Good day to you readers, flamers, spammers all! This is my first Naruto fic, I hope you like it and let me warn you like I warn most readers from all other anime related fics. THIS IS NOT MAINSTREAM! This is NOT another Sakura+ Naruto, Hinata+ Naruto, Sasuke + Sakura fic. In my experience, most of those sadly have been boring and/or poorly executed, this is a deviation with a completely new storyline placed more or less when Orochimaru first shows up and the whole mayhem that followed but with a very particular new path woven into it.
If you are not into these kinds of deviations then I don't recommend you read past the first three chapters or so.
I apologize for this rather hostile introduction. Please give me hard reviews, detailed reviews or gushy reviews or whatever takes your fancy but so long as it gives me feedback as to my story weaving.
I hope you enjoy this story as much as I will enjoy writing it!
The Stranger:
The Third Hokage sat in his humble room in Konoha. The amber light from the sun setting behind him cast a different color in the house, it made everything seem like it was all aflame, but it was oddly peaceful. Such a disturbing notion, anything that might harm his village made the old man's stomach wrench.
He took a drag from his pipe, the smoky, herbal warmth filled his mouth, his nostrils and his lungs. He held it in until it became mildly acrid, then, he exhaled, the smoke snaked out and formed undulating tendrils in the air before it faded.
He had a lot on his mind, the Chuunin exam was coming up and he was anxious for Naruto's performance. He had been watching over Naruto ever since he was an infant, there had always been something special about him.
His mind continued to wander, from when the fox demon came, to when Naruto was first accepted into the academy.
Fox demon, yes, that monstrosity is what had drawn his guests' attention in the first place to the Land of Fire, to the lands of the Shinobi of the Leaf Village.
In the far east, past ocean, there was a chain of lands called Varajo. And in these lands there were was an order called "Ordo Templum Cinis" in their native tongue. These people called themselves The Order of Templar of the Ashes, or more commonly known as Ash Templar. They, from their fortress monastery in Varajo located demons or daemons as they called them, evil spirits, eldritch monsters and the sort and with their seers and from there, launched expeditions to seek out and destroy them.
These people were in essence, Daemon Hunters, and the best in the world. They had an influence of power and warriors seldom seen in the world, in Konoha or otherwise. They behaved like heroes of old, people of principle, of a moral code, of faith, an unshakable irrefutable, incontrovertible belief that destroying their enemies the right thing to do, and that theirs belonged a final victory that could not be denied.
The Hokage had dealt with them before on his adventures and odysseys. He had seen firsthand, their ferocity and conviction in battle. He himself had helped them find and kill a hydra demon residing in the oceans close to the Village Hidden in the Mist. Their captain, was slain killing the demon, he would never forget how she sacrificed herself to save him, a stranger, an ally. A mother, who to the second she died, killed in the name of her infant son, so he would live in a purer world.
And now, for the first time in sixteen years, the Daemon Hunters found quarry in the Villages of the Shinobi, and remembering the aid of the Third Hokage, they had dispatched a band of their finest to Konoha to slay an immensely powerful Snake Daemon, and a man who stole bodies to inhabit them for his own.
He knew, this could only mean one man…
Orochimaru
The Ash Templar would be arriving soon, and Lord Hyuga had offered to accommodate these distinguished allies in his manor.
To be truthful, the Hokage was relieved to have them here, he knew that their presence would save many lives that might have been otherwise lost or destroyed.
But there was something about them that unsettled him, perhaps it was their faith, their utter willingness to charge back into the fray when everyone else falls back. Their near demented, feverish, passionate love for combat against the enemy, and their one law: To never surrender, to always fight to the bitter end, to do otherwise, is blasphemy.
And as such, they devote themselves utterly to whatever they do, to everything they undertake they pour themselves into utterly, in body, mind and soul.
The Hokage had never seen such discipline….
Perhaps it was this courage and discipline that unsettled him if it was ever turned against his people.
A foolish notion, these people he knew were men and women of principle and of code. They had nothing to do with conquest of betrayal of people, but the destruction of evil.
He took a deep breath and took another drag from his pipe, savoring the warmth of the smoke.
Nothing left to do, but wait for the knights to show up….
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Naruto was, where he usually was on a Saturday afternoon with nothing to do; at the ramen shop. He had already gorged on one of likely to become three servings of the steamy noodle soup and was waiting for his next serving.
His mind was running wild from the exams to come on Monday, the Chuunin Exams, THE Chuunin Exams. An advance in rank, one more test to pass to prove his worth to the people of the village, to prove wrong everyone who had ever called him a loser or a failure, he was so excited! He was determined to treat himself to a job well done of getting this far.
And of course it was a new way to show off to Sakura.
He blushed a little thinking about her, she was amazing …
What did Sasuke have that he didn't?
It must be the dark hair, maybe he should dye his….
Whilst Naruto pondered this, a stranger sat next to him and looked at the cook he pointed to the small bubbling cauldron and signed for one cup.
