Normal Disclaimer: I don't own any character in this story. Respective parties do. Capcom and Kishimoto I believe are the current ones.. Anywhoo, enough with the boring, and onto a new foray into the Naruto universe after playing through the new DmC.
The young blonde child continued to run as fast as his little mal-nourished legs would carry him, hoping that he could finally outrun and escape the villagers this October 10th. He knew not what he had done, but he knew that this day was the worst of the year for beatings. The kind old man with the funny hat always tried to help him, but most of those guards that the boy sensed only intervened when the possibility of him dying became a reality.
The guards would always rush him to the hospital, claiming that they tried to stop and disperse the crowd as soon as they could, which the boy knew was a lie. The man with the cloak and the bear mask particularly seemed to find enjoyment in harming him.
There were a few people who seemed to like him. The one guard with the Neko mask, the supposed 'crazy' lady with the snakes, the pretty lady with the red eyes, and the other lady with the red fang marks on her cheeks were among the few that helped him. One of the guards with a dog mask would let him play with his talking dogs when he watched over Naruto. They all seemed to treat him better than most. The boy was always hesitant to accept their help, wary of the many times he had been tricked, but they never harmed him. Those five and the ramen stand owner and his daughter were about the only ones who were nice to him besides the old man.
He ran through an alley, hoping that he would be able to get away from his pursuers this time. He turned the corner; only to skid to a stop as he had ran into a dead end. Overwhelming fear overtook the child as he realized he was now stuck. He heard the yells start to get louder from around the corner, just a little bit away from the mouth of the alley. He quickly ducked down behind a trash can, hoping that they would pass him by and he would be able to get to the old man before they found him.
Luck, it would seem, was not on his side tonight. He heard the barking of dogs, and more shouts of "The demon is down here!" As his eyes darted around, he managed to notice a fire escape on the opposite wall he was hiding against.
He knew that it was too high for him to reach on his own, so he quickly pushed the trash can against the wall. He pulled himself up on top of the metal can, no longer caring as it made a clanking sound while it knocked against the wall. He jumped as high as his legs could carry him, managing to just miss the bottom rung.
He landed with a thunk, seeing the mob round the corner. His fear managed to give him the boost he needed to reach the bottom rung. His adrenaline willed him to pull his small body up the ladder much quicker than he normally would be able to.
Without looking down at the mob, he ran as fast as he could to get up the six stories to reach the roof of the building. He looked around, seeing the building to his left was about the same height as the building he was currently standing on. He heard the sound of someone making the climb up the grating behind him.
Without a second thought, he began to run towards the other building. His legs were already screaming at him for the amount of running he had done to this point. He reached the edge as his right leg pushed off the building.
At first, he felt exhilarated as he pin wheeled his arms through the air, the feeling of weightlessness in that half of a second before his unusually cold logic kicked in.
The building is too far away, was the only thing that Naruto thought as he slowly began to fall towards the street below. He saw the ground very slowly get bigger in his eyes. I hope that it doesn't hurt too much when I hit the ground. Naruto, for the first time in his life, felt relief that he may be free from the hate. Slowly, he closed his eyes, letting a peaceful smile cross his face as he plummeted headfirst towards the ground.
Not yet brat. You're parents never gave up, neither will you! Naruto heard the scary, yet incredibly kind voice from inside his own head. He felt the surge of power hit him at that point. Unlike when he is badly hurt, and the warm feeling that started in his gut as his body repaired itself, this was exhilarating. He could feel the power as it coursed through his body, his mind working at high speeds as time around him seemed to stop. He knew he would not survive the fall, and in that moment of clarity, he thought If only I had wings.
He heard the ragged shirt he wore tear open on his back. Looking back, he saw giant, scaly wings extending from his back. The wings seemed to have three claws where the wings segmented, curving down and another three claws at the tip of the wings.
Naruto instinctively knew how to glide, managing to bring himself out of the head first dive he was in, managing to slow his decent quite a bit. He tried to fly, but the sudden shift in the curvature of the wings managed to bring him down the final ten feet to the ground.
Crashing into the stones, Naruto heard his left shoulder snap, followed by burning pain as he finally came to a stop on the ground. He felt the pleasant sensation from his belly start to move towards his broken shoulder as he tried to push himself up.
"The demon landed over here!" Naruto pushed himself up with some difficulty at that. He looked back and saw the crowd getting bigger as they advanced on him. He turned to run, but ran into a civilian that had snuck up behind him. He looked up, ignoring the burning in his shoulder. The smile on the man's face made Naruto internally shiver in fear. He tried to run around him, but the man grabbed his already injured shoulder.
Naruto refused to cry out, his stubborn streak preventing him from giving the crowd what they wanted. He tried to kick the man in the shin to let him go, but the man lifted his leg and then kicked Naruto in the stomach, knocking him into an alley out of site of the main road. The force of the kick caused Naruto to cough up blood, the coppery taste a familiar thing to the 7 year old. He hit the wall hard, but still managed to get back to his feet. The sudden vertigo made him stumble forward, but he managed to stay upright.
He glared at the villagers, dropping the smiling mask he usually wore. He waited, and then all hell broke loose as the crowd charged him.
01000100010010010100010100100001
Newly promoted Chunin, 14-year-old Anko Mitarashi, left her favorite dango shop, worried about the blonde child she had begun to keep an eye on ever since she had met him a little less than 4 years ago. Her first few encounters with the child happened just before her bastard of a sensei decided to use her feelings for him to sway her to leave the village with him. She pushed aside the hate she had for Orochimaru and reminisced about how she and her friends had first met him.
She knew now that he was the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi. She had been only 7 at the time of the attack, but she still remembered seeing the giant fox as it tried to destroy the section of the city she was in. She tried to run away, before being stopped by the sight of her idol, the Yondaime Hokage, as he stared the beast down. Anko noticed just before he disappeared that he was carrying a small bundle that cried out loudly just before the fox and the Yondaime flashed away in a golden light.
