A/N: I return once again! Having recently updated Counting Stars, I thought I'd return my attention to one of my new favorite genres. Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles! And I couldn't help but think of something interesting. Donnie's crushing on April. Leo's crushing on Karai. Mikey...er, well, he's MIKEY for crying out loud, so he's exempt. But Raphael? That stubborn, hotheaded turtle with a trigger temper?
Who else do we know that's like that?
And I thought to myself, oh, the things I could do with his idea! Of course, it needed some tweeking, and in the end, this was what came about. Funny thing though, I thought it up at work while I was stocking shelves only a few hours ago. I literally saw TMNT shirt while I was stocking DVDS at a store. Wanna guess what the DVD was? On another note, this Naruko is VERY powerful. Don't believe me? See for yourself. Remember, this is the 2012 series, not any of the earlier ones.
...Cue playback! Here we go! Also, you can expect an update for Fire and Ice soon! The series Once Upon A Time has given me quite a few ideas in that regard...
"Now I am become death; the destroyer of worlds..."
~?
Kunoichi
Ninja.
An elite member of a class of medieval Japanese mercenary agents, men and women who were trained in the martial arts and hired for covert operations such as assassinations and sabotage. That is the definition you might find in a dusty tome somewhere in the library, or in an encyclopedia.
Shinobi.
Another term, similair to that of a ninja.
They were/are weapons. Tools. Trained not to think. Feel. Like the ninja they too, were mercenaries of a sort, paid exorbiant sums to accomplish various tasks. One might think that they were one and the same with that of the modern day ninja.
But the truth is far more fantastical.
Once, they were an elite corps.
They were feared warriors, huntresses, assasins both. They commanded amazing powers and abilities. Some could predict their enemy's movement before their foe struck; others could utilize their very bone structure as weapons, and still others possessed the ability to command the elementals themselves.
They still exist, after a fashion. Weaker, yet still present. They do not fling fireballs from their mouths, nor to they command the elements. They use stealth, shadow, and subterfuge, relying on the element of surprise as well as their quick wit and training to carry the day. But where did those fantastical powers go? What made the shinobi then, different from the ninja of today?
How did this happen, one might wonder? How did ninja go from being mystical warriors to modern day assassins?
This, is that story.
Naruko stood alone amongst a sea of bodies and wept.
They were all dead.
Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi...
...everyone.
This was the fate of the world after she had stripped it of its chakra; she'd thought they'd stop fighting once she'd taken away all their power. She'd been wrong. Taking away one's strength didn't mean that one would stop fighting-they'd simply find different ways to go about it. And they had. One did not need chakra to wield a sword, nor did they need kindness to cut each other down. The killing would continue with or without the chakra; but she'd realized this far too late.
Killing Sasuke had been the catalyst. It had changed her. Changed the way she thought. She'd taken his ideas and reversed them. She would be the one who ruled.
One person, one powerful individual with chakra, ruling over the rest. Enforcing order. Peace. Prosperity. Looking back, she realized she'd been a fool. It didn't matter that she held the chakra of the Ten-Tails, that she was the equal of Kaguya. Somehow, she'd thought it would be different when she tried her hand at it. She was no different. She was WORSE.
She couldn't even take her own life to make reparations for what she'd done. She was too much of a coward. Maybe she couldn't die. Who knew? But there was one solution. She would isolate herself from the world, a god who would never see the sunlight, never awaken. She leave her land behind, leave the Elemental Nations. She would bury herself deep. Deep into the earth. Find peace-sanity-in her dreams. She would allow them to forget her, for life to go on.
Her last thought before she sealed herself into oblivion in the distant lands was a simple one:
I never want to wake up.
Naruko dreamed of monsters.
As a youngster they'd always fascinated her, as they did all children. But unlike children born generations before her, there were places she could go, destinations she could explore, where she just might find them. She did not find them in distant lands, had not seen them in others. She'd found those monsters in herself. She was the beast that skulked the night, the creature whispered of in hushed voices and horrified tales. The world may have forgotten her in time, but it never forgave.
