Seiryoku no Naruto - Chapter 1
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Disclaimer- I do not own Naruto, Naruto's storyline, Naruto's characters, or anything affiliated with Naruto. I'm just using them without profit or gain to write a fictional story.
Claimer- I own this storyline, and any OCs(Original Characters) that I invent.
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"By the way, I tried to say I'd be there... Waiting for..."- Normal Speech
'I bless the hour that holds your fall... I will kill you all!'- Thoughts
"I'm reaching farther than I ever have before... Leaving all who broke your heart upon the shore!"- Summon Speech
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Uzumaki Naruto scurried between the shelves of endless books. Lately, ever since the Sandaime Hokage had recommended it to him on his seventh birthday, he had been visiting the library. He was pleasantly surprised to find that some of the books weren't as evil as he previously thought. One, in particular, was very enjoyable, telling a story about a revered samurai who found a legendary spear that would help him rescue a beautiful woman from an evil demon. Of course, he had skipped around quite a bit to stay interested, but he found that his attention span increased when he read, which allowed him to read more, which made his attention span increase more, and so on.
Today he was planning to make it to the big fight between the magical spear-wielding samurai, Makoto, and the demon, which was an enenra. Naruto had read earlier that enenra were demons made of smoke, that could only be seen by the pure of heart. Almost squirming in anticipation, he pulled the book off of its shelf, and sat down to read.
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Later That Day...
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Naruto slid the book back into its place on the shelf and solemnly left the library. The book hadn't really ended the way he had expected. The brave samurai had used his spear, which was sharp enough (the book said, at least) to instantly cut a dragonfly in half if one landed on it, and defeated the enenra. He had run through the smoke that it left behind, only to find that the woman he had intended to save had died in his earth-shattering attack. The man gave the woman an honorable burial, then committed suicide. Naruto had trouble seeing the logic in the man's actions though.
'Why would he give up so easily? He really loved her, but I think killing yourself just isn't the way to go. Pure heart my ass.' Naruto kicked a pebble down the road as he walked to his apartment.
'Nobody who really had a pure heart would've done that.' Naruto turned the corner in Konohagakure, the Village Hidden in the Leaves, and saw that his apartment building was on fire.
"No way!" Naruto's eyes widened before he broke into a sprint, moving as fast as his legs could take him. He was stopped before he got there by a man that he recognized as one of his neighbors.
"What happened, mister guy?!" He asked frantically as he looked at his burning home.
"There was a fire, kid. We're not sure how it started yet, but I think everyone got out ok." As he looked around, he saw his landlord arguing angrily with a couple of other men. Suddenly, and rather unexpectedly, it seemed, he was hit over the head with something that felt like a large piece of wood.
"Hey kid! What are you people-" The man, Naruto's neighbor, was cut off suddenly. Naruto heard the man fall down nearby.
"So, brat, why did you set the building on fire? Huh?" A young voice asked from above him. Naruto could barely move his head, and he was sure he was bleeding.
"Trying to finish what you started, huh? Is that it, demon?" A scarred face appeared in front of Naruto as his head was pulled up by his hair.
"Well, I don't think we're going to let you kill anymore people, demon. A little brat like you can't be allowed to run around wreaking havoc." A deeper voice said, coming from the scarred man.
"But, I-" Naruto was cut off by a kick in the ribs. He began crying as he was pummeled from seemingly all directions.
"Hey, what are you people doing? Get off of him!" Another man, who Naruto thought sounded like his landlord, called out. The beating stopped as the older men conversed.
"So, you're going to be like that too, eh?" The young, cocky voice spoke again. Naruto weakly turned his head to the right. The man was his landlord, and he was standing in front of his wife in a protective stance.
"Are we going to have to beat you down like this guy?" Naruto wondered why the man asked so many questions.
"Daisuke..." Naruto's landlord clenched his teeth, seemingly noticing the downed man for the first time.
"Just leave him alone, you monsters!" His landlord's wife, Naruto wondered if that would make her his landlady, shouted at the men.
