The Frozen Shinobi
The Arctic Fox
In a sealed room, beneath the Hokage tower, it is cold. The temperature is forty below freezing. In this room there is ice, snow, and a lone boy. His skin is as blue as his cerulean eyes. His hair is like snow, but with blue streaks as well. He sits on a throne of carved ice and watches a TV in its' cold resistant case that keeps it from freezing over.
The boys' breath is only slightly visible as it escapes his mouth. It, like him, being only slightly warmer than the room he's in.
Seeing nothing worth watching, the boy reminisces. He recalls how he came to be here.
It was two years ago. His name, Naruto Uzumaki. He was a happy boy, in appearance anyway. He was walking home from the academy, starting his third attempted class to pass. But, fate, and the villagers, was cruel. An anbu with the word ROOT on his mask snatched him up, knocked him out, and took him to ROOT headquarters. There, under the watch of Danzo, they put him through the most unspeakable tortures. They sliced off parts of his skin and watched as it re-grew. They took blood samples and performed gene experiments of them. He was injected with many different, and painful, experimental drugs and serums. Then, came that fateful day. The ROOT doctors had just injected him with a sample of hyoton or ice user bloodline blood into him with a gene-splicing compound, when the Hokage, followed by a woman with purple hair and fishnet clothes and a scarred man with a bandanna and many normal anbu, stormed into the room. They fought with ROOT and, during the fight, knocked the table Naruto was strapped to into a huge vat of cryo-coolant. An experimental substance to freeze or preserve bodies of allies and enemies perfectly when scroll were not available.
Naruto, even after all he'd been through, had never felt such pain. The chemical, along with the hyoton bloodline blood was being added to his genetic make up. With the added Kyuubi healing factor, he was changed forever. When they fished him out and found he was alive…they also found that anything he touched would freeze in seconds.
They loaded him up into a metal box that quickly froze from the inside, and carried him to a sealed storage room under the Hokage tower. They got him some clothes that had seals on them that protected them from his icy touch and the Hokage, Ibiki, and Anko, wrapped in winter clothing, stood in the room with him. The Hokage had tried to get him to talk, but he wouldn't say a word. The old man and Ibiki eventually stopped trying and left him there with some food on a seal induced hot plate that kept his food warm despite his icy touch.
Anko was the only one who continued to visit. She understood what it felt like to be a freak of an experiment and had always felt a sense of kinship with the young demon container since, like her, he was shunned through no fault of his own.
He eventually spoke to her and they talked. He told her of his tortures and of the man in bandages that ran things. Anko was livid. She knew who the man was and would speak to the Hokage about it later. Naruto told her his desire to use his new powers and asked if he could learn seals to make his…condition…into a weapon for him and the Hokage to use.
She smiled and said she'd ask the old man.
The Hokage was livid as well but couldn't find proof Danzo did anything as he would surely say those ROOT members were told to disband and disobeyed him and that the only one to implicate him was the "demon brat" who was now a monster even more than before to the civilian side of the council. The ninja side of the council was very sympathetic to the poor boy, even though they didn't know the extent of his change or injuries yet, and, when Anko told them of the boys' desires, away from the civilian council and Danzo, they were proud of his determination to push through his…quit frankly…horrid nightmare of an ordeal.
The Hokage had anti-freezing seal covered paper, pencils (since ink would freeze out of the pot), and books on sealing.
Naruto worked for a year on his designs for seals and, oddly enough, armor. He was a bright boy, but due to prejudice, his teachers sabotaged him and that kept his intellect hidden.
When it was done, he asked Anko to give it to the old man and she smiled and went off to do it.
When the old Hokage had seen the seal and armor designs, he'd laughed and smiled. The boy was brilliant. He'd had the armor commissioned and ready in two months and applied the seals by carving them on and tracing the inside of the carvings with chakra ink to set them. The armor would now keep all his cold in and allow him to touch things again without freezing them. Also, by adding chakra to his palms, he could open them and focus his chakra out into a freezing ice chakra beam.
(His armor is the same as freeze's from Batman and Robin with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Except his armor has a blue tinted visor over the face that lets him see out and no one see in.)
