Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. All original characters do, however, belong to me.
Note: Yes, there are original characters. No, they're not going to be main characters. In fact, they're only there for a back story. Just think of them as a necessary evil.
Anyone want to beta?
House
Chapter One
A boy's wide blue eyes roamed the playground in search of the one that was supposed to take him home, but were unable to spot the brunette that had brought him there. He was used to being abandoned at the park for excessive amounts of time, but the sun was beginning to go down. He had never been left alone for this long before.
The three year old watched as adults led other children away before slipping out of his swing. If they were going to leave, then he would too, whether or not he was picked up by the new caretaker. He could make it to his home on his own, right? The old man that smiled at him had said that he was becoming a big boy, so of course he could make it there by himself.
He left the playground behind him and started walking in the direction he thought his home would be. Houses and businesses started out looking familiar, but soon everything looked dark and sinister. The small boy trembled when he realized he was lost. There were very few people on the streets and none of them looked too friendly.
He squeezed his eyes shut and started running. This obviously wasn't the smartest thing to do, but he was three. He gasped when he ran straight into something, falling down on his bottom with a dull thud. He looked up to see what he'd run into and found himself staring into unforgiving black eyes.
Page Break Thingy
The Sandaime sat behind his desk chewing thoughtfully on his wooden pipe, staring at the man in front of him.
The man was middle aged with more gray hair than he probably should have had and premature wrinkles lining his tanned face. He stood at ease and didn't seem the least bit unnerved by the Hokage's intense gaze where others would have shifted uneasily under the same circumstances. Sandaime would have found the man's wit admirable, but this man did not deserve such praise, what with his occupation and all.
The man wore a uniform that struck fear and worry into Konoha civilians and either annoyance or nervousness into even its own shinobi. Possible the only ones unaffected by the presence of such uniformed persons were the ANBU and the Hokage himself.
The uniform was a simple thing consisting of navy blue shirt, black jacket, pants and shinobi issued sandals. But it wasn't the clothes themselves that provoked such emotions from Konoha citizens; it was the white design on the back of the jacket that sent civilians running out of the streets. A snake coiled around a tree.
Their organization, simply called the House, was originally founded in support of Orochimaru, but was overrun by the Ayumu family—a family of prosperous criminals—after the snake sannin defected from Konoha thirteen years ago. Now, it owned the run down sect of Konoha providing a safe haven to criminals so long as they obeyed the House laws. The only reason Sandaime and the council left them alone was because the members of the House eliminated more criminals on their own time for disobeying said laws than when Sandaime actively searched for them himself.
"You are aware that your son is too old and too late to graduate from the Academy?" Sandaime asked.
At this, the man merely smirked. I am confident that he will be able to graduate with his peers in the upcoming Genin exams tomorrow."
"That is highly unlikely. Without any proper training-."
"He trained with an Uchiha for about two years. I think he is trained enough to take your genin exams." This was said with a slight sneer on the man's face.
Sandaime laced his fingers together and held back a sigh. "Tell me, Ayumu-san, why is it that you insist that your son become a shinobi of Konoha. And why wait until now to enroll him?"
Ayumu chuckled. "The brat has the blood for it. For the two years he trained with the Uchiha, I noticed a change. It was subtle at first, but the way he talked about it and his obvious love for the battlefield convinced me that his real parents must've been shinobi."
"You are not his birth father?" Sandaime asked, suddenly very fascinated. While it was not unheard of for a child to be taken in by a member of the House, for the leader himself to take in a child was another matter entirely.
"No, the boy wandered in when he was three or so," Ayumu replied. "I would have ignored him, but…" He trailed off as if suddenly remembering his purpose. "It is an unimportant piece of history. Now, will he be able to become a shinobi or not?"
Sarutobi let himself sigh aloud. "I shall draw up the necessary paperwork and he will be able to partake in the exams tomorrow. I believe that is all you wanted?"
Ayumu nodded and bowed slightly, excusing himself. He opened the door and a boy's voice filtered into the room.
"Am I in?"
"Of course."
Sarutobi thought he caught a glimpse of blonde hair before the door closed, but shrugged it off as his imagination.
That night, he dreamt of a blonde haired, blue eyed toddler.
Page Break Thingy
Naruto had always been fascinated by shinobi. When he had been younger, he remembered the Uchiha that had joined House for a time before dying unexpectedly. Naruto still hadn't figured out if he had died in the actual Uchiha Massacre or not.