"You keep out of this, you-" The scarred man and another man that Naruto hadn't seen before took a few steps toward the pair.
"Go!" Naruto croaked out. "Hurry and go!" Naruto thought he saw concern on their faces as they turned to run, but he couldn't be sure. He idly wondered if they knew the man, Daisuke, very well. He didn't, and he knew they lived in the same building. He wondered if Daisuke had any children his age, or even a wife. Once he thought about it, he didn't have any idea.
A heavy boot pressed against his back, making him scream a hoarse cry of pain. He could feel the loose dirt and grainy rock from the road pressing in on his cheek as his face was pushed into the ground. The pressure lifted, but just so that a man could pick him up, and drop him onto a much harder surface. His face hit the concrete step in front of a bookstore that he had visited once. He never really bought books, preferring to read at the library. He had only been reading for a few months, but it seemed like he had absorbed enough stories to entertain him for a year.
He tasted blood on his lip, and knew that his nose was bleeding.
'I wish I had started in the Ninja Academy earlier... I would beat these guys easy if I were stronger.' He was picked up again, and subsequently dropped on his face. He screamed again, much to the delight of his tormentors.
"Think this kid can take much more?" One of them, a new voice, asked the others. The beating had been going on for ten minutes, but it seemed like ages to Naruto's young mind. He was beginning to give up hope when he heard another new voice.
"By the order of the Hokage, all of you are to be detained immediately. Comply peacefully, or I will use lethal force." The men who were participating in the beating looked around blindly until a member of the elite ANBU dropped onto the street from above.
"Saru-san, I don't think you understand." The young, cocky voice was speaking to the monkey-masked ANBU.
"I understand perfectly. The Hokage has ordered me to detain you; therefore, I will detain you. Step away from the child." The ANBU spoke harshly, and Naruto heard the frustrated growl of anger from the man who had spoken.
"Fine. But the brat deserved it." He and the other men shuffled away from Naruto to stand against the wall, but not before the young one kicked Naruto again, this time in the back of his head.
"Pitiful." The ANBU threw a kunai, pinning the man to the wall through his left shoulder.
"Shit! What's wrong with you, you bastard?!" The ANBU member slowly approached the man, and jammed a kunai savagely through his right shoulder.
"That's two strikes. I would advise you against using such harsh language in front of the boy." The young man just nodded with tears of pain rolling down his face.
Another ANBU member fell from the sky, and hoisted Naruto into her arms.
"Tora-san, take the boy to the hospital. He probably needs medical help after that... beating. I'll complete the mission." The female ANBU nodded, then sped off with Naruto, walking quickly. After she turned the nearest corner, Saru turned to the detainees.
"So what now, ANBU-san?" The scar-faced man asked politely. The ninja simply removed his ninjato from his back. As the detainees' eyes widened, he cut all of their throats in an instant.
"Targets detained." The ninja sheathed his ninjato as firelight danced on his mask.
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The Next Day, 6:00 AM, At the Hospital
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Naruto woke up in a hospital bed, and saw that all of his injuries were already gone. He lay still and thought, something that he never would have done before. He thought about the stories he had read, where everything ended happily. He thought of the story he had read where everything ended miserably. He thought about great tales of great journeys, where great people did great things. He thought of stories where people gave their all, and got everything, or nothing, in return. And he thought of Daisuke, and what he did to earn his own beating. And he saw that he had caused both Daisuke and his landlord and his landlady and all of the people living in his apartment building pain, for no reason other than his existence. And he wondered if his existence was worth the pain it caused other people. And then, he wondered if his existence was worth the pain it caused himself.
And he made up his mind in a fit of childish impulsiveness.
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7:00 AM, At the Hokage Tower
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"So, Hokage-sama, I eliminated the targets. Tora took the boy to the hospital, where he is currently recuperating. Clean-up went smoothly, and the mission was completed." The ANBU with the monkey mask was making his mission report to the Hokage.