Little did she know, that that would be the last time she would see the Yondaime Hokage, as he had supposedly defeated the Kyuubi that night. Anko, her older friend Kurenai and her friends in class Yugao and Hana, had believed that what they were told was the truth. However, Anko was walking home from the Academy one day after a test when she was ten, and managed to catch a flash of golden blonde hair that disappeared down an alley behind the Akamichi BBQ restaurant.
The Yondaime? Anko's curiosity got the best of her. She quickly ran to the mouth of the alley, and saw a young child digging through the leftover food from the restaurant. His head bobbed up from the trash can, and she caught the familiar sun colored hair. She quietly crept towards the small child, and Anko was able to see the condition of his clothes.
They're nothing but rags! Where are his parents? He has to be an orphan. Anko leaned in and saw through the holes in the clothes, noticing that he seemed to be severely mal-nourished. She didn't have parents either, but a nice family took her in and raised her. Why isn't he at the orphanage? He can't be older than 3 or 4.
She leaned against the dumpster, deciding to get him a bit of normal food. She had a bit of money to buy herself dango on the way home as a congratulations to herself for doing well on her tests, but the poor child in front of her stopped that thought from continuing.
"You know," Anko started to say, before the child froze up for a half a second. His head shot up and looked at her directly in the eyes, stopping Anko from continuing her sentence. Overwhelming fear stared out at her from the sapphire orbs that had locked onto her own light brown ones. His jaw clenched, and she happened to notice the three whisker-like scars on each of his cheeks.
He pushed himself off of the dumpster and bolted for the entrance of the alleyway before he turned the corner and vanished. Anko managed to shake herself out of her stupor and tried to run after him. Unfortunately, she had lost him once he was out of sight.
He's fast! Anko thought as she scanned the street, trying to find a glimpse of blonde hair. She continued to search for a few more hours, but never managed to find the elusive blonde.
0100000101101110011001110110010101101100
At the academy the next day, she mentioned to Yugao that she had found a smaller version of the Yondaime digging through the trash while they were waiting for their teachers to arrive back from lunch and start the final part of the lesson for the day.
"The Yondaime's dead Anko. And he had no wife or child to carry on his legacy, everyone knows that," Yugao whispered to her while they ate their lunch.
"I swear the kid looked just like him!" Anko told her as she ate her own bento.
"Probably your infatuation with the Yondaime made you impose the features on the kid," Yugao smirked, managing to rib Anko about her crush.
Anko blushed scarlet, "I did not! I swear he looked just like him! If you don't believe me, let's go find him after the Academy gets out today!"
Yugao got a mischievous glint in her eye, before telling her, "Okay, we'll go find your lover. If the boy is real and flees on sight, we'll bring Hana along as well to find him." Anko managed to turn even redder.
Anko looked over and saw their friend Hana talking to another girl in their class. Hana's brown eyes were scanning the crowd. Once she made eye contact with them, she waved, a smile slightly distorting the red fang tattoos on her face. She started jogging over to her friends, her brown ponytail bobbing up and down.
Yugao grinned like a cat as she explained to Hana her plan to see the 'Mini-Yondaime' that Anko told her about. She also mentioned Anko's crush, which further embarrassed the purple-haired kuniochi in training.
After a bit more of teasing, Hana agreed to go with them and bring her three dogs, the Haimaru puppies, with her as well to help track him down. The teacher, Mizuki, walked in at this point and started up his lecture for the day while Anko couldn't get the image of the boy out of her head.
01000111011001010111010001000000100100001101001011 011010100001
The Academy finally let out for the day. Anko, Yugao and Hana stopped by the dango restaurant before they continued the search to find this child. Anko had picked up dango to get him some food and maybe help him out a bit. Yugao and Hana thought that she had purchased it for herself while they went on this goose chase with their friend.
They indulged her, searching for about an hour before Hana was just about to tell them she had to get home to have dinner with her Mom and younger brother. She was just about to open her mouth when she saw a flash of spiky blonde hair disappear down an alley ahead of them. She tapped Anko on the shoulder as she and Yugao had been sarcastically discussing the prospect of flower arranging that they had been taught earlier that day.
"I just saw a kid with blonde hair head down that alley. Think it's him?" Hana watched as Anko's face lit up.
Anko took off ahead of them, saddened at the site of the child as he dug through the trash of the restaurant he was now behind.
This time, she called out to him from the mouth of the alley. Yugao and Hana picked up why she had done so, to help ease the child's fear and prevent him from escaping.
All three young girls watched as he bolted almost straight up out of the can, turning towards them while backing towards the wall that stopped him from backing up any further. Anko watched the poor boys eyes flit around and she could see him plotting way out of the 'cage' he believed himself to be in.
"Hey, it's ok, we're not going to hurt you," Anko tried to calm the child down. She slowly tip toed towards the boy, feeling Yugao and Hana fall into step behind her. She got halfway down the alley, watching as the fear increased with every step.
What has him so terrified? Anko thought as she saw him seize up. Anko stopped walking, afraid of what she was seeing in the boys' eyes.
He blinked, and then they watched as he carefully took a step towards them, followed by another. Anko relaxed a bit, and then watched as he ran towards the wall to his left, using that as a boost to get himself over the 12 foot wall he had backed into. He pulled himself up and over the wall, dropping out of their sight.
"You weren't kidding. He really does look like him," Anko could hear the shock on Yugao's voice.
"He's really quick. Looks to be quite strong to make that jump from the height of the wall," Hana chimed in.
Anko shook herself, and then ran out of the alley, intent on finding the boy and giving him her treat she bought for him. She heard Hana and Yugao quickly follow after her, the Hanimaru puppies seeming to understand they were chasing down the blonde haired boy even without their masters orders.
