Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, I don't own anything! Sometimes I wonder if I even own myself…..
6 D.Y (Six years after the death of the Yondaime)
It was cold.
It was damp.
It was freezing.
If someone asked if it was possible to die of pneumonia in Hi no Kunai everyone would crown you as the village idiot. The land of the Fire Lord was balmy all-year round and the envy of other nations to many of its inhabitant's public pleasure.
Rai no Kuni had to deal with daily storms that were made worse by treacherous mountain ranges, in other lands death by lightning strike only happened by jutsu there they had statistics. Iwa didn't have any serious weather problems but it was so rocky and arid they had to have teams of Doton specialists help farmer grow anything. Suna was nearly impossible to live in, water was sold at a premium, daily sandstorms, and poisonous creatures that would have made interrogators drool. Mizu or Yuki no Kuni was where a person wanted to go if they wanted their ass frozen both were plagued with year round weather that put the Land of Lightning to shame ….
…This was why it was so sad that one child was indeed fighting off sickness as he sat in a miserable huddle outside his orphanage in Konoha.
Naruto was sick, cold, and most importantly hungry out of his little mind. It was October 10th and he just turned six today and was excited to finally be able to go the place to do those super cool moves he saw the people with the funny animal masks do. Unfortunately if he was old enough to go to school he was old enough to live in the orphanage.
If they beat him he would heal and get back and laugh it off, if matron would tell him straight to his face he was a horrible little monster who deserved to die like he heard others whisper in the streets he could defend himself because it wasn't true.
What he couldn't deal with was everyone ignoring him.
When he went to the kitchen for meal times they forgot to give him his portions, when he went to the playground to make friends they pretended he didn't exist, and when he complained in as loud a voice as his short frame would allow the caretakers wouldn't hear him. But what he hated most of all was that he was Naruto, just Naruto.
The matron wouldn't even tell him his clan name, when he ran out of the office she was in and listened at the door he just heard mutterings how she was, "Old enough to remember that clan", and, "Won't let them be dishonored by that brat."
He wished he was anywhere but here.
In the darkness of the dank sewer a huge shape began to shift. Large, slitted red eyes glared the only thing keeping him escaping and ravaging everything in sight. The bars were for show, if it was held back by only them Kyuubi would've been long gone oh no….
It was being held back by a damn slip of paper!
Oh the indignity.
It only slightly salved his wounded pride that at least this time he wasn't being held down by spiked chains, and it took the Shinigami itself to stop him in his tracks.
But only slightly.
It was damn Kyuubi! While it never gave a flying fuck what the little rats had to say about it, he knew damn well he was feared and hated wherever he went.
Mountains that stood tall for eons were left shattered in his wake.
The very sea parted at his very roar.
The heavens shook with but a twist of his tails.
And he was taken down by blond monkey?
It was a testament to how much the Yodaime got to it that actually took note of the hair color. However as it lay there in a cage that he had to constantly crouch in so it wouldn't crush its body Kyuubi contemplated his surroundings. Being sealed it had the distinct pleasure of feeling sensations it could've done without.
It was cold.
It was damp (Its fur! Its horribly wet and clinging fur!)
It was freezing.
Kyuubi growled. It was a giant mass of chakra born from the mind of a living Kami! It was supposed to be beyond such concerns! It focused all the hate it could muster into its glare as it stared at the seal. It was the only thing holding it back. Kyuubi may have been a shell of its former self after its yin chakra was stolen, but the seal only held a fraction of the death kami's power. If he dared he could rip the damn the away, take over its container's body, and rain down destruction!
However that would incredibly stupid.
Kyuubi gritted its teeth and simmered, it may have forgotten all lot about how energies worked after its more intelligent half left, but it was a pretty damn basic rule that youkai and divine chakra simply did not mix. That meatbag was playing with fire when he summoned the Shinigami. Youkai and Kami were total opposites and after an unsaid mutual agreement avoided the other like a plague.
After all it was a war between the two that brought that abomination known as the Juubi into being. All of the lingering life-force from fallen Kami and demons full of hate coalesced into something that even made Yami shiver in disgust.
