Shadows of Fire
"Where the leaves of the trees dance, you will find the flames. The shadow of the fire will light the village. And once again the leaves of the trees will be renewed. "
Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage of Konoha.
Chapter 1 - Foreword
Ever since the great villages were built, the Shinobi world experienced a period never before experienced: temporary peace. There is, indeed, one who can argue that temporary peace is still very far from total harmony among nations, and such an inquiring individual has the merit of reason. But temporary peace was still a masterful conquest since, in ancient times, of the bloody and fruitless wars among the warring clans, there was not a moment when the various inhabitants of the most diverse lands did not care about the war. Exploring deeper horizons, the conclusion was that mothers cared about their offspring, being no more certain that their futures were uncertain: both the parents' and the children's. The agreement between Senju and Uchiha changed everything: with a treaty between the two sides, Leaf Village was born, Konoha, a place that offered peace to the clans that lived there. Suddenly, the desire for peace, though incomplete, did not seem so distant.
Of course, all this was not easy. Shortly after the first villages were founded, the world has entered into chaos and new wars broke out everywhere. Now it was not clan against clan, but village against village: in fact, the magnitude of the ensuing conflicts had never been witnessed before. Among the main ones, a village stood out: the original village, Konoha. Even with the loss of two Hokages for various reasons, Aldeia da Folha succeeded. With the Sandaime Hokage, Konoha was able to emerge victorious in two wars, the last of which is marked by the protagonism of Namikaze Minato, The Yellow Lightning, motive that earned him the title of Yondaime Hokage and brought peace among the elementary nations. But the Shinobi world has never been able to live in peace for a long time, and more than ever, there are several threats lurking, waiting for the best opportunity to strike.
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The sun was shining, starring the space in the blue sky that, on that day, was almost cloudless. All in all, it was a beautiful sight to see, suitable for periods of peace.
"Naruto!", a voice exclaimed. "Come here from wherever you are!"
Immediately after hearing this voice, a small boy, who appeared to be about 8 years old, began to run to its source. The boy had yellow hair, that reminded the color of the sun in a beautiful day. His symmetrical face was adorned by two blue eyes, accompanied at both ends by small fringes of hair. As light as the summer, his skin was clear, but in a white tone that suited the description of winter. He wore simple blue clothes all over his body. Quickly, he reached the intended destination and shrank a little ashamed before the eyes that stared at him.
"I already told you not to disappear from my sight!" She said in a seemingly stern voice, but continued in a tone of exasperation. "What am I going to do with you?"
These words and voice belonged to Suzuki Akemi, one of the officials at the orphanage where Naruto lived. He particularly thought that the meaning of her name, "beautiful light," was adequate, for she was very loving and sympathetic, being one of those rare people who devoted themselves entirely to her work. And this, of course, was not fruitless: she was by far the favorite adult of the orphanage's children. She was one of those people who, no matter how hard they tried to seem rigid, could not because of her own gentle personality. In front of her, the little boy was embarrassed, because he did not want to disturb her.
"Akemi! Akemi!", other boys from the orphanage came running and interrupted the young woman before she could finish her dialogue with Naruto. "Come here!"
"Children," she murmured to herself. Recomposing herself, she gave her last words to Naruto. "Be careful, okay?"
His shy wave was the confirmation she needed to leave. With these farewells, the blond boy started walking toward his favorite place: the library. Because he was an orphan and had no known relatives, Naruto had to live in the orphanage and that was not the place for a child like him. Of course, he had toys and games of all kinds, but Naruto was not like the others his age: for him, in fact, a book was the best entertainment to spend the days. Naruto truly always had many doubts about how the world worked and read the most diverse books. This was complicated initially because of his shallow vocabulary, but now, with so many books read, the difficulty level of any reading was not very high.
Seeing the Konoha Library, he stepped up to the entrance, where he greeted the librarians and went to the library's civil section, with mental plans of what he wanted to learn that day.
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The next day, Naruto woke up early thinking about going to the library. He had to finish the reading he had started the day before! The boy quickly got up, greeted the people already awake, swallowed up his meal quickly, and ran off toward the orphanage's door. When he got close, he was barred by Akemi.
"You'll have to wait a bit longer to get out." She said. "Somebody important today is going to visit the orphanage."
Perplexed because nothing like this had happened before, Naruto sat down in a corner and began to ask himself many questions as he watched the main hall fill as time passed. Who is this "important" person? Was it a civilian or a ninja? Was it a man or a woman?
Soon his questions were answered when a man dressed in a green vest came in through the door, followed by 3 others, dressed similarly to the first man, and a man older than the others, who stood in the center of the formation, with a pipe in his mouth, wearing a long white and red vest, while a hat of the same color was adorning his head.