Narutko remained blissfully unaware of all this whilst she slept, wedged deep beneath the earth. She'd found found the most hospitable, lush, healthy piece of land -land no one had any business in disturbing -and dove into its embrace, all in the hopes that she wouldn't be disturbed.
But she did not find the peace she sought in eternal slumber. Instead she slept in torment and terrors, as New York was built over her head, its the foundation laid and skyscrapers built. She heard noises and remained unmoved, unfettered by the earthquakes, the battles, the chaos. Locked away within the lands across the seas, those dreams persisted. She slept in darkness and did not change, did not change, remaining unaltered in stasis. Time was no object to her.
She had no idea what would take place here; no inkling of what was to come. She couldn't sleep forever.
One day she woke up.
(Thousands of years later...)
The Kraang mining laser drilled through layers of pierced through her self-inflicted prison, stirring that which should not be stirred. She woke to fire and flame, not so much as harmed as she was irritated by the intense heat. After several seconds, she finally opened her eyes. The beast awoke.
Concsiousness-foul, cursed consciousness, woke her up.
The fading light of the sun came painfully to Uzumaki Naruko from far above, moving in fits and spurts; a dying engine struggling to start.
Shards of dying sunlight slithered down from on high-bold beams that stabbed furiously into her retinas; pained, glassy beams of pain slowly rousing her from her stupor. It was late, she realized. The second thing she realized was the earth was hard. Lumpy, too. That couldn't be right. Her bed was silky and smooth, nothing like this uncomfortable flat. Now that she stopped to think of it, where was she-Shit. Blue eyes snapped open with a start, finding-failing-to recognize her surroundings. A pained croak left her lips. Shouldn't she be at home? In her bed? Wait a second, how did she-
Her mind was like a petulant child, refusing to rouse itself from the slumber into which it had fallen. But fate refused to allow her rest; something prodded her, forcing her from her fever dream and back to reality. What had happened? She drew a blank. The last thing she remembered was pain. Someone shouting at her. Then she'd had the strangest conversation with said someone, someone whom she could barely bring herself to try and recall, let alone remember. Was it all a dream?
'Gah, my head...
Every fiber of her being ached, as if her cells had been struck by lightning. Maybe they had. Nothing was responding the way it should; she tried to stand, only to collapse into a heap, soaked in her own fever sweat. No one came to aid her, and she was left to fend for herself. Presented with such an up close and personal view of the dirt floor only a few inches from her visage, the eternal kunoichi decided it wasn't worth looking at and endeavored to rise again. This time, she succeeded. She almost wished she hadn't.
Memories came rushing back; foul images of what she'd done and what she'd failed to do. Cursing her. Damning. She cried out in the darkness, grasping her head as the pains, the suffering, returned. Not a dream. Not a dream. She wished it was. More than anything, she wished it'd all been a nightmare. The black seemed to close in around her, choking and cloying, strangling all her thoughts. She needed to get out. Needed to think. Couldn't do that here.
Desperate to escape the darkness, Naruko did the only thing she could. She flew.
A single leap sent her soaring upwards, shooting through the hole carved in the earth. Trapped in a hole near the earth's core, thousands of miles deep, and a single kick granted her freedom. The tunnel blurred around her in mottled hues of black and brown, little more than a blur; then she rocketed into freedom. Sweet, blessed air filled her lungs. Still her momentum carried her upward, higher, into the clouds. For a moment Naruko closed her eyes and reveled in the freedom that came with flying. Nothing could touch her up here. Nothing at all.
Then gravity grabbed hold of her body and sent her plummeting back to earth. She allowed it.
The kunoichi landed in a pointed crouch, splintering the asphalt with her landing. Chakra flooded her bones, a heady warmth trickling through her coils as she readjusted to motion and movement once more. She took a moment to catch her breath, then dipped into the pool of bloodlines that belonged to her. Housing the Ten-Tails came with some benefits after all. She possessed the being from which all chakra flowed; naturally, given time, she'd learned to discern the various kekkai genkai that descended from it. Like this:
Byakugan!
Veins bulged on either side of her face, her bright blue eyes warping into a faint, milky white as her vision spread to encompass her surroundings in the fading light of day. No. The culture shock was enough to send her reeling. What is this? Where...where am I?
