A/N:
Hey it's your favorite, or possibly least favorite, author. I'm really sorry that it's been so long, I promise that I'll get back to New Experiences when I can, I just need to get back in the flow of writing first. So how many of you have read Silver Queen's Dreaming of Sunshine? Yeah I got inspiredto write my own SI after that, so here's this. But first of course,
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did there wouldn't be so many straight people in the ending.
Chapter 1—The Beginning of a Ninja
Last I remembered, I had died. It was peaceful, I hope. I don't really remember, though I do remember the events leading up to it, unfortunately. Yeah it wasn't great. I don't remember the afterlife either, I mean, I remember having a conversation with something, it may have been God, though I'm not… wasn't? - religious. I suppose even remembering that much comes from of the stranger things I got into, most people don't even remember anything from their previous life at all. So imagine someone, who wasn't a great person mind you, gets a second chance. I'm pretty sure I've been reincarnated before, as have most people in the same world they were born the first time. We usually don't remember anything from before, it usually comes from dreams that you forget in the first five minutes of waking that you remember. I had to dive deep into my mind, the door there, to remember little bits of who I was before. No one important or worth mentioning, as was my life this time. I suppose I'll be a hypocrite and tell you not to do it, it's far too dangerous. Though I've never actually been able to stop anyone before, so I'll tell you to not trust anyone, follow the main hallway without entering the other doors, and for the love of God, don't talk to anyone. You'll never make it back. I'm getting off topic.
So imagine my surprise when I remember who I was before. Even as a baby, it can really mess with you, an adult with the body of a newborn. Imagine my surprise when I wasn't even born back into my own original world, I was born into one full of more violence, of people considered gods, of ninja. I was born into the new world as Ketsui Senju, son of Hashirama Senju and Mito Uzumaki.
I was born a perfectly healthy baby, for once, until I began to sense what I later realized is chakra. Being a, umm, witch, before being born here definitely made the sensing of energy in your own body not as much of a foreign and terrifying experience as it could have been. Chakra was far more natural than the magic, but it was definitely far faster flowing and intense. My mother being an Uzumaki and me having even denser chakra than usual because of that, as well as my father having naturally vast reserves of chakra that I also seem to have gotten a bit of did not help in getting accustomed to this new energy. Of course, it may have also been because I was a natural sensor type that I was scared of this powerful new energy. My mind tried to reject it, having me end up in the hospital on multiple occasions. Most infants probably would have been killed by this, but again, due to my lineage, I was okay.
Most people saw me as a strange baby. I didn't always act like a baby, well of course I was an adult then, mentally anyway. I physically still acted like a baby, but I had the body of a baby. No control. I guess people were weirded out by me because I paid much more attention than I should have. In my defense, not only was getting used to sensing such powerful chakra all the time a pain in my paranoid ass, but as well as trying to understand a third language. Especially when said third language sounds completely different than the other two.
As I grew older, I tried to act more my age, and it worked a little. People sometimes notice that I would grasp concepts unusually quickly, which I suppose is better than not even pretending to be learning and admitting that I already knew that. I also noticed something strange. We were always moving around. We never left the forests in which we called home. Sometimes, people would leave and never come back, and the adults would tell us lies with nervous smiles on their lips. I was two at the time, I realized, having finally started being able to understand what people were saying, when I overheard, by a clan member who didn't seem to notice who was in the room, that we were at war. With a clan called the Uchiha. The name was said in disgust by all except by my father. I don't know why it took that long to click, but it finally did that I was in the Naruto world. Long before the events of the main series, I realized. I also realized that I might grow up to be the father of the Sannin Tsunade.
