Disclaimer:- I do not own Naruto or any other fictional character.
Oneshot
Summary: - Naruto does not appreciate Jiraiya throwing him from the cliff during the one month training exam. His talk with the Kyuubi goes differently and the Kyuubi tells Naruto certain facts. They make a deal, Knowledge that Kyuubi held in exchange of freedom upon Naruto's death or 60 years whichever comes first. The Kyuubi knows that Naruto would never go back on his word and gambles. Kyuubi also teaches Naruto a special clone technique that uses Naruto's blood.
A Hyuuga showing emotion was rare, and so was showing emotion in front of a stadium full of people. Yet Neji stood telling the tale of his father's demise and was unable to remain calm.
The crowd listened with rapt attention; gossip would soon fly about clan-head's brother having an affair with his brother's wife, and the clan head taking the opportunity and disposing him. It was juicier than Kumo forcing Konoha, It was against their pride to acknowledge such a thing.
Many concluded that the clan-head used the opportunity to get rid of his brother and the young boy giving his speech was just being naïve. After all how could Kumo force Konoha to do something against their will, they who had defeated even the mighty Kyuubi no Kitsune, the proof being in front of their eyes?
Staring back with his blue eyes was one Naruto Uzumaki, it was the first match of the chuunin exam finals. Neji expected a loud and obnoxious reply; it would consist of how he would correct the Hyuuga system when he was the Hokage. It was expected of him, that much He had assumed after watching his competitor during the first part, he had all seeing eyes after all.
But since when has Naruto Uzumaki been predictable? His head was bowed down, and bangs covered his eyes. He slowly raised his head and then laughed. It was bitter and amused at the same time, so different than the laugh he usually let out. He continued laughing until he breathing became difficult. Calming himself down, he brought his laughter to chuckles and eventually stopped.
Neji had by then suppressed all emotions from showing. He would kill Uzumaki, how dare he laugh at his fathers death, he was the one who asked and he was the one who got under his skin to make him divulge the truth. Now he stood making a mockery of the event, and the slave seal he wore, forced upon him since he was four. He came out of his thoughts when he received a calm reply and a question at the same time.
"Is that all?"
"…" Neji blinked. What did the deadlast mean?
"I repeat, IS. THAT. ALL. NEJI." Not waiting for a reply the orange wearing ninja continued. "You have shared your story Neji, let me do the same..." The Hokage looked panicked, If Naruto spoke it would not look good on Konoha, there were civilians among the crowd of potential clients and would not his story well.
The nobles understood politics and military culture, they had tasted deceit and they decieved, they knew about the shinobi world that was separate from the civilian's who merely thought ninja as humans with amazing powers. The civilians did not know about the dirt and blood on which they walked when they arrived to watch the fights. They did not know that out of 23 teams in the second round only 12 were alive; they did not know anything except what they were shown. They never understood that the ninja they saw fighting in the stadium were fighting for their lives. The sole purpose of the chuunin exams was to get clients, they were held to show the perceptive client the skill of their ninja and the naïve clients got their entertainment; at the cost of many lives.
Nobles placed bets upon wins, loss and deaths. The civilian clients got to see fireballs, a reason the Uchiha clan was popular, out of all the elements the fire element looked the "coolest".
He signaled discreetly at the Hidden Anbu to place a genjutsu to make the blond fall asleep. Orochimaru in disguise saw his old sensei and did nothing to hide a smirk. Meanwhile for some reason the genjutsu did not work on the blond kid and the Anbu was trying again. As the Hokage began a signal for subdue using senbon an official approached, The Hokage recognized him as an accountant of the Fire-Lord's representative of the exam. Breathless from climbing the stairs he relayed a message from the representative to the Hokage; "do not interrupt the match, the Fire Lord would like to hear the tournament in detail. He does not wish disruptions. "
Reluctantly the Hokage signaled all operatives to stand down. Internally he decided to "condition" Naruto more after the exam. What was done was done. He had to take care of Orochimaru who was somewhere in the village, Jiraiya had discovered about the invasion recently, but not much details.
He knew the Kazekage would try something, hence he was on guard. The Kazekage did not have a good reputation amongst other leaders.
