. I would've probably died if it wasn't for you."
"Oh? Is that so? Well then, don't let me keep you? Go."the fox said in a tone that clearly said 'I'm sleepy, so get the fuck out.'
At that, Naruto sweatdropped and gave a nod before disappearing from his mindscape in a white flash.
And that's it for now. I hope you enjoyed and thanks for reading. Please Review!
TheBrokenDemon... Out!