The Sandaime sat behind his desk, and shifted a few papers.
"Very well, Momotaro-san. Thank you for reporting in on such short notice. You were one of the first ANBU to respond." The ANBU member bowed humbly.
"I must admit to being concerned about the boy, at times. I often wonder how safe he is alone in the village."
The Sandaime lit his pipe and began puffing. 'Momotaro doesn't appear to be so concerned. He is still hurting, I'm sure.' The Hokage dismissed him, and he left quickly.
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7:30 AM, At the Home of Miura Isao and Mitsuko
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Miura Mitsuko woke up late on this day. She had stayed up late also, consoling her husband, telling him that the insurance they had would pay for the fire. She checked the mail after she got dressed, and saw a letter from the boy, Uzumaki Naruto. Curious, she opened the letter that was addressed to her husband and herself and sat down at their kitchen table. Inside was a short letter, along with an expensive-looking butterfly necklace. Her husband Isao found her crying when he walked into the kitchen.
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7:45 AM, Not Far From Konoha
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Uzumaki Naruto walked down the middle of the dirt-paved road, map in hands, bag on his shoulder. As he looked on the map, he wondered about the choice he had made, about the wisdom of leaving his home. He had left gifts for his landlord and landlady, his neighbor Daisuke, and the ANBU whose name he didn't know. Writing the letters had been easy, or at least the though behind them was. Even at the age of seven, his spelling was atrocious. Picking out presents had been hard, but he decided to spend all of his money on what he found. For Daisuke, it meant he just got some bills in his envelope, but he couldn't think of anything for him anyways.
He looked on the map, and a village caught his eye. 'Oiwake... I think I'll go there.' Looking at the corner of the map, he saw that he had more than twenty miles to go.
"Come on..." Naruto sighed and began to trudge.
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8:40 AM, ANBU Headquarters
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"Hey Saru-san! Before you leave, I think there's a letter for you." A man behind a desk waved an envelope over his head as the man known as Momotaro turned around.
"What do you mean, you 'think'? Is it for me or isn't it?" The man behind the desk scratched the back of his head.
"Well, you should see for yourself, I guess." He said while holding his head down in embarrassment. The masked man walked to the desk and snatched the letter from his hands. Growling, he read the address line.
To the Monkey ANBU Man
At the ANBU Place
Konohagakure
The man was silent, then sighed.
"I guess it's mine then. Thanks." Momotaro turned towards the door and opened the letter. The first thing he pulled out was a shuriken with the message 'To Saru, From the Great Ninja Uzumaki Naruto' engraved around the center ring in silver. He pushed open the swinging glass door, and pulled out a piece of paper. With widening eyes, he read the letter before dashing to the Hokage's office.
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8:45 AM, Seven Miles Away from Konoha
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Naruto finished repairing the yoke, making the wagon operational once again. He had met up with a trader who was on his way out from Konoha when the rope connecting his horse to his wagon snapped. After tying a knot in the rope, he travelled another few miles before it broke again. After repairing the rope a few times, the trader had given up and waited for help on the side of the road.
Naruto, having been the curious ninja-in-training that he was, had asked the man what was wrong, and then offered his help to the skeptical trader in return for a ride, since both parties were headed south. After finding a few sturdy vines in the surrounding forest, he put his survival training into practice, and replaced the broken rope. He assured the trader that the vines would hold up, at least until the trader got to his destination. Thus, Naruto scored a free ride.
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9:00 AM, The Hokage Tower
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"Momotaro-san, this isn't good. Please stay quiet about this information for the time being. I want you and your squad to search Konoha for Naruto. Be sure to check around with the people he knew, and at the places he frequented."
"Such as?" The Sandaime fiercely puffed on his pipe.
"Try Ichiraku Ramen. Maybe the Ninja Academy. Training fields, equipment stores, maybe the Hokage Monument. Just keep a sharp eye out for him."
"Understood, Hokage-sama." Momotaro blurred out of sight, out Sarutobi's window.
