That Fire Inside
By: RukodaimeHokage
A/N: My first Fanfiction. Enjoy and at the end plz R&R! I do not own Naruto or any of the characters.
Flashback
In Naruto's POV
I've always had something inside of me. No not Kurama, or who you would call the Kyuubi no Youko, the crazy nine-tailed fox who decided to attack the Village Hidden in the Leaves that killed my parents at the hand of a certain Uchiha. The Yondaime Hokage, also my father, at his dying breath, sealed the Kyuubi in me. I became the sacrifice, or Jinchuuriki. A powerful demon sealed inside you has its perks right? Well at first it didn't. I was the outsider, the rejected one, the demon. People sent me dirty looks at me, threw rocks at me, spat at, kids my age could not play with me, and to one extreme, on Remembrance Day, the day that the Yondaime sacrificed himself, and my birthday, the very ANBU that were to guard me joined in the attempted assassination.
I was running home. Running as fast my little legs could carry me. It was the day. The day full of pain, sorrow, and that strong emotion, the evil emotion, anger. They have come.
"Come back here you fuckin' demon! We haven't finished what you started! You will DIE after what you did to my wife!" yelled Mizuki. "Accept your Goddamned faith you piece of shit!"
I turned my head around only to be greeted by a kunai being thrown to my face. I ducked into an alley way. Footsteps echoed on the walls, my feet splashing into the puddles. I looked back and saw they were gone! I breathed out in relief and cried. A cat meandered by. Seeking physical comfort, I tried to pet the feline but it hissed at me and gave me a painful scratch on my palm. I sat in the puddle and wallowed in my own sorrow. I clutched my heart and cried harder. It hurt. The pain was unbearable. Pain became who I am. I am pain.
I was alone. Although Jiji was there, he was always "busy." Probably felt like being the caretaker of the Kyuubi could ruin him. That makes total sense though. I mean, who voluntarily wants to take care of the kid who is a demon? Certainly not me.
I heard multiple footsteps coming from the deep in the alleyway. To my horror it was Mizuki and the angry villagers who laughed manically. What did I do to deserve this? What would a little boy like me have done to wrong these people, who treat others with respect, but when they see me, they change their faces to one of rage? I looked at them again and realized that I saw many of my classmates' fathers being lead by Mizuki. Chouza's eyes, usually accompanied with wrinkles from smiling, held the exact opposite. Shikaku's eyes were cold and calculating. Hizashi, who usually looked cold to everyone, had the most killing intent that made me shiver to my little spine. Shino's father's dark spectacles reflected back my sea-blue eyes, full of fright and my face petrified. Someone came forward. Kizashi held just as much hate as Mizuki in his eyes. He hefted a large Shuriken into both hands and smiled.
That was my cue to book it. I ran back, toward the street, toward the light, toward my salvation. It grew closer and closer; I yearned for the light to touch my face, caress it with its gentle warmth. I burst forth, from the dark alleyway and into the bright alleyway. People all stopped and stared at me with smirks on their face. What could they be smirking about?
That's when I felt a wind rushing at my back. I didn't even register when I hit the ground. They smirked because they knew…
That I was dead meat.
That he finally stopped living.
That the demon has died, and their precious Yondaime can rest in peace, even when this child had the same noble eyes as him….
It hurts…
The Shuriken pierced the center of my back, ripping through my white t shirt, shredding muscle. The pain was instantaneous. And I screamed, screeched, yelled, shouted, grunted, writhered, in that feeling. Pain.
My vision started to fade. It was always the way they ignored me and would not acknowledge me that hurt the most…..
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….and the street was quiet. A small pink haired girl ran from her mother to poke at the vanquished demon boy. She then shook the kid, kicked him, punched, cut him with a kunai tossed from an ANBU.
" Is that piece of shit dead?" one woman called to Sakura. She turned to her mother. She nodded.
The crowd erupted in joy and happiness. Finally, the day that has been one of sadness and remembrance to those who were lost were suddenly avenged, and the Yondaime can stop rolling around in his grave
The rest of the day was spent in jubilation. The crowd filed away, each giving a kick to Naruto as they passed by his dying corpse. Each kick sent the shuriken deeper and deeper into his back. Each one he cried out and whimpered. As the last one kicked his already bruised ribcage, Naruto felt something in his heart.