Naruto studied hard on the ice jutsu the old Hokage got for him from various scrolls and ninja. Naruto had to open his palm area to use chakra for outside body jutsu with his suit on. He learned that, with ice, he also had an equal affinity for water and wind. Though lacking a bit in wind jutsu, Naruto learned as much as he could from all the water and wind scrolls they had.
Naruto awoke from his reminiscing when he heard a knock on his door.
"Enter." He said in his near lifeless voice. Only the old man, Anko, and Ibiki could come down to him. He wasn't in his armor, but in a black pair of shinobi pants and a white shinobi sleeveless shirt.
Ibiki entered. "Hello, Freeze." Naruto had long ago decided that, only with Anko and the Hokage, and only in private, could anyone call him Naruto. To everyone else, he was Freeze.
"Hello, Ibiki-san. What brings you down to my cold patch of hell." Naruto said in his emotionless voice. Naruto still had emotions, but they were saved for Anko, the Hokage, and anyone who gave him a good enough fight.
"Your graduating class has passed their gennin tests. However, a chunnin by the name of Mizuki stole the forbidden scroll of sealing and…well…the Hokage thinks this will be an excellent way for you to renter the world." Ibiki smirked.
Naruto, in a rare slip, smirked as well. "I shall be up shortly."
Naruto then stood and walked over to his armor. Once it was on, he walked out of the room and up the stairs.
Ibiki was told by the Hokage the direction Mizuki headed and he passed that onto Naruto.
Naruto nodded and then took off with wind chakra flowing around him to speed his pace.
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As Ibiki entered the Hokages' office, everyone from the council and most of the jounin were gathered there. Ibiki nodded to the old man and he nodded back.
"Why are we all here? Shouldn't we be out looking for Mizuki?" Iruka asked.
"Yes, Hokage-sama. We must stop him from getting away with that scroll." Hiashi Hyuuga stated.
The Hokage smiled, which confused all but three of those in the room. "It is being dealt with." He said as he pulled out his seeing crystal ball.
"How so?" Danzo asked.
The Hokage looked at him and smirked. "Why, by the test subject of you 'renegade' ROOT soldiers Danzo."
Danzo looked slightly surprised. "Really?"
"Yes. He has mastered his 'gifts' and I have sent him after the traitor." The Hokage said.
"Who are you referring to, Hokage-sama?" Tsume Inuzuka asked. It had been years since they had heard about Naruto so he slipped their minds.
"Watch and see." The old man said with a smile as an image of a young man in full body armor raced through the trees.
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Naruto pumped chakra into his eyes as he ran through the forest through the trees. His ice blue sharingan came to life in his eyes. It wasn't just hyoton blood that the ROOT bastards injected him with. They also injected Uchiha blood and Inuzuka blood. The sharingan, at it's third level currently, allowed him to run as fast as he wanted without fear of running into things, and the Inuzuka beast-like bloodline gave him animal senses and abilities. He even had an advanced version of their all fours and man-beast jutsus.
He allowed his nose to guide him to the only fresh scent along the direction Mizuki was headed.
He finally found the traitor with the scroll at his side, as he appeared to be resting.
Naruto smirked behind his visor and opened his palm valves to release chakra for a jutsu.
"Hidden mist jutsu." He said in a whisper.
Slowly, mist settled in and covered the area around Mizuki.
"What in the-"? Mizuki said as he noticed the mist.
Then, all around him, a cage of thick ice appeared. He looked around and found that, while partially covered by mist, he could see the ceiling and sides of the cage. The floor was frozen over and he shuddered from fear and the dropped temperature.
He heard a footstep from behind him and turned. The deep blue lights of Narutos' armor came to life, outlining and illuminating his armored form from behind the vale of the mist.
"Surprise, I'm your new cellmate." He stepped forward and his sightless visor unnerved Mizuki. "And I've come to make your life a living hell." Mizuki further cringed at his deep, emotionless, cold voice. "Prepare for a bitter harvest…" He suddenly appeared right before Mizuki. "Winter…has come at last!" He then grabbed Mizukis' left arm with his right and pulled the scroll from his grasp with his valve-closed left.