The blond rat was ridiculously lucky that the Kyuubi was still weak from being sealed and the Shinigami was an elder Kami. If neither of the two was the case, the village the meatbag loved so much would've been a crater if they were lucky.
In other words if it tried an all-or-nothing jailbreak there was a 99% chance Kyuubi would be condemned to a fate worse than death. Even it had to shiver at what could happen, horrible images ran through him mind. It could be thrown outside reality and suffered eons of violation at the hands of those squids Izanagi forget about. All of its tails of youkai could be drained away into the seal and while the Yoko would have the satisfaction of seeing its container die from chakra poisoning it would be helpless and at the mercy of the many beings it managed to piss off. It could even become like those exploding clones it dimly remembered that blew up on his muzzle. Being torn into a billion pieces would kill even the greatest of the bijuu.
And everything within a 1000 square miles, but who cared about them?
Kyuubi dragged its claws across the floor with a loud screech in frustration, leaving furrows that repaired themselves an instant later. An insane parody of a grin appeared on its muzzle revealing teeth that were larger than some trees. It was about to make another futile charge with what little room it had when the giant fox sensed another presence grow stronger….
…A presence that had been absent for over six years. The Kyuubi was a sentient mass of malice and corrupted energy humans called chakra and demons called youkai after the formal name of their race. The bijuu's sole purpose was to hate. Hate was the emotion that fueled its chakra, hate was the sole thing driving onwards for centuries. Kyuubi was made of endless hate.
There were some beings though that the Kyuubi hated more than any other.
Kyuubi hated the Rikudou no Sennin for being more powerful and creating it. It hated the clans that were born from his loins: the Senju, the Uzumaki, and the thrice damned Uchiha! For decades he was enslaved by one of the three. Hashirama was the only one to sooth his hate and thus take away his power, the red-haired Uzumaki chained it with seal after seal, but out of all the three he hated Madara for getting him into those messes in the first place! Some recently earned their way onto its list like its three containers and that blond monkey.
However the hate Kyuubi had for one spirit eclipsed the others and made him go into frenzy at the very sight of it.
Shinigami.
As a bijuu there was just something engraved on Kyuubi's malignant soul that caused it to despise the Kami, no matter how it came into this world it was still a demon, and demons and divine loathed each other since the dawn of time. It watched as the floating mask of the Shinigami formed from the seal followed by its tattered white robes that hid its body.
Nobody was sure what the Shinigami looked like or what gender it was, it was said long ago there was a Kami who devoured souls instead of letting them move onto the afterlife. At first none dared to stop it, after all the Shinigami was one of their most powerful soldiers, who cared if it found few souls tasty. Eventually the death god got greedy and consumed enough to disrupt the cycle of reincarnation. In punishment Amaterasu burned its face, Susano-o stole its sword, and Tsukuyomi cast a geas that bound it to deliver souls to their rightful place and could only feed when called upon. In shame in wore a mask and used its tanto ever since.
Kyuubi didn't care about all that; all it saw was the Kami that helped seal it away with a smirk on its face; that tore its rightful power in two! The being that served as the fox's warden.
"What are you doing here kabuki?" Kyuubi growled at the being floating in front of its cage. "This seal can't even hold a fraction of your power." The nine-tails grudgingly admitted. "It serves no purpose for you to be here as you cannot give it more." Red on black was locked into a glare with golden on black. For what seemed like an eternity the two powerful entities refused to break the stalemate. Then the Kyuubi's muscles coiled as it saw the Death Kami move. Its long purple tongue slithered its way out momentarily flickering in the air before it curled around the knife held loosely in Shinigami's right hand. Slowly pulling up the tanto to its mouth Kyuubi knew it was smirking.
The Kami was taunting it.
The Kyuubi snapped.
Kyuubi gathered all the youkai it could before the seal could stop him with a roar that echoed though the empty corridors of the mindscape. "I AM ALREADY SENTANCED TO A SLOW DEATH! SO I MIGHT AS WELL GO OUT WITH A BANG!" The Kyuubi only looked like a fox on a whim; it kept that shape it was 'born' in because it was easier to destroy everything around it that a split second Kyuubi sacrificed its form as a 200ft. fox, and turned into a cloud of crimson chakra that launched itself at the thing that stole its freedom!
"I wish…."