"Look, they're ninjas!"
"Cool!"
"It's the Hokage!"
Accustomed to these kinds of comments, the old man smiled, looking at the children. After a few moments, one of those men dressed in green made a subtle signal with the hand and the others relaxed their postures. The man clad red waited steadfast all the time, always with the same characteristic smile and calm as a leader. A leader, was what Naruto really thought, this man looks like a leader. A few seconds after the subtle signal, the old man began to speak.
"This generation of protectors shines!" he exclaimed, always good-humored. "I see some of you know who I am, but it's still appropriate to introduce myself. I am Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Sandaime Hokage of Konoha."
Evidently, he would continue his speech, but was interrupted by an anxious voice, which came from one corner of the great room. Her owner was a small girl for her age, with brown hair and fair skin: truly, she had a rather ordinary appearance and Naruto, accessing his memories, could easily remember his presence in the orphanage.
"Are you a shinobi, so?" She asked, exclaiming too, her voice full of emotion.
The Hokage, whose name had been recently revealed, was not angry and, in fact, his expression was filled with warmth.
"What's your name, little one?" Asked warmly.
"Ami, sir!" She replied with even more emotion.
"Well, I was shinobi during my youthful days, but I suppose I still am." He began the speech in a tone that sounded a bit puzzling, difficult for children to understand. "You would also like to become a kunoichi, would not you? The flames in your eyes remind me of my youth, when I was a little ..."
With this response from Sandaime, all the children began to pay attention, especially Naruto. In fact, he hadn't had direct contact with ninjas before this particular occasion. Of course, since he lived in a Hidden Village full of ninjas, he had seen them jump across the street, greet some civilians and other things like these, but not even one of those shinobi had interacted with him before. The speech came naturally and the old leader told the children about his childhood and gave a brief summary of some achievements. But from all parts of the speech, the one that most caught Naruto's attention was that ending.
- [...] I hope you are inspired by the Will of Fire and protect the Leaf Village.
This brief sentence continued to haunt his thoughts, even though it had been some time since the ninjas had left. The boy knew, of course, that he should defend Konoha, as this was the main duty of the ninjas, but even so he knew there was a lack of connection between this and the "Will of Fire." Naruto was almost certain that this "Will of Fire" was not a material thing and he had been really curious about the words spoken by the wise Hokage. With those thoughts in mind, Naruto decided it was time to visit the Konoha Library.
The boy's journey to the place was not extraordinary. The population was as normal as ever, the weather was pleasant and the day was beautiful: a typical day in Leaf Village. Besides, his curiosity did not provoke a quickness in his footsteps, and Naruto contented himself with immersing himself in his thoughts as he took advantage of the atmosphere of the village and so did not realize until the last moment that he had arrived. As usual, the boy greeted the staff of the Konoha Library, but this time he decided to ask one of them for help.
"Hiroshi-san," the boy began to speak, approaching a man, "where could I find some material on the" Will of Fire "?
The man who answered Naruto was tall, had brown hair and a little tanned skin. He had always been very nice to the boy and had helped him whenever possible. This time wasn't different.
"Naruto-san!", the man began, "Welcome to the Library again! I suppose this time you became interested in shinobi affairs! Please follow me and I'll point you to the right shelf."
After murmuring a quick thank-you, the blue-eyed boy followed the man to an isolated shelf in the general section of the library. There were dusty books there, and the collection seemed to be quite extensive. Standing in front of a shelf, Hiroshi began to speak again:
"Here you will find what you want about these subjects!" the man began, enthusiastic. "I'm sure you'll be a great ninja!"
"Thank you, Hiroshi-san!" Naruto answered happily and satisfied.
"Don't mention it, kiddy!"
With that, the librarian left, after, of course, a slight shake on Naruto's hair. The boy promptly began to look at all the books in that section until he found one that looked old but promising. It was called Shinobi and the Will of Fire, written by one of Senju Tobirama. Naruto did not wait a few seconds to admire the title and quickly began to read the first page.
Welcome, young aspirant to shinobi. I bring you in this book instructions on how to become a skilled and dangerous adept at the ninja arts, so as to protect our home, Konoha. First, I suppose I must introduce what is the Will of Fire. Surely you have heard of it and its meaning is not so complex: it is simply the will of a shinobi to protect his own home. Although it is so simple, it will be this will that will allow Konoha to advance ahead of the other nations and become the first power in the shinobi world ...
This brief excerpt was both satisfying and unsatisfactory to Naruto. On one hand, he discovered what the "Will of Fire" means, but he knew it was not a such simple thing that could be described in a few words. He decided to leaf through the book a little more, but, unfortunately, he did not find any further information about the concept. He decided that although he had spent only a few minutes inside the library, he had much to think about and decided to leave and enjoy the afternoon as he delved deeper into the subject mentally.