It was also at this time that I was beginning to learn about our clan. My father was our leader, and possibly the most powerful ninja in the whole world. I didn't doubt it, judging by his chakra. I later learned that my mother had married him in a political alliance. A loveless marriage at first, they eventually fell for each other and finally admitted it not long before I was born. We lived in the forest because it was where we, and our allies the Sarutobi, had longed honed our skills. Another part of the reason we hadn't moved out was because of my father's ability, Wood Release, which allowed him to control the woods at ease. We as a clan spent much time gathering herbs and the such. We worked with plants a lot, which was good for me, as that was something I was good at from my previous life. We were the most powerful clan in the area, and our alliance with the Sarutobi and the Aburame gave us peace treaties with the Yamanka, Akimichi, Nara, and Inuzuka. We used this to stop fighting in the area, increasing our power and our allies. Our people were trained to be powerful fighters from a young age, but with finesse that rivaled that of the Hyuuga. Unlike the Uchiha, who we were led to believe were ruthless killers who hated all and only wanted power. We also learned proper behavior, which was very different from what I was used to. At four, we was when we began our training to be warriors, to be professional killers, expected from us at a young age. It was the only way which our clan could survive in this war torn world.
I'm beginning to regret this whole reincarnation thing.
"Ketsui," a gentle voice shakes me awake. My mother is standing over my bed, tying up her bright red hair with one hand. I'm lucky that I have my father's hair. "You start your official training today," she sighs.
"Okay," I respond, trying to wake up as quickly as I can. It takes me a moment to realize that yes, today I begin combat training, and B, that if I don't hurry up, I'll be late. Talk about first impressions, everyone will hate me again. I nearly fall flat on the floor, tripping on nothing as I shoot out of bed like a startled cat.
My mom laughs, and I know don't get irritated at her as usual, because I know that she hates the system, doesn't want me to be trained as a killer from such a young age. Mito really is a good mom to me, my whole family is good to me. Well I guess the thing about Mito that I like is that she doesn't spoil me but she's never too tough on me. I know that being pampered in this world of kill or be killed isn't a good thing, but she promises me that she'll protect me no matter what, so even though she's a little on the soft side, she still teaches me ninja skills. She's the one that taught me how to access and mold my chakra, and she teaches me calligraphy because since I'm an Uzumaki too, chances are I'll pick up sealing sometime or later. Hashirama is a good father, even if he's always busy. It's because he's our clan leader and has a lot of responsibility. A lot of the time, though, it's because he's being lectured by his brother for slacking off or not being serious enough. While my father has taught me very little in ninjutsu and taijutsu, he has taught me a lot of lessons about being a ninja and being a leader for the people. It's my uncle Tobirama who's taught me most of my physical skills. He taught me how to throw kunai and shuriken, he's taught me the basics of the clan's taijutsu, and he even used chakra paper to figure out that I'm a natural water user, like him. He's decided that he'll teach me ninjutsu when I'm ready. I figure that my father will have a problem with that. Tobirama's really tough on me, which even though I don't like I know is good for when I have to fight. With all the training I've already had, I thought that training class would be easy. I was right.
Training takes place at a large wooden building near the center of the clan's home. I get some funny looks as I enter the building, probably because I'm our leaders' son; based on the whispering I hear, anyway. "Alright kids, I'm Matsu," our sensei tells us. He looks like he doesn't want to be here. "Umm, okay, how many of you know about chakra?" he asks with a sigh. Only about half of us raise our hands. He looks even more dejected. He sighs again. "Well, chakra …" he gives us the standard long winded explanation I've already heard. Class continues like this until it's time for taijutsu training.
Matsu-sensei takes us out to the courtyard and makes us run. "To build up your chakra reserves and to be able to run the distances that are required for us ninja, as well as be fast enough to survive in battle, one must first be able to meet the standard time for running a mile," he recites from the book he's carrying. He's walking, and still keeping up with the majority of the students, who are sprinting. I take a little pride in that I'm the fastest, even if it is only by a couple of seconds.