They got around to the other alley, and found no one. Hana sent one of her puppies down the alleyway to see if they could pick up a scent.
"Ne, Anko?" Yugao caught Anko's attention while the puppy sniffed around the alley. Anko brought herself out of her searching, looking at her longtime friend. Yugao seemed to be confused on how to continue.
"Why did he look so terrified of us?" Hana had the same uneasy stance as Yugao as she asked this.
"I don't know Hana, I don't know," Anko looked on sadly, before all three heard a bark from the puppy down the alley. The little pup kept her nose down, but followed the invisible trail that the boy had left. She trotted by the group before continuing on down the street. She seemed to look back at them, barking once as if to say Are you coming?
"She found him! Come on!" Hana smacked Anko on the back and took off after the pup. Anko smiled, and then took off after Hana.
0100010001100101011101100110100101101100
Anko lead the way down the alley the puppy had led them to. She quietly stepped towards the child now sleeping under what appeared to be a make-shift roof made of cardboard and newspaper. He was clutching a dirty fox plush toy that no longer had the stuffing inside of it.
Anko could feel her friend's sadness overlap hers. She knew all of them were thinking the same thing as they watched his sleeping face. This poor boy, was the thought that ran through their minds as they watched him sleep.
He whimpered, and then clutched the little fox closer in his slumber. The girls slowly inched their way to him, Anko intending on leaving the Dango for him and then leaving, but Hana accidently kicked a rock as she walked that sent the rock bouncing away.
That little bit of sound was enough to wake the poor child. His eyes immediately shot open, and then locked onto them. He bolted up out of the bed of newspaper he had made, and then backed up into the corner, clutching the fox closely to his chest.
"Don't hurt me! Please! I was just hungry and no one would help me!" The blonde boy shouted out, raising his hand in front of his head in a protective manner. Anko looked back at Yugao, seeing her friend's normally stoic face get a small frown as her eyes misted up at the boy's declaration.
"We're not going to hurt you, little one," Anko told him as he tried to further press himself into the corner, as if he were trying to become part of the wall.
"Please! I just wanted to eat! I…" He cut himself off, looking through the gap between his arms, "You…You don't want to hurt me like the others?" Anko could hear the desperation in his voice.
Hana answered for Anko, "No, we don't. We wanted to give you a treat for you to eat." Anko held out the box of now lukewarm dango.
Yet again, the boy shocked them, "Is it poisoned?" The girls blanched that he would ask that in such a serious tone.
"No, why would we poison it?" Yugao asked, concern now scrunching up her face as she glanced between Anko and the boy.
"The other people who came with food said what you did, and when I was done eating it, I threw up a lot of red liquid. I woke up in the hospital a few days later." Anko could sense Hana reach up and rub her eyes of her tears at what the boy told them.
Anko was now truly terrified for the small blonde boy in front of them. If he had been poisoned at such a young age, what else had he suffered through?
"This is not poisoned, little one. Whoever did that is an evil person," Anko tentatively took a step towards him, yet again holding out the dango box.
Slowly, he took a step towards them, and then another. He cautiously made his way towards the group of girls, and as he was within arm range of the box, swiped if from Anko's hands and then quickly retreated back into the corner again with his toy fox and the food.
Anko looked on with sorrow as he slowly opened the box, almost as if he were expecting it to explode in his face. When it did not, he picked up one of the sticks and sniffed it. They watched as he licked one of the Dango balls, then seemed to smack his lips and roll his tongue around the flavor as he contemplated whether it was safe.
Apparently, his hunger won out, and he ate one of them. The girls collectively let out a sigh of relief as they watched him devour the food. Anko could feel happiness as she watched him eat.
"What's your name?" Anko asked of the child.
"Nar… Naruto…Uzumaki." He continued to absolutely devour the food. Anko smirked at that admittance.
66 6f 75 6e 64 20 79 6f 75
Anko was brought out of the pleasant yet sad memories she had of him when she overheard a drunk civilian walk by with his friends.
"We got him good this year, didn't we? There's no way the demon could survive that. (hiccup)" Anko turned to look at his back, trying to glare a hole through him.
His friend, however, is the one that made Anko's blood turn to ice. "I'll give the filthy brat 5 minutes before he bleeds out. We killed the demon like the Fourth would have wanted us to!" Anko pulled out two shuriken and threw them at the two men, severing the spinal cord at the base of their skulls. She spun around, ignoring the shocked expressions of the villagers.
Naruto! Anko began to run, pushing chakra to her ears and nose to find her little friend before it was too late.
She ran in the direction that the drunks had come from, straining to hear anything that would signal his whereabouts. The Kyuubi festival was in full swing, and unfortunately, she realized she would not be able to find him easily due to this thrice-damned festival.
Where are you…where…Come on! She continued running, hoping that she was going in the right direction.
She slid to a stop in front of an alley near the festival around some businesses. She closed her eyes, listening, trying to tune out the jubilation of the village to see if the minute sound she heard was her young friend.
SQUELCH, followed by what sounded like a spray of water that quickly slowed down. Anko hesitantly took a step down the alleyway, hearing a soft whimpering coming from around the bend. She ran, hearing another squelch followed by the spray of liquid hitting the ground. Then, Anko noticed the smell.
The smell of copper was overpowering her currently enhanced senses. She cut the chakra flow, but the smell was still getting stronger as she neared the bend.
She turned the corner, and for the first time in her short 3 year ninja career, threw up in the alleyway. She had seen horrible atrocities committed by her bastard of a Sensei, she herself was being scouted for the Torture and Interrogation division of Konoha's ninja corps, but the sight of the child in front of her made even her hardened stomach lose its contents.
He was pinned to the wall, a claymore embedded in his stomach. She saw various cuts along his arms and chest. She saw the right side of his face was cut open along the faint scar that he had gotten trying to protect Yugao from an Iwa Chunin about 6 weeks ago. She saw his hands, coated in blood, as they moved up towards the sword in his stomach. She looked down at the ground, and saw two kunai laying on the ground amongst the blood.
