Konoha Legends
"Tell me a story papa." The black haired six year old jumped into bed and grabbed the covers. A black haired jounin walked into the room after his son. He sat down on the bed and absentmindedly scratched the scar on his nose.
"Let's see, what story do you want to hear today?"
"I want a new story."
"Well you know about the Hokage. He won't let you forget him. You know about Jiraya, and Tsunade, and Orochimaru. How about Copy Ninja Kakashi?"
"You told me about him yesterday."
"Oh, yes. Then how about The Silver Pheonix." The young child nodded. Iruka sat back in his chair. "Okay, it was back in the days of the first Lord Hokage. His story starts when he was a chunin. There was a young man named Kotarou."
"Was he strong?" the child asked.
"Nobody used to think so. Kotarou was shy, he didn't know many jutsus, and he didn't have an advanced bloodline. The only way that he was able to become a chunin was because he could use the jutsus he did know, very well."
"What did he look like?"
"He was kind of short, not real strong. The only things that made him stand out were his silver hair and twin swords on his back. They were swords passed down through his family, since years before Konoha was ever made.
"Anyway, the mission that was given to Kotarou was to retrieve secret documents from the Air Country. It was a dangerous mission, and the entire party knew it. There were two jounin and a chunin along with Kotarou. He was made the leader by the Hokage. He tried to tell the Hokage that he was not the best choice, but the Hokage would not hear of it.
"They had traveled far into Air Country and had not hit any enemy shinobi. Kotarou thought that there was something wrong, but he didn't say anything. They went further into the country and were almost at the target when they were ambushed by twenty enemy jounin. The Leaf was strong then, but not strong enough for two jounin and two chunin to defeat twenty jounin, but they fought anyway.
"The enemies revealed that it was all a trap. The documents didn't even exist. The ninja fought using jutsu after jutsu. They even ended up setting the surrounding forest on fire. The Leaf shinobi were fighting well until Kotarou was knocked through several burning trees, most of which fell on top of him. The other shinobi saw it happen but couldn't do anything, because if any of them stopped fighting they would die.
"Once they saw their comrade fall, they too began losing ground against their enemy. They ended up cornered against the burning forest. There was no way out, and the enemies were advancing. The twenty jounin were down to fifteen, but the Leaf shinobi were nearly out of chakra.
"All of a sudden, out of the burning forest a lone figure stood up holding two swords. Flames swirled around him and his blades. What happened after that is a little sketchy. The two jounin and chunin claimed to remember only three things. The first was that the figure seemed to have firey wings growing out of his back. The second was the loud bird like screech that was heard right before the third; a wave of heat that caused all of them to close their eyes.
"They heard screams all around them, but the heat made them keep their eyes closed. When they did open their eyes, Kotarou stood over them. The bodies of the fifteen shinobi lay around the battlefield, each one burned beyond recognition and slashed to bits.
"Kotarou wouldn't say what happened after that, but . . ." Iruka looked down at the sleeping form of his son. A smile crossed his face as he pulled the covers up higher. "Good night, Naruto."
Author's notes: If anyone is interested I have a challenge to offer. This is not a one shot fic, in fact it is a four part fic that I'm writing. Anyone who is willing take part in this writing challenge is both welcomed to and encouraged. More information will come in the next chapter.