She found herself in a world changed.
The plain in which she'd first buried herself was now a massive city, tall spires of steel piercing the clouds. Lights, everywhere. Strange vehicles raced too and fro across the streets, stopping and going at odd intervals. Humans milled about everywhere, dressed in strange-to her eyes-fabrics and speaking in languages she couldn't bring herself to understand. It all sounded like gibberish to her ears. She couldn't make out so much as a single word of it. Where was she? When was she? How long had she been asleep?
Visibly shaken, she turned her attention to her surroundings.
She could see that portions of the building had been charred and baked in places as though seared by fires. Walls dented with fistlike impressions. There was even a broken window to the right. A large, broken aparatus dominated the center of the room, drawing the eye. She was staring at the very laser that'd drilled a hole into her sanctuary and returned her to the world. A savage kick sent what remained of the device toppling down into scrap. Thus vindicated, she turned to leave.
Clank.
Naruko heard them before she saw them.
Footsteps, stiff and unyielding, marching in rows towards her position. Reflexively, she ducked into cover. Old instinct still ruled her; when you heard someone coming you hid. So she ducked out of sight, dissappearing into the shadowa. She hadn't long to wait. Risking a glance out from cover, her jaw nearly dropped clear off her pretty little face.
Robots.
As if waking thousands of years later wasn't bad enough, now there were robots with brains in their stomachs! Definitely the future! She counted nine overall, armed with weapons that looked suspiciously like what'd been developed by warring armies just before the final battle. Rifles. She shivered, remembering the sting of hot lead in her stomach. It hadn't been enough to kill her but it still hurt like hell. She had no desire to be shot at again. Much less by these menacing pieces of tin.
"Kraang," One said, "Go look at the place where the thing makes the noise is and tell us what thing makes that noise is of that place."
"Acknowledged."
Naruko couldn't understand a word of what they were saying; but she could guess when one started in her direction. Clamoring up the wall for a few feet, she stuck to it like a spider, facing down at the nearest Kraang soldier, contemplating dropping on him, shrieking like a banshee. Ha. She'd made a joke! Alas, as quickly as her smile came, so too, did it vanish. She could feel herself slipping, and now she was forced to fight against gravity as it threatened to literally drag her down from her perch and drop her atop the unaware bot. I'm still recovering, she realized. All that time asleep must've screwed up my control...it'll take time to get back into fighting shape...
"Kraang, is the one who is in this place truly still in this place?" the droid beneath her asked, turning towards its bretheren. Naruto hissed quietly and dug her hands deeper into the brick, cracking them. A bead of sweat rolled down the curve of her whiskered cheek and traced down her chin. It hung there, mockingly. Hurriedly, she batted it away. Then a spiteful strand of hair peeled loose from her twintails and tickled at her nose. She felt the beginnings of a sneeze begin to build in the back of her brain. She clenched her jaw, fighting the urge to shout
'You little bugger! No...Don't you dare! Ah...Ah...AH...?!'
"I lack that that knowledge, Kraang. I will inquire to Kraang." came the reply ffrom the first. "Kraang, is the one that is in this place still in...
"ACHOO!"
The sudden explosion of her sneeze was narrowly downward redirected at the last instant; a sonic wave of sound blasting the Kraang beneath her into a thousand pieces and hurling its metal carpace into the walls. The creature in its stomach squealed like a struck pig and scrambled away, arms pinwheeling as it sought safety. Naruko had an instant to blanch at her carelessness, then the air was filled with fire. Violet bolts streaked up at her as the Kraang unloaded, forcing her to abandon her perch and leap away. One shot touched at her ponytail, obliterating it and filling her nostrils with the smell of scorched hair.
The kunoichi yelped.
In peak physical condition, she would have been able to demolish them with one hand behind her back. Now? With more than thousand years of fatigue weighing down on her? It was an effort just to evade. Naruko felt another shot come perilously close, searing an angry red line across her shoulder. She hissed and drew deeper in her reserves, fighting off exhaustion. Using this ability made her sick and felt like cheating, but, she saw no other way. Dipping into the darkest parts of her chakra, she fanned the flame of another dojutsu, ushering it forth.
