Siren's Song
Act I Part I
Pain
I do not own Naruto, just the few characters that I make up that will be in the story.
IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTE AT THE END
After dealing with so much pain and seeing how Naruto's own team and sensei treat her, she leaves Konoha with a heavy heart. Deciding that she was tired of it all, she intends to find a place to live out her life in peace though destiny has ways of getting what it wants. After several years Naruto ends up on a new team heading back to Konoha to participate in the Chūnin exams and possibly help save Konoha from not only it's enemies, but itself as well.
Naruto Age 13
For once, everything was going her way from waking up to find out the events of the previous night was not a dream to realizing that she truly was a ninja now despite failing the exam. All those years of hard work, the years of ridicule fro students and teacher alike were now a thing of the past as she was her own woman now. She had the headband to prove it and at the end of the week she would have the paperwork to back it up when she was assigned to a team.
Too bad she didn't really have anyone to spend the time during the week between graduating and team assignments with to really celebrate. The week was there for the students who graduated to spend the last little bit of free time with their families as they said goodbye to their childhood and prepared for adulthood that becoming a Genin of Konoha entailed. She had no family though to spend this time with, but she wasn't going to let that stop her. She was going to show off her new accessory with pride and show those hateful villagers that they were wrong about her.
If things truly went her way maybe she could even stop pretending to be a boy as the old man Hokage had made her do all these years. She was never really sure why she had to hide anyways. She was physically weaker than most boys her age, after all most girls were, but she made up for that with her speed and agility as well as stealth. None of that mattered though as she couldn't fight off grown adults either way, so why bother hiding her true gender? The villagers would hate her either way and beat her every October 10th, not to mention every time a group got drunk and decided a good hunt was in order.
The sweet aroma of the best food ever caught her nose drawing her from her thoughts as she strolled into her favorite restaurant. Okay, maybe it was the only one who would truly serve her, but it was still her favorite. As she walked up to the Ramen bar and took a seat on a stool, she looked up to see the old man coming from the back.
"Oh, so your a ninja now?" Teuchi teased in good nature, giving the blonde a big smile. "I guess that means your celebrating. How about a bowl of Ramen on the house?"
"That would be great old man!" Naruto cheered while giving the man a cheesy, yet proud grin. "Can I have a miso ramen?"
"Sure thing, kid." Teuchi said before turning to the back and calling out, "One miso ramen for our favorite customer, Ayame!"
"Coming right up father!" Ayame called back, her voice full of her usual cheer. The two always seemed to be happy when Naruto saw them and the two always treated her with love and respect. Too bad the same couldn't be said for the rest of the villagers, including the new customer who just came in.
Like Sakura, this woman had bright pink hair and a loud banshee like voice. Even though the blonde didn't know for sure, she believed this woman was Sakura's mother or another close relative. She was also on the civilian council and one of the biggest causes of many of Naruto's headaches.
"Where the hell did you get that?" The pink haired woman asked.
"Haruno, leave the boy alone or I'll have to ask you to leave!" Teuchi barked at the screeching woman, momentarily drawing the hate filled glare on himself.
"Don't worry, I wouldn't be caught dead eating in the same place as this...this trash." The woman sneered, glaring down at her nose at Naruto who drew in on herself. "You may have the headband, but you will never really be a ninja. Filth like you will never be anything more than the worthless garbage that you are.!"
"Haruno!" Teuchi growled threateningly as he picked up a kitchen knife from behind the counter.
"I'm leaving, and I won't be back." The woman said coldly as she spun around and stalked off, obviously fuming at the altercation between the three.
"I'm sorry about that, Naruto." Teuchi sighed, all of a sudden looking much older than he had when the blonde walked in. "Don't listen to her, kid. I know you will be a great ninja, just don't ever give up. Don't let people like that dictate how you want to live your life."
"It's just so hard sometimes, you know?" Naruto admitted sadly making the old man give her a pitying look.
"If you ever need anything, you know Ayame and I will always be there for you." Teuchi said giving an encouraging smile.
"Sure." Naruto said returning the smile, though it didn't reach her eyes. It was true that the two had always been there for her with kind words and encouragement, even helping when she had no money for food or clothes. They really have given Naruto so much, everything except for the one thing she both wanted and needed the most. A family.