The boy was so focused on the meaning of the "Will of Fire," that he had not even noticed that he left the Library of Konoha until a scream alerted him and made him pay attention to his surroundings.
"Dad!"
"Come back here, daughter!"
As fast as he warned himself, Naruto let himself relax. In fact, it was just a father playing with his daughter, a typical scene in Konoha. It seemed that the girl was running from her father as he ran after her. After a few moments, he managed to catch her, and the little girl began to laugh and smile as her father tickled her. While watching this scene, a passage returned to his head:
" [...] it is simply the will of a shinobi to protect his own house."
Everything clicked in his mind. Now he really felt that he understood the Will of Fire, a term that wasn't now stranger to him. As he returned to his house, he felt that he now had a purpose. Yes, he thought, now I'll surely become a shinobi and protect this wonderful village.
His dreams, that night, imagined him as a young Hokage next to his village, next to his family.
A few weeks later ...
Punches could be heard all afternoon and sweat fell through the entire training camp where Naruto was. After that particular day, the boy decided that he would become a ninja, and since then he has begun to make every effort to achieve that goal. Immediately, the next day, the boy returned to the library and began researching about shinobi and the information found did not disappoint him. After reading some history books about the Leaf Village, Naruto began to love the Village even more and became even more fascinated by the figure of the Hokage, the protector of the Village. The young man's fascination with the leaders of Konoha was so much that he easily and quickly read all the books about them and his range of information went from Shodaime to the current Yondaime Hokage. But it was not only the Hokages that fascinated the young boy, but the shinobi arts in general.
The day after Sandaime Hokage's visit to the orphanage in which he lived, Naruto decided to hold as much knowledge of the ninja arts as possible. He read since then several books about each type of ninja art and was fascinated equally by all: ninjutsu to fuuinjutsu, he wanted to be proficient in all! With that goal in mind, Naruto started his ninja training. Following mainly the advices of Senju Tobirama, which Naruto had discovered to be the Nidaime Hokage, the boy began to practice taijutsu and managed to unlock his chackra through meditation and had been improving his control over it with each passing day. After reading other books about the Will of Fire that he, with some difficult, found, the boy noticed curiously that Hashirama, the Shodaime Hokage, was far more philosophical than his brother and that the Nidaime Hokage stood out more in the description of shinobi arts than in philosophy.
In fact, Naruto set a routine for his days. In the morning he would go to the library and absorb a huge number of knowledges about the most diverse fields and in the afternoon, he would put this knowledge into practice. As time passed, the boy added more practice. Initially, only taijutsu and chackra control were enough, but now he added kunai and shuriken practice, handwriting practice, and began to study ninjutsu theory. In fact, he had recently completed the control exercise of the leaf chakra in his arms, but, unfortunately, he did not have enough chackra to do the tree-walking exercise.
Today, in particular, the boy had woken up earlier than expected, because today would be the day in which he would start Ninja Academy and get closer to achieving his dreams. Remembering that, Naruto stopped pounding the tree and returned to the orphanage to change clothes. After all, he did not want to make a bad impression on his first day!
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Naruto arrived at the Konoha Academy ten minutes before the scheduled time and, entering the huge gym reception, asked the receptionist where he should go. To his surprise, he discovered that there would be a speech from Yondaime Hokage himself before the classes started on! He tried to hide his enthusiasm as much, but as he waited anxiously for the start of the event in one of the chairs prepared for the day, he felt that was failing miserably. But, nothing of that mattered, because he would listen to a speech of his idol in person!
As time passed, the room was filled with parents and students and the ambience grew louder and louder. Suddenly when he was going to check the hours, he was surprised by the silence of the crowd and realized that his idol had arrived! After a round of applauses from all present at the site, Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage, began his speech:
"Welcome to the Shinobi Academy! On this day, the new generation of Konoha will start their ninja career!" With those words, the Hokage began his speech and began to look at the next generation and Naruto felt he were under a strong scrutiny when his leader's gaze was on him. "Today, young aspiring ninjas will start learning how to defend their homes and create many friends! May the Will of Fire guide you on this path! A round of applauses to our future protectors!"
After the brief speech, but dense in meanings, the crowd began to applaud even louder than they did in the beginning. Between the people was Naruto, who heard the speech carefully and understood the message: he would defend his village until the death! However, his reflections did not last long, because another presence entered the stage and began to speak:
"Good morning everyone! Please look at the mural in the hallway and look up your names and head to the right rooms. Thank you!" The owner of this voice was a man dressed in a standard chuunin uniform, which had fair skin, with brown eyes and black hair.