Mizuki screamed as, in barely a few seconds, his whole body was frozen over and every bone, organ, and cell turned to ice.
Freeze then, with a single sweep of his right hand, shattered the traitor into small shards of ice.
Freeze looked up towards the sky. "Traitor eliminated and scroll recovered Hokage-sama. I shall return shortly."
He then turned and, in a feet of blinding speed, dashed away while the ice cage shattered and the mist drifted away.
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"Who was that!?" Inoichi Yamanaka asked.
Anko looked at Tsume. "Watching him work makes you hot, huh?" She said with a smirk. Tsume could only nod. His cold power and dramatic execution was…thrilling to watch.
The Hokage smirked and cleared his throat. "That, my friends, was a jounin level ninja who has yet to take the gennin exam." They looked shocked. "He was prevented by 'rebel' ROOT operatives stealing him away, putting him through the most unspeakable tortures, and experimenting different bloodline fusion drugs on him."
Everyone looked shocked and several sent a scowl to Danzo.
The Hokage continued. "That young man was once…Naruto Uzumaki."
Everyone gaped. "T-That was the container!" A civilian councilman said in slight fear.
"Yes. Due to an accident during his…tortures, while we rescued him, he was irreversibly changed. He has an overactive hyoton bloodline that causes everything he touches to freeze. The armor he wears has special seals that keep his powers contained. He also has an advanced version of the Inuzuka bloodline and a blue, three-tomoed sharingan."
Everyone was struck dumb. Tsume growled at Danzos' direction and was near ready to kill him.
"I and two others have helped train him in control, seals, and ice, wind, and water jutsu. He is jounin level and I've decided to make him a special jounin. His performance tonight should prove he is above a chunnin let alone a gennin." The Hokage said with a smirk.
No one could deny it. He clearly was over-skilled for anything less.
"But Hokage-sama, how can we let that…that boy be a ninja. If he can't touch anyone without the suit he can't reproduce so there is no bloodline value in him. He could still turn on us. I still think he is the fox in human form." A random Civilian council said.
The Hokage looked sternly at the man. "I know quite a few ninjas who, due to work related problems, can no longer produce children and many more ninja without bloodline who are great at their jobs. Such as myself, my students Jaraiya and Tsunade, Iruka, Anko, Ibiki, need I go on?"
The councilman shut up, having soundly been proven wrong.
"As for your beliefs about the fox, it is no longer an issue." The Hokage smirked at the confused faces of the council and jounin. "Apparently it is not just the Firsts' bloodline that subdues demons. The hyoton can do it to a limited degree. Added with the Inuzuka bloodline and the mutated sharingan, he has not only taken a large portion of the fox's power permanently, but he has…reincarnated the fox inside him." This really confused everyone.
"What do you mean, Hokage-sama.?" Shibi Aburame asked.
"I mean that, the tailed creatures couldn't be destroyed, so when they 'die' they are born into new bodies, minds, and sometimes forms. The fox, after Narutos' change, was reborn into the form of a snow white nine tailed fox that is both kind, apologetic for its' last life, and…female."
Jaws nearly broke through the floor.
"FEMALE!" The collective group, minus three, shouted.
"Yes, female." The Hokage stated. "So, there is no need to hold anymore prejudice towards this new Kyuubi or Naruto. Leave the past where it belongs or, if enough of this village turns on him, we might have a literal force of nature wielded against us by him and it will be our fault for causing it." Everyone contemplated this and several civilians nodded. If the Kyuubi that attacked was 'dead' then they couldn't hold anything against the new Kyuubi. Especially if this new one was controlled by one of their shinobi
The door to the office opened and an armored Freeze walked in. Everyone went silent. He silently walked past everyone and they noticed that, most likely due to the experiments, he stood around 5' 10". The armored demon container set the scroll on the Hokages' desk.
"I have completed my mission, Hokage-sama." Freeze said.
"That you have, Freeze." The old man nodded. "Now, I would like you to meet the council and jounin of the village." He gestured to all those in the room.
Naruto looked around, His sightless visor unnerving them just as it had with Mizuki.
