Praise Be to Jashin
Chapter 1: New Beginnings (oooohhhh, cliché, I likey ^_^ )
Author's Note: Please understand this before you begin to read this fanfic. I am simply using the Naruto-verse and its ideas for this fic. Many of the characters will either be OOC, or seem that way because that's how I interpret them to be. My writing might not agree with what you think Naruto or the other characters, or maybe some events should be like, but I don't really give a damn, just please, don't flame. I know that it can piss some people off, and I don't pay attention to it anyways. If you really need to let off some steam, go punch a pillow or something. Though, if you get your kicks from flaming people's fanfiction, not only do I have no sympathy for you, but I implore you do us all a favor and please remove yourself from your mother/grandmother's basement and get a life, and maybe a job.
I do have a quick thing to say about Naruto, and that is that I have the feeling from reading the Manga that he would have actually been an extremely smart child, except for the fact that abandoned children tend to develop learning disabilities and horrible people skills... so in my story, he's a genius. Deal with it.
Anyways, on with the fanfiction!!!
'Pitter patter' went the 5-year old's feet on the uneven concrete of the back alley. Sounds of the happy festival drifted along the breeze, betraying the solemn mood. He could hear the drunken shouts of the mob following him, as well as see the light of their torches drifting around the corner. "Just a little further," he thought to himself, spying a storm drain large enough to fit him on one of the buildings. To his utter horror, a Chunin he had not yet been "acquainted with" physically dropped down in front of him, tightly gripping a kunai in his hands.
"Today you die, demon brat," he said with a snarl.
Now, one might not think this is a normal life for a boy of any age, but Naruto Uzumaki was no normal boy. An orphan since birth, Naruto never had the luxury of having any parents, spending the last seven years of his life in total isolation. The only person he could even remotely call a relation was the Sandaime Hokage, and he certainly was not the appropriate father figure, being constantly busy running the village. As if that wasn't enough, for some reason, the entire village he lived in despised him, and saw it fit to deny him the right to breathe on an almost daily basis.
Demon. That was the word they used to describe him. He had no idea why, he had never done anything to warrant this behavior. He always made sure he was the model citizen, smiling to people as he walked down the streets, trying to help old ladies do whatever they needed, and, most of all, being cheerful, and happy, and trying to brighten everyone's day, although most of them didn't seem to want their day being brightened by him. Sometimes he would even lie awake at night, wondering why they hated him so much; what he, or possibly his parents, had done to warrant such a reaction. His birthday was most definitely the worst of all the days. On those days, the abuse got physical. On his birthday, he most appreciated his unnatural healing ability, for without it his body would literally be covered in scars, and he'd probably be dead from the beatings that had been given.
This year the beatings were different though. It seemed that the villagers thought he'd finally grown enough to upgrade their sticks into pointed objects. This year, he truly feared for his life. Even worse the than the villagers with their now pointed objects though, were the ninja, who actually had kunai, and shuriken, and swords, which could easily cause him serious bodily harm. Most of the time the ninja stayed well away from him, trying as hard as possible to maintain their professionalism; simply passing off the mantle of his torture to the normal villagers, but it seemed to Naruto that this chunin was fairly new to his rank, if the condition of his vest was anything to go by, and had his head in the clouds.
"Hehehe," the nondescript chunin chuckled, edging slowly towards the terrified boy, who was slowly backpedaling into a corner.
Feeling his back hit the back corner of the alleyway, Naruto gulped. Slowly, the chunin crept forward, his grin becoming more and more maniacal. As he raised his kunai for the killing blow, Naruto hastily squeezed his eyes shut, trying to pretend that if he couldn't see it, it couldn't hurt him. Patiently, for the first time in his life, he waited for death to come to him, finally realizing in a sudden epiphany that he truly had nothing to live for. No one loved him, no one cared enough to check on him, ever. Sure, Hokage-sama checked on him once in a blue moon, but Naruto, a genius under any other circumstances, was at least smart enough that he could see the look of longing in the Hokage's eyes every time he saw him, like he was remembering a long-lost friend. No, the Hokage had other reasons for taking care of him, at least, the little he did. 'Wait... wasn't there a kunai about to kill me?' Naruto thought.