3
"I wish that…."
2
"I wish I had a family."
1
The blond boy looked up in amazement at one of Konoha's rare storms and saw a bolt of lightning arc across the sky as if it heard his deepest desire.
0
The moment before it hit the seal the cloud of malevolent chakra had one final thought, 'Whatever happens at least I'll have the satisfaction of taking my useless contain-'
*cough*
Naruto's right hand clutched his mouth as his frame was suddenly racked by hacking and wheezing. One second he was staring at the flashing lightning and listening to the distant thunder when a huge well of pain exploded in his stomach.
'What in the name of ramen was happening to him?' While Naruto has been sick before it always cleared up after an hour or so, he was actually getting better when the lightshow was starting and now this happened! Feeling the urge to cough die down, he sat as still as could before moving his hand from his mouth. It felt oddly sticky. Looking down at his hand Naruto stared in incomprehension at his palm.
It was red.
Red with blood.
Before Naruto could register what that meant he hugged himself as a new round of pain erupted from his midriff. Squeezing his eyes shut in torment the blond had to wonder if he was dying, "It can't be, I haven't even made anyone acknowledge me yet or find my dream!" He said with a wheeze.
Just as he was about to pass out red and black flames started to dance across the surface of his skin trying their best to consume the other and the boy they were fighting on. The flames had long since lost any will of their own all that the crimson colored one knew was it had to defeat the black and all the black knew was it had to stop the red. However they were at an impasse as both were equal in power. If they were equal how could they accomplish their stated directives? Both of the chakras knew they couldn't do this forever, already the respective power fueling them was fading away.
They needed new input.
Luckily they already had a recent request.
Alone the nature of the youkai and divine energy would never have been able to succeed, violating the Mandate of Heaven was impossible, the laws written into the bedrock of the universe would not allow something the universe created to break said laws.
The destructive nature of youkai ripped open of hole in space and the stable nature of the divine kept it stable. The youkai was in the mortal for years so it knew its blood like back of its proverbial hands. The divine chakra created a bridge across time using a sympathy link.
There were very good reasons why there was not a being still existing that wanted to see a demon a Kami fight.
32 D.Y (Thirty- two years before the death of the Yondaime)
Ashida Chikako had the misfortune of having one the most stable jobs in a shinobi village. Oh she loved her job; it seemed sometimes like she was made to care of little rapscallions.
She just wished there wasn't the need for it.
She was a caretaker in the main orphanage in Konoha. Main as in it was far from the only one around. She loved it here in the Village Hidden by the Leaves, compared to other hidden villages she heard about it was downright friendly and generated a sense of peace. As she went outside of the main building of the orphanage she spotted a ninja roof-hopping and sighed.
However as long as there were shinobi there were always going to be children left behind.
Chikako shuffled the wet clothing in her arms as she with to the drying line, unfortunately the village didn't have a treaty with Kumo so she couldn't use one the new electric driers they invented.
As waddled with the heavy load her gaze caught a small form lying in the grass and she had to fight off the urge to sigh again. Although it was a nice and sunny day out it wasn't playtime for the younger children. Shaking her head the caretaker made her way over to the small shape, but the closer she got the more details she started noticing.
The position wasn't natural.
The chest wasn't moving with light breathing.
Finally as she dumped the cloths to one side and rushed over the little figure she saw the flecks of blood on his lips. Dropping to her knees Chikako picked the boy up as gently as she could before moving as fast as she dared to the hired nurse.
She made an absent note in her alarm that the spiky blond hair looked vaguely familiar.
"Naruto-sama, please grace us with your presence!"
Naruto Lord-of-All-He-Surveyed gave a hearty wave as another portion of the crowd worshiping him fainted. After all this time he finally did it. After all these years of struggling he made it to the top. With the greatest of ease he defeated any ninja that dared to challenge him.
A big grin split his face.
He even defeated the last one with a finger-flick, sending the poor soul hurtling over the Hokage Mountain.
This was the life; men wanted to be him and although he wasn't sure why it was good legions of women chased after him every day.
For some reason he couldn't quite remember what they did after they caught him.