Those monsters staked him to the wall, then tortured him? Anko's attention was brought up to Naruto as she saw glints of metal through the holes the kunai left in his hands. She forced herself to walk towards him, watching as he yanked the claymore out of his body with two pulls, collapsing to the ground.
"Naruto?" Anko kneeled down next to him, rolling him over quickly now that she had shook off her shock.
"Hebi-hime?" Naruto whispered as he looked at her, trying to keep focused on her as blood gurgled up through his mouth and down his right cheek. His right eye was closed to try to keep the blood out, and his left eye seemed to be dulling every second that she hesitated.
Oh Kami, no wonder why he was always afraid of us! Anko shuddered as she slipped her right hand underneath his neck and her left under his legs, using his shoulders and knees to support him.
I have to save him, I can't bear to lose him! Anko started to run with her charge, out of the alley and towards the hospital in the other side of town.
Anko noticed that his head drooped forward. She shouted "NARUTO! STAY AWAKE! PLEASE!"
His small head lifted up, his left eye glazed over as his left hand reached up and brushed against her cheek. He frowned, before telling her "I'm sorry, Hebi-hime, for bleeding on your nice clothes." He coughed up more blood.
"Baka! That's what has you worried?" Anko began to cry that the poor child was more concerned about her clothes than his own injuries
"Don't cry Hebi-hime. Please?" With that, Naruto finally gave up his fight to stay conscious.
Faster! Was the only thought as she clutched to child tighter to her as she ran faster through the streets.
4e 4f 20 45 53 43 41 50 45 21
Hana Inuzuka was preparing to close the veterinary clinic that her family owned for the day. Her three dogs, the Hanimaru triplets, were waiting patiently as she continued sweeping up the clinic. She was just beginning to learn about veterinary medicine from her mom. She wanted to get her license and run the clinic full time, but she had quite a few things to learn from her mother before she would be allowed to actually work on the animals.
Hana didn't mind, in fact, it taught her that to get anything, you have to work hard for it. She studied as much as she could, furthering her medical knowledge every chance she got. Her friend Yugao had been promoted to ANBU less than a month ago, and her other friend, Anko, was trying to re-adjust to life in Konoha for the last few months. Many of the villagers called her derogatory names, like 'Snake-Whore' because of Orochimaru's defection from the village.
Yugao had recently been promoted to Chunin, and she and her teammates had been the ones who lead the raid on one of Orochimaru's labs. In it, they managed to find a single survivor of whatever horrible experiments had been performed there, their lost friend Anko. Yugao and Hana were ecstatic that she was ok, especially after the rumors got out about what Orochimaru had done to people.
At first, Anko would only give short, one word answers to even her friends, but over the last few months, Hana noticed that she only seemed to brighten up around Hana, Yugao, the Sandaime Hokage and the little blue-eyed boy they had met almost 4 years ago now. She was a complete bitch to just about everyone else. Hana couldn't blame her, with how the villagers acted, but Hana did notice that the only person who was treated worse than her friend was Naruto.
As she swept the store clean, she thought back on how she and her friends had met him and the festival incident a few months after their first meeting with him. The boy her friend Anko continued to swear was a mini-Yondaime. That day in the alley had changed her quite a bit. Naruto, once he dropped his air of cautiousness and fear, was pretty well adjusted to his predicament in life.
Hana had once asked why he didn't live in an orphanage, and he simply replied "They don't want a demon living there. The lady told me that when she kicked me out. Kyu-chan says that the lady was one of the ones who tried to hurt me when I was little." Hana caught that he hugged the toy fox closer to him.
"Kyu-chan? Is that her name?" Yugao teased the small blonde and tugged the toy's leg.
"She's my friend. She always watches over me, protecting me." Naruto glared at her, before breaking into a smile. "She also says that you three are good people."
Ok Hana, talking to his toy? I just hope it is a sign of loneliness, and not insanity. Hana thought as she and her friends continued watching the boy play.
Suddenly, he stopped running around and being the somewhat normal kid they all had grown to know and respect. He watched as the villagers began to prepare for the upcoming Kyuubi festival. Hana and her friends watched him as he slowly backed up into their group. Hana, having more animalistic senses, caught the scent of his fear as he watched the people set up stands near the park.
"Ko-chan, Yu-chan, and Hana-chan. I need you to promise me something." The three girls noticed the hard edge to his words.
Hana began to worry about the sudden change in his posture and inflection. Anko answered him in their place. "What is it Naruto-kun?"
"Please, promise me that for the next few days, you won't try to find me and be my friend. Please, act like the other villagers and enjoy the festival. Don't wave to me, don't call out to me, and don't do anything if you see me."
Hana and her friends were all stunned at his request of them. Hana felt her mouth drop open at his request. Why would he ask that of us? Hana knew that her friends also had this same thought.
Yugao was the one to pose the question to him. "I don't want you to get hurt because you're my friends. Please?" He turned to them and begged on his knees as he stared up at them, his little hands clasped together.
Reluctantly, the three then-gennin kuniochi's reluctantly agreed to his request. He nodded, content with their answers. The smile returned to his face, before he said goodbye and ran off, leaving the three girls there.
"What could he possibly be doing that he would ask us to not acknowledge him for the next few days?" Yugao asked as the girls watched him disappear around the buildings.
Hana was curious, but felt it would be best to head home, her own thoughts storming away as she tried to figure out the blonde enigma. She said goodbye to her friends, and then left to help her mother with the kennels.
53 6f 6e 20 6f 66 20 53 70 61 72 64 61
Hana and her 3 dogs finished sweeping up the clinic, gathering her things up as she realized that every year on the day of the Kyuubi festival, Naruto would disappear for a few days, and after that they would find him sleeping in his makeshift home. She began to wonder what he did during those days.