For once, Naruto slowly ate her noodles and didn't even bother asking for seconds. Instead, she somberly thanked the two who had tried to get her to engage in small talk during the meal. She just didn't feel like talking after running into the pink haired woman, nor did she have much of an appetite any longer.
Walking through the busy streets of the village she paid close attention to the people watching her as she passed. She wasn't sure why she thought things would be better when she gained the headband, but a large part of her was sure that she would be respected more. Instead, the looks held no respect whatsoever while they held more disgust and contempt for her than ever before. Several people even went so far as throw things at her and make demeaning remarks about how filth shouldn't be allowed the honor of being a ninja.
With a much heavier heart than she started her day out with, Naruto decided to one of the lesser used training grounds where she normally went for practice. She wanted to try and use her new technique, the shadow clone jutsu, to help improve her taijutsu by sparring with her clones. At the same time she would also be mastering the technique that had let her defend Iruka and herself from the traitor that was one of her former instructors.
The technique itself was simple enough, just a single hand seal. On the other hand, it was supposedly a B-ranked jutsu and very hard to use as it required an insane amount of chakra to pull off creating just one or two clones. It was lucky that she had such an insane reserve of chakra as she could create the clones all day and it would barely phase her.
Grinning a bit as a spark lit in her eyes as she once again promised herself that she would prove that she was more than most people gave her credit for being. She would prove that she wasn't filth, trash or a little monster like some said. She would prove that she could be more than a dead last by becoming the best ninja she could be. She would make the villagers respect her by giving it her all to protect them!
Hours later she sat under a tree, her chakra reserves still rather high despite her body feeling tired after the grueling sparring session she forced herself to do. It felt good though, her muscles burned though to her it meant that she was getting stronger. She was getting better and she intended to continue doing so.
"Well, lookie here boys, the demon brat looks tired." A condescending voice laughed harshly drawing Naruto's attention to a group of at least seven men surrounding her. Two of them wore the standard Chūnin uniforms while the others she suspected were civilian. Actually, she recognized some of them as being shop owners that would not let her shop in their stores.
"I bet you think your hot shit now that you have that headband, don't you?" Another of the men asked, swaying a little letting the blonde know that most of these men had been drinking, and were most likely drunk. She also knew that she wasn't going to escape very easily as they had already surrounded her and there were two Chūnin with them while she was physically tired from her training.
"Get up brat!" Another of the men demanded as they yanked her up by the arm. She started to make the seal to make some shadow clones to help her but she found a kunai jammed through the palm of her right hand ripping a pained scream from her throat.
"Leave me alone!" Naruto sobbed as she tried to pull away.
"I don't think so brat." Another man said as he grabbed her injured hand opposite of the other man, the two working together to hold her still while keeping her hands apart to prevent any jutsu. "Did you bring the whip?"
"Yeah, we're going to whip this dog and show him his place under those that are better than him." Another man laughed as he flicked the whip making a loud cracking noise. "Take his jacket off, we don't want it reducing the pain any, do we?"
It was at that moment that fear really started to fill the blonde. She was scared of being beaten, but she was used to it. They never stripped any clothing off her before now though as they usually stuck with using blunt objects, kunai or punches and kicks. The Hokage and her personal doctor, the only two people that she knew of that knew her true gender, had warned her to never let anyone see her naked as it would let them know that she was a girl.
The horrible orange jumpsuit was loose and baggy for a reason, she was already maturing and it helped hide her growing curves. She had asked numerous times why she had to wear it, why she couldn't wear pretty dresses like the other girls. Instead, the Hokage only shook his head sadly and told her someday he could tell her after she became a ninja while prohibiting her doctor from telling her despite the woman obviously wanting to. Now these men were going to find out, and she had a bad feeling she would find out why she was supposed to hide, but she didn't want to find out this way.
She was helpless as she struggled against the two men holding her, sobbing as the kunai stuck in her hand throbbed painfully while another man came up and unzipped the top while pulling it open. "Holy shit, those don't belong on any boy!"
"What are you talking about as two men came up on either side of the one who had her top open while staring at her bound chest.
"So what, we knew the kid was a freak, a boy having tits only make him more of one." One of the two said.
"Idiot, check down below." The one who opened her jacket demanded. A few moments later of the two holding her, Naruto was stripped of her sandals and jump suit as she stood hanging between the two men in only her bandage wrapped chest and panties.