And now he was headed to the top of the Hokage tower to make his grand speech. With his long coat fluttering in a non-existent wind he drank in the wild adulations his people heaped at his feet. Of course he caught the many bowls of ramen the tossed too. Finally after a few minutes Naruto casually cleared his throat.
All noise instantly ceased.
"MY PEOPLE! NO…MY BRETHERN!" Proud tears threatened to escape as the crowds roared their joy, "It was only with your help and your encouragement that I stand tall before you today!" Naruto paused as some had wiped their eyes of happy tears, "Without you I would never have succeeded in reaching my final goal! My One True Dr-" Naruto's happy grin froze on his face as his mind stuttered to a halt. The people watched in concern as their valiant leader stalled; meanwhile Naruto was panicking; just what the hell was his one true dream anyhow! As he looked around for an answer he gazed off into the brilliant orange sky….
….Wait when did the Kami finally answer his prayers and change the sky to a better color?
…hair looks similar…..
…who the hell would just leave a child like that?...
…..can't find any external damage…..
…he's coming to!...
Naruto sat up with a groan, why did all his good dreams have to be interrupted? Shifting around he realized he was on a bed. Although it was way better than his or any other he had. Slightly dazed he looked at the room he was in and saw nothing but white.
Was he in the nurse's room? He remembered seeing it before when some bigger kids accused him of bullying them. It looked different though, like it was newer or something.
"Hello there."
Naruto swiftly turned his head in surprise after hearing that. Seeing the long brown haired woman by the side of his bed, he momentarily despaired.
How the heck was he going to be an awesome ninja if he couldn't sense someone right in front of him?
The blond was surprised to feel a gentle hand guide his head back to the woman who had a slight worried smile on her face. Naruto was dumbstruck. A person who wasn't the old man or the people at the ramen-stand smiling at him?
If he knew what genjutsu was he would've tried to dispel the illusion.
"Are you feeling alright?" Chikako was honestly worried, it was one thing for a child to be dropped off her out of the blue as sad as it was, but she never saw one older than two and never sick. She firmly kept her left hand by her side to keep from nervously biting her finger. Who knows what kind of damage that could do a child's mind?
All Naruto could do was remain rock still, was this person new to the orphanage, he never saw her before and she looked like she was wearing the official uniform. No matter how much he tried to fight it, past events left their mark, and Naruto couldn't help but me slightly suspicious….
..But not even that could stop Naruto from being Naruto.
"Who are you? I'm Naruto" "The last thing I remember is a big *whoosh* and *crack* from the storm and then I started feeling funny and my stomach started hurting, from being sick…" Naruto babbled out at high speed.
Chikako's eyes slightly unfocused as she struggled to understand the waif that went from introverted to hyperactive faster than she could blink. However she had been at this for years and managed the pick out the relevant information. These were the facts.
He didn't mention a clan name.
There hadn't been a storm in Konoha for months.
For some reason he was outside even though he was sick enough to cough up blood and grimacing as she took in his general condition she came to a swift conclusion.
He was an abandoned orphan from the recent skirmish on the border of Kumo. In fact…..
Naruto nearly fell of the bed with a cry when the nice lady suddenly shot up out of her chair with fire in her eyes. He did give off one when she took one of his hands in a death-grip and almost dragged him somewhere. "Well Naruto it looks like you'll be living here with us from now on" Chikako cheerfully said. She was too focused on her goal to see Naruto blink confusingly.
Wasn't he already living here?
He was even more confused when he tried to pull his hand away it didn't even budge. As far back as he could remember he was a bit stronger than other kids his age. Come to think of it his whole body felt off somehow.
…Like he was weaker or something.
"We're here." He felt the strange lady stop with a jerk before she placed him in front of a small playpen in a room he had never been in before.
When the heck did they get all the way over here?
Now that the caretaker released his hand he was able to see just what she brought him over here for.
A small blond kid.
For some reason Naruto didn't know he was drawn to the child which seemed three years younger than him. Feeling a gentle shove at his back he took the hint and entered the playpen, crouching down he lifted the toddler under its arms and stared at him face to face. There was something familiar about him that he couldn't put his finger on….