Sharingan!
Her eyes flashed red, three tomoe appearing in each eye; and all of time seemed to slow before her. She saw where the Kraang would be, where they would fire, where they would strike next. And she jolted forward. A blur of orange and black and blond, she slaughtered three more of them before they knew what'd hit them.
"Stop the one that needs to be stopped! Stop!"
The fifth backpedalled, having no desire to join its bretheren. Naruko opened her mouth, kneaded chakra in her stomach, and spat.
"Katon: Gokkakyu no jutsu!"
Even an age later, the Grand Fireball Technique was still deadly. The Kraang droid itself was equipped to deal with and even withstand such extreme temperatures...but not the Kraang within. It screamed, shrieking as its body was set alight. Desperate to escape the flames boiling its body, it clamored out of the smoldering body-right into the path of a kunai. Pink blood spattered the street. Naruko grimaced. Gross!
Its bretheren converged then, concentrating their fire.
She flowed around the next, snatching the weapon from its hand and wrenching the robot's arm away in the same instant. Her finger tightened around the trigger and squeezed off a shot. By chance the bolt struck one of the robots right in the gut, killing that strange squishy pink brain thing that seemed to be controlling it almost instantly. Vaulting away, Naruko felt a feral grin pull at the corners of her mouth. Oh, yes. She would be keeping this. Thank kami she was a quick study. Another droid barked at her, grasping for the weapon with both limbs.
"Give back to Kraang that which belongs to Kraang!"
"Sorry," she hummed, strapping the weapon to her shoulders. "Can't understand ya."
Naruko snarled, her pupils dilating as increased adrenaline began to pump through her system, her visible eye blue. And bright with bloodlust. Her teeth gleamed wolfishly in the shadow of her tattered tresses. Ragged and dirty, enervation creeping up on her, she opened her palms.
The keening of the wind erupted into a furious roar; a veritable tornado swirling in her palms, compressed into a pair of sinister spheres. The Kraang balked at it. Naruko thrust her hand toward the skies, her scream of anger lost over the howling storm. Had the Kraang had ears, they would've covered them.
"Highly undesireable outcome!" The droids winced, cringing as the wind whipped itself higher and higher. Even at this range they found he had to cover his own ear just to drown out the incessant shrieking of the rising maelstrom. The bitter keening of the wind rose in pitch, scouring the tormented hell that they found themselves in. And still it spiraled higher-sparking and spitting in the blonde's upturned palm. Her eyes flashed a foul purple color, her pupils snapping slitted as she brought her arm back to launch the massive technique.
"Would you kindly die for me?" she asked pleasantly.
They had less than an instant to register these words before Naruko flung her technique forward. She lurched into motion, arching her back in mid-lunge. Her hair blew across her face, as something passed with impossible speed overhead. The Kraang glimpsed nothing more than a ripple in the air itself, the faintest whisp of steam or mist wadded into a ball like so much discarded parchments. Had they not been looking directly at it, indeed, expecting something very much like it, they'd never have known it was there.
"Rasenshuriken!"
With a battle cry on her lips, she flung the twin technique forward and grabbed onto a nearby guardrail in the next instant.
The world erupted.
"Kraang!"
Sundered stone and shattered debris were the blood of the sky, gushing from the wound inflicted by its attacker's invisible hammer. A ferocious tide slammed into the Kraang, ripping them from their feet, flinging them about as though they were no more than mere ragdolls. For the first time, Naruko was actually grateful for the sturdiness of the nearby guardrail. Blood, bullets, bits of cloth-even a smattering of dead Kraang and arms-rained across her, momentarily blinding the young kunoichi to anything, everything else. She dared to open an eye, grateful that the sun had finally set.
Nothing stirred in the street. But even as she exhaled in relief, she heard the sound of still more footsteps. Panic seized her.
Exhausted, she caught sight of a manhole cover, flaring her Byakugan, she saw what lay beneath. Sewers. It would have to do.