The representative of the Fire Lord was elated, it was good for them if Konoha trained Ninja for the country, but it was not good when they became too independent. If Konoha remained dependent on the Fire Lord, he would be able to interfere more in Shinobi matters and Konoha as a whole.
If Konoha became more popular and self sufficient, they could turn their backs on his Lord. The greatest mistake a person could do was being stupid, and to trust a ninja was being stupid. These people would kill their own brothers and sell their own sisters for personal gain, he thought with contempt. Yet, they were needed and it was the only reason they were employed. Ninja knew how to win, they did everything they were ordered to for a right price, and nothing else mattered.
The Fire Lord did not like having Konoha Ninja as "bodyguards", they were loyal first to the Hokage and then the Daimyo himself, it was the reason he had sown dissent and made them fight themselves. The Hokage's son had left his ranks afterwards. It ensured that no Konoha ninja served as a fire guardian.
The Hyuuga kid smeared dirt on Konoha and he could see a few people with frowns, these soft-hearted idiots would take business somewhere else, and every single client away increased the reliance of the military village on the Daimyo.
If the Orange clad idiot was able to sway a few clients away, he was all for it. The kid looked a lot like the previous Hokage.
Meanwhile,
Naruto brought out a thick bundle of explosive notes, they were not of usual color, but the design he saw on them was similar. A few Ninja panicked, what was the kid doing? Explosives were always volatile and no gennin could procure them, except those from Ninja families who could get their hands on them.
The Hyuuga watched as the loser charged all the tags at the same time, the amount of chakra he put in the notes was terrifying; But Neji was confident in his abilities, he had secretly mastered Kaiten, a main family move. If it came to an explosion, he could use substitution or Kaiten to save himself, further proving his superiority.
The blond kid suddenly stuck all the notes on his chest and the crowd went silent, many thought about the kid finally going insane, a lot more looked gleeful, the demon was going to die after all. The ninja were panicked, what if the Kyuubi came out?
Those who knew little about Ninja were filled upon by various people about what the blonde had done.
Naruto had one thumb stuck to the tags, the moment he would remove the thumb the tags would blow up.
Neji looked shocked, the other rookies looked shocked; the sand siblings looked shocked, even Gaara looked shaken; Naruto had clued him about being a demon container previously. His own memories of his uncle did not help either.
Before anyone could react Naruto screamed – "I GIVE UP, I'm Konoha's jinchuuriki.", and then removed the dead man's switch. Fortunately or unfortunately, intentionally or unintentionally the remains of his body were flung from the explosion towards the audience, and despite the distance a few pieces reached the audience.
As it so happens, all the nobles also have scouts in their staff, mostly affiliated to a village to which they sent most of their missions. The scouts from Iwa and Kumo under cover as servants to the representatives of their respective countries saw fit to take a few samples. The kid looked suspiciously familiar and the name Uzumaki was known to them, it was their job to know such things.
A portion of crowd cheered, the Ninja watching were shocked and worried.
"… who would be their weapon now..."
"..They lost their weapon!"
"…what about demon containers of other villages? Who would fight them?"
"What about the Kyuubi?"
"Will the Kyuubi return?"
"Who would face the Kyuubi now?"
The rookies looked at the cheering people in shock. Why were people so happy at the death of their own? They were shocked about Naruto killing himself in front of others; it had yet to sink in. None of them were good friends with the deadlast, but they were in the same class in the academy.
Were these the same people that smiled at them?
Where were those kind faces? Were they only masks?
Orochimaru looked gleeful; he gave a subtle signal to Kabuto, to go for plan B, his mind plotting multiple plots; analyzing multiple possibilities. The sound Ninja discretely moved away from the crowd, the sand ninja stood down. Gaara was placated by Temari to give up his match. Who was still in shock, agreed without much resistance, although the Uchiha had yet to show up.
Meanwhile Orochimaru excused himself, in the crowd some were cheering, some retching, some covering eyes and some trying to get away from the body parts. A 15 minute break was called upon and the Hokage was pondering about what to do. Naruto was dead, they would have to confirm it, and the body or whatever left was picked up for inspection, it would be disposed after collecting samples.
He could not call off the exams, he could do nothing right now but be present or it would further harm Konoha. Years of plans were destroyed in one stroke. He would have to investigate, who had given the kid explosives. Naruto was carefully monitored from birth and carefully kept away from any form of sealing techniques, especially due to his heritage and his condition. He may not remember it, but he had learnt two jutsu from the scroll, the other being the clone great explosion. They made sure to erase such memory from his mind. The jinchuuriki would have been too powerful to control.