When Naruto caught sight of Danzo, he stopped. Everyone felt the tension in the room as Freeze/Naruto walked over to the old bandaged man. He reached up and removed his helmet. Everyone, the women mostly, looked at his young, yet mature, face. His white and blue streaked hair was still spiked, but spiked towards the back of his head. His blue skin and ice blue eyes were exotic to some of the women, interesting or weird to some men, and freaky to all others. They also noticed a drop in temperature as the helmet was removed.
He reached out and laid his right hand on Danzos' shoulder while holding his helmet in his left.
"I wish to express my gratitude to you for giving me my gifts." Freeze/Naruto said.
"I don't know what you're talk-" He was cut off as Freeze tightened his grip. "And now I'd like to curse you for forever denying me the warmth of human comfort." In a flash, Danzo was frozen solid. With a familiar flick of his wrist, Naruto broke off Danzos' head. He caught it before it hit the ground and walked back towards the Hokage.
There were many looks of horror, and smirks of satisfaction at what Freeze had just done.
Freeze set the frozen head of Danzo on the Hokages' desk. "Assassination mission, complete, Hokage-sama." Freeze said with his emotionless voice.
The Hokage nodded and looked at those gathered in the room. "I have uncovered proof of Danzos' treachery to not only myself, but all the clans and people of this village. Freeze is just one of his many victims. He was going a similar path my fallen student was on when he left. I could not let it continue, so I decided to allow Freeze a measure of revenge to serve the village."
Every one of the civilians gulped and nodded while the ninja clan heads and jounin just nodded in understanding.
The Hokage looked at Freeze. "Freeze, you may return home. I will call you for your next mission later." Freeze nodded and left.
The Hokage looked at the people in his office. "I've decided to let him help train any gennin team that graduates alongside their regular jounin sensei. With his sharingan and Inuzuka bloodlines, he would be able to help out Kiba and Sasuke. He will not try to get techniques from them, since he likes to invent his own, so no need to worry about it. He will meet both Kiba and Sasukes' team when they have been decided and passed their jounin issued gennin test. Dismissed." Everyone left and had one thought on their mind.
DON'T…TICK…OFF…FREEZE!
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It's' been an hour since Freeze left the Hokages' office. He's sitting on his icy throne and flipping through channels on his TV. He shuts it off and reflects on his performance tonight. He'd tracked, found and taken out the traitor with ease. He'd recovered the scroll and killed his…conditions' instigator. Last but not least, he'd made a good impression on the council and jounin…well, good for him.
As his mind wandered to how the rest of the village would react, the door to his…room…cell, opened. In stepped the Hokage, Anko, Kakashi, Kurenai, Gai, and…Hiashi Hyuuga?
Naruto looked at the newcomers with an air of…cold, indifference. "Hokage-sama, for what reason do you bring these people to my frozen corner of hell?" Freeze asked in a tone that was neither polite nor hostile.
The Hokage smiled slightly. "Well, Freeze, I just wanted you to meet the senseis and family member of some of your soon-to-be students."
Freeze didn't show any emotion. He simply remained motionless atop his crystal-like throne.
He was so unmoving and emotionless that he could pass for a sculpture.
Hiashi stepped forward. "Since you will be training the teams my daughter and nephew are one, there are certain things you will need to do." He was about to say more when Freeze lifted his right hand in a halting gesture.
"I have not decided to train anyone. Who I train is my discretion. As for your demands, I am not like miss Yuuhi. I have no emotional or personal attachment to any one of those gennin. I will obey the orders given by the Third Hokage, no one else. If you feel your family members' training is lacking, train them on their and your own time. I have no fear of you Hyuuga. I lost that when a member of the village council used me as a lab rat. Also, if I do train them, my word is law when they take orders from me. It will be beyond reproach from you, your families' council, and the village council. I will not baby clan heirs. If I train anyone, they will not leave until they are real ninja, not the ill-prepared delusional fools the academy allows to be spawned from itself." His tone was colder than the icy room they were in and even with the winter coats they wore, they had chills.
Hiashi was slightly mad, but respected Freeze for his honesty. Kurenai was also a bit miffed at him using her as an example of what not to do…but had to admit his words held no malice or jeering. He was simply stating their differences.