Naruto ripped the cover off and dove for sanctuary, only narrowly remembering to replace it before she dove down into the murky filth of New York. She hit the ground running, never once looking back. It wasn't long before she lost herself in the maze of twisting tunnels, not caring where she went, only that she find a place to rest and recover her strength. Somewhere to get her bearings. To hide.
This is where our story continues.
"HEY!"
Raphael roared furiously as he fought to simultaneously swear and shake himself dry, spattering thick droplets in every direction with every motion. Damnit, why was it always him?! Why did it always have to be him?! Angry green eyes cut toward the culprit in question, glaring bloody red daggers at his younger brother. Michaelangelo grinned back at him with childish delight, hefting another water balloon in a three-fingered hand. A feeling of dread stole over the older brother. "Don't you da-!"
Too late.
Raph ducked even as Mikey flung the projectile, dodging aside as the watery missile impacted on the floor of the lair. "Ha! Missed me slowpo-gah!"
He did not, however, dodge the second.
"Aw yeah, son!" Mikey crowed! "Never understimate the water-ballon arm!"
"You shouldn't have done that." Donney didn't even need look up from his workbench to know that their little brother had just sealed his fate; because Raph's growl meant DOOM for any party involved in his humilation-especially if that someone was Mikey.
The sai-wielder saw red. Then he pounced!
"Wait 'till I get my hands on you! You won't have an arm!"
Mikey yelped! "Ah! Take it easy, bro!"
Leonardo stifled a smile as he watched them scuffle. "Take it easy, Raph. We've got enough bruises after what happened yesterday."
"Oh yeah?" Raph paused, taking Mikey in a headlock. "Looks like I'm about to give 'im a few more!"
"Sensei, make him stop!" Mikey cried piteously!
"No way!"
"Splinter!"
Their rat master pointedly ignored the chaos raging around him and focused instead upon his mediations; boys would be boys after all. A little aggression was good sometimes, it tempered the spirit of competition and kept his son's skills sharp. It was odd however, that he could not quite achieve the level of focus he normally possessed. Ordinarily, he would be able to ignore such distractions with ease-but not today. Something was wrong. Somthing was disrupting his clarity. But what-
HELP ME!
Hamato Yoshi jerked violently upright from his meditation as a mental voice pierced the fog of his mind; a frantic, desperate cry for aid. whiskers twitching as he awoke from an impossibly real voice. Or was it a vision, he wondered? It had been frighteningly real...
A harsh, clomping sound answered that question; seconds later, a lone Kraang droid tromped around the corner. The moment it saw them, it raised its rifle, pink eyes flashing.
"It is the ones called the Turtles!"
"What the shell?!"
Leo and the others leapt upright as one, drawing at their weapons; but before anyone could take so much as a single step towards the lone droid, something most curious happened. Someone got there first. An orange and black blur cannoned into the stick-like figure, toppling it. It all happened so fast; one moment the droid had been drawing a bead on them; the next, the girl was atop it. A kunai flashed in the gloom, stabbed down once, twice, three times, ending the creature within in the blink of an eye. She spat something they didn't quite understand, then she rose. Saw them. A single word leapt from her lips.
"Nanimonda?!"
Donatello dropped what he was working on, starstruck by the sight of her. "Wow...
Mikey blinked. "Its...a girl?"
Raph clobbered him upside the head. "Yeah, I think we noticed." A sai flew into his hand in the next instant. "Alright, I've got first dibs on miss crazy."
Leo growled. "Quiet, shell for brains! She just took down a Kraang! I don't think she's an enemy!"
"The heck she isn't! Anyone could see that-
Those words died away as Splinter pushed his way between his two sons. "Enough! Both of you! You will not attack an unarmed opponent!"
"Watashi?" the girl echoed in confusion.
Splinter turned and stiffened, seeing her-truly seeing her-for the first time.
The girl-teenager-little more than bloodied rags, her posture crouched and angry. Sandy, fair blond hair hung loosely at her shoulders, tattered and scored. Blue eyes snapped toward him fiercely, warring between fight or flight. She snarled. He was suddenly reminded of a viper hissing at a much larger predator. She looked so lost and afraid; yet she was ready and willing to defend herself. In that instance, the girl reminded him of his long lost daughter, Miwa.