Chikako fought the urge to squeal as she watched the adorable scene. She quickly calmed down as she caught the helpless look Naruto gave her, "Naruto" she started off slowly so she wouldn't scare him off, "This is a three year-old that one of our shinobi found after a battle, as far as I can see..." She slowly trailed off. Chikako may have charged off impulsively as soon as she had the epiphany, but what if she was wrong?
She looked at the same spiky blond hair.
The two pairs of deep blue eyes that were staring at each other.
Chikako grinned. It didn't really matter if she was right or wrong, even if she had a gut feeling, something told her those two wouldn't care in any case.
"This is your little brother."
Naruto gaped and almost dropped the giggling boy in his hands. A sense of disbelief and hopeful joy welled up.
He had a brother?
He had family?
Chikako looked on in concern as Naruto's head dipped down and his hair overshadow his eyes. Maybe she was wrong after all? Maybe he didn't wan-
"YATTA!"
She put a hand to her mouth to stifle a laugh as Naruto began to happily dance all over the small playpen swinging his laughing new brother in the air with him.
"Naruto."
"Naruto!"
"NARUTO!"
Chikako couldn't hold back her gales of laughter anymore as the boy somehow froze with one leg on the ground, the other kicking up into the air behind him, and holding his brother high above him.
"Naruto." She tried again but had to force down snickers at the boys vaguely insulted face as she laughed at him. "We need to get you registered under your brother's clan name."
As Naruto joyfully followed her wondering how all his wishes came true, he didn't notice the small name plate on the playpen:
Namikaze Minato.
*cough*
*wheeze*
Oh man I'm tired.
However that is far less important than the fact that this is the first chapter of my first real fan fiction!
I'm happy!
I'm excited!
And looking back at the chapter kind of meh.
I admit that I rushed this. I kind of wanted this up as fast as humanly possible so I could make the switch with Red and Black.
I like my account and really don't want it suspended.
Ah, yes doing this has been a great learning experience for me. I realized it's not just the content that's important, but how you phrase certain things, the arrangement of the words on the page.
A story could be literary gold but I wouldn't want read it if it was in one huge block.
While I hope I avoided the particular mistake I'm pretty sure I made numerous others. Trying to translate sounds, feelings, colloquial speech, and mannerisms into writing was about as hard as I thought it would be in general and using a computer with spell-check.
It was like a whole new language!
Now before I get to the Q&A session I'll have to get this out of the way for the many that refuse to go to my profile.
I'm moving Red and Black over to adultfanfiction. I would like to thank those that gave me encouragement despite the fact that even I thought it was far less than satisfactory.
I even got favorite story alerts!
To those who flamed me, well to those that complained about using Kushina, I'll just be heartened by the fact that there are others out there giving support to one of the best characters in Naruto.
After all they flamed me about a fan fiction PWP, it's kind of hard to take seriously.
To those reviewing however some helpful criticism on my writing style as well as the plot (not that R&B had any) would be helpful, after all I don't know jack about writing stories and I'm just winging it. Good polite advice is always well received.
I'm also amused at the length some people will go just to insult somebody. I had one review asking me what kind of fantasy world I lived in that what I wrote was perfectly realistic!
*BWHAAHAAAAAHAAAAAA!*
*wiping eyes from laughing too hard* I made my stance clear repeatedly on the story: I didn't write it out my own personal beliefs or fantasies. I did it while I was half out of my mind with lack of sleep and posted it here instead of adultfanfiction. Honestly I prefer Naruto/Kushina as you can see from the pairing and the challenge on my profile. R&B came out of nowhere and I rushed this story out so I could hurry up and replace it as I once again repeatedly said.
Jeez you can't please some people.
As for those of you who might've seen the message on my profile and to those who have not let me reiterate: I only wrote that out of some faint sense of duty a writer feels to defend a story no matter how he/she feels about it. I even wrote that I thought I was talking out my rear end. How much clearer can (writing in a disinterested tone) be! I wasn't putting any effort into defending it or seriously doing it because I don't really give a crap about a PWP in the first place! It is called PWP because It. Has. No. Plot. People are looking way too deeply into it. Why are reading anyway? I put up warnings, I even checked again this morning to make sure they were there! I've always found it interesting how humans can tune out what they're reading or listening to in order substantiate their perception of reality!