Kakashi tried to lighten the mood. "Well, Naruto, I-" He was cut off by Freeze freezing his book in his hands until it was completely encased in ice.
The one-eyed jounin looked slightly stricken and everyone except the Hokage and Anko looked surprised. They all looked at Naruto. "Hatake." His cold voice seemed to be the reapers over a grave. "No one except for the Hokage and Anko, and only in private, may address me with my true name. To all others, I am what this village has made me. Freeze, the Arctic Fox. Do I make myself clear?"
Kakashi nodded.
"Good." Freeze said calmly.
Gai was about to speak but Freeze held up his hand. "Gai-san, while I'm sure you were about to rant about the springtime of youth, you should know that has been taken from me. I am now nothing but the harsh, stinging winter that seals and buries all. Save your speeches for those young and hopeful people this villages' corruption hasn't destroyed."
Everyone felt the slight sting of regret at his words. They knew that, while the Hokage had asked for everyone to help keep an eye on the boy, they had ignored him and that had allowed for him to be captured and held for so long.
Gai nodded and stepped back.
Freeze then sighed. "I will meet these teams of yours in three weeks. If by that time you still wish them trained, I will inspect them and train them as I see fit. That means that they will not be allowed to reveal my training, if so I will stop their training immediately and move on with those that remain. My rewards and punishments for success and failure will be beyond reproach and, except for missions, the jounin senseis will not be allowed to attend, watch, or interfere with my training. These requirements are non negotiable. I will show no favoritism and I will brook no excuse, not from anyone not for any reason." He then stood up, only wearing his shinobi pants and sleeveless shirt. "Now, I am tired and must rest. You are to tell no one where I live and ask the Hokage for reports if you need any." With that, he turned and walked towards a large bed with anti-freezing seals on all the fabric.
They all left him and closed the door as he fell into sleep.
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As they were walking up the stairs of the tower, Kurenai walked beside Anko. "He seems, pardon the pun, very cold."
Anko gave a small smile of sadness. "Yes, I know." She looked at her friend. "They tortured him Kurenai. They tortured a nine year old by cutting off chunks of flesh and watching as it re-grew." They all looked horrified and a bit green at that. They hadn't known about that extent of the 'rebel' roots experiments on the poor boy. "They injected him with highly experimental, sometimes corrosive substances. For the first three months after we brought him to that room and his skin froze it over, he wouldn't talk. I spent those three months visiting him every day. The only reason he opened up to me was because I was used like a lab rat too, just not as bad as he was." Anko touched her shoulder.
"What is his mental state now?" Hiashi asked.
The Hokage sighed. "He is emotionless to everyone but me and Anko and only shows emotion in private. He doesn't make threats, merely states what he will do when you cross him. Or betray the Hokage. I say the Hokage because the village lost his trust when they allowed him to be used like he has." He sighed again. "It will be a long time before his icy heart warms to anyone besides Anko and myself."
Everyone left with quite a bit to think about.
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Deep in Narutos' mindscape, the icy shinobi stood on a snow-covered hill with a few bare and snow covered trees dotting the landscape around the hill.
He heard the sound of footsteps crunching in the snow behind him and turned around. He saw a beautiful young woman with blue and white streaked hair in a silver kimono with a blue obi and no sandals. Her hair was long and was left loose, cascading down her back, ending just above her rear. Her eyes were crystal blue with flecks of silver. Her skin was pale as snow and she had nine blue and silver streaked fox tails coming from her tailbone.
Some tails wrapped around her body while others swished back and forth.
"Hello, Naru-kun." She said with a cheerful smile.
Naruto, still dressed in his shinobi pants and shirt, walked over to her and gave her a firm hug. He pulled back a little and looked into her gem-like eyes and then…leaned in. They shared a deep kiss and she wrapped her arms around his neck.
When they separated, Naruto smiled at her. "Hello, Kyu-hime." He said with love and warmth he'd never show outside of his mind except to Anko and the Hokage.
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I will update in the future, but I would also allow anyone to take this story and add on from here on if they wanted. Like I've said before, I don't mind people taking my ideas for cross over and even basic storyline as long as they mention me somewhere and make it a good story. Until next time…bye.