'Ninja these days... they just don't understand the value of using the door.' Sarutobi sighed, not looking forward to the inevitable council meeting.
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10:30 AM, A Large Town Twenty-Three Miles Away from Konoha
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Naruto had stopped with the trader in this town, which he hadn't bothered to learn the name of yet. After consulting with him, he determined that he needed to head out on the eastern road, while the trader, Bunpei, would be heading south. Bunpei thanked Naruto greatly for his help, and even paid him money for his help. Naruto thanked Bunpei for making his journey so much faster and more enjoyable. As Bunpei left the village, Naruto shopped for some food supplies. After buying a few things, and eating and drinking some others, he left on the four mile walk to Oiwake.
It was about now that the gravity of his situation set in. So far he had had an exciting time. Driven by the excitement of the journey and the memories of the night before, Naruto had acted foolishly and impulsively. And now that he had more time to think, he was wondering what he was going to do once he made it to his destination. Build a house? Live in the wild? He didn't even know what he was going to do to make it through the night with his simple bag of groceries and foodstuffs and his small, heavy bag on his shoulder.
'I don't even know how I'm going to make it through the night with just this simple bag of groceries and foodstuffs and this small, heavy bag on my shoulder.'
He wasn't sure what to expect from Oiwake.
'I don't know what to expect from Oiwake.'
He was thinking the words the narrator was saying.
'I'm thinking the words the narrator... Wait, what?' (Sorry, I got carried away here.)
Naruto was puzzled, and figured he needed a break from walking. He sat down with his stuff, and checked the map. He knew he was on the road to Oiwake, but he really had no way to measure his progress or find his location. He sighed, and rested his small head on a tree.
'I wonder if anyone will hire a little seven-year-old kid for anything...' He rested for five minutes, which seemed like an eternity for him, and began to make his way toward Oiwake.
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11:00 AM, The Hokage Tower
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"There's absolutely no sign Naruto yet?" Sarutobi asked Momotaro.
"My squad has been searching for two hours. We haven't caught wind of the boy, though we did hear from a middle-aged couple. They received a letter from Naruto much like mine." The Sandaime nodded his head. He wasn't very surprised to find that he also received a letter from Naruto, not long after he sent Momotaro's squad to look for him.
"Ichiraku Ramen's owner also received a letter. The old man, Teuchi, and his daughter Ayame knew the boy on a personal level." The Hokage nodded again at this. Naruto seemed to have left a letter for all of the people that he knew and liked.
"..." The Hokage puffed on his pipe for a time, then spoke. "Tell your team to stop looking for now. Tomorrow, I'm going to assign you and your squad an unranked, unofficial mission to find him outside of the village." The ANBU member nodded, bowed, and blurred out of the window again.
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11:05 AM, Right Outside of Oiwake
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Naruto was close to the village; he knew, cause he could see it. It was smaller than he had expected. There were rice paddies ('Those are cool!' Naruto thought.). Over the paddies, there was a small, huddling mass of homes, a medium-sized store, a smithy, and a statue. The statue was odd, but it looked pretty cool in Naruto's eyes.
Naruto made it his first order of business to check to see if the town had an inn. After observing the natural beauty of the scenery, he approached the town.
"Hello!" He waved to the first person he saw, a woman sweeping her porch with a straw broom. The woman was in her middle ages, and had black hair tied tightly in a bun. She was wearing simple cotton clothes while she swept, both the shirt and the pants were blue with white cuffs.
"Hello, kiddo." The woman kindly responded.
"Um, I was wondering, if, maybe, there was an inn nearby that I could stay in?" Naruto hadn't expected such a... normal greeting, so he was caught off guard.
The woman glanced around, and turned a critical eye on Naruto. "Where are your parents, kiddo?"
Naruto began to stutter. "Um, well, you see... I don't know?" He lamely said. The woman raised an eyebrow.
"Did you lose 'em?" She asked before taking another look around.