The Uchiha had shown him what had been explained to him as the 'basics' and Naruto had enjoyed the training immensely. When he managed to master the three basic techniques and was able to hit a target accurately with the kunai and shuriken loaned to him, the Uchiha began teaching him other things.
When the Uchiha's were annihilated, Naruto had fallen back into his old routine with the other members of the House with the occasional training day here and there. Now almost twelve, Naruto had become bored with his 'profession' and searched for something more challenging than stealing from people. It was then that he decided that he would become a shinobi.
But that wasn't possible for him. He was twelve; too old to start the Academy from the beginning. Besides, members of the House were criminals, not suited for the honor and loyalty between teammates demanded of those of Konoha's Military.
So it came as a surprise when three weeks later his father told him that he was going to sign him up for the Academy, assuring him that he would graduate with those his own age.
Page Break Thingy
Naruto stared at the teacher named Umino Iruka from where he stood in the doorway. The scar on the man's face intrigued him. A scar such as his must have been painful when the injury had been fresh.
"May I help you?"
Iruka's question shook him out of his musings and he stepped into the classroom entirely, shutting the sliding door behind him almost soundlessly.
"You are Umino-san, correct?" Naruto asked.
Iruka nodded. "I am. Were you looking for something?"
Naruto fought the urge to scowl. 'Stupid question. Would I be here if I wasn't?' he thought. Instead of voicing the thought, he shrugged. "I'm the new student." Naruto pulled out a piece of paper from his jacket pocket and crossed the room to hand it to the Academy teacher. "Ayumu Naruto. I'm supposed to be graduating from this class today."
He felt the stares on his back and smirked, wondering if the students knew the significance of the symbol on his jacket. He glanced behind him and looked the students over, deciding which ones did and which ones didn't. He wasn't surprised to see that most of them did.
"A-alright, Ayumu-san," Iruka stammered, handing the paper back to the blonde. Naruto nodded, smiling a bit. "There aren't any assigned seats, so you can pick a spot to sit."
Naruto didn't know whether to be amused knowing that people feared him—or rather the group he was associated with—or be disgusted. They were supposed to be shinobi. The Uchiha had told him that shinobi were fearless mercenaries that accomplished missions at any cost. The people surrounding him looked more like frightened school children than the shinobi Naruto pictured and he couldn't fathom why.
Page Break Thingy
He passed their genin exam with flying colors, just like he knew he would. The basics he'd been taught were more than adequate to pass.
Truth be told, he felt cheated.
He walked through Konoha towards home with his hands stuffed in his pants pockets, one hand clasped around the headband that was his prize for passing. The people in the Marketplace were staring at him with both fear and hatred, but he had no clue as to why. He had taken the jacket off and tied it around his waist after the exams from the heat and the design wasn't visible, so the stares weren't because of the House emblem. His face itself wasn't widely known outside of the House district yet, so it wasn't because of that either.
Annoyed, he turned away from the Marketplace and started walking down a deserted alley. Halfway through it, it wasn't so deserted anymore.
Three men turned the corner, each one holding a different weapon. The man on the left held a piece of wood as long as the average katana, the one in the middle held a small knife, and the one on the right held…nothing.
Huh.
He wasn't given any time to say or think anything else before the men were on him. He dodged the piece of timber that flew dangerously close to his head, but was unable to twist out of the unarmed man's grip as the knife sliced at his face. He screamed as the knife cut into his forehead, scraping against his skull. His arms were pinned behind his back by the unarmed man and he tried to wrench the limb free, but was unable to get them loose. Growling both in pain and anger, he stomped down hard on the man's foot and was thrown to the ground when the man howled in pain.
Naruto pressed a hand to the bleeding gash across his forehead and started climbing to his feet. Blood was running down his face and into his eyes making his vision blurry. He never saw the piece of wood that hit him on the side of his head, knocking him unconscious.
Page Break Thingy
Sandaime stared down at the blonde haired genin in the hospital bed before him. Both the medical charts and his eyes told him this was indeed Uzumaki Naruto, the toddler that had gone missing all those years ago. The three men and one woman, however, claimed otherwise.
"Who he was before he became a member of the House does not matter," Ayumu said, anger etched into his face like it was made of stone. "What do you hope to accomplish by taking him away from us?"
"Not like he'll stay away just because you tell him to," muttered one of the other men.