"What do we have here, our little fox is a little vixen. The demon is a bitch!" One of the men laughed.
"You know what we do to little bitches, don't you?" Another asked.
"We're going to have fun with you little girl, yes we are. We're going to break you in real good, maybe even keep you as our new toy." Another man said, his voice strange in a way that made the fear in Naruto grow even more. She didn't understand what they were talking about, only that it wasn't good.
It didn't take long to find out what the men planned to do and she was helpless to stop it. Instead, she cried in confusion, screaming in pain as she begged them to stop. For what seemed like hours she begged them to stop hurting her as they took turns between her legs, beating and biting her as she thrashed under them. It wasn't until the moon was high in the sky that the pain finally stopped as the men began screaming as the blonde girl's mind began shutting down. She felt something like a blanket or overly large coat draped over her body.
"Oh dear Kami, you're a..." A feminine voice gasped.
"A what?" A man's voice demanded, anger in his voice. as the covering was wrapped tighter around her and she was lifted off the ground.
"Don't you worry about it bastard." The female's voice hissed angrily. "You stay here and make sure none of these sickos survived."
The last thing she remembered was silver and the male voice saying, "I'm so sick of cleaning up after your mess demon brat."
Drip
Drip
Drip
"Huh?" Naruto moaned as the constant sound of dripping water broke through the fog in her mind forcing her to open her eyes in annoyance.
Drip
Drip
Drip
Kami, but that was annoying as hell. The drips were so loud that it could have been a giant water drop falling into a lake. Looking around as she sat up, Naruto noticed that it was not a lake at all, but a sewer. She was in a sewer! "Thos bastards dropped me in a sewer?"
Taking a few deep breaths trying to calm herself when she realized that not only was she in a sewer, but she was also naked. She started shivering as flashes of memory assaulted her mind of what those men had done to her and the pain it brought. She didn't know why they did it, but she felt so disgusted and dirty. She felt that no matter how much she bathed that she would never wash off the dirt. A deep sense of hopelessness and helplessness quickly settled in as tears began falling.
"WHY? WHY DO YOU KEEP HURTING ME?" Naruto screamed in agony, sobbing as she curled into a ball. She knew that she held the nine tailed fox within her now, but she wasn't the fox. She was Naru 'Naruto' Uzumaki! "Why?"
"Child." A deep, guttural voice called out, echoing off the tunnel walls.
"Go away!" Naruto sobbed louder as she curled up tighter. "Can't you just leave me alone? I never did anything so why are you doing this?"
"Kit. Sweetie, follow my voice. I promise I won't hurt you." The guttural voice said again, but this time it began changing near the middle of it. It went from being loud and deep, as if it was growling, to soft and melodic as if the person could have been singing it. The voice seemed so sincere, so loving, as it seemed to wrap around the blonde urging her to follow the voice.
Slowly, the blonde girl climbed to her feet, swaying a little. Looking down at herself again she was surprised that there were no bruises after everything they did to her. Maybe she had been out a lot longer than usual, as much pain as she was in before passing out made her not doubt that theory.
"Kit, we are on limited time, so please come." The voice beckoned again, this time getting the blonde to hug herself before moving forward. It seemed to take forever as se waded through the very shallow water that filled the bottom of the tunnel as she tried to ignore the annoying dripping and instead focus on the beautiful voice up ahead. Finally she broke out of the tunnel into a very large and spacious chamber that didn't seem to have a ceiling as the walls kept going up and up until they vanished into the inky darkness overhead.
"Who are you?" Naruto asked nervously as she noticed a large cage in the center of the chamber and a shadowed form about the size of an adult moving around inside. The blonde gasped when a very beautiful and exotic beauty came out of the shadows, almost gliding as she moved to the edge of the cage where Naruto found herself to. Either one of the two should have been able to move between the bars, but the woman stopped just shy of them and looked at them sadly before turning her gaze on Naruto.
"I'm so sorry for what happened to you." The woman said, her voice barely loud enough to hear as she hung her head while her hair fell n a way to hide her eyes in the shadows it created. Naruto was shocked when she saw the drops of water falling into the larger body of water on the floor making the horrendous dripping noise. She was crying. This woman was crying for what had been done to Naruto? But why?