What would cause a 7 year old child to fear everyone he meets before they even introduce themselves? Hana's thoughts continued on from there. She reached the door to the clinic, unlocking it and shooing her dogs out. They were only too happy to comply and get outside and horse around. They were getting pretty big by themselves, almost the size of her mother's companion, Kuromaru.
"HEY! KNOCK IT OFF!" Hana shouted at them. All three dogs immediately snapped to attention and sat down, looking at her waiting for another command. Her face broke into a smile as she reached down and scratched each of the three behind the ears. She was rewarded with the sight of all three of them now with their tails flipping like a windmill.
She turned to lock the door to the clinic, tugging on it to make sure the door was secure. As she let go of the handle, one of her pups began to howl.
She whipped around, grabbing a kunai from her weapons pouch on her hip, prepared in case of attack. She saw no one, but then heard the howl get joined by the other two, and noticed the sorrow they were letting out.
Confused, she holstered the kunai and tried to figure out what was causing her pups to do this. The street was empty as most of the village was at the Kyuubi festival. She glanced up, watching as her friend Anko was flying across the rooftops towards the other end of the village of the Kyuubi festival.
There's nothing near there except the hospital… Hana quickly walked up the wall and started to run after her friend. As she tried to catch up, she noticed splotches of blood along the roof.
"ANKO!" Hana shouted to her friend, slowly catching up to the other kuniochi. Anko looked back at her, and Hana saw that she was sobbing, her eyes red and her face soaked from tears. Anko let out a choked sob as she looked ahead again and continued to run across the rooftops.
"Anko! What the hell is going on?!" Hana was now beginning to fear her friend was hurt very badly and swore vengeance upon whoever harmed her.
But how is she moving that fast? If she was as injured as those blood spots indicated, she should have collapsed from blood loss by now. Hana noticed a small pair of legs dangling from Anko's left arm as she managed to catch up to her friend. The legs belonged to a small child she was carrying as she ran.
Who? Was the only thought she was able grasp before she saw the blonde hair that was soaked through with blood. Hana's world seemed to stop as she glanced over their small friend. She saw a massive, tapered hole that was in his stomach. She also noticed that his arms and legs were cut up and what she could see of his left hand it was mangled very badly.
Her sense of time sped up, and she saw his face as Anko cradled his head against her right shoulder. The scar over his right eye had been cut open and elongated, almost reaching his jaw. The wound seemed to no longer be bleeding.
Oh Kami, she thought, before shouting out "NARUTO!" trying to wake the young boy up as she and Anko ran for the hospital.
01010010011101010110111000100001
Yugao Uzuki was many things. Driven, focused, relentless were some of the words others used for her. She was training under one of Konoha's greatest swordsman's, Gekko Hayate. She recently was promoted to the ANBU of Konoha, the second youngest person be accepted. She was beat by Itachi Uchiha, and he had been promoted to ANBU captain at 13.
She only saw herself as a protector. After the altercation with the Iwa Chunin 6 months ago, she vowed to protect him as best she could. She had been at training ground 8 that day, practicing her kenjutsu and her ninjutsu. As the day progressed and she got more and more tired, she began her final Kata for her sword. That was when the disguised Iwa nin had made his move.
Yugao, in her tired state, noticed the nin too late. She tried to turn in time to defend herself, but realized that it was too slow. She happened to glance up and saw the familiar mop of spiky blonde hair at the edge of the field. Time stopped, as she realized her young friend was about to see her get cut down.
His face would startle her. It was a mask of rage, an all-encompassing fury as he stared at her assailant. She watched as his eyes burned from their ocean blue to a dark red. For a split second, she saw his hair go from blonde to a white, and as time seemed to restart, he disappeared in a silver flash.
Her eyes went wide; realization that Ankos 'crazy' claims were actually true seeped through her. She heard a grunt, and noticed that there was not a sword sticking out of her back. She turned, and watched as Naruto engaged the other ninja in an all-out brawl that Naruto was losing due to his size and lack of reach. She shook herself and pulled her own wakizashi blade out and charged in to help the legacy of the Fourth Hokage, her exhaustion forgotten.
They worked in perfect tandem, until the nin got a lucky hit in on Yugao, sending her back about 50 feet. She was on her feet almost as soon as she stopped sliding, her exhaustion coming back again. She tried to rush forward and help her young friend, noticing that he was cut in quite a few places, most shallow, but enough to start to wear him out. She willed herself to move quicker, and in her exhausted state, did not quite realize that the nin knew she was back on her feet.
He kicked Naruto away, and engaged Yugao again. She held him off as long as she could, and would have been able to beat him had she not been so tired, but the nin managed to catch her in the side of the head with the tsuba of his own wakizashi. Yugao hit the ground, terrified that little Naruto would be killed because of her failure as she lost consciousness.
"Yu-chan? Yu-chan, wake up, please?" Yugao heard a weak voice call out to her through the darkness. She dragged herself back to the land of the living, her head splitting at the damage she had gotten from the bastard nin. She recognized the voice, and knew immediately that he was quieter than normal. Her eyes fluttered open, noticing that Naruto was lying next to her and clutching at his right eye with his hand.
He was lying on his back and staring at her, his visible normally bright blue eye seeming quite a bit dimmer than normal. Yugao pushed herself off of her stomach, noticing that beyond her headache, she was physically fine. She glanced around, and saw that it could not have been very long since she got knocked out. She crawled over to her friend, noticing at this point that the right side of his head was covered in blood, some dried on his head, but most still wet. She noticed that the hand he had up to his face was also coated in blood. He seemed to be trying to keep his blood in by force.
"NARUTO!" Yugao shouted as her mind finally processed that he was hurt, and from the amount of blood, it was bad. She carefully picked him up, trying not to jar him too badly. She clutched the little boy to her chest, trying to hold back her tears. She took a quick glance around the training ground, and saw that the nin had been stabbed in about a hundred places with what appeared to be a broad blade.
