Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto it would not be showed on children's networks on TV. Needless to say I don't own it. Nor do I make any profit from writing this, except the joy of getting reviews, and practicing my writing skills.
Warning: Although there's none in the beginning, this is slash because I don't write otherwise. There's also mature content as far as language and violence goes. Heck, the title is 'Assassin King' What did you expect?
Summary: In a world of gangs there lives one group that is miles ahead of the rest, they are the elite, the unbeatable, and the mysterious, the Assassin's, and the one man who controls them want's one thing in the world more then anything. Naruto.
Assassin King
Chapter 1: Assassin Prince
Kyuubi Kazuma. Formerly known as Uzumaki Naruto, A.k.a. Kitsune, A.k.a. The Assassin Prince. At this point you may be wondering why in the world does this one person have so many aliases? One word, safety. Surviving in the world of gangs taught the once blonde now red head one thing, either you keep your head up and fight, or keep your head down and hide. There was no in-between, neutrals were killed faster then members of gangs, and if you weren't in a gang then you had better hope a family member was.
Protection by Association better known as P.A. was the one law that the gangs actually truly followed, if a family member had gained a position within the gang their family was also protected by default. This was both a blessing and a curse to Uzumaki Naruto. Let's start at the beginning.
Naruto Uzumaki was 6 pounds seven ounces of pure joy when he was born. Son to Arashi Uzumaki, and Kikyo Uzumaki. He gurgled, smiled, and cried, but his pure innocent tears didn't match the heart wrenching agony that his father endured, seeing his own wife wretched away from him violently by death. Kikyo died giving birth to her only son, and Arashi never forgave Naruto for it. You may be appalled, and you may be angry at Arashi. How in the world could a man hate his son, an innocent just for being brought into the world? Simple. Kikyo was his life. She was his water, his food, his oxygen. He couldn't live without her. So when she chose the life of her unborn child over staying with him he took it as the ultimate betrayal. Kikyo chose to keep her child, despite the warnings from her doctor that she would die in childbirth. She never told Arashi, fearing that he would force her to abort. She sacrificed herself because of her love for her son, and Arashi couldn't help but feel jealous of his child.
Moving on in years Naruto was a happy toddler, bright, curious, and intelligent. His father was quickly moving up the ranks of the Assassin's, making it into the twelve elite at the age of 23. The twelve elite are the best within the gang, they weren't thugs like the rest, they were the highly trained left hand of the Assassin King 'the third'. To make it into the ranks, you either had to fight and win against one of the members, kill one of the members, or for the lucky few, replace one of the members by being hand picked by the king himself.
Naruto was learning his father's trade right along side him, men within the company took to the bright ball of sunshine like bees to honey. It was a rare occurrence that a member would have a family, most worried that it could be used against them, and refrained from showing any more affection then a one night stand. Therefore having a child was almost unheard of, although accidents did happen, it was rare that the child would be brought up with the care of the father rather then the mother. With all the ladder climbing Arashi was doing he had no time for little Naruto, leaving the others within the 12 elite to help raise and train the child, a job they did with happiness and relish. The smile on the child's face as he learned how to expertly wield a gun, was worth the countless hours and numerous nicks and close calls to Genma. The exclamation of happiness when the teen could now officially call himself a master of weapons was priceless to TenTen. The bone-crushing hug he gave Gai when he finally beat him in a martial arts practice was enough to send the man into tears of happiness complete with a sunset background and crashing waves. But the one man who cherished the blonde above all was Iruka. In him he saw the innocence and happiness he had lost when he was merely a teen, the child provided him with a chance to do everything right that he himself did wrong. Seeing as Arashi had essentially abandoned the child in order to further himself within the company, Iruka took it upon himself to become Naruto's unspoken guardian, never were the two not seen together. Needless to say this put a strain on all of Iruka's other associates, namely his then long time boyfriend Kakashi, however the two managed to keep their relationship going, until the third Assassin King died.
The day was marked with sadness and dismay, he was loved by all members of the assassin's, although they were not allowed to show it. Although the group was powerful they never tried to work beyond their means, they never attacked another gang unless their territory was in question, they never sought out a fight, and all members were well taken care of. Such a loss was certain to cause mutiny in the ranks over who would replace him, his death was so quick and unexpected that he had yet to name a successor, and since his death was deemed to be natural they couldn't hand the title over to the killer. The way that succession worked within the Assassins, was that either the king passed on the title to another, or the title was forcefully taken. Most assumed one of the three Sannin would take over the title, considering that they were thought to be the most powerful, except for perhaps a select few within the 12 elite. What they didn't however assume was that the third had chosen a successor, and that he stated it clearly in his will. The population was shocked when the ladder climbing Arashi received title of Assassin King, but none more shocked then his own son when he bestowed his former title within the 12 elite upon the eight year old.