Naruto was not to learn too many powerful jutsu, nor was he to be trained in stealth. They had made sure of that. He was Konoha's weapon and he should not become too powerful to control. He did not even know how to read!
He would chew Jiraiya live; it was his job was to make sure that Naruto signed the toad contract and then waste the rest of his time doing nothing. The toads were allied to Konoha, it would mean that he could be reverse summoned if he ran away.
The Kazekage had not returned, as did a small part of the crowd. Was he on the move already? Hiruzen was brought out of his thoughts when a great crashing sound occurred, followed by many.
Orochimaru did not dare kill the kyuubi-brat; the Akatsuki was already after him. Killing Naruto meant inviting Akatsuki to his home. As much as he hated the brat's father and wished to kill Naruto, he feared Akatsuki, especially the leader and whoever was controlling him from shadows.
Uzumaki killing himself meant that other villages would attack Konoha directly; they did not do so previously in fear of Shodaime and then Uzumaki Kushina who could suppress bijuu. They would have lost their weapons and strengthened the enemy in long run.
If he knew the leader as much as he thought he did, then leader held a grudge against Konoha. Perhaps Akatsuki would jump in, if given a chance to harm Konoha. Iwa had previously hired Akatsuki, as did other villages.
He thought all these possibilities in a matter of seconds and then signaled retreat and sabotage. The initial plan was to release Shukaku in the village, kill the kage and a few elite jounin. It seemed that sabotaging property was a better option now. Orochimaru was not delusional enough to think that he would have won the invasion. But it would have weakened Konoha and Akatsuki would have made a move sometime to capture the jinchuuriki and attacked Konoha in the process. He would have swooped over the leftover and destroyed the remains if any remained. Sasuke's body was what he was after. If he was able to cut Konoha to sixty percent then they would not dare to attack. But the kyuubi brat's death meant that they would not attack anyway. Having sound shinobi alive was better than having them dead. He would have to find a different way to get Sasuke.
It seemed that other villages would soon join the equation and He himself would declare Naruto's true identity. Konoha would become a laughing stock, the only son of their greatest hero lived like a beggar and commited suicide, It was hilarious.
All the facts together brought Orochimaru to initiate attack plan-B, he joined in the summoning group and summoned Manda along with two more giant summons personally, their job was to attack the academy and the merchant district. It would damage Konoha economically and kill about 4 year worth of ninja. He had enough chakra for two more summonings and he chose the first and second Hokage, sending them towards his sensei. The fourth would wait for now, he wanted to keep him as a trump, if Akatsuki ever moved against him.
The fourth would not have necessary kunai for his space time ninjutsu, while the Senju brothers did not need anything for their ninjutsu, the first could somehow breathe life in his chakra constructs and second could actually create water.
The academy students were not skilled enough to evade the serpents and were crushed underneath. The merchants were unable to evacuate either.
As he saw the Konoha ninja assembling, he signaled those under him to unleash Ninjutsu and explosives, causing as much damage as possible, killing as many as possible.
The next signal was meant for summons to break enemy formation and then return to their realm. The eight snakes charged in unison using all their chakra to gain speed doing as much property damage as possible, and then disappeared leaving behind smoke, civilian corpses and broken buildings. The Konoha ninja along with Sarutobi were fighting the First and the Second Hokage; the two brothers had all the space available and were using it to their best. A forest was created in the blink of an eye and a lake flooded in the next moment.
Orochimaru had to move fast, he would have to track Tsunade and kill her. She was bound to be the next Hokage. No need for Konoha to gain an S-class ninja. He had plans to kill her after the invasion; he would just move them forward.
Meanwhile the sound and sand forces retreated in different directions. Orochimaru betrayed the sand forces by calling off the invasion. But he doubted Konoha would attack either in retaliation, they wouldn't want Kumo and Iwa to use the opportunity, especially when both had demon-containers and Kumo never stopped militarization.
Baki ordered a retreat and the Suna forces fled. He knew trusting Orochimaru was a mistake, but their leader had ordered them. Now their Kage was either dead or in Orochimaru's captivity, and knowing Orochimaru, the fourth Kazekage was dead.