She filed that tidbit of info away as she rushed him to the hospital. She had to threaten the doctor to help Naruto, which brought an official reprimand from the Hokage for threatening a civilian, and unofficial heartfelt thanks. She gave her report of the incident, watching as the Hokage's eyes widened at the mention of his hair turning silver. She then requested that she be assigned as Naruto's guardian for his stay in the hospital.
Since that day, she was even more vigilant when it came to Naruto. She informed the Hokage of Naruto being kicked out of the orphanage that day, going against Naruto's wishes to 'not tell the old man in the funny hat'. She had never seen the Hokage look so angry. He went on a war path, hunting down the Matron of the Orphanage, demanding to see Naruto.
The Matron could not produce the boy, and the Hokage demanded to know where he was. She informed him that Naruto had run away from the orphanage about 3 months prior. The Hokage turned to look at Yugao, who shook her head. He ordered Yugao to arrest her, and then went to find Naruto after she had been taken to Ibiki, head of Torture and Interrogation. Yugao had shown the Hokage where Naruto's little abode was, and from there, the Hokage brought him back to the orphanage, yet again against his wishes.
Yugao had watched over him with her sempai, Inu, since then. She requested that she be assigned as Naruto's guardian Anbu when she had overheard some of her comrades, Owl and Sparrow, discussing about how they left him to be beaten once. The Hokage approved, and she noticed that Owl and Sparrow were no longer in Anbu shortly after that.
She shook her head, clearing it of the memories as she reported in to the Hokage about her successful mission that she had just returned from. The Hokage congratulated her for a job well done, and then asked if she could find Naruto and make sure he was safe.
She bowed, excusing herself to find her young friend, knowing that the village civilians hated Naruto and it got worse around the time of the Kyuubi festival. She quickly closed the heavy oak doors of the office before she immediately took off to find Anko, knowing that the young woman had an uncanny ability to be able to locate Naruto since she had been found.
She teleported to Anko's apartment, but found the place empty. She left the building confused, before she manipulated her chakra to her feet and walked up the side of the building to get to the roof. Once she made it there, she began to scan the village, paying particular attention to the location of the Festival, knowing that Naruto would try to avoid it as best as he could.
She managed to catch the sight of a familiar brown trenchcoat as it hopped across the rooftops to the hospital. Yugao quickly took off towards her friend as she saw Hana jump up behind Anko. Yugao began to feel dread wedge itself into her stomach. She had a feeling that Naruto was the reason Anko was heading towards the hospital.
As she ran, she also noticed that Anko was going slower than the speed she normally traveled at. Yugao shun-shinned to Anko and Hana as they ran, getting a frightened yelp from Hana as she appeared next to them.
Anko, she noticed, didn't even flinch as they continued their trek towards the hospital. Yugao was trying to figure out where Anko was hurt from with the amount of blood on her.
"Yu…Neko-san, please get the Hokage. N…Naruto's been h..hurt." Anko's tears cascaded down onto the bundle in her arms. A bundle, Yugao now noticed, that at one point had blonde hair. Hair that was now soaked through in dark red.
Yugao was momentarily shocked, before her concern for the boy unfroze her and she shun-shinned to the door of the Hokage's office. She knocked once, but did not wait for the confirmation to enter and quickly entered the room.
"Hokage-sama! It's Naruto!"
The Sandaime Hokage moved towards her in a speed that defied his age. "Hospital?" he asked her. She nodded. He then walked out of the room, motioning her to follow him. He clamped his hand on her shoulder, and then pulled her towards the hospital in his own shun-shin.
"…Don't give a shit! You will help this child, or so help me, even your relatives won't be able to identify your remains!" Anko's familiar voice now seemed to deafen her.
"And I told you, Snake-Whore, we don't help abominations in this hospital!" The portly nurse behind the counter shouted at Anko.
Yugao grabbed Anko's arm, stopping her from killing the nurse and dropping Naruto, but then the aged Hokage spoke. "I see that you are not helping a child in need. You are hereby relieved of your duties."
"Hokage-sama, surely…" The woman pleaded to him.
"Get out of this hospital. You are no longer employed here." The Hokage dismissed her, instead looking at the small child in Anko's arms.
Yugao watched as the Hokage's face crumpled at seeing the damage done to the small boy. She managed to catch the resident Doctor quietly slip into the room to see what the commotion was. She saw the look of disgust on his face as he glanced at Naruto, and then saw him turn to leave.
"Doctor!" Yugao yelled out, catching the bastard before he could disappear, "A child needs assistance over here!" the Doctor huffed, but then came over and began to run diagnostic jutsu on the poor boy, ordering Anko, Yugao and Hana to help push the boy to a nearby operating room.
Yugao directed Anko to a nearby stretcher to put Naruto down. The Doctor didn't seem to care anymore, leading them to the wide open room. Once the stretcher was in the center of the room, a few nurses entered behind them and began to assist the doctor.
Anko refused to leave Naruto's side, until the Hokage ordered Yugao and Hana to take her to the waiting room. She reluctantly allowed them to pull her out.
"Anko," Yugao called out to her friend. Anko did not even look towards her, instead focusing on the door they had just left. Yugao walked towards her, grabbing her by the jaw and yanking Anko's face to stare at her own. "He's in their hands now. Don't worry, he's a fighter, he'll be okay."
"How could those…monsters do this to a child? Who could… could…" Was all Anko could get out before she broke down crying. Yugao quickly wrapped her friend in a hug, maneuvering her towards the couch in the waiting room no more than 10 feet away. Hana kneeled down in front of them after Yugao managed to get Anko to rest on the couch.
As Anko cried into her shoulder, Yugao looked down at Hana, catching the sorrow in her eyes as well, and then turned back to the door they had just left. She could not shake the feeling of dread that had settled in the pit of her stomach.