Arashi's reign was as peaceful as the thirds, and all was well, that was until the great gang war arose on the day Naruto turned twelve. All of the gangs within the country of Konoha joined in the fray, it was the bloodiest battle the world ever saw, with civilians looking on in total awe.1 Cloud was nearly decimated, Half of Wave's members were washed away, Wind was blown off the map, Earth held their ground remaining strong until their leader was assassinated leading to chaos and panic and their eventual defeat. The only groups that remained relatively untouched were the Assassins, the Uchiha's a family gang, Akatuski a gang of Rouge members who had abandoned their past gangs, and a new relatively unknown group of Sound.
On the 5th of November the Assassin's headquarters was attacked by members of Sound, how they got into the building is still unknown, but the damage they caused forever shook the foundation of the Assassins. The group was caught unawares, which I suppose in and of itself is ironic. The fact that they were assassins meant they should be aware at all times, but its not as if they were ninjas. Headquarters was meant to be the one place they could all relax, the safety measures were numerous and it was quite literally impossible to get into the building without inside help. The battle that ensued between Sound and the Assassins was grim. Members of the twelve elite were lost, causing immense grief for the then 12-year-old blonde. One of his mentors Gai was killed in the fight while protecting his long time rival Kakashi, although Kakashi survived he was never quite the same ever again, losing his left eye in the battle. Iruka received a nasty cut across the bridge of his nose while fighting three highly skilled members of Akatuski at once. TenTen was paralyzed waist down by a well-placed knife, she continued to fight using her arms until she slumped to the floor with a bullet between her eyes. Hayate was stabbed through the heart by a sword, the metal caressing the muscle as a needle fell slowly from his lips to hit the ground. Genma was decapitated the look of intense concentration etched on his face, while the few remaining elite were battling a massive army of Sound members.
The only thing that saved the remaining members was an explosion that echoed through the building, when the smoke and dust cleared the Sound members were gone and all that remained was the remnants of the gore filled battle. A small figure emerged from the dusk, his bright blond hair acted as a beacon for the surviving members. The teen was breathing heavily with his hand clutching a gash on his side. Iruka ran to the blonde's side as he collapsed to the floor. Kakashi dragged his limp leg behind him as he hobbled over, blood streaked down from his useless left eye. The remaining members went off in search of the king only to find Orochimaru standing over the man's prone body, while a sword stuck from the blonde's chest. The remaining 12 bowed to their new master, while Iruka and Naruto helped a limping Kakashi over to the scene. Kakashi screamed out in pain and disbelief upon seeing his mentor lying in a pool of blood, the man had taught him everything he knew, he loved his sensei with all his heart. Iruka turned to assess Naruto's reaction, only seeing the teen's glazed over and expressionless look, as the blond surveyed the scene with no emotion. Merely turning and walking out of the room.
The funeral that took place merely a day later was surveyed with both heartache and disinterest. A few of the members hated their new king with a passion, Kakashi, and Iruka among them. They viewed the death of their former king as a betrayal, but they kept their mouths shut. One did not survive long within the world of gangs by running off their mouths. While other members could care less, another fight, another chance, another king. It was all the same to them. Naruto did not attend.
Weeks and months went by, Orochimaru had hired and replaced a number of the fallen members of the twelve. His control over the masses was ever growing, and his lust for control and power was nearly insatiable, they were performing mass attacks on numerous small time gangs, slowly gaining more power and territory. Members were clawing to get into the good graces of their new master, however their efforts were overlooked. The Snake master only had eyes for one person. Naruto. Iruka was disturbed by the looks that the man gave the teen, and how he licked his lips when he saw the blond return from a fight covered in blood, some his own, most from others. Orochimaru was a sick fuck, if the noises emitted from his chambers by his bedmates was anything to go by.
Iruka knew that he had to do something to get Naruto out of there before something horrible happened. He had been protecting the teen's innocence for since as long as he could remember, shielding the blond from the depravity of humanity. Orochimaru was bound to make a move soon, his power was expanding as well as the territory he gained. The Assassins were on their way to becoming something entirely different, something much more powerful, something much more terrible, something more befitting of their title, and Iruka didn't want to be a part of it. It was in that moment that he had decided to leave the Assassin's, to escape, to flee, to run like a bat out of hell, to vanish. And he was going to take Naruto with him.
In the middle of the night the pair escaped from the compound, the security within the building was at an all time high, but Iruka and Naruto weren't two of the highest ranking members for nothing. They had escaped, found their freedom, but freedom comes at a cost.
Determined to remain within the shadows the two adopted new names, identities, and cut their ties with one another, instead opting to keep in touch occasionally to avoid detection. They moved away from Fire Country, Naruto staying within a small town called Konoha, while Iruka taught at a school within the district. Finding a job proved would prove near impossible for the teen, instead he chose to change his age thus making himself a more appealing candidate. He made enough to get by.
The teen stayed relatively quiet and unnoticed within his grade school, earning average marks, attempting to hide the majority of his intelligence, instead opting for a mask of indifference. He made a few friends, but they were as fake as his smiles, it wasn't until he finally reached high school age and entered into the school Iruka taught that he finally met people that interested him, people he found worthy of his attention, worthy of one of his true smiles, worthy of his friendship, love and affection. People he was willing to die for, and finally people for whom P.A. would become both a godsend and a curse.
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Yes. Ultimate showdown reference. I am that cool.
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