*sigh*
I got out this chapter without proofreading too well and cleaning up the story so I could add some stuff in and take others out. Some scenes were too rushed and I probably put in some information that didn't jive with everything else.
Something tells me as the flames and reviews roll in I'll be replacing this chapter many times to fix up the countless mistakes.
I wish I had a beta sometimes.
In any case this chapter wasn't my best work or my worst, like I said earlier it was kind of meh.
Q&A!
Q: This chapter was kind of slow, why?
A: Yeah, this and the next few chapters are going to be like that. I'm still setting up for everything, this is all about the little changes Naruto is making. After all there are few fics where Naruto is sent to the past while he's a helpless child and even less where he has a direct hand in his father's development. He's usually the little brother not the big one. For those who didn't notice he is a child over thirty years in the past, so the next chapters are going to Naruto and Minato growing up and those don't tend to have awesome battle scenes.
Q: Does Naruto realize or will realize he's in the past?
A: No, he won't. Naruto is a child and not a sharp battle-hardened shinobi. Furthermore he was a very isolated who didn't have any friends or family to look for except maybe the ramen-stand people who he only had a brief acquaintance with. Oh yeah, the traditional Naruto discovers his holy place is gone will be classic. At most Naruto will assume he moved to another orphanage, the only person Naruto can really recognize is the Hokage and that guy was old for a shinobi even thirty years ago even if he'll have more pepper than salt in his hair. Plus Naruto is undereducated and thusly not the sharpest knife in the drawer at the moment. He has a new brother why should he have sweat the details.
Q: Naruto/Kushina?
A: Yeah, Naruto and Kushina, yes it will be a romantic relationship. Great now I am going to have to face the outrage of the incest bashers. No the two won't realize they are related except maybe distantly much later on. All I will say for now is that Naruto will have a special relationship with Uzukagure. To those who will scream blood tests, those won't exist here. Most of the time fanfiction writers have that exist to prove Naruto's heritage so I can be allowed to do the exact opposite!
Q: What about Minato?
A: Well Minato is going to be very important character, as the two brothers will be very close, Naruto won't be taking his place and neither will be getting weaker. If anything they'll be pushing each other to new heights. However if you mean romantically, well that going to be complicated because I going to make it complicated. Minato will like Kushina but be too shy to ask her out, Kushina will be drawn to Naruto because he's a lot like her, and Naruto will be attracted to Kushina, but won't admit it because he respects and loves his little brother too much (not like that!) to hit on his crush. I have the perfect scene when it all comes to a head in my head already. I won't bother rehash the whole incest thing, far better writers than me have already defended the whole thing: Uzumaki healing, longevity, blah blah blah.
Q: What happened to the Kyuubi?
A: Ah….well that I'll have to keep a secret. The particular point is actually important to the story. I'll let you draw your own conclusions.
Q: How long will this story last?
A: In sheer word-length I have no clue, since I'll be writing all the way up to the Kyuubi attack and I'll have to go through a ninja war, some other events I'll have to change from canon to fit the story, and the fact that a lot can change in three decades, it'll be up there. I can hope.
Q: Was some of the information really needed?
A: Well, no probably not, in the main story background is always nice, but I should've elaborated on some things and left others out. To be honest I have no clue, I'll have to rely on time and reviews to see what to change. If you mean the lengthy author's note, then no that really wasn't needed but it made me feel better. Also I refused to let this chapter be shorter than a PWP.
Q: What does the summary even mean?
A: Some of it deals with the prologue and how Naruto traveled to the past. After all this wasn't a controlled rift in space/time caused by a jutsu or the will of a higher power. This was a dangerous mix of potent energies responding to a plea. They didn't use a scalpel they bulldozed their way back in time. This will have severe consequences for Naruto, the future he left behind won't be pretty and I don't mean in a 'everything fell apart without him there' either. There is also a simple fact:
Naruto is not supposed be there. At ALL.
Time travel is a big no-no for higher beings and nobody up high will like the fact that Naruto managed to skip out on the destiny they were going dump on him. So if my characters get too powerful don't worry. They'll have powerful enemies, Naruto will have to unknowingly fight for his right to stay in his new home. The summary also hints at Naruto's signature jutsu. After all his little brother has two, so he should have ones that are just as badass.
Read and Review!