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Naruto's POV
I didn't know what this feeling was. I could easily identify things like pain, loneliness, and sadness, and maybe happiness, something other people could get. It was fiery, it was overwhelming, and it felt good. It was something powerful. I got to my feet. I winced at the pain that throbbed and stabbed at virtually every part of my body. I brushed off the dust off my shoulder and with a mental count of three, I pulled out the fuma shuriken out of my back and threw it against the concrete, where it made a loud clang noise. The procession of people turned to me, with awestruck eyes, which quickly turned to scorn.
"hey…" I said with a croak.
"The demon lives huh?" said one amazed villager.
"Heh, is that all I am to you?..." I whispered. I straightened up slowly and brushed off the dust and dried blood from my tiny figure. "Am I just a demon to you..?"
"Stop asking questions, you little shit. We don't need to remind you what you really are." Said Kizashi already summoning another fuma shuriken from the seal on his wrist.
I felt the familiar fear creep into me, my whole body trying to overwhelm the command I sent to it:
Stand firm.
"I'm n-not a..a demon.." I croaked again, this time louder.
"Stop lying! No one likes a liar!" shouted Sakura. "Daddy just throw it already! Hes a LIAR!"
Kizashi obeyed.
I saw the fuma shuriken come at me in slowed motion. Coming closer and closer toward my face. Then, just before the shuriken hit me, my reflection stared back at me in the shuriken. It was a fearful look, like back at the alley. But I observed from my eyes something new. There, I saw a totally new thing. A Fire Inside.
I ducked under the projectile and I heard the shuriken crash into the wall behind me.
"I am not a demon. I am tired of all this hate." I said with a shaky calm. "what have I done to wrong you all?"
"Don't question us you motherless fuck! We've been merciful because of the Sandaime's orders! Now you decide to question our generosity? You should be dead, not the Yondaime!"
There I snapped. I have taken all this shit from them. I have let them taunt me, spit in my face, trip me, deny me service, deny me my peace of night because I feared an attack, deny me friends, family, and deny me any kind of happiness on something I didn't commit? I am TIRED! Oh so very TIRED of how they held me down. I am TIRED of everything they've done to me. Ive had enough. They will hear me ROAR!
"I am TIRED!" I shouted. " I am SICK, I am THROUGH with all this 'demon' stuff! I am HUMAN! I cry, I bleed, I feel UNHAPPY BECAUSE OF YOU PEOPLE! You hold me down, but now you will see when the oppressed stands up! I see it all now. I will stand tall and tell you people, I am UZUMAKI NARUTO!"
The crowd was silent for a second. They were all struck by my voice, usually small and timid, now I shouted like a lion. But to my dismay, Kizashi laughed, along with a few others, but some saw me with a little more interest. I will not lose. I cannot lose now.
"What you said sounded a little rehearsed little shit! We all thought you were dumb and worthless, but thanks for showing us your true colors. We can now see who you are; a sneaky whiny bitch!" I saw Sakura and her mother agree. My heart burst from seeing someone I considered to be a close friend squash and shred my bond with her to smithereens.
I fought the tears in my eyes and kept my voice steady. "That's what you see Kizashi! What I see is me! A future shinobi who will become Hokage! I will protect you all with my life! AND THAT'S ALL THAT MATTERS TO ME! NONE OF YOUR TAUNTING AND BULLYING WILL GET TO ME NOW!" My voice grew louder and louder with every word. Soon enough what seemed the whole village crowded around the shouting match between Kizashi and I.
What I saw amazed me. The eyes of the villagers, usually holding hate and cold indifference, changed to become small interest. I even saw some encouragement, especially from a certain Hyuuga girl who looked my age.
"DO NOT! TALK LIKE YOU KNOW THINKS YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF SHIT! YOU DESERVE EVERYTHING YOU'VE GOT FROM ME! YOU'VE KILLED EVERYONE WE'VE HELD DEAR TO US! Kizashi was shaking with rage now. His hand kept twitching to the seal.
"No, you have! Do you think they would approve of messing with a kid who simply holds the Kyuubi? They would all roll around in their graves. I know that I am the Jinchuuriki! Yes, the Yondaime sealed it within me! But what I have done to you all is not my doing!"
"shut up…shut up you vile, disgusting little bastard.. you're just a stupid demon.." Kizashi held his utmost calm. All that hate now came with overwhelming killing intent that I almost lost my composure. I am winning..!
"You've held me down, but now I am back up this time and none of the killing intent will work this time. To get it through again I am not a demon. In fact I am a man! More of a man you'll ever be! I've been through so much worse, so much pain to make even a Hokage humbled! I lived alone, fought alone, almost died alone, and now I will stand alone! To face what was the source of my pain..YOU! I am-"
I couldn't even finish my sentence before I felt a kunai deep into my chest….