"Hush, Nico," the woman scolded, swatting him on the stomach. The seventeen year old flinched back in pain and glared at her. Sandaime almost had a hard time believing they were criminals. If he hadn't known the duo's reputation for himself, he would have thought them to be normal Konoha citizens. The uniform, though, was a solid reminder of just how deadly they actually were.
"He is young," the Hokage explained. "His conduct can be corrected."
"That's bullshit!" the man named Nico yelled. The woman held onto his shoulders to keep him from charging head first at a man that could kill them all without breaking a sweat. "You're just on a guilt trip because you screwed up. Leave him out of your little fantasies, old man!"
The previously silent member of the group chose this time to make his presence tangible. "He's waking up."
That certainly caught their attention.
Page Break Thingy
Naruto awoke to someone's muffled shouts followed by someone's calmer and quieter voice. Then, there was silence.
He was half tempted to fake sleep and let whoever was with him, he guessed it was the men that had attacked him, decide where to dump his body. There wasn't any pain besides the one in his head, so he supposed that the men though him to already be dead. Once they left, he would get up—he hoped—and head home.
But them he realized he was on a bed. Not a very comfortable one, but still a bed. Why would his attackers take him to a place with a bed? And then there was that annoying beeping noise. It almost sounded like on of the machines that hospitals used to monitor a patient's vital. And that smell. He hated the smell of antiseptics. Just where the hell was he?
"Fox boy?"
Naruto growled at this nickname. Forcing his eyes open, he glared up at Nico. "Shut up, Kitty cat."
Nico chuckled. "If you weren't already hurt, I'd hit you for that."
"I can take you on even like this," Naruto replied with a small grin, ignoring the fact that the bandages around his head made him look as though he had just gotten out of surgery. Nico looked like he was going to take him up on the challenge, but Ayumu shook his head at him. "Where am I?"
"At the hospital," the adoptive father answered. Naruto nodded.
"Okay, so who's the old man with the funny hat?" he asked. With some help from the still unnamed woman, he was up in a sitting position by the time he received his answer.
"This," Ayumu answered, "Is Konoha's current Hokage."
Naruto stared at Sandaime with narrowed blue eyes. The same eyes Sarutobi vividly remember being wide and innocent, just like the toddler they had belonged to.
"Konoha's being led by this old geezer?" Naruto exclaimed after sizing up the elder man. "No wonder Kita-san left!"
The woman looked at Nico accusingly. "You're personality is rubbing off on him again."
"Not my fault," Nico said in his defense. He crossed his arms and looked away from her.
Sandaime watched the interaction between Naruto and the other four occupants, coming to a conclusion. One he didn't like. The three year old Naruto that disappeared at the park nine years ago was gone. There was only Ayumu Naruto: Member of the House, adoptive son of the House's leader, and newly graduated Konoha genin. Sandaime couldn't decide if he had made a mistake letting a member of the House become a shinobi or not. But it was a little too late to do anything about it now. He'd just have to wait and see if this new Naruto would pass his final test to become an official shinobi of Konoha.
He sighed. What happens happens.
Page Break Thingy
The moment Naruto arrived home, he was cornered by Ayumu.
"Who attacked you and why?" the man asked.
Naruto shrugged, used to the forcefulness of his father. "Three guys I didn't recognize. The only thing I caught from them was the word demon." He sat down on the small couch in the living space with a tired sigh. "Other than that, I know nothing."
Ayumu looked thoughtful for a moment. 'Demon?' he thought. 'Could it be that they still recognize him as the Jinchuuriki?' He hummed lowly in the back of his throat before leaving Naruto to his own devices, an idea forming in the man's head.
He was going to need Nico.
Page Break Thingy
It was safe to say that Naruto had absolutely no idea why the girl next to him was so upset. Or why the pink haired girl was cheering.
He hadn't been aware that genin were assigned to squads of three with a jounin instructor to train each of them. He had assumed that they were all going to receive one-on-one training like he used to with the Uchiha. However, when he thought about it, it actually made sense. There probably weren't enough available jounin for the job.
So he was rather surprised when he was assigned to a team with Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke. He was even more surprised that there was even an Uchiha to put on a team. After all, he had been told that there weren't any left. Naruto was going to have a little chat with House's information gatherers later.
Genin filtered out of the classroom as their jounin instructors picked them up until Naruto's team, Iruka, and another team were the only ones left. Naruto studied his new teammates in an attempt to ward off his impending boredom and annoyance.