"Because, I am the nine tailed fox." The woman croaked out, reaching out to stroke Naruto's cheek, but screamed as her hand reached the line of bars and lightning coursed up the woman's arm. She yanked it back before mumbling, "I deserved that."
Taking a few moments to look over the woman again, Naruto studied her and realized some very important things that helped prove the woman's claim of being the demon that attacked the village the night the blonde was born. The tufts of hair sticking up on the woman's head was not hair as Naruto first believed, but rather red fox ears. And what she thought was merely decorations on the form fitting robe was actually nine white tipped, red fox tails that swayed back and forth. The woman's cheeks held the same markings as Naruto's own, though the woman's eyes were a golden yellow.
"I guess it really is true then, isn't it?" Naruto sighed, realizing that there was a part of her that didn't believe the whole sealing the world's most powerful demon into her tummy. It sounded insane, and yet one of the only people she trusted had finally admitted to that fact while the definite proof of the creature's existence was standing before her nursing a burnt hand. "Does that mean we're inside me or something?"
"In your mind, yes." The woman said sadly. "I've wanted so much to help you all these years. I wanted so much to hold you, to comfort you when you were lonely or hurting. Most of all, I've wanted to take all of your pain away and onto myself because all of this is my fault."
"Why did you even attack Konoha?" Naruto asked as she made sure to stay away from the edge of the cage. She wasn't sure if it would shock her, but she was also wary of the woman in front of her. She wasn't curious as to why she was human looking as she knew demons could change their shape. The thing she wanted to know was why even attack Konoha to begin with? If the fox never attacked then maybe her parents would still be alive and she wouldn't be blamed for everything that the fox caused during that fateful night.
"I didn't do it by choice, but I accept full responsibility for it." The woman sighed deeply, sadness filling her voice as she kneeled down on the floor in the low level of water. "I was originally held inside of your mother before the attack."
"You knew my mother?" Naruto gasped, her jaw hanging open as a little flicker of hope filled her heart. Could she finally learn a little about her mother?
"Your mother was a great person sweetie, loving and protective of those she considered precious. To those that threatened the people she considered precious, she was considered a demon herself." The fox woman said with a far away look as the tears slowed making the blond realize that her own tears had stopped for the time being.
"What..." Naruto began, taking a deep breath as she partly feared the answer. "What was her name?"
"Her name was Kushina Uzumaki." The fox woman said softly while rubbing her arms as if she was cold. "Unlike her mother, Kushina didn't like me and refused to talk to me. Still, I was able to see everything she did, experience everything she did."
"So you can see everything I do?" Naruto asked softly, not sure how to take that little bit of information.
"No, your seal is different than the normal Uzumaki seal. Normally I've been passed down from generation to generation as I should have been with you." The fox woman explained. "It's been that way since I was punished by Kami and sealed in my beast form. The only time I can take a human form is when I'm with a human."
"Kami punished you?" Naruto asked, horrified at that news.
"That's a story for a later time sweetie, but you asked why I attacked Konoha. We should get to that while we have time." The fox woman sighed. "During childbirth..."
"Childbirth?" Naruto asked, a little confused.
"Oh Kami...They really screwed up your education, didn't they?" The woman sighed. "Sweetie, if we have time I promise to go over that. During childbirth though, the Uzumaki seal would weaken and that is when the man in the spiral mask attacked and shattered the seal freeing me. Before I knew it I was looking into a Sharingan eye before waking up in you. I was put in a genjutsu and tricked into attacking."
"So it isn't your fault either? Everything that's happened was because of this freak with a weird eye?" Naruto sighed, leaning against the bars before realizing she should be getting zapped by the same shock that his the fox woman.
"The seal doesn't hurt you, you can come and go as you want while I'm trapped in here." The woman said with a sad smile as the blonde cautiously walked into the cage.
"You feel so real." Naruto said surprised as she reached out touch the woman's shoulder who was still kneeling. Naruto knew that the woman could get her now, maybe even kill her. A part of the blonde even hoped for it, hoped for the pain to end. Instead her eyes began watering again as she moved closer to the kneeling woman. "Will you hold me?"
"Oh honey, anytime you need." The red haired woman smiled as she pulled the blonde into her lap and held her tightly letting the young girl cry while stroking the blonde locks of hair.
