Chapter 1.
"They say I'm not normal … they call me a monster. Do you think the same way too sensei ..?"
"Yeah. Right now, only the people in our village are talking about you. Soon word about you will spread to other villages. It wouldn't be long before other nations will know about you as well. Maybe you wont be the Godaime, but you might just become the Rokudaime or the Nanadaime Hokage. And when you do, everyone is going to say 'The Hokage this time is amazing!', 'She's stronger and more beautiful than all the previous Hokage's!', 'She's a monster!' and things like that. So it's a good thing that people are already noticing how special you are from this young age Naru. So don't worry about it."
"Thank you Iruka sensei … I think I get what you're trying to say … I wont let it bother me anymore! I'm going to train harder and beat everyone! And then I'll become the greatest Hokage ever!"
Heavy breathless pants sounded in the empty training grounds, birds chirped in the air and trees, the wind blew through making the leaves and branches sway and in the distance people's voices sounded. In the center of the open training grounds stood a young girl with golden hair that swayed slightly, sweat poured down her flawless face, her body shook from exhaustion. "Come on! Come on!" She growled and gripped her right wrist and focused, her blue eyes stared intently at her hand as blue chakra began to form in her hand before morphing into a blazing, swirling ball, wind swirled with it making her hair whip around. "More! More!" She growled focusing, she gritted her teeth and groaned, the ball in her hand began to grow larger but shook slightly as it struggled to stay in it's circular shape.
"NARU!" A loud voice sounded making her jump and lose her concentration on the large jutsu, it exploded and sent her backwards skidding in the grass. She laid there panting harshly, her hands twitched in pain, she groaned and heaved for air. She sat up slowly and looked at the one who broke her concentration, it was her teammate Haruno Sakura a girly, lovestruck, 14 year old girl who cared more for her looks than her ninja career. Next to her was Naru's other teammate Uchiha Sasuke, the class heartthrob, the village's last Uchiha, a gifted genius who had no emotions and was in Naru's opinion a stuck up pain in the ass who was hell bent on revenge. Following them was their sensei Hatake Kakashi, a jounin who was closed off, time challenged, lazy except for when a serious battle and who only paid attention to Sasuke.
"That was a brilliant move dope." Sasuke said full of sarcasm, he gave his smirk crossing his arms over his chest and that's when Naru noticed it, he wore a olive green standard chunin vest over his tall collar blue shirt.
"Wha?" She asked confused.
"I'm a chunin." He said. "Shikamaru is too, no else." He said smugly, she gritted her teeth.
"How?" She asked slightly irked.
"How well I did in the exams, taking down Orochimaru, helping in the attack." He said with a smirk, Naru frowned her body tensing, she balled her hands up then yelped in pain, she looked down and saw her hands blistered and burned from the chakra.
"Looks like you got some chakra burns, you'll have to rest those." Kakashi said crouching down next to her, she looked away and stood up stumbling slightly.
"So Naru's still going to be useless, sticking to what you know." Sasuke jabbed, she gritted her teeth shaking in anger, she sighed looking down and walked past them which gave them a shock, usually the girl would call Sasuke a 'Teme!' and they would get into a huge fight until Sakura and Kakashi intervened.
"Naru, we still have practice." Kakashi said standing up.
"So?" She replied quietly glancing back. "Why should I?" She asked and walked to the gate, she pushed the gate open and walked away from them.
"Maybe she should just give up, she's not that great of kunoichi." Sakura sneered acting like she was more superior which was a common thing when she was speaking with Naru.
"And you're one to talk?" Sasuke said, she gasped and looked down sadly as the Uchiha walked up to the posts with targets and began to focus.
'They wont ever work together will they?' Kakashi thought running his gloved hand through his spiky silver hair.
Naru walked through the streets dodging people keeping her head down and let her feet carry her. She stopped and looked up to find herself at the old playground that she use to play in as a child. She walked up the steps and sat on the swing and gently swung back and forwards slowly dragging her toes in the sand. She gripped the chains tight ignoring the pain in her hands. 'Why? Why? What's the point anymore!? No matter what I do, what I say they never believe me! They believe him! It's not fair! It's not! I wonder if I should just ….' She thought biting her lip thinking the thing she had been thinking about for a couple weeks now, to turn in her hitai-ate and quit as a ninja, maybe travel the world and find a place of her own, but she could never push herself to do it. But what she just learned today, she was considering it.