Naruto did as he was told and he went to the mural in the hall. Soon, found his name, next to the "room 317". Recognizing that he should go to the place, he went. In the corridor, he passed several children and went through the various room numbers until he found the number 316. He searched but did not find the number 317, although there was still a room without number at the end of the hall. With some suspicion of his own about the room's number, he asked to an adult.
"Excuse me, would you tell me if this is room 317?" Politely asked a brown-haired man, that was wearing the standard chuunin vest and uniform.
"Yes! Are you a new student?" A quick "yes" and a wave of hands was the answer. The man continued with a serene smile. "Well, nice meet you! My name is Yuri Nagai, but you can call me Yuri-sensei or just sensei. I will be one of your teachers during the next four years.
"I'm glad to meet you too, Yuri-sensei. My name is Naruto and I hope to have some great years ahead. Can I enter the room?" The boy introduced himself with a small smile, appreciating the personality of his new sensei.
"Yeah, yeah. Please come in."
In response to the statement, Naruto entered the room where he would study for the next few years. He noticed that the room was average size, with 18 seats, 9 on the left and 9 on the right, each one with space for three chairs. The front held the professor's desk and a huge board. He finally decided to sit in the back, on the right side of the table seen by the students when seated.
After a few minutes, the spiky-haired boy heard a voice and turned toward her.
"Excuse me. Could I sit here" Asked a boy with average height, wearing gray clothes. He had black eyes, fair skin and a hair in the shape of a pineapple.
"Of course. Be my guest!"
"Thank you. As for the introductions, call me Hideki Nara, nice to meet you.". Said in a lazy tone, trademark of all Naras, as Naruto had read in the Library.
" Naruto, no surname, and likewise." Said politely.
"Naruto-san, I see you did not repeat the "nice to meet you," and replaced it with "likewise". At least you enjoy your effort and do not speak unnecessary words.
"It would be very troublesome. Please, Nara-san, have no formalities. I ask you to just call me Naruto, without the "san" and everything."
"Likewise." Came the answer and the two smiled at the inner joke. "So, Naruto, would you like to play a shogi match?" He asked without the lazy voice of before, becoming interested in the riddle that was the person in front of him. After all, not every day someone can impress a Nara.
"Of course, Hideki!"
And so, they played for 15 minutes. The two of them used their brains to the extreme, but the result turned out to be Naruto's victory. Hideki was very surprised by the result, after all, no child of his age had already managed to beat him.
"Tell me, Naruto, how did you beat me?" Not to brag, but no one at my age had even gotten a tie. He asked with a slight frustration.
"You're a great player, Hideki! However, your mistake was not to have moved the silver general to E5. Instead of that move you moved the pawn to F8, remember?" Naruto finished with a small smile.
"It was a trap, was not it?" The other boy 's smile was the answer.
"Well, it looks like the Ninja Academy is not going to be a complete waste of time like I imagined." Said the boy the hair in the shape of a pineapple.
"It's only going to be problematic." Answered the boy yellow hair, playing with an even bigger smile.
"Let's play another game." Curiously, Nara's speech was not a question, but a definite statement.
"Who knows late ..."
Hideki was about to reply, but his thoughts were interrupted by a new voice.
Excuse me, I was watching you and I think you'd be a good I sit here, too? My name is Yamanaka Inoshi and I'm glad to meet you." Asked the boy with yellow hair, characteristic of all Yamanakas. Inoshi had the average height of a child of 8 years. With a messy hair, the Yamanaka had the charisma held by all members of his clan.
"Of course. I'm Naruto, me too, Yamanaka-san.
"No problem. Nara Hideki, Inoshi-san."
"No formalities! Please call me Inoshi, no article."
"Likewise." Responded Naruto and Hideki in perfect synchrony. Watching this, all three boys laughed at the inner joke.
The boys intended to keep talking, but were interrupted by another presence that had entered the room. Naruto realized vaguely that the classroom was no longer empty as when it came in and that, in fact, it was now completely full. The boy also noted that the new presence was the same man who gave the speech after Yondaime, on stage.
"Good morning class! My name is Sarutobi Ren and I will be your sensei during this year. The man next to me," He said, pointing to the chuunin who had gently talked to Naruto at the classroom door. "is Yuri Takashi and he's my assistant. I hope we have productive years. In the first year, the curriculum will be composed of ...
For the rest of the morning, the two senseis introduced the planning of the academy years and made the class introduce itself and the students to know each other.
The three friends, Naruto, Hideki and Inoshi, were talking all day and there was born a new friendship, that would catalyze changes never seen in the elementary countries.
Thus, began the story of new legends, which would guide the shinobi world through the storms that would come ...