Slowly, deliberately, Naruto opened his eyes, praying that the Chunnin had, by some stroke of dumb luck, decided not to kill him. On first glance, it seemed that the Chunnin had frozen mid-blow for some odd reason. After letting his eyes focus however, Naruto noticed the bloody point of wait- a pencil?- protruding from his forehead. Naruto stared at the dead Chunnin with unmasked disbelief. Seriously, how the HELL could a NINJA be killed by a PENCIL?
Coming to his wits, he hastily scrambled out of the corner just as the body crumpled to the ground, revealing the strangest looking person Naruto had ever seen, and that was saying something. He looked to be about 17 or 18, very young, and was tall; about 6' 10'', and obviously fairly well built. The most noticeable thing about the man was his hair, which was a weird brownish-blue that was kind of hard to describe in words, extremely curly, almost like a poodle, and MASSIVE. If asked to describe it, Naruto would probably estimate that it was about twice the size of the man's head; the worst (or best...) part being that it was ROUND! Not like, egg round, or maybe lumpy rock round, more like fireball-from-a-katon jutsu round. He wore a very interesting cross between a trench coat and a cloak that was black with a looping and swirling red pattern on it and looked like a cloak with with arms and a pointlessly large turned-up collar. His eyes were a dazzling midnight blue that gave Naruto the urge to stare straight into them, which was creepy, in a somehow enticing manner. His face was roundish, with slightly gaunt cheeks that gave him a slightly serious look without overdoing it. Of course, the look was slightly negated by the light grin on his face, not that it mattered much.
As equipment went, he had some pretty unorthodox stuff. Strapped to his back was a long, slender sword and sheathe that was about three feet taller than he was, maybe 9 feet tall or so. The weapon seemed slow and obsolete, and, for that matter, almost impossible to unsheathe. A glimpse inside of the cloak showed many pockets, packed full of senbon, kunai, scrolls, and brushes with ink. Sheathes attached to the inside of the cloak held four identical katana, all easily unsheathed with a flick of the wrist. Two small loops of intricately woven chain extended out of each of his shirt sleeves, hinting at something contained within. His visible body was covered in strange, swirling tattoos that looked vaguely like seals, and appeared to move when he moved his arms.
The man glanced up from the dead body of the Chunnin, and gave Naruto the stupidest grin he had ever seen, completely ruining the serious mood. Naruto sweatdropped, then, hearing the sound of the mob searching for him, looked around frantically for a place to hide.
"It's ok kid," said the man in a hoarse, haunting voice, "I've got us under a genjutsu; they can't find you."
"Gein-jubutsu?" questioned the young boy.
"An illusion." he responded.
"Ooohhh...?" said Naruto hesitantly.
"Whatever... Anyway, my name's Yakuro. No need to tell me yours, I already know it. Jashin-sama wanted me to take you into the religion as an apprentice, ad train you in the ways of being a ninja (killing things), and so I've been trailing you for the past few days, watching you veeery closely. At this point, I probably know more about you than you think you do. Ooh, hey, my pencil!" He said quickly, walking over to the corpse and plucking the pencil from its head as he finished.
He quickly dispensed of the body with a short string of handseals and a small Doton jutsu, burying the corpse in the ground. Pulling out a kunai, he began shaving off the wood from the pencil, which was coated in icky blood, whistling merrily as he did so. As he finished, he smiled merrily, checking the wooden projectile meticulously for any signs of leftover blood. Whipping out a small diary, he used the pencil to scribble furiously on the paper.
"Umm... Yakuro-sama?" questioned Naruto hesitantly.
"Yeeesss?" He replied, slowly turning his head to stare at Naruto while raising the kunai in his right hand, point up.
"Um, why not you just kill him with that?" He asked, pointing at the kunai, clearly confused.
"Because I'm trying to develop a fighting style based totally around pencils and sealing." He replied with an air of nonchalance, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Ok...." Naruto replied, inching away slowly.
"What?" He said dejectedly, "Eternal life gets boring..."