He would probably be the next Kage. But for now they had to retreat, and lay down traps in the way. Konoha's weapon was dead, so all was not for loss. Perhaps they should hire the mercenary group Akatsuki, it would serve as a deterrent.
3 years later….
Things did not look good for Konoha, the Fire Lord was angry, his reason of his ire being the attack on Konoha and the Hokage's incompetence at preventing it. Not to mention Naruto's identity was now known to all, Konoha had become a laughing stock amongst major and minor villages.
The son of their hero and a jinchuuriki commiting suicide was too good of an opportunity to pass up. Konoha denied everything; all the proofs of Naruto's identity were erased. The blood bank mysteriously caught fire but the hastily taken step further confirmed Naruto's parentage for those who were more open minded.
The nobles and other clients were guaranteed safety, but Konoha could not keep the promise. They could not launch an attack at Otogakure either, the village's location wasn't known, nor was the village at a single location. It was broken into many bases and the few times Konoha struck, all they got were curse seal bearing grunts who took down a few ninja especially when exploding seals were carved on them that siphoned all chakra of the bearer.
Curse seal suicide bombers did a lot of damage on both sides, especially when chain reactions occurred.
Sarutobi lost an arm when the Hashirama Senju's wood clone exploded on his face and the splinters lodged deep in his arm. The two Hokage also took down a lot of Konoha shinobi when they unleashed wide area jutsu's and caught everyone by surprise when they started regenerating.
Fortunately for them, Jiraiya had studied the kinjutsu, being the Third's student he too had tried a few kinjutsu from the forbidden scroll. He was able to catch both Hokage's by surprise one at a time and destroyed the seal lodged in their skull with a Rasengan.
Tsunade of the Sannin was found dead along with her pig, her headless corpse hanging a few miles from Konoha. They were found by an AnBu patrol. Her apprentice was sold to Kumo along with Tsunade's head, and tortured until she broke. She was forced to teach Kumo shinobi all she was taught by Tsunade. She was later assassinated by Root who then took a cyanide pill.
Jiraiya of the Sannin was appointed as the new Hokage, but had to struggle a lot due to his previous reputation. He was seen with suspicion by dignitaries due to his activities as well as being a well known spy master. (Imagine Jiraiya as a Kage!)
Surprisingly, Danzo seeing the state of Konoha did not contest the decision, but increased the activity of the Root.
The Rebel-Leader turned Mizukage brushed off a request for alliance citing the Hokage to be a lecher, openly humiliating Konoha. Kiri offered alliance to Kumo and Kiri ships manned by Kumo staff were seen in the sea.
Konoha was not happy when the Hokage was called a lecher in the letter Kiri sent back during initial negotiations.
The loss of 5 generation worth of Ninja was not missed either, almost all the academy students were killed. The ninja were put to rigorous training, not seen since the third Great War.
Uchiha Sasuke was put under CRA, a rather a glorified breeding program. He bargained in exchange for unsealing the cursed seal on his shoulder. The Hokage was against it, but the council decided to give in. They needed power, and they needed it as quick as possible. The seal relied on the sharingan user's will power anyway, and Hokage relented.
Kabuto infiltrated Konoha, Uchiha Sasuke's first wife Yamanaka Ino, who against her father's wishes married Sasuke was kidnapped by Kabuto, the security was suspiciously absent during the event. He had yet to marry another one.
The next day Uchiha Sasuke was sporting curse seal version 2 along with a Mangekyo Sharingan, about half an hour later Uchiha Sasuke was found dead in training grounds, his body gave up due to excess of chakra released when the cursed seal forcefully opened 3 out of the 8 gates. The pressure was too great and his Sharingan eyes were destroyed, rather painfully if the Hyuuga doctor who performed the autopsy was to be believed.
Yamanaka Ino gave birth to twins, one was placed under care of Karin and the other child was experimented upon by Orochimaru, who succeeded in forcefully activating the baby's Sharingan at the price of the child's life. Orochimaru was sporting twin Sharingan and was able to control them fully.
Konoha tried to kidnap various various Jinchuuriki but Iwa and Kumo hid their Jinchuuriki too well. The guardian of Kumo was suddenly absent from his post.
