Battle for the Will of Fire
Hello. And welcome to Battle for the Will of Fire. This little ditty was inspired by Xorncon – Number 0's fic, Wrath of Fire. He and I are hopeful that this won't go the way of Kishimoto-sensei and his brother each being accused by fans of stealing each other's ideas. Also, this story is not for the faint of heart, as there will be some incredibly dark material in here.
Legal stuff: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters. Just my fics and OCS.
Okay. You all know how this story starts. In the beginning, there was chaos. No shinobi villages. Just different clans going around offering their services to the highest bidder, fighting and killing other clans for money. And that's just how the Uchiha clan liked it. Cause thanks to their Kekkei Genkai, the Sharingan, they could copy any jutsu they saw and use it themselves; which made them really powerful. It was only when they were pitted against their biggest rival, the Senju clan, that things got really nasty. The Senju were just as powerful and well known as the Uchiha, such that if one faction hired the Senju, their enemy would hire the Uchiha. And vice versa. The two clans were at each other's throats all the time. And that's how it stayed for years. Until the days of one Hashirama Senju. He got tired of the fighting and came to the Uchiha with an offer of peace: they would come together and form a village of shinobi. The Uchiha were getting tired of all the fighting too. All that is except for their leader. Madara Uchiha was the Uchiha power lust personified. He was the first Uchiha in history to awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan, and when he started going blind because of it, he tore out the eyes of his own younger brother to escape it. This had the great side effect of giving him the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, which would never go blind, and it made him even stronger than before. Anyway, he was against the peace, but his clan forced his hand, and he reluctantly agreed to it.
Now before you start thinking that this was the end of it, let me point out that the village in question that was founded was the Village Hidden in the Leaves, which would become one of the five villages to house a Kage. It was also around this time that the Tailed Beasts, massive entities of equally destructive power, were becoming a problem, and Hashirama had the ability to subdue them with his wood style jutsu. For that reason, he was chosen as the First Hokage. Madara took this as a sign that his clan would be subservient to the Senju, and tried to warn his clan. But they thought he was just trying to restart the war, so they abandoned him. Because of this, Madara left the village, only to return later and challenge Hashirama for his seat. Their battle was land altering, and resulted in Madara's defeat, even though he had brainwashed the Nine-Tails, the strongest Tailed Beast.
Fast forward to Tobirama Senju, Hashirama's younger brother, who led the Leaf during the First Shinobi World War as the Second Hokage. His reign was kinda short as far as the most powerful Leaf ninja is concerned. Cause he and his squad were being chased by the Cloud Village's elite: the Kinkaku Force. And if they were gonna get away, then someone would need to run decoy, and thus sacrifice their life. The two strongest aside from Tobirama himself: Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo Shimura, both volunteered. But in the end, Tobirama himself played decoy. However, he did not do this before naming Hiruzen the Third Hokage. Danzo, just as power hungry as Madara had been, was pissed. So, once the squad was safe from attack, but not quite out of enemy territory, Danzo conspired with his close allies: Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado, and murdered Hiruzen and the other two: Kagami Uchiha and Torifu Akimichi who were loyal to Hiruzen, in their sleep. Once they got back to the Leaf, they said that the others had been killed in action, and that Tobirama had named Danzo the Third Hokage.
However, not everything had gone smoothly for Danzo. One being besides himself and his co-conspirators knew the truth: Hiruzen's loyal summon, Enma, the Monkey King. To prevent Enma from telling anyone the truth, Danzo confiscated the monkey contract under false pretense and sealed it away under the tightest of security. Of the same level as Hashirama's scroll of sealing, which held a large number of forbidden jutsu. Once officially instated as Hokage, Danzo did away with the Will of Fire and instated what he called the Wrath of Fire. Everything the Will of Fire stood for, the Wrath of Fire did not. The Wrath of Fire emphasized completion of the mission above all else. Even at the expense of one's comrades. At the same time, Danzo used his manipulating skills to secure the loyalty of the Uchiha clan and the Yagami clan. The Yagami had come to prominence during the First War, proving themselves to be the deadliest of assassins. However, relations between the Uchiha and Yagami were anything but smooth. The Uchiha, with their arrogant belief that they were the most powerful, were jealous that the Yagami were favored as the guardians of the Hokage and the high council. The Yagami in turn were disgusted by the arrogance of the Uchiha. And both clans had allies among the other noble clans. While the members of the Nara, Akimichi, and Yamanaka clans worked together as the famed and feared Ino-Shika-Cho trio, the Akimichi were close friends of the Uchiha, and their appetites had, under the Wrath of Fire, extended to include human flesh. It was said that spies caught by the Leaf were fed to the Akimichi after interrogation. And the Yamanaka found close kindred spirits in the Yagami, their fellow sensors.
The Hyuga clan grew even more strict in its structure. Members of the branch family were treated like servants at best and slaves at worst. Some of the more sadistic main family members even activated the curse marks of branch members just for fun. And then we have the Inuzuka clan. These proud canine like warriors who fought alongside their loyal dogs, didn't like how Danzo did things and tried to resist him. They were defeated and used as an example. And as punishment, Danzo would take a batch of Inuzuka infants every few years and they would be raised into cannibalistic beasts that were kept in the lowest levels of the prison, where particularly unruly inmates were dumped into their cells and devoured.