The girl, Sakura, had bubblegum pink hair that made Naruto's hands twitch. A shinobi with bright pink hair was just asking to be killed. And the clothes she dressed herself with looked more like something a wannabe fashion model wore and less like practical shinobi clothing the more he stared at it. He was going to have to change that. Especially the hair. He shuddered involuntarily. Even he had enough sense to at least cover his head with a black bandana when he didn't wish to be seen.
The Uchiha looked more like a shinobi, but then again, he was an Uchiha. It was to be expected. Naruto wondered idly if this Uchiha had activated his Sharingan yet or not. Whether or not he had wasn't much of an issue, though. An Uchiha is an Uchiha and this one was no different. He would make for a good sparring partner.
Neither of his teammates had spoken to him as of yet, but Naruto caught the occasional wary glance from Sakura and the glares from the Uchiha. It was unusual for Naruto to converse with people outside of House members, but he was willing to try to talk to the Uchiha. After all, if he couldn't rely on the House's information concerning the Uchiha's, who better to ask than an Uchiha itself?
With this thought in mind, he stood up. This gained him the undesirable attention of everyone all at once. Naruto chose to ignore them, however. He had business with Uchiha Sasuke and none other.
He kept his hands in the Uchiha's field of vision as he meandered over to his desk, noticing that said Uchiha was watching his approach. He had learned through painful experience that appearing even remotely suspicious to an Uchiha—or at least the one he knew—was virtually asking to be attacked. If Uchiha Sasuke was anything like that Uchiha, then Naruto wasn't willing to risk having his fingers broken again. It hurt.
Naruto stared down at the sitting Uchiha. Charcoal colored eyes glowered up at crystal blue ones and Naruto had the sudden realization that he was not, in fact, like the Uchiha he had known in the past. Sasuke held himself in the same manner as an Uchiha, yes, but his eyes held an almost maniacal gleam to them that made Naruto change his initial question to something a tad more appropriate.
He glanced away from Sasuke and looked at Iruka, pointing his finger at the Uchiha. "Why isn't he locked up in a Mental Institution right now?"
The Uchiha scowled at him and looked away, obviously offended causing Naruto to smirk. Haruno looked like she wanted to defend her dark haired teammate, but thought better of it. Naruto wondered why she was so infatuated—as she obviously was—with him. Did she even know she was obsessed with an obsessed maniac? Then, again, they'd make a perfect couple.
"Why do you say that, Ayumu-san?" Iruka asked, tearing Naruto's gaze from the pink-haired girl.
Naruto grinned. "Have you looked at him at all lately? This guy's a textbook lunatic! He'd probably sell his soul to the Shinigami to get what he wants." He looked at Sasuke. "He'd fit right in with House."
Before anyone could respond to Naruto's words, the sliding door of the classroom opened and another Chuunin entered the room. He whispered something to Iruka before leaving.
"Well," Iruka said. "Team Three's jounin instructor seems to have disappeared, so you are allowed to go home. Someone will contact you when your instructor is either found or replaced."
The three genin of Team Three groaned and left leaving Team Seven and Iruka as the final occupants of the room. Naruto had just enough time to wonder who would be the next to leave before Iruka stood up, gathering his papers together.
"I am needed elsewhere as well, so I think you will be fine here until your instructor comes to pick you up." He waited for their nods of approval before exiting the classroom himself.
The remaining time spent waiting was silent after the Chuunin left and Naruto returned to his own seat in the top row. The glances from Haruno continued, but the Uchiha's looks changed from mild hatred or annoyance to one of curiosity. Had the Uchiha actually considered Naruto's subtle offer?
Naruto pushed the though away when the classroom door slid open again. The first thing Naruto noticed about the new person entering the room was the mop of silver hair on top of its head. There had only been one person he knew with that color hair.
'Kita-san?'
The feeling of hope that bubbled up in his chest quickly disappeared when his eyes traveled to the face mask and the headband the man wore. 'No, not Kita-san.' Naruto frowned and leaned back in his chair in slight disappointment.
The man scanned the classroom and his eye—only one was visible—closed in a way that suggested he was smiling underneath his mask. "My first impression of you all…" He opened his eye and acquired a bored expression. "Boring."
Haruno stood up, her eyes blazing furiously. "Why are you so late?" she exclaimed. The male populace of the room winced when her voice squeaked unnecessarily. Curse puberty.
The man chose to ignore her question. "Meet me on the roof." Then he retreated back out of the classroom leaving his pupils alone in the classroom once more.
Page Break Thingy
TBC
So, what do you think? Should I continue? R&R please.