Coincidentally, the teams sent to capture the jinchuuriki of seven tails from Takigakure, all reached at the same time and what was meant to be a black-ops* mission turned to a Battle Royale between AnBu teams of Taki, Kumo, Konoha and Iwa. The result being the loss of control by the demon container and Taki was flattened, the bijuu disappearing and death of 16 AnBu each of Kumo, Iwa and Konoha, the most noticeable amongst them being Yamato or Tenzo of Konoha who was assigned to subdue the bijuu.
Kakuzu was seen smiling that day and he captured Sarutobi Asuma's team as a celebration, allowing Hidan to perform his ritual to his hearts content and without a single complain. He even allowed Hidan to have all the bounty collected, freaking Hidan out.
Suna had allied with Iwa, their tension with Konoha leading to the alliance. The Wind Daimyo had seen the flow of the winds and started funding Suna, the ninja of Konoha were first loyal to Fire Lord, and since a war was unavoidable, it was best that his country was prepared.
Even though Orochimaru betrayed them, Suna still benefited from the tension. Konoha tried to Kidnap Gaara, but halfway to Konoha, Temari and Kankuro intervened, Gaara was freed who then systematically killed all of the kidnap team.
Kankuro lost a leg, which he replaced by a prosthetic, but he got his brother back. Temari always carried a photograph in which Kankuro woke up and found Gaara serving breakfast for the first time. Gaara found a hobby and spent rest of his nights trying new recipes.
Meanwhile after about two and a half years, Konoha was turning desperate. The AnBu were getting killed during patrols and no one knew who was killing them and how he was receiving information. No one was seen crossing borders; no one was spotted in the vicinity of the attack. No one suspicious was seen by the outpost guards either.
Danzo tried investigations, but did not succeed. The bounty on victims was never collected. The patrol patterns were changed, Inuzuka and Aburame were dispatched to trail the squads, even they did not return.
Orochimaru had started sending cursed seal grunts towards merchant caravans; the explosions killed the merchants despite the best efforts of the ninja guards. Most of the time the missions were C-ranked and genin were killed. The jounin did not fall to such attacks.
Retired Ninja were called; Konoha had to take lesser missions and diverted forces on border outposts and the village itself.
The academy started producing prodigies, genin of age 5 and chunin of age 7 were seen again.
3 years and 6 months after the Chuunin Exams.
Multiple large craters were seen where Konoha previously stood. In the middle of the largest crater, stood a large man with eight swords.
"Konoha is all mine, all thanks to Mr. Nine YO!"
Konoha lost because they did not have means to stop the demon containers, and they faced the four, five, two and eight tailed demon containers, their arrogance coming to bite them back. Between Orochimaru, the unknown AnBu-killer, Akatsuki hired by Iwa, Kumogakure and Iwagakure themselves, Konoha did not stand a chance.
Outside the crater stood another large man with striking resemblance to the first one
"Stop rapping Kirabi, and let everyone work in peace. See to it that we do not leave anyone alive. Go explore behind the mountains and let others do the salvaging."
The Raikage himself had an unconscious Hyuuga on each of his shoulders; he outmatched them and was able to subdue them.
Kirabi looks up and resumes scouting, he sees a person in a cloak and wearing a hat, standing over the Yondaime's head. As he squints to get a better look, he sees a flash of pale orange. He disappears in a flash of lightening and appears near the spot, only to see untouched grass and very faint traces of chakra.
Deep in the forests of Fire Country, the cloaked person appears in a pale orange flash. He murmurs a short verse that no one other than him hears.
My enemies thought that I was dead, drowning in the rivers of molten lead.
But I had to return, for I had a story to tell.
The story of betrayal, the story of revenge;
The story was told, but the living never heard.
But fear not my audience, for when a story ends, another begins.
(The person removes his hat that hid his blonde hair and blue eyes.)
Remember my face, O enemies dead, and curse it from eternal hell.
The person closes his eyes and in a flash of orange disappears again.
** Black Op missions are those in which upon being caught all relevant proof of the captives identity are erased, if not possible then the person is disavowed, declared traitor and executed upon return, if he/she returns. The country/agency/team/unit doesn't take responsibility.
A.N:- A bit dark, a review in my other story advised me to write shorter stories and hence I am writing a new one (and hopefully improving.)