4e 65 70 68 69 6c 69 6d
Anko had stayed in the hospital for three days before Naruto woke up. Yugao and Hana would cycle through their jobs and being with Naruto and their friend. Anko had requested time away from her apprenticeship to the head of Torture and Interrogation, Ibiki Morino. He granted her request, knowing how much Naruto had meant to her. Yugao, as well as Hana, would bring in food for Anko because they both knew that Anko would not have left the room until she was sure he was ok.
Anko convinced the Hokage to allow her to stay at his side. She would quickly use the shower in the hospital's bathroom to freshen up every day. She read to him his favorite story about a hero who saved a whole town using his own wits. She talked aimlessly to him, hoping that he would be able to hear her.
It was the third day that Naruto finally opened his eyes. Anko was sitting next to his bed, staring at his blank face, her hands on the bed. She couldn't stop her tears that day, leaning her head on the bed next to his hand.
"Please Naruto. Please wake up. Ever since we met those few years ago, you've been one of my few rays of light in this damn village. How you always bring a smile to my face when you know I've had a bad day. I was intrigued the day you pointed out my mask, as you were the first to see through it when I returned. Even Hana and Yugao didn't catch it. Please come back to us, come back to me." She continued to talk into his bed, letting her tears fall.
She felt a small hand grab her own. Her shock snapped her head up to look at him as he slowly opened his eyes to look at her. She noticed that his right iris was now white, instead of the vibrant blue of his left. His iris was outlined in black, matching his contracted pupil. The gauze covered the now longer scar over his right eye, but beyond the coloring change, his eye was still functional.
"Don't cry, Hebi-hime. Please?" Naruto managed to croak out to her. Anko stared at him, feeling a smile start to creep up her face. She wanted to wrap him up in a hug, but was too worried about hurting him further.
"I'm crying because I'm happy, Naru-chan." She knew he hated that name, but she wanted to make sure he would still have the same reaction. She was terrified that he may have been scarred so badly from the attack that he would be a completely different person.
"Don't call me that Hebi-hime! When I become Hokage I'm making a law that you can never call me that again!" She chuckled as she wiped her eyes, glad that he still seemed to be somewhat normal.
They talked for a few hours, Anko noticed that he skirted around the questions about what had happened a few nights ago. She didn't blame him. She still had nightmares about finding him. They were interrupted for a bit when Yugao showed up in her Anbu uniform. She came in and waved to the both of them, before shun-shinning first to the Inuzuka veterinary clinic to let Hana know that Naruto was awake.
Hana checked that the evening was clear of appointments, informed her mother that she was heading out without waiting for her approval, and then shun-shinned to the hospital to check up on the little boy.
Yugao then shun-shinned to the Hokage tower, interrupting the Hokage from a meeting with his three advisors. Behind her mask, she grimaced at their visage, knowing that these three individuals had let the village know of Naruto's burden. She unfortunately could not prove it, and therefore had to be content with merely hating them.
The old man held his hand up to silence the blabbering of the female advisor Koharu, one of his old teammates that he kept around that Yugao was sure only for sentimentality reasons. She and one of the other advisors, an older man named Homura, finally noticed that Yugao in the room.
"Naruto is awake?" the elderly Hokage asked her, hope picking up his currently sour mood. She nodded. He stood up, ignoring the protests from the two miffed advisors, and walked over to her.
"Let's go see him." Yugao and the Hokage shun-shinned to the room, seeing Anko and Hana already there ahead of them and talking with the young boy.
Anko saw the appearance of the Hokage and Yugao, moving to stand up and bow to her superior, but was frozen in place at what came out of Naruto's mouth. "Hello, Hokage-sama." Anko, a kuniochi training to be an interrogation specialist, felt a shiver go through her spine as the ice left her young friend. She noticed that Hana and Yugao looked just as shocked as her. She caught the Hokage stiffen very slightly at the change of name that Naruto gave him.
"Naruto? What happened?" The old man was worried about the change in demeanor of his young charge.
"I've had my eyes opened, Hokage-sama. The fact that you have been lying to me my entire life about my parents." Naruto's glare made the aged Kage pale. Anko felt her curiosity peak, catching Hana and Yugao staring at the young boy.
"Anko, Hana, Neko-san, please leave the room." Anko slowly turned, catching the slowly-rising glare from the Kage to the young child.
"No, they will stay. They have been there for me for a long time." Naruto clamped down on Anko's hand, surprising her at the strength he currently exhibited in his injured state.
The Hokage sighed. "What did you find out, Naruto-kun?"
"Well, I don't like being lied to, that's a given. Also, why did I have to find out who my parents were from Kyu-hime?" Anko quickly pictured the small toy fox he had, wondering if the little boy truly had lost it.
"Kyu-hime? Who is that Naruto-kun?" All three women in the room were about to tell him that it was the name Naruto gave to his stuffed fox toy, but Naruto yet again shocked them.
"You know her as the Kyuubi no Kitsune, but I just call her Kyu-hime." All of the other people in the room felt their collective jaws drop. Anko kept thinking to herself, He's been talking to the Kyuubi the entire time we've known him?
"Naruto, you can talk to the fox?" The Hokage was stunned.
"Yes. How do you think I kept my sanity up to this point? Until Anko, Hana and Yugao came into my life, I had no one. Why do you think I haven't eliminated those foolish villagers that harm me? Kyu-hime told me not to lash out and scar their stupid faces." Anko was shocked at what the boy was saying, never truly knowing the depth of the hatred he carried for the villagers. However, after being ostracized to a lesser extent then Naruto, she could understand him better now.
"Naruto, are you being influenced by the fox?" The Hokage brought his hands up, preparing with a heavy heart to eliminate the possessed child.
Naruto's glacier gaze swung up to stare the Hokage in the eyes, freezing him for a second, before he spoke. "Sarutobi, if you remember who my mother and father were, then you should know that with my bloodline now starting to activate, even you would have a hard time against me."