After we're all finished running, we lay in the grass and try to cool down. Matsui-sensei looks at us with apathy. "We're not done here," he says dryly. He reached into his weapons pouch and pulls out a kunai, he then throws it with seemingly no effort and it hits the bullseye on the target nearby. "All ninja must be able to throw a kunai," comes his half-assed explanation. And he makes us throw. Some of the students thought that by his demonstration, throwing a kunai would be easy. I myself manage to hit the target with all my kunai, which is better than most. We're all already irritated with Matsui-sensei when he then shows us the kata to our clan's basic taijutsu.
Turns out, he's probably a taijutsu expert. He shows the starting position, and gives us an explanation on how every little position of his body is important. He demonstrates how to move to each position from another, and gives more explanation for each one. His stance is flawless, and I'm inspired to become as good as him. In my old world, I got in a lot of fights but never won because I was terrible at it, maybe this time I could be good and use it to protect my friends and family. Speaking of friends, I finally made one that I could consider to really be a true friend, and not one that just wanted to become friend because I was Hashirama's son. Her name's Shitchiko, and she's really weird. She seems to be more interested in frogs than in learning. But hey, everybody's their own person.
After all the ninja stuff was over, that was when what schools was for ninja began. We learned the history of the clan, we learned about all the plants and the animals in the area, we learned math and language and science, and we learned music too. I was a little surprised about the last one. But then again, sometimes it's good to have a little fun with something. Not to mention that music makes great genjutsu and can even be used in ninjutsu. Anyway, Shitchiko and I just goofed off a lot during these classes. They were boring, and I was never good at paying attention to any one thing for long periods of time in the first place. Our teacher, a kunoichi by the name of Sabi, really didn't like us. I didn't like her, either, as she only disciple Shitchiko. Sabi and Matsui were probably related. They had the same spiky brown hair, which wasn't uncommon in the clan, but they also had the exact same eyes, mouth, and mole on their neck.
Classes continued like this for a year. Matsui taught us all the hand signs, and the basic clone and transformation techniques. I already knew them, so he just had me demonstrate instead of doing it himself. We practiced with kunai until all of them hit the bullseye. Then we switched to moving targets. We even had to learn to block other kunai with our own. Eventually, we switched to using shuriken and senbon, as well as ninja wire, and even swords. He drilled into us our taijutsu, so we wouldn't make even one mistake. We fought each other, to gauge our own abilities. I wasn't the best, but I was getting better. Sabi taught us, to make our brains grow. Eventually she started to teach how to use seals, and even basic disorientation and hiding genjutsu.
One of the days, my father and uncle came in. Hashirama was overjoyed to see me, and embarrassed me by giving me a hug in front of everyone. Tobirama gave him a none-too gentle reminder about why they were here. He also taught me some more advanced kunai and shuriken techniques, some more advanced taijustu, helped me get faster, and even some basic water jutsu. My father taught me some basic earth jutsu, and medical jutsu too. He also taught me how to improve my chakra control with a huge reserve of chakra, for someone of my age. My mom finally taught me how to store things with seals.
We had another addition to our family as well, a couple months after my fifth birthday. My younger sister, Senju Seishinki. While I looked more like mom, she looked like dad, probably. It's hard to tell with babies. She was a happy baby, healthy too. Life was good, we didn't even have to move around anymore. The last attack of the Uchiha had been thwarted as soon as they had entered the forest, and had been defeated quickly. We didn't lose a single clan member. That was three months ago, and we haven't faced much of the Uchiha since then.
Of course that had to change. Matsui-sensei took us out to the forest, to train there, and we went in deep enough that reinforcements would take some time to arrive. I decided since that I was farther ahead than everyone else that I would help Shitchiko, who was not doing so well.
"No, you have to use more chakra than that," I explained as patiently as I could. Matsui-sensei had just explained the tree climbing exercise, and we were off trying to learn it.
"But if I use too much it will hurt the tree," Shitchiko responds, as if the trees feelings were the most important part of this all.