There was a long, awkward silence between the two, at least for Naruto. Yakuro could seem to care less, sharpening his pencil as if what had just transpired was a normal occurrence. Left to ponder the bizarre nature of what had just happened to him, Naruto felt as if he had just been dropped into a fantasy land. Everyone else seemed to hate him, then this man appeared out of nowhere, not only killing his perusers, but offering him training? Even in his immature little five-year-old mind, Naruto knew that everyone had a motive for their actions. He figured the best place to start would be to ask him about that weird Jashin guy. He could tell though that something was off with this guy...
Steeling his resolve, Naruto walked up next to Yakuro, slowly tilting his head upwards until he was looking at the man's face. Tapping him on the leg, Naruto managed to gain his attention.
"Yakuro-sama, who is Jashin-sama?" He asked inquisitivly.
"Jashin is the God of the religion of Jashin, of which I am a member," He replied.
"Oh," said Naruto, "Why is it so special?"
"You really want to know?" Yakuro questioned. Naruto nodded vigorously.
"Ok then, sales pitch time!" said Yakuro excitedly, as if he had done this many times, and enjoyed it profusely, "(ahem) Have you ever been ridiculed by your peers? Does everyone hate you? Do you have low self esteem, or possible mental instability? Do you dream of bathing in showers of your enemy's blood? If you answered yes, no, or maybe to any or all of these questions, come join us in the worship of the god of chaos, Jashin! Upon acceptance into the religion, you will be given power, immortality, fame, riches, sex-slaves, glory, power, and the blood of your enemies. Just remember, occasional slaughter is mandatory, so weak-stomached devotees are discouraged. *pause* I have pamphlets…"
Naruto screwed up his face, his young mind trying to process all of the new big words. Failing miserably, he looked up to Yakuro and asked, "Yakuro-sama, what's immortabality?"
"It means that you can't die." he stated monotonously.
"Oh" said Naruto pensively. Slowly, his confused frown morphed into a wide, overly happy grin, and he yelled loudly, "COOL!!!! When can I start?"
Unfortunately, the genjutsu that Yakuro had placed upon them did not muffle their voices, and Naruto's loud shout of happiness attracted the attention of a roving search party composed of approximately seven fresh (and cocky) Chunnin. They fell suddenly in the alleyway from the adjacent rooftop, breaking the genjutsu. Yakuro pushed Naruto behind him, falling into a familiar taijutsu stance and surveying the assailants. The group was a ragtag bunch, the sort who made one quickly wonder if the standards for Chunnin in Konoha. They appeared to have little to no equipment on them, were swaying slightly as if drunk, and were in some of the most relaxed taijutsu stances either of the two had seen. The tallest of the group, clearly the leader by his cocky swagger, stepped forward, sneering at Yakuro hatefully.
"Hn. What're ya doin' protectin' th' demon brat like that?" He slurred drunkenly, "Think of a-all th' peopl' it's killled. Don' sha havvv friensh or famileee ish killled? Don' you wan' thm ta havv thrrrr revensh?"
"Not particularly," said Yakuro coldly, pulling a kunai out of his jacket "And frankly, although I know you don't care, I think its despicable of you and all the other participants of this mob to choose a defenseless five year old as a scapegoat for your lingering resentment at your inability to save your relations in the face of horrible adversity."
The Chunnin paused, the gears in his brain almost visibly turning, trying to get his drunken mind to figure out what the man had said. As if having an epiphany, the man's eyes widened, then narrowed in hatred towards Yakuro. "Shfine thennn. I guesh we'lll havvv to correcsh youwr attitush!" he said, his drunken slurring ruining any effect that the words might have had otherwise.
Suddenly sobering up slightly, the Chunnin gave a signal to the "search party". Responding to the signal, the group formed into a line, charging in perfect synchronization at Yakuro. Just as the first man in the line was about to reach him, the man jumped into the air, performing a fluid spin kick, which Yakuro deftly blocked with the flat of his kunai. The rest of the line followed suit, each performing their own taijutsu move upon him. It was obvious that they had rehearsed it many times, and it would have been a rapid and devastating move, if Yakuro wasn't obviously much faster than them, blocking each attack with ease. The last Shinobi in the line however, managed to land a hard uppercut in under his guard, and a loud snapping was heard as Yakuro flew backwards. The group gave a sigh of relief, thinking they had gotten off easily.