Anko continued to stare at the young blonde, her body completely numb from the continued shock of the difference in Naruto's attitude to the old man. The Hokage seemed to freeze, and Anko knew that Sarutobi did in fact know Naruto's parents, and was afraid of whatever bloodline Naruto now supposedly had.
Hana was the first to get over her shock. "Who… who were your parents Naruto?"
Naruto glanced at the old man, seeming to send an unsaid command to him, and then the elderly man put up a silencing seal on the room. All three women went silent, but none more so than Anko.
"My parents are very well known shinobi. My mother was Kushina Uzumaki, the princess of Whirlpool country. My father was Minato Namikaze, the Yellow Flash of Konoha."
I was right! Anko looked at her friends, seeing the looks they gave her as he said this. She smirked at them, waiting until she could rub it in. She noticed the Hokage go pale yet again, before looking back to Naruto.
"But you, Sarutobi, know them by their true names. Don't you? You know that my father was truly the dark knight Sparda, who was Mundus's second in command." All three women kept glancing back between the Hokage and the young boy, not believing that Naruto was saying this. Naruto looked from the Hokage to Anko, and the woman stared straight back at him.
"Sparda, who went against all the forces of Hell with the help and power of the Bijuu and sealed the hellgate so that Mundus could not get back to our world. Sparda, who fell in love with the angel of battle, Eve." Naruto finally blinked, his hard gaze softening. Anko saw his eyes begin to mist up.
"Eve, who turned her back on her fellow angels to be with the devil she loved, Sparda. Their love consummated to make me. A being that is out of place in all three worlds. A Nephilim." Naruto looked down, tearing away his gaze from his friend. Anko watched as tears began to run down his cheeks. She could no longer fight it. She sat down on the bed, carefully picking up the young boy and holding him.
"At least now I know they loved me. Kyu-hime was my dad's best friend, and always told me that they loved me very much. Now that I got my mom's message, I know for certain. Kyu-hime felt really bad about what happened that day, but she was being controlled by a very powerful spell from a damnable set of eyes. That damn Sharingan that should have never been given to that disgusting, arrogant clan."
Sarutobi and the girls were shocked at this. Naruto knew of the origin of the Sharingan? Not even the Uchiha clan knows of its true origin. Naruto continued to mumble into Anko's shoulder yet even Anko couldn't understand the rest of his rant.
Naruto eventually lifted his head, his face seeming to be much calmer now that he had been able to cry and rant about the Uchiha clan. "Jiji-san," The Hokage smiled for the first time since he entered the room, glad that the boy didn't hate him completely.
"Yes, Naruto-kun?"
"I want to get out of the orphanage, and live at my parent's estate on the edge of town. It is the only safe place I can practice my Devil Trigger state without having the entire village try to kill me when I use it. I also want to have their fortune granted to me as it, and the estates, are rightfully mine."
All three of the young women's jaws dropped when the Hokage said, "All right Naruto-kun. I was supposed to give you a scroll from your father once your Devil Trigger was awakened. However, I must ask that you keep this very quiet. No one is to know that you have gone to live at the Namikaze estates, except those in this room. Your father's enemies may try something, and many in this village have tried to get that property for the secrets within. Your father was very good with seals, and no one has been able to enter since he died, so I don't expect anything to have changed."
"Jiji, do you know what my true name was. What my father and mother decided before they used Naruto?" Anko looked at the Hokage as he addressed each of the women in the room.
"Girls, you have been given privileged information about a promising young shinobi. This information is an SSS-class secret, which if revealed is immediate termination of the shinobi that leaked that information, as well as termination of the recipient of said information. Naruto trusts you enough to have you here for this discussion." Anko was the first to acknowledge the statement and threat from the elderly Hokage, followed quickly by Hana and Yugao.
The Hokage's grin grew. He looked at the young boy with kindness in his eyes again. "They decided to call you Dante." The Hokage cancelled the privacy jutsu, then shun-shinned back to his office to complete the bane of his existence, paperwork.
Anko slowly set the tired boy down, noticing his eyes start to droop in exhaustion. "Dante, huh? It has a nice ring to it." He managed to say before sleep took him back to its healing embrace.
Anko resumed her post next to his bed, settling back into the chair to catch some sleep for herself, now that she knew Naruto was ok she allowed herself to relax. Hana saw that Naruto's and Anko's hands were still clasped together on the bed. She giggled, getting a confused stance from Yugao. She nodded towards their hands, and even though Hana could not see her friend's face, she knew Yugao was smiling at the scene.
Yugao motioned to the door, opening it with no sound, escorting Hana out. Hana nodded at her friend, and then started walking out of the hospital, mentally preparing herself for the punishment her mom was more than likely going to give her for leaving without approval. She knew it was not a nice thing to do, but for Naruto, she would brave it.
Yugao resumed her post as the Anbu guard watching over Naruto, her mind still processing all that she had just heard. She did snicker internally at the memory of Anko and Naruto in the room. She wondered if Anko realized how bad she had it for the young boy, no the young nephilim, that was now asleep next to her.
Anko herself had dreams of a much older Naruto and her, training together until they heard a young child cry out from inside the mansion they owned. They stopped, turning towards the other 2 children that had been watching them spar. Anko noticed that the young boy that was there had her hair style and a lighter color of purple hair, with a single black line on his both of his cheeks. The other was a girl, a bit older than the boy, who had silver hair, with two lines on her cheeks. All four of them went into the mansion to quiet the crying child.
She unconsciously made a commitment to be with the young boy once he was old enough to be an adult. He had told her about a year ago that when he was older, he would marry his snake princess. Anko had laughed, jokingly telling him that if she was still single, she would gladly accept his offer. Now, deep down in the layers of her subconscious, she was going to make sure that that dream she had becomes a reality.