"Yeah it will," I agreed. "But that's why you have to use the perfect amount, just enough to stick to the tree. If you use too much, it'll hurt the tree, but if you use too little you fall off and hurt yourself. I promise the tree won't mind you sticking to it," I reassure her. I don't actually know how the trees feel about people sticking to them, I can't use my father's bloodline limit which allows him to make entire forests.
"Okay," she sings, and proceeds to make it up to the top of the tree. I'm wonderstruck at the sight. It's amazing how she can make it all the way up from nothing in just one try. I mean, the teachers never reassure her that she can do anything, so that that someone is assuring her that she can makes her want to. She also probably has amazing chakra control.
"Umm, can you get down," I ask her. I've got a feeling that the answer is no.
"No," she responds, perfectly happy to be at the top of a tree.
"I'll be right up to get you," I tell her. It's no problem to make it up to the top of the tree, but then I have to help her down, which really slows us down. But well, at least neither of us got hurt. Tobirama tells me that he wishes that my father was this patient when he was my age. I get it from my mother.
I freeze when I hear a new voice scoff at us "Stupid Senju brats can't even get down a tree on their own. It's a miracle how you've managed to survive for so long." I didn't sense anyone approaching. This is not good. Judging by the man's dark clothes, dark hair, and sharingan eyes, he's an Uchiha. Shit. It's been a long time since I've felt this kind of fear. I didn't really feel anything in my old life, actually; that probably wasn't normal. But I still manage to pull a kunai out and hold it out in front of me defensively. Shitchiko hides behind me. I wish there was someone bigger and stronger for me to hide behind too.
"I won't let you get away," I tell the man, trying to hide all the fear from my voice. He can still tell my fear. I'm shaking.
"You let me get away?" the man laughs. "Oh no, that's not how this is going to work. You don't get it, do you? I'm going to kill you damn brats." With that, he lets off a dozen of small fireballs in our direction.
I drag Shitchiko with me out of the way of them, but the Uchiha can control them, and directs one to hit my arm. I expect the pain from the burn of the fire, but what I didn't realize is that he had hid shuriken in them. I resist the urge to take the shuriken out of my shoulder, because it will bleed more if I do.
"Ketsui," Shitchiko gets my attention and points to the branch that the man is standing on. It won't hold his weight if something hits it.
I start going through hand signs, and the man scoffs at my attempt to get them all correct. It's going to take too long. "You think that your pathetic ninjutsu will actually help you here?" The Uchiha ponders for a second. "Well maybe," he says, "you use water justu." He just predicted my attack. Shit. He grins. "Well that won't help you against this," he roars.
A cry of "Water Style: Water Trumpet," and "Fire Style: Giant Fireball" clash against each other as do our two jutsu. His is undoubtedly more powerful than mine. As the fireball crashes against the stream of water, the water evaporates, and the fireball pushes against it. The thought that I'm going to die, again, flashes through my head. I get lucky as the fireball dissipates. There's a kunai stuck in the branch the Uchiha was standing on, and the man concentrates on not hurting himself on the landing as the branch breaks. We both catch the sight of Shitchiko running away, and I know I have to do something before he kills her. I throw all my kunai with ninja wire wrapped through them an attempt to catch him. He deflects the kunai thrown at him with relative ease, but even with his sharingan he fails to notice the ninja wire that wraps around his leg. As he lands, the wire tightens around his leg and cuts deep. There's a spray of blood, and the man is restricted to one usable leg.
"I can't believe I let myself get caught in that trap," the man snarls. "I'm going to kill you, you fucking Senju." He stares at me and emanates pure killing attempt. I'm terrified and the world around me swirls and tightens. The man goes through hand seals, and I go through my own. From last time, I realize that deflecting the attack won't work, and I need to dodge.
"Earth: Style: Hiding like a Mole Technique," I whisper to myself. The world around me returns to normal, and I realize that I was under a genjutsu. As the fireball soars above my head, I catch a glimpse of a flash of a kunai, and when I resurface, uncle Tobirama is standing where the Uchiha stood. The man's head is laying on the ground, and Tobirama looks pissed.