"Where the hell were you, Kakashi?" An angry Hokage demanded as he sat at his desk going over the thick folder of all the damage done to his favorite little blonde. The Hokage had originally planned on letting the ANBU before him in on the truth behind Naruto many of times, but each time the silver haired man had disappointed Hiruzen in some way concerning the child.
"I had to break up an argument at a bar." Kakashi explained calmly. Hiruzen knew it was a lie though, the man wasn't breaking up a fight, he was there getting drunk.
"DO NOT LIE TO ME, KAKASHI!" Hiruzen roared in anger and he jumped to his feet and slammed his open hands on the desk making a loud booming sound.
"Lord Hokage..." Kakashi whimpered as he took a step back, his mouth hanging open as he searched for what to say.
"Save it, Kakashi." Hiruzen sneered as he dropped back down in his seat with an evil grin spreading across his face. "I know how the council has been hounding you to train Sasuke and for once, I think I agree with them."
"But Sir, I am a high ranking officer in the ANBU, I can't take on a team of Genin and keep up with those duties." Hiruzen explained slowly while hoping the old man would see how impossible it would be to do both jobs. Teaching a bunch of kids would take up too much time, more so even than his duties in ANBU that he enjoyed.
"Oh that won't be a problem, Hiruzen. From this moment on, you are stripped of your ANBU rank and your pay will be cut to reflect your new position as sensei. Further more, you will be fined for failing in your duties to protect young Naruto and your pay docked for shirking your duties." Hiruzen said with a sneer, though a part of him knew that this should help the newly appointed Jōnin in learning how great a child Naruto was. It would also serve several other purposes as well.
"You can't do that!" Kakashi blurted before covering his mouth up, eyes wide in horror as he watched the old man seemingly glow red for several moments as he fought down his rage.
"I can and have, Kakashi. It's time you were reminded what Konoha and the will of fire represents. You need to be reminded what the words you dare preach truly mean by relearning teamwork as well as understanding just how badly you have wronged Naruto." Hiruzen sighed. "This who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their friends and comrades are worse than trash. Kakashi, not only have you broken the rules I set down, you have in effect abandoned a helpless child, a comrade. Perhaps the children can teach you just as much as you can teach them.
"I doubt that, Sir." Kakashi grumbled, fully intending to do what he normally does with Genin when forced to test them by failing them. Once done then perhaps he could get back to his posts as ANBU.
"Kakashi, I will be monitoring the Genin tests and if you don't give them a fair chance I will have you brought up on charges for obstructing official business and have you stripped of your position as a ninja with dishonor. You will live out the rest of your days as a civilian, do I make my self clear?" Hiruzen asked in a quite, yet razor sharp voice showing that he meant business with what he said.
"Yes Sir." Kakashi stiffly replied, angry at the old man and fearful of what would happen with the Genin. If he failed them then he could have his career stripped from him and if they passed then he would be stuck teaching a group of brats who thought they knew everything and was invincible. Life sucked and there was no making lemonade out of this cluster fuck he landed himself into and in the back of his head he knew he had no one else to blame but himself.
If you want to help make this story better, I need to know some details about certain things in the Naruto universe.
1) Money, according to tamara the currency used is in Ryo. How does the conversion for that work? Such as how much would it cost to spend the night in a decent inn and a cheap meal?
2) Names of towns...I need one large, non-ninja village. I think I remember a Tanzuna or Tanzuka or something that was a large gambling town, but I can't remember.
3) Police...Again, tamara stated that a regular police force is used though a village could hire ninja if they wanted to help out. So this question is pretty much answered unless anyone has anymore input.
4) Leaders...Who is in charge of a non-ninja village? A mayor? Some kind of fuedal lord besides the Damiyo? I know tamara said, "fedural lords and roalty(princesses,kings queens ect.)" I know the Damiyo controls all of Fire Country and a Kage is in charge of a ninja village. But what about the villages that are non ninja, is the person in charge of the vilage itself just referred to as Lord or Lady?
5) Year...What is the time frame around the graduation in the anime? Month and year? I really would like to know some kind of frame work for when events are taking place, but if not I'll just put Naruto's age at the time at the beginning of each chapter instead of a date.
That's it for now. I would appreciate any help all of you could give me to make this story better.
Thank you tamara for helping with the information and the goldmine of the website you gave me for information. And thank you for the Avatar, MyFavories. I was looking for something a little less revealing, but it looks great!