Sasuke becoming a chunin was a lie, it wasn't real, he was lying and no one saw it! Him saying he defeated Orochimaru in the second exam was a bunch of bull. In all truth he was frozen stiff terrified, the sannin was a terrifying person who was hunting power and immortality, the man had been a Konoha ninja but was chased out by his sensei; the previous Hokage Hurizen Sarutobi.
The man attacked the team in the chunin exams intending to mark Sasuke with a curse mark so he could take over the boy's body, and would of succeeded had it not been for Naru. She sprung to action and used a jutsu that she wasn't suppose to use for a while, she managed to hit the sannin and severely wounded the man causing him to flee.
Of course Sasuke couldn't let that come out, so he told everyone he scared Orochimaru off, he saved Sakura and Naru both who were frozen in fear. And being the last Uchiha they believed him instead of believing her because she held Kyuubi no Kitsune so basically she was a lying, jealous, monster who wanted attention.
Naru sniffled slightly and groaned as tears worked up. 'Why am I crying? It's not going to help, it's going to make it worse' She thought and sighed closing her eyes. She didn't notice the tall man walking past the playground. He paused seeing her and walked in, he pulled out a box of cigarettes that he only enjoyed once in a great while.
"What's wrong with you?" He asked, she looked up and saw Moreno Ibiki, the leader of the Torture and Interrogation division, and more recently he had been the proctor of the first part of the chunin exams who Naru actually showed up and impressed. "You're Uzumaki Naru." He said and leaned against the swing set up.
"Nothing." She muttered and turned her head away, her bangs falling in her eyes.
"Really?" He asked taking a drag of the cigarette. "I don't find that to be the truth." He said with a smirk.
"I …." She glanced at him and sighed. "I'm tired of this. Being taken as a fool, a liar, they don't think I'm capable of anything." She said fighting the tears. "They'd believe the lies instead of the truth just because of what I am." She said.
Ibiki gave a 'hm' and looked at the sky. "You're the one who stopped Orochimaru, aren't you?" He asked. Naru's head shot up in shock and looked at him. "I can smell a lie from a mile away." He said. "Plus he seems like the kind of kid that would do anything for the attention." He said. "Also I remember you from the chunin exams. You stood your ground against me helping the others and you didn't even answer a single question." He said, Naru gave a half chuckle and sighed. "So?" He asked.
"I am the one who did it, but it doesn't matter." She shrugged. "I'm just a monster who takes up space." She said, Ibiki looked at her and sighed, he shifted a little.
"Can I ask you some questions?" He asked staring at the sky, she looked at him, he glanced at her, she nodded. "Do you still believe in what you said at the chunin exams?" He asked.
"Yeah." She said with a slight shrug.
"Do you believe what they say about you?" He asked jerking his head towards the streets.
"No, not really, it just hurts." She said.
"Are you loyal to your village?" He asked.
"Well, yeah. I mean …. I've thought about quitting as a kunoichi .. but I'd never betray." She said.
"What are your strengths? What are you wanting to master?" He asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Ninjutsu, taijutsu, ya know." He said.
"Um ….. I'm pretty good at shurikenjutsu and I've started fuinjutsu. But I really like doing forbidden, Hijutsu." She said. "Genjutsu I suck at." She said.
"Have you ever thought to ask others to teach you?"
"I had Jiraiya teach me a bit on the side, but no one else, it's kinda pointless, there is only a handful of people who see me as a human." She said.
"Say if you were offered new training or style would you take it?" He asked.
"Hm... If I could I'd like to." She said.
"Final one." He said. "Would you like to join my ranks and become a sort of intern?" He said, she blinked.
"With you?" She asked, he nodded.
"I've been meaning to take on an apprentice for a while now." He shrugged.
"What do you do?" She asked.
"I'm the head of the Torture and Interrogation department. We handle the prisoners, sometimes hunting targets and rogues, training." He said.
"Why me?" She asked.
"You interested me at the chunin exams, you're a prankster by heart, I use to see the things you did younger." He smirked. "And as I said you got through my test without answering a single question." He said. "No one has ever done that." He said. "You're unpredictable, you're creative and interesting." He said, she blushed a little. "So, what do you say? Wanna give it a shot?" He asked.
"Yeah." She nodded standing up, he smirked and nodded his head.
"Good, I want you to meet me tomorrow morning outside the TI building at 8am. Do you know where it is?"
"Yes." Naru nodded.
"Good, I'll see you bright and early." He winked, Naru smiled and nodded, he chuckled and walked away, Naru sighed and nodded.
'Starting tomorrow, everything is going to change!' She thought full of determination and sighed. 'I wont let anything happen like that again.' She thought and jumped over the roofs to get ready.