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Kizashi's POV
I leaped back from the demons body, leaving the kunai imbedded in his scrawny body. I did it. I killed the bastard. He's dead. Ive finally avenged my little Hana…my sweet little baby Hana….
But what happened took me completely off guard.
Everyone burst into commotion. Some of the crowd ran to the brat, while most of the men found in the crowd ran to me with killing intent. My mind told me to run, but my body didn't obey. Mizuki, my closest friend was already killed, his head ripped off by a certain Akimichi clan member. I found myself shoved into the ground, staring at the feet of the mob fighting each other. A shadow loomed over me and I looked up toward the sky to see a skinny, weak looking Hyuuga girl with her bloodline limit activated, and a hardened look into her eyes, standing over me. "what would she do?" I thought. But I was dead wrong. Those eyes were the last thing I saw before I was knocked out.
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I heard noise coming from in front of me. It was soft at first, then the crescendo grew until it became a loud din. My eyes opened, but quickly shut again. I think I was outside, judging from the light from the sun, and outside. I opened my eyes again, slowly again and an image came to focus.
I was in the Chuunin Exam stadium. The bleachers were completely packed, some people sitting on the rim of the wall, their feet dangling. Were they here to award me of my bravery for killing the demon brat? Give me money? Maybe even make me Hokage? That idea was shot down when I saw at least a dozen ANBU, six in a line, and that line facing an executioner with his axe and the chopping block. The executioner was dressed in black, with dried bloodstains on his apron. He loomed over the ANBU by at least 3 feet, and his frame wide. The axe gleamed in the sunlight, and judging from the jagged cutting edge, it won't be a clean cut….
That's when I booked it. I ran as fast I could, pumping chakra into my legs, propelling me forward. I was to be executed? These people are out of their minds! I saved them from a potential threat! I KILLED… I VANQUSHED THE KYUUBI NO YOUKO! I didn't go far when I suddenly stopped. I looked to see that little Hyuuga bitch in front of me again, my legs cut off from chakra. I moved on my own and turned around to see Shikaku, using his Kagemane no jutsu to stop me in my tracks. Then I was unceremoniously knocked out again.
This time my head was already on the chopping block, my appendages were held down to the ground by chains. My mouth was sealed with a tag. The Sandaime walked forward. The crowd went silent.
Hiruzen's POV
"Today, we, the citizens of Konohagakure, are gathered here today to pass judgment on Kizashi Haruno of killing an important person. Now who was it? Who was killed?
"UZUMAKI NARUTO!" the crowd yelled unanimously.
"Yes, Naruto was a boy, just a boy who was killed. Killed because of what was inside of him. Yes, I know the consequences of the law I passed, but I now revoke it. Naruto was a Jinchuuriki. He held the Kyuubi within him, sealed by the Yondaime, who so happens to be his father.
The crowd was deathly quiet.
"On his dying wish, Namikaze Minato told me to treat him like a hero. But from you people, he was treated like the plague. Am I correct?"
The crowd knew he was right. Every word was correct.
"He lived alone all his life, and not one person reached out to him. Not even I. He stood alone against Haruno Kizashi and all of you. He died thinking he was alone. Not anymore. Naruto is all in our hearts. He taught me something that I believed that died with the Fourth. The Fire. The Will of Fire. The Yondaime died, sacrificing himself to save this village. Naruto had the same Fire within him, maybe even surpassing his father. He didn't only teach me, but you all too. What he did on that day was worth all of our bravery put together. He had determination, a strong Will to change us all. This will comes from within. Naruto Uzumaki, we will always remember for not what you harbored within you, but the morals and the pure person you were when you died."
The crowd erupted in cheers; they chanted "WILL OF FIRE! WILL OF FIRE!"
I gave the order.
Kizashi's POV
I was shocked. The crowd actually cheered for that little shit? They actually believed that crack-pot lie that old bitch Sandaime was saying about the Kyuubi? The whole duration of the Sandaime's speech I struggled in my bonds, even though it was hopeless. Then with my eyes, I tried to meet the eyes of other people who could be instramental to my release. There had to be SOMEONE who shared my well placed hatred on that nine-tailed piece of shit! But when they started to chant "WILL OF FIRE, WILL OF FIRE," I was finished; the Sandaime gave the order and let out a silent scream before the cold, harsh metal met the flesh that was my neck….
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A/N: Annnnnnnnd that's it! Ive had this story floating around in my head for a while, but never really having the motivation. Its my first fanfiction so please be nice! R&R please!
Thank you for reading!
RukodaimeHokage.