He looks like he's about to ask me what happened, when another Uchiha comes flying through a tree. Judging by his bruising, and the blood leaking out of his mouth and ears, he's out of the fight. Matsui-sensei comes out the tree where the man came out of. His skin is red and he's covered in a green chakra mist. "Tobirama-sama," Matsui greets my uncle, "We were ambushed by a group of ten Uchiha. They weren't particularly skilled. I have concerns about how they got this far through into the forest."
"We were attacked today," Tobirama says. "A large force attacked at the border. Hashirama and I dealt with them, but it appears that wasn't the only force. Hashirama sensed this group was the closest to the grounds, so he sent me. I assume that ten of them attacked you and left one to deal with these two?" It occurs to me that Shitchiko is standing behind me again.
"Yes," Matsui-sensei responds. I've never seen him so serious before. "Forgive me for not assisting your nephew immediately, but the rest of the group was the primary target, and he can handle himself against a weak one like these."
"Yes," Tobirama agrees, "it appear he can." He kneels down next to Shitchiko and I and smiles. "You both did well. You would have won the fight and both showed signs of being a good ninja." His tone turns serious. "But first I need the both of you to come with me. Matusi will join us later." Before I can ask what's going to happen, he grabs our hands and teleports us. We're at the clan hall which can only mean that we're going to be questioned. At least no one says that we don't get things done quickly.
Tobirama leads us to the inside, where most of the elders have already gathered. My father is there too, he's still wearing his armor and looks a little disheveled. "It seems we've had a little of an invasion today, hasn't it?" elder Uekotige asks us. He looks calm, but I have a nasty feeling that he's far from it. But he was a ninja too once, a damn good one at that.
It's my father that responds. "We have," he replies. "The Uchiha launched a major offensive force at the edge of our borders. We managed to deflect it well enough, even without help from the Sarutobi. Tobirama and I arrived to put a full stop to the attack." I've never seen him so serious.
"You did manage that, as is no surprise from the two of you," elder Enso agrees. "But, it appears that you failed to ignore that minor invasions forces breached our forces in multiple locations."
"Not to mention that the both of you assisted in one small fight, where Madara Uchiha made no appearance," elder Uekotige supplies.
"It was our intention to prove to the Uchiha that they cannot and will not be able to finish us off and that we will show them no mercy," Hashirama says.
"I will admit that we are at fault for letting our defenses grow lax in a time where our major enemies are in decline," Tobirama admits, "but it turned out in our fortune as these in training were nearly able to defeat a fully-fledged Uchiha on their own. We have proven that we are the superior force yet again."
"And what about the students and their teacher?" elder Enso questions. "What was his name again?"
"Matsui," Tobirama spits at the elder, "he'll be here shortly." As if to prove a point, Matsui-sensei sprints not ten seconds later and bows to the elders.
"Tell us your account, Matsui," elder Enso commands of the man. It doesn't seem like my father, my uncle, Matusi-sensei, or even elder Uekotige really likes elder Enso that much. I don't like him either, he just seems like the kind of person who's rude to everyone.
"We were ambushed by a group of ten Uchiha," Mastsui-sensei recounts, "they seem to have been based more on stealth than on fighting ability, as I did not notice them before they attacked. They did, and I opened the sixth gate to defeat them swiftly before they could harm the students. Then I rushed to aid Ketusi and Shitchiko." That's probably not the full story, but Matusi-sensei has that look again, the one where he looks like he doesn't care and would rather be doing anything else.
"And what of you two?" this time it's elder Tsunade who asks the question. I realize with a start that it's directed towards us. "What happened to the two of you?
"Well, I was helping Shitchiko with the tree walking exercise," I try to explain, "and that Uchiha guy kind of came out of nowhere. I was scared when he attacked us, and he was really strong. He managed to get my arm." With that I point to the shuriken embedded into my arm. At least it's stopped bleeding now. "And then, umm, he blew a fireball at us, and I tried to counter it, but his was stronger."
