The sun slowly rose over the peaked curves of snow capped mountains. As the beaming light bounced off their icy tips, a lone man traveled through them. Cloaked in heavy furs and thick wind-shielding fabrics he walked slowly through the mountain pass. He is as new to the land as the morning's sun, yet he walks with an air of familiarity of all things, and a sense of universal preparedness. Every crunch of his foot in the snow alerts the land to his presence, and slowly creatures began to emerge from their warm burrows. He is a stranger to this land, yet the creatures seem to know him. As he walked onward, a wolverine slips out of its snowy hole and shuffles toward him. Kneeling, and holding forth his hand, the man allows the wolverine to lick the sweet leather of the glove that adorns his hand. He gives the creature a few minutes, then tussles the soft fur on its head and carries on. He is on a very important quest, a mission of the utmost secrecy. He answers to no one but himself, and his task is one of self fulfillment.
If you looked at his face, one thing would draw your attention. A single battle scar stretched from his left nostril to intertwine itself with the top mark of three others that stretched across his cheeks. The marks repeated on the right side of his face, like whiskers. From his scar alone you could tell he was a warrior, from his stance you could tell he was a powerful one, and from his eyes you would see; he was unlike any man on the face of this earth. As he exits the mountain pass he comes to a snowy village barred from outsiders by a large wooden gate.
Knock Knock
The man rapped his thick clothed fingers against the gate alerting the gatekeeper to his presence.
"Yes... what is it?" A steely voice questions from behind the gate as a small wooden door opens to reveal grey eyes as steely as the voice.
"I seek refuge from the elements"
As if in answer, the wind picks up, throwing up a small storms worth of snow. When the wind settled the conversation continued.
"Listen buddy, I'd love to help, but we can barely keep our own people alive, we can't protect others."
"I don't need food or any other acts of charity, just a wall to lean against and to shield myself from the wind." His voice was calm, cool, and collective. The rough sound exited his mouth like a trickle of clean crisp creek water mixed with the raging of the ocean. It was rugged and gritty. It was the voice of a warrior.
The eyes shook their head to break the spell and rebutted.
"You misunderstand my friend, we are not dying from starvation... we are being killed off."
Cold silence in a cold land.
"I can help with that."
The rusty hinges of the wooden gate creak as they are pulled open from the inside. The gatekeeper stands before the warrior, old and grey.
"How do you intend to do that?" For the first time the gatekeeper was beholding the warrior in full, and shortly after his question escaped his lips he knew the answer... for the man he beheld, was like no man on the face of this earth.
"Tell me what the problem is... and I'll solve it.
The gatekeeper nodded, and led the way into the village.
It was peaceful, serene, beautiful. Every snowcapped hut sat perfectly in the snow. Yet it was empty, the village was completely silent and still.
"It all started a year ago... people were being plucked from their houses while they slept, the only thing to remember them by were their screams... I swear I haven't ever heard something so inhuman before in my life."
The warrior nodded, taking in everything the man said... but also observing everything around him.
"Our numbers dwindled, so we relocated... we all hulled ourselves up in a barricaded shelter up here."
Again a silent show of understanding from the warrior. Up ahead, the shelter came into view.
"We're all in there... well except for me during the day... I keep watch until sunset, then I run up here. I have no idea what this thing is... but I know someone who can give you more details about it... a witness. Follow me."
The gatekeeper had returned to his post, leaving the warrior alone with a young girl. He wished he hadn't.
"You... you want to help? This thing can't die! It's It's It's a demon."
The warrior smirked.
"YOU THINK IT"S FUNNY! IT KILLED MY FAMILY! IT RIPPED APART MY-" The woman scream as she revealed a mutilated hand... a hand with teeth-marks.
The warrior stopped smirking.
"Listen... I will avenge your family... I will keep you safe, just tell me everything you know." His voice calmed her instantly. She nodded slowly, and began her story.
It was 12 months ago, and the perfect weather for an icy picnic lit by sunset. So her family took one.
"Mom... I wanna go home."
Her mother shushed her, Soon soon.
"But it's getting dark!"
Scared of the dark? Her brother taunted her playfully as she furiously shook her head no. Scaredy cat Scardey cat.
"I'm just... sleepy."
Her father smiled at her and packed up the picnic basket, they began the journey home.
"Are we there yet?"
Close
"Are we there yet?
Shhhh.
"Are we-"
A blood curdling roar ripped the night air, and a black beast fell from the trees. Its muscles were rippling with an incredible tension, and its head was adorned by nothing but a row of giant teeth. It roared once more and the world went black.
She woke up in the arms of the gatekeeper.
"And that's all... My fam-"
She burst into tears and the warrior quietly excused himself from her hut. He didn't get information that would help him win the fight, but at-least he had an idea what the beast would look like. Now all he had to do was wait for nightfall.
The moon rose slowly and lit the black sky's clouds with a silver hue. The warrior sat in the snow directly in the center of the village. His winter clothing pulled tightly around him. Then a howl broke the night silence. Just like in the girl's story, the beast seemed to fall from the sky.
It was large and black, but it was not a sentient being, it was a mass of malevolent chakra. In essence, it was a demon, but nothing the warrior couldn't handle. After all, he was a demon too.
And his sharp canine teeth showed it.
He stood up, ripping forth his winter clothes and revealing the light garb of a traveling shinobi.
The beast's face was nothing but teeth, but it clearly had some sense of sight, for its eyes quickly locked on the warrior.
The fight started quickly, the warrior raced across the powdery snow at blinding speeds and slammed his fists into the beast's chest. This knocked the beast backwards, but it quickly recovered and clawed at the warrior.
'This might be tougher than I though...' His mind raced with the strategies drilled into his head as a genin, but couldn't find one appropriate to this particular situation, 'They don't prepare you for this kind of stuff!'
He crossed his finger's across his chest, and several duplicates of him appeared beside him in the snow. Without speaking they charged, many of them fell but a few managed to scar the beast, giving the original the opportunity to land a fatal blow to the creatures temple.
Bending down, the warrior sliced off the Beast's head with his kunai, and held it in the air.
Then, legs began to grow from the bottom of the head.
'Of course. Of course.'
Dropping the head to the ground and jumping up, the warrior began to focus a swirling ball of chakra at the edge of the kunai. Focusing it downward, his whole blade quickly became one of whipping chakra. As the beast stumbled on is spider-like legs, the Warrior lunged forward, thrusting his kunai into the head of the beast, causing an explosion of chakra to fly throughout the snowy area. Dropping to his knees, the warrior concentrated, he began to absorb the malevolent chakra.
Biting his lip, the pain was unreal, but nothing he hadn't dealt with before, he slowly eradicated the evil energy of the chakra and merged it with his own. After several minutes he finished, and fell to the ground and went to sleep.
The next morning, the villagers came out to see what they believed to be a dead warrior.
"The idiot."
"Why would he try-"
"Don't look honey."
The gatekeeper swallowed a deep achy ball of saliva, and walked slowly to the warrior's body.
"Thanks for trying..." The warrior sat up and stared into the eyes of the confused gatekeeper.
"Trying? I succeeded!"
The villagers began to roar in applause, and the warrior slowly got up, shaking away the grogginess of sleep.
"Good luck guys, I've got to be off, thanks for the shelter."
"Wait! Please, we don't have much... but we can pay you-" The gatekeeper offered, but knew he would be refused. The warrior slowly shook his head.
"No thanks... I really got to go."
"WAIT!"
The warrior turned back, more than ready to leave this place.
"Just tell us your name."
The warrior smiled, and then turned back toward the gate, as he walked away he answered,
"Naruto Uzumaki."