"Yes... or, no. I don't know? I never met my parents." Naruto bluntly stated.
"Oh... I'm sorry. You're an orphan then?" The woman held a look of sympathy, one that Naruto rarely received. He was again caught off guard by the kind, sad expression on the woman's face.
"Um, yeah... But, I was wondering if you knew where an inn was?" Naruto asked again, changing the subject.
"Here, I'll take you there myself." The woman set her broom against her house and stepped down next to Naruto. "How old are you, kiddo?"
Naruto began walking with her. "I'm seven and a half."
She looked at him. "Seven? I could have guessed ten at least!"
Naruto giggled a little at her flattery. "Miss, what's your name? I'm Uzumaki Naruto."
She grinned. "My name is Okada Yuriko. It's nice to meet you, Naruto-kun."
"You too, Miss Okada-chan." Naruto smiled a happy smile as they walked to the inn. It was right down the street, really, so it didn't take long to get there.
"You can call me Yuriko if you'd like, Naruto-kun."
"Ok then, Miss Yuriko-chan." Naruto, once again, smiled a happy smile.
Yuriko giggled a little bit at his endearment. She opened up the swinging door of the inn, and ushered Naruto inside.
"Good morning, Yuriko-san!" The young woman behind the front desk brightly said.
"Good morning to you too, Kaori! I was wondering if you had a room available for my young friend here." Kaori looked around puzzled, until Naruto waved his hand at her. Leaning over the high desk, she smiled and waved back at him.
"Of course we do, Yuriko-san. How long is he planning on staying?" Yuriko looked at Naruto with a raised eyebrow.
"Um, I don't know yet." He said, taking the hint. Both Yuriko and Kaori sweat-dropped.
"Well, I guess we could hook you up with a room. How much money do ya got?" Kaori asked.
Naruto pulled out his frog-shaped wallet, and opened it. After spending money on food, drink, and supplies, he had a grand total of... (And I'm equating yen to ryo at a 1:1 ratio here, and dollars to yen at a 100:1 ratio.)
"Um... just about 5,000 ryo." Kaori sighed, and tapped her finger on the desk.
"I guess I could hook you up for a while then, since you're friends with Yuriko-san. Your room will be at the end of the hall, on the left." Naruto bowed and said his thanks to her. He handed over 4000 ryo of the money in his wallet, and put it away.
"If you ever need any help with anything, Kaori-chan, just give Uzumaki Naruto a call, and I'll help you in any way possible!" Naruto unwittingly mimicked the 'Nice Guy' pose, and flashed a smile at Kaori, who giggled at his behavior.
"Well, Naruto, now that you're set up here, I'll leave you to look around the village. If you need help with anything else, you know where I live." Yuriko said bye to Naruto and Kaori, and left to continue her sweeping.
Naruto walked down the hallway, and slid open the paper door to his room. It was simple, with a bed, a cushion, a low-set table, a chair, a desk, and a window that looked out over the paddies. He deposited his bag of stuff, for lack of a better term, on the table, which he assumed was for eating meals on, and exited the inn with a quick goodbye to Kaori.
As Naruto walked, he reflected. It had only been a day, but so much had happened. He could barely even remember everything. But he was wondering if he could get books here. Maybe the store would have them... Reading was rapidly becoming his favorite hobby. The story of Makoto the samurai seemed to electrify him, awakening a craving for knowledge and stories that he hadn't experienced before. And though it was weird, and it was nothing the pre-seven-year-old Naruto would consider doing, he found himself being drawn in by the books, seduced by their contents. He thought about it, and wondered if there were any books on being a ninja. Which led him to wonder about his ninja training. He only had, at his best guess, three shuriken with him, and maybe a kunai, if he found one in his apartment's ruins. He couldn't really remember. Most of what he had was on him when he was out the night of the incident. Naruto, while thinking, nearly stumbled into a muddy ditch. Following the ditch with his eyes, he noticed that it flooded the expansive, multi-tiered rice paddies.