As the body hit the ground, it disappeared suddenly in a poof of smoke, and one of the group fell to the ground, spinal cord severed by a kunai. The other six quickly jumped backwards as spikes of rock shot up from the ground beneath them. Yakuro flickered into existence behind them, his genjutsu dropped. Smiling, he pulled his gigantic sword from its sheath in one smooth stroke. The shinobi drew their kunai in readiness, but stopped just short of attacking when they saw his sword.
The thing was made completely of precious metals, an interweaving mixture of gold, platinum, sliver, and a strange metal with a silvery-bluish hue. The colors shimmered and danced, and the sword looked as if it was on fire, the metals shimmering and glinting off what little light there was in the alley. The sword was covered in intricate and complicated seals, all in emerald inlay, and literally glowing with excess chakra.
Yakuro smiled, holding the blade up in front of him. "Say hello to... the reality blade. I spent five years of my life crafting the seals inscribed on the sides of this sword. Since you're all going to die anyway, I will give you the privilege of learning what it does. See the seals on the side of this blade? They do three main things: they act like an extension of my chakra system, they warp reality so that the blade will "bend" to not touch anything but me unless I channel chakra through it in a specific way, and, lastly, they act as gravity seals, increasing or decreasing the force of my swing almost instantly. In one simple word, FUN."
Seemingly as an example, Yakuro twisted his wrist, swinging the sword gradually towards the ground... and the sword missed the ground. It didn't bend, or shrink, or change in any way, it just kind of… missed. Seeing this obvious display of power and knowledge (knowledge is power), the Chunnin quickly realized that they were quite outmatched, and turned to leave. To their horror, there was a second Yakuro standing lazily behind them, sword drawn, eying them with a bloodthirsty grin.
"Now," he said, smirking ominously, "You will all die!"
And from him pored forth a wave of killer intent that rivaled the Kyuubi itself. He smiled slightly as the Chunnin, who were previously slightly cocky, turned white from fear, paralyzed on the spot by the KI he was releasing. Advancing on them slowly, he raised his sword, preparing to cut them all in half, but stopped as they all dropped to the ground, senbon sticking out of the backs of their necks.
Turning to his twin at the back of the alley, he smiled, noticing the remaining senbon held between his copy's fingers. "Thanks," he said succinctly.
"Glad I could help," said the copy, before it disappeared into a cloud of smoke. As his bushin disappeared, Yakuro looked slowly around the alley, stretching his senses to find any incoming danger. Turning to Naruto, he grimaced and said, "There are no search parties out as of now. We should be able to make it out of the city to my camp without a hitch. The whole camp has a seal-based protection on it, so we should be safe there." He turned, heading out of the alley, addressing a confused and awed Naruto over his shoulder, "Come now, we haven't much time. I know that you're tired, but we'll be safe soon."
Naruto nodded, mostly to himself, and then jogged to catch up to the tall, mysterious man who had saved his life. As he walked away from the point in his life that he would later call the darkest, he felt a new hope for the future, albeit one with a stranger he knew so little about. He didn't know why, but he could tell that his future with this man would be much better than his past with the village.
"We're here," said Yakuro, stopping suddenly at one of the more wooded training grounds. Naruto stopped just beside him and peered carefully through the thick forest.
"Um, Yakuro-sama, I don't see anything."
Yakuro smiled, "That is because I don't want people to see anything out of the ordinary. Otherwise it wouldn't be safe, now would it?"
"Oh!" said Naruto, learning his first lesson of many.
Looking around for passersby, Yakuro stepped into the dense forest, easily following a trail of carefully positioned leaves that Naruto could barely make out. They had traveled through the forest for what seemed like a ridiculously long amount of time, when they came upon a small clearing. In the clearing was a slightly large tent, located next to a modest fire pit carefully lined with stones. There was an unfinished tin of basic rations sitting next to the fire. Overall, the camp looked very quaint and tidy, and it had the telltale markings of a camp that had been well established.