There was such fight in her.
"What in Kami's name are you?" were the first words out of her mouth, spoken in flawless Japanese. "Where am I?"
The ratman blinked, momentarily taken aback by her rapid inquiries. Then he asked one of his own. "Who are you?"
Now it was the girl's turn to blink. Clearly she hadn't been expecting him to answer in her language.
"...Naruko. Where am I?" she repeated.
Splinter stroked at his chin, considering his next response.
"This is my home." he said at last, gesturing to Leonardo and the rest of his family. "These are my sons. We aren't going to hurt you. You're safe here."
"I'm not safe anywhere." A pause. "You're a talking rat."
A smile quirked at his mouth. "So I have been told."
"And your sons are...turtles?" she peeked around him, strain showing in her blue eyes. "Talking turtles."
"Indeed. It is...a long story."
"I still don't trust you."
"A wise philosophy for one so young. Trust is something to be earned." then he pressed his own line of questioning. "What are you doing here? How did you find this place?"
Her legs wobbled, her skin going pale. "I don't know. I...I'm tired...
Then her eyes rolled back and she collapsed. Splinter was there in an instant, catching her before her head could strike the unyielding concrete. His sons gathered around him, curious to see the strange girl who had all but taken a Kraang down with her bare hands. None spoke. And then, as swiftly as it had been born, the silence was aborted.
"Can we keep her?" Michaelangelo asked.
"MIKEY!"
Splinter knew not what compelled him to take pity on this girl tonight; only that he did.
It would change everything.
A/N: Wow that was quick! Naruko's a bit broken in this fic and slow to trust. It'll be cute, seeing her interact with Raphael and the others. Especially Raphael, given how hardheaded those two are; I mean, c'mon, a female Naruto arguing with Raphael and the hilarity that would ensure is just too much to pass up. Remember now folks-this is based on the more recent show that we're currently seeing nowadays, not the old, but classic version which a few, myself included, saw as children. As a note, this takes place in the first season, which ought to make things infinitely more interesting.
So...in the Immortal Words of Atlas...
...Review, Would You Kindly? And of course, enjoy the preview.
(Preview)
CLANG!
"Orah!"
Blond hair danced wildly in the air as the body spun, issuing smooth kicks to her adversary with power and practiced grace. Fighting him from every side, the combatant shot her arms out, impeccable poise and precision behind every strike. For a seemingly simple form it was amazingly complex flowing from punch to kick and vice-versa with maximum force and no energy wasted. It was, in a word, incredible. She had complete and total mastery of this fighting form, the ancient art taught to her by the Toads of Mount Myoboku.
And Leonardo was no match for it.
He wielded his blades with years of training behind them but despite his longer reach he soon realized something; Naruko was faster. She dipped beneath his first slash, swatted the other aside with a vambrace, and in the next instant she was within his guard. Her booted foot cracked out mercilessly, sending him sailing backwards and out of the ring with a mighty "Ooomph!" of a sound. Hoots of appreciation greeted his sudden and unexpected departure-to which she flashed a lazy V-for-victory sigh with two fingers.
"Haha!" Michelangelo crowed loudly, slapping as his knee as he regarded his starstruck sibling. "She totally kicked your shell!"
Raphael snorted, crossing his arms. "Yeah, but she's still just a girl. I'd kick her but any day of the week. I mean, c'mon! She doesn't even speak english!"
"Dude!" Mikey cringed. "Not cool!"
Donatello was far paler.
"Uh, Raph...I think she understood you."
"What?"
The irritated turtle remained oblivious to the feelings of DOOM leaking from the blonde like a cracked sieve behind him, unnoticing of her wrath until it was already far too late. A delicate - looking hand tapped him on the shoulder, causing him to turn. What he saw there, those blue eyes blazing into his green, reminded him just why he was so TERRIFIED of the fairer sex. Naruko looked like she was contemplating chopping him into tiny, bite-sized pieces, then throwing feeding those pieces to the rats that infested the sewers. That smile...it was a trick! She wasn't happy! She wasn't happy at all!
"I will have vengeance!"
And she pounced!
R&R!=D