"Wow... so this is how they do it here." He said to himself absentmindedly.
"Yeah, and it's how they do it just about everywhere else too." A gruff voice sounded from behind him. He turned to see a tall, imposing, muscular man standing behind him with his arms crossed.
"Oh, uh, hello there!" Naruto nervously said. The man nodded at him.
"Good afternoon." Naruto waited expectantly, but the man continued to look over the muddy paddies.
Naruto turned back to them, and noticed they were empty.
"Hey, mister, why aren't there any plants in the water?" He asked with his back turned to him. He heard a course, barking laughter from the man.
"Because we haven't planted them yet, young one!" The man let loose another laugh.
"Well, when are you going to plant the rice?" The man uncrossed his arms and brought a hand up to his chin, stroking it as if in deep thought.
"Why would you want to know, stranger?" Naruto turned around and grinned sheepishly.
"Well, I was hoping to be able to maybe help some." The man laughed again, with his hands at his hips.
"You want to help us plant the rice? Do you know how to plant rice, stranger?" Naruto shook his head, and the man cracked a grin.
"Do you want to learn, young one?" Naruto grinned and nodded his head.
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One Week Later, 5:00 AM, Naruto's Hotel Room
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Wake up, kit.
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"Get out of bed, kiddo!" Yuriko shouted as she entered Naruto's room with a pan in hand, ready to beat it like a drum at any sign of resistance. Surprisingly, Naruto was already up and rubbing his eyes when she opened the door.
"Oh. Get ready, kiddo!" She quickly got over her surprise and changed her tactics. Naruto sighed as she left the room. Kaori had brought a small chest to keep his clothes in while he was staying here after he got a new set of clothing. Today he was going to wear his (in his opinion, "stylin'!") set of blue cotton clothes. They were loose on him, and he had to wear a tightly wrapped cloth belt to keep his pants up, but he liked them. His shirt could be adjusted to open more of his chest to the cooling wind, if he got really hot while working. The dark blue would absorb heat more readily than other colors too, so Naruto was prepared to do some sweating in the paddies.
He left the hotel (Kaori wasn't even awake yet, not having to help in the fields.) and made his way through the semi-dark to the irrigation ditch. Almost falling in again, he followed it to where most of the men in the village were gathered, along with some of the women, Yuriko included. He had spent most of the previous week being homesick and practicing the correct way of planting rice. As he stood in the back of the crowd, most of which had faces he wouldn't have recognized if they hit him in the face, Masayoshi began to speak. The man, ever since they met on the first day he came to Oiwake, had taught him countless things about the town and what happened in and around it, since he was the mayor and everything.
"Fellow townsmen, we're here today to begin planting the crops that make our village thrive. The end of May has always been the time of the year when the rice kami thrive in our waters. The fields are rich this year, and the rice will be good. Now, get to planting!" Masayoshi grinned as the workers 'got to planting' after the traditional speech that preceded the first day of planting.
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Some Days Later...
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Naruto thrived in Oiwake, working in the rice paddies to make money to stay in the hotel, while making extra money from odd jobs around the town. His first contact with the turtles came exactly twenty-seven days after he arrived in the town.
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So. That was the first chapter of my newest fanfiction. 5007 words without this A/N or the opening key thingy. So, yeah. I'm not exactly sure where I'm going with this one (but when am I, when I write something? Never, that's when.). Lots of OCs, I'm not sure which ones will actually be important to the story. I wrote random song lyrics for the speech key thingy. Also, I think I need to work on introductions. This story's introduction just seems... horrible, to me. This is my longest chapter to anything I've ever written ever, I think. And I started it today (Well, technically yesterday. But it's been less than 24 hours (I think.)). (Whatever, I started it on 6/27/08.) Also, I would like to mention that I spent a ridiculous amount of time ridiculously looking for ideas on Wikipedia (which is a pretty ridiculous site). So, yeah. Please review, and if you want, give me a nudge in the direction that you would like to see this story generally go in. Thanks for reading!