Yakuro strode to the edge of the clearing, then motioned behind him for Naruto to stop. He knelt down close to the ground, then took Naruto's hand and channeled his chakra through it. Placing Naruto's hand at the edge of the clearing, he made a long stream of handsigns, finishing abruptly and slamming his hand forcefully into the ground. Around the clearing erupted a brilliant blue glow, and a long, circular string of seals became visible on the ground. As Naruto stared at the seals in awe, the glow slowly faded. As it finished, Yakuro removed both hands from the ground and strode into the camp, motioning for Naruto to follow him.
"You have been keyed into the sealing array," he explained. "You are now free to come and go as you wish. Under normal circumstances, anyone trying to enter this camp would be transported to a locator seal on the top of the Hokage Mountain."
Naruto looked around the camp, dumbstruck. He had obviously had too much happen in one day, and needed some time to soak it all in. "Tell you what kid," Yakuro said soothingly, "Head into the tent and get some rest. In the morning we can talk about your future."
Naruto stood in place for a minute, reviewing what Yakuro said, then nodded and headed into the tent to get some rest. As he removed his shoes and muddy orange jumpsuit, he could hear Yakuro moving around the camp, collecting firewood and cleaning up. As he snuggled into the smaller, yet still comfortable, sleeping bag in the tent, he could hear Yakuro humming a slow, mournful lullaby. For the first time in many years, Uzumaki Naruto drifted off to sleep with a smile on his face.
Naruto awoke suddenly to the sound of a bird chirping loudly outside the tent. Disoriented for a moment, he shook his head to clear his thoughts. As drowsiness left him, he remembered the events of the prior day: the attack, his rescue, Yakuro's offer. He smiled, remembering that this stranger had offered to teach him to become a Ninja. He had seen such people running around Konoha regularly, some of them had even attacked him at points. He could tell, however, that these Ninja were powerful and respected throughout the village, and he had always yearned to enjoy that life. The Hokage had promised to allow him into the academy, but Naruto seriously doubted that the teachers would agree to teach him. Now, however, he had a private instructor, one that was powerful to boot! Naruto had no doubt in his mind that this was a once in a lifetime offer; no one in the village would be willing to give him this kind of instruction, but he still didn't want to leave his home. He remembered from listening to the Hokage talk that, being a villager, he was free to leave the village at any time, and Yakuro would most probably do just that.
Giving up on the problem, which was hurting his young brain, Naruto disentangled himself from his sleeping bag, and proceded to leave the tent. As he exited, he looked around the campsite, noticing a happily crackling fire with some freshly cooked fish lying beside it on a small, inelegant metal plate. Guessing that the fish was probably for breakfast, Naruto picked up a smaller piece of the meat with his hands and proceeded to cram the fish into his mouth as fast possible. Hearing chuckling, Naruto turned around to see Yakuro leaning lazily against a tree, watching him eat with interest.
"I see that the first thing we'll have to work on is your manners," he said, grinning. Naruto, his mouth full, simply shook his head in response. Yakuro raised an eyebrow at this, but obviously decided to ignore it.
"Anyway," he said, changing the topic slightly, "I never formally asked you this, so I would like to ask you now: Naruto Uzumaki, would you like to become my official apprentice for the next seven years? Would you like to learn all I have to teach you of the ways of a Shinobi, as well as proper prayer to Jashin-sama?"
Naruto froze, his mind mulling over such a difficult question. "I know this is sudden," Yakuro said gently, "But we must leave before the Hokage suspects something."
Finally, after a long moment of perusal, Naruto's voice, firm and steady, broke the silence "Yes." he said, "I'll do it."
With that, Yakuro smiled, and began packing up his camp. Speaking to Naruto as he did so, he began to lay out his training plan for the next seven years. Finishing both his packing and explanation at the same time, he turned to Naruto. "But first," he said smiling, "We must train your mind Remember this, if you remember noting else from me: a smart Shinobi will always win over a solely powerful Shinobi, always. We will begin by teaching you math, reading, and battle strategy…"