"Hey buddy, between you and me, that sausage, garlic, onion, egg and noodle ramen is actually really bad, I don't know why the old man still makes it" said Naruto . The stranger who was fiddling with his satchel turned around and looked at Naruto curiously.
Naruto was more than a little surprised by the boy who was sitting next to him. He wore chainmail, a black tabard and a black long mantle that had a weird sword and thorns symbol woven into it's front and back in white. The boy was a healthy pale tone if that was even possible, he had gentle lavender eyes that had a spark of brilliance and intelligence behind them if you looked hard enough. Right off the bat he seemed to have the same casual, aloof, friendly demeanor as Kakashi sensei.
"Uh, hi" said Naruto, scratching the side of his head trying to figure out the character.
"Erato" answered the boy in greeting, smiling. He had a foreign accent to him.
"Erato? Is that how you say hi? Where did you come from?" asked Naruto.
The boy's eyes eased for a moment as he studied Naruto's face, what struck Naruto as curious is how the stranger held his gaze fixatedly without any sort of hesitance or problem. The stranger thought the question over for an instant then answered;
"I am come from Varajo"
Naruto gave him a quizzical look.
"Ooook, well, my name's Naruto and I'm a Genin, but on Monday I'm going to take the Chuunin exam. What's your name?"
The boy slurred his words a bit as he tried to vocalize them, a little unsure as to if he was saying the correct thing.
"Serjio Alexandros, Ich make training t-to be Templar, I ish apprentice, Ich hunt Daemons with Master"
Naruto was completely lost.
Before he could ask anything else, a voice came from a caravan of people dressed just like Serjio mounted on horses who split the crowd without touching them, drawing looks of awe and fear. They shouted something to him right when the cook gave him his ramen. The boy shouted something back and the leader, by the looks of his armor, the same nodded and went off.
Naruto thought he was mistaken but, were they being led by a servant of the Hyuga's?
The boy ate the soup gleefully but with impeccable manners. Naruto kept speaking with the boy who listened quietly but didn't utter a syllable more. He ate and drank in silence.
After the boy finished his meal, he took out a single golden coin and gave it to the man with a worried expression. He wasn't sure if he had paid the man enough.
The cook and his daughter both half choked and Naruto ended up deciding to pay for the boy's ramen, which was very cheap and the gold coin he was giving could easily pay for the ramen shop's rent for three months.
The boy decided to give them the coin anyway, and he gave Naruto one too. It had a dragon etched on it like a rune and shone regally.
The boy smiled and shook the cook and daughter's hands and then half embraced Naruto. He smiled and said, "Nara" as he walked off into the warm dark of the failing light, into the same direction the caravan had gone through. He was probably saying goodbye.
The trio at the ramen shop was completely lost.
A weird kid, a little older than Naruto by the looks of it, who gives gold coins for free and hugs for about the same thing and had absolutely no concept of being reserved with strangers.
Suddenly Serjio was the ramen shop's owner's favorite customer much to Naruto's irritation.
Naruto made a mental note to find out who these people were tomorrow, he was not at all sleepy and he felt like walking some after he was finished eating.
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Serjio continued his treck around the village drawing looks from everyone. He stuck out like a massive glowing sign, but he didn't mind the staring at all.
Although he didn't know it, he met all of the rookies who were going to take the exam on Monday as he went through the entire village. Everyone, from Sasuke, Neji and Kiba to Ino, Shino and Sakura. The latter gave him directions when the boy finally decided to go to his destination.
"Erato" he said to her after staring at her for an instant, then turning on his heel to speak to her.
"Um, hi?" she answered a little unsure.
"Hyuga house, where is?" he asked.
"Hyuga Manor? Oh its just that way, just go until you pass that building, then you take a left then a right then all the way to the end" she said reinforcing the instructions with gestures and pointing from her hand.
The boy then smiled and thanked her by bowing his head. Then he went on his ways to the Hyuga Household.
Sakura, much like everyone he met before, be it picking up a bag of chips Chouji dropped and the same asking him where he was from. Or Sasuke walking alone both exchanging glances, only Serjio was smiling friendlily. Or Ino half skipping home and then bumping into him, the same almost fell on a table next to a sushi bar at the corner but thankfully Serjio caught her before she fell into the crowd.
They all thought the same thing; "What the hell?".
As Serjio approached the gates of the Hyuga Clan's home, he smiled as if he had a private joke he wanted to share with everyone. In his own tongue he thought to himself smirking sheepishly.
He could understand what the people said, but he could only speak a broken dialect. He was never very good at languages.
He smiled at the guards who were told he would be coming at some point and the pair opened the gates and let him in. Now all he had to do was find where Master was sleeping in the whole complex. A task, he thought, that could easily take him the rest of the night.
R&R I hope you like the fic, and as thus, I hope to hear from you! As always to all my readers, here's a cookie!