The Second Shinobi World War saw the rise to fame of Danzo's students: Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru. Though defeated by Hanzo the Salamander of the Hidden Rain, he gave them the title of Sannin. Jiraiya stayed behind to look after some orphans, saying he would return in time. Tsunade, the granddaughter of Hashirama, carried his belief in the Will of Fire, and thus was closely watched. Following the deaths of her brother and fiancé, Tsunade left the Leaf with an apprentice by the name of Shizune. Considering that Tsunade was the best medical ninja ever, Danzo was not pleased. He even sent his top assassin after her, but got that assassin back in a body bag. To top it all off, Jiraiya's new student, Minato Namikaze, though a huge prodigy, was just like Jiraiya in his belief in the Will of Fire. Minato's own students, Obito Uchiha, Kakashi Hatake, and Rin Nohara, were highly talented under Minato's tutelage. Kakashi was very by the book, due to his father's suicide after failing a mission because he chose to save his comrades. As a result, during the Third Shinobi World War, when Rin was kidnapped by enemy shinobi, Kakashi continued the mission, while Obito appeared to have lost his life trying to rescue Rin. Rin herself was never seen again, presumed KIA, like Obito.
As for Minato himself, he believed in the Will of Fire, like his master, and Danzo was getting on in years. There were some who wanted Minato to replace the man as Hokage, and Minato certainly had the ability. But fate had other plans. Mito Uzumaki, widow of Hashirama Senju, had served for years as the Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails. But she was approaching the end of her life, and a new Jinchuriki was needed. That replacement was Kushina Uzumaki. Now here's where things get interesting. Kushina met Minato and the two formed a relationship. They were real close. I don't think anyone would disagree that they were meant for each other. If anything, that's part of the tragedy here. Not long after they got married, Kushina became pregnant. Since she was a Jinchuriki, her pregnancy lasted ten months, but that wasn't the only problem. When she went into labor, the seal holding the Nine-Tails in place was at its weakest. Minato held it in place while Kushina was giving birth. The birth itself went well, and Kushina gave birth to a healthy baby boy. But that's when the shit hit the fan. A masked man arrived out of nowhere and killed the midwives and ANBU guards, spiriting Kushina away and extracting the Nine-Tails from her. Because of her amazing vitality, Kushina survived, and the fox set its sights on the Leaf. The village was saved, but at the cost of Minato and Kushina, since Minato gave his life to seal the murderous fox into his newborn son, Naruto, and Kushina died from getting impaled on the fox's claw when it tried to spear her baby. The finest example of a mother's love, people. Right here. Anyway, the masked man showed up at the scene and spirited away the infant Naruto, and was not seen again. Search party after search party was sent out, but the missing Jinchuriki was never found. Danzo was pissed. He had lost two of his best ninja plus a ton of manpower, along with his own right arm and eye. The Uchiha, seeking to gain his favor, donated the arm and eye of Shisui Uchiha, along with ten intact Sharingan eyes from their dead. They even told him about the forbidden jutsu known as Izanagi. To give him more control over the eyes, Orochimaru implanted some of Hashirama's DNA into the arm, giving Danzo Wood Style and allowing him to continue his reign. Except for the Muramasa clan and their attempt to overthrow him in his weakened state. Although their coup never got off the ground. Danzo caught wind of the plan and sent in the Yagami to deal with it. Due to them having also lost manpower to the Nine-Tails, the Muramasa were soon defeated and eradicated when the Yagami fell upon them.
And while all this chaos was happening, Jiraiya vanished from the Leaf. What was he doing? Remember those three orphans he looked after for a while? Well, he helped them form a group of ninja loyal to no village. They called themselves the Akatsuki. And they had one mission: bring down the Wrath of Fire and usher in an age of peace and equality for all. Their ranks were made up of different people from different lands. But their strongest members were the most diverse. First we have Nagato, known to all others as Pain. He's the leader, and has the Rinnegan, the most powerful dojutsu. Then there's Konan, his fellow orphan, good with paper based techniques. Coming in third is Itachi Uchiha. Traumatized by what he saw in the Third War as a child, he defected and joined Akatsuki. This guy's a real prodigy, having the Mangekyo Sharingan. Next we have Kisame Hoshigaki, the Monster of the Mist, and master of Samehada, the strongest blade wielded by the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. Then there's Kakuzu, one of few to fight Hashirama Senju and live to tell the tale. He's kept himself alive by stealing hearts from his victims. Then there's Hidan, immortal priest of the Jashin Brotherhood. This guy is really thirsty for blood, literally. Since it works with his jutsu. Next, there's Deidara, demolitions expert. He can turn his clay statues into bombs that move. Next up, Sasori of the Red Sand. Best puppeteer the Sand Village ever had. He can even make puppets from corpses. That in itself is scary enough, but he turned his own body into a puppet. Now that's devotion to one's craft. Then we have Zetsu, the really weird, split personality, plant thing. We don't know all that much about his past. Rounding out this "elite ten" is Dante Muramasa. Sole survivor of the massacre of the Muramasa clan by the Yagami, he was their leader and the most powerful, evidenced by him sending the Yagami champion back in a body bag. He has two Kekkei Genkai, and he has a few unique jutsu. So. Why'd these guys join up with Jiraiya and form the Akatsuki? Cause aside from the aforementioned peace mission, they've all got a serious ax to grind with Danzo. Like they say, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." And with friends like these, Jiraiya's enemies don't stand a chance. But if they lose… neither do we.