"I hurt the tree and the mean guy stopped it," Shitchiko tries to help with the explanation. Neither of us are very good at this.
"Umm, yeah," I continue, "and he was gonna hurt her so I threw some kunai at him with ninja wire and he stepped in it and cut his leg bad. He blew another big fireball and I dodged it, but before I could do anything, uncle Tobirama came and stopped him." My father gives an extremely grateful look towards my uncle. Something tells me that it's not because he saved my life.
"Would you have been prepared to kill if it had come down to it?" Elder Enso asks me.
I hadn't even though about it. Judging by the looks he was receiving, no one had wanted elder Enso to ask me this question. "Umm, I didn't want to," I was trying to figure this out myself too. "But if there was no choice, if he had been about to kill Shitchiko or I, I think I would have." This is not something I want to think about, but then again, I don't think anyone does.
My father glares at the elder. "We're done here." I can hear the cold anger brimming beneath the calmness of his voice. "Ketsui-kun, why don't we walk Shitchiko-chan home?"
"Ah, okay," I agreed. Not like I really had another choice. Shitchiko didn't look like she thought she had much of a choice either.
It was a short and tense walk to Shitchiko's house. No one said anything, and my father was angry. I've only ever seen him get angry once, and that was at Tobirama, who backed off immediately. I don't want to know what's going to happen with the elders. Shitchiko's family looked surprised that the head of the clan himself had walked their daughter home. Her mom was the ninja of the family, serving in the medical unit, and her dad was a merchant from outside the clan. They offered us dinner, but my dad declined, saying that he "didn't want Mito-chan to get mad at me." As we departed he stopped and gave me a look. I'm not sure what it meant. "Ketsui," he said "I'm sorry what they put you through. You didn't deserve to be asked a question like that, but you chose the right answer, and I'm proud of you." He gave me a radiating smile.
"Umm, what do you mean by 'right answer'?" I asked. I think I knew what he meant, but I wanted to make sure. That in this world of ninja, you'll have to kill eventually.
He looked very depressed by the answer he was going to give. It amazes me how quickly he changes moods like that. "The right answer," he began to confide in me, "is that no matter what you do, no matter how pacifistic you try to be, you will have to kill to survive in this world. It's not something that most of us want to do, but we have to. When someone we loved is killed, all we want is revenge, so we kill the person who killed them. The people who loved them gets their revenge and kills us. And so it continues. It's all a cycle of hate, kid. I want to end it by founding ninja villages where multiple clans live in harmony and where there is no more hate. Is that two much to ask for?"
That last question was not for me, I knew, but for himself. This was the first time my father had treated me like an adult, which I suppose I nearly was by the standards of the time. Really, this was also the first time he had really told me anything like this. "Umm," I said, "why were attacked today?" Maybe I could gain even further insight. I know that his dream comes true, but of course I can't tell him that, so I'll try to gain some insight first.
He looked at me and chuckled. "Ever since our clan began to gain power, we've clashed with another," he explained. "The Uchiha, the clan of which one of my closest friends, Madara, is the leader. We keep killing them, and they're driven by hate. It powers their sharingan. They've been losing power for quite a while, ever since Tobirama killed Madara's brother, Izuna. I've been trying to negotiate a peace treaty with them, and the elders don't like it. They think I've grown lazy in trying to protect us. The Uchiha noticed too, so they staged an attack, but it failed." He sighed thoughtfully and put his grin back on. "Well, let's get back home, I think your mom has dinner ready."
Wow I'm a pretty bad writer, aren't I? I am of course, actually a musician, so that might explain something. But I'll try to get the narrative more consistent, and I need to work on Hashirama a lot too. I actually need to work on everything. I'm pretty bad at this for someone who's in AP literature. Whatever. Just follow this story if you like it and leave me reviews to tell me what you think.