Disclaimer: Naruto is © property of Masashi Kishimoto. Story and Original Characters are © material of Anomander Rake. Do not use without owner's permission.
Warning: Naruto: The Tempest Chronicles is rated M for coarse language, violence, use of alcohol/drugs, sexuality and dark themes.
Author's Note: Welcome ladies and gentlemen to Naruto: The Tempest Chronicles, my latest fan fiction project. First let me start off by saying this story does not follow the character Naruto nor does it follow any of the other characters featured in the manga and anime series. Instead the story follows Naruto's grandson, Uzumaki Arashi, as he seeks to end the World War before it destroys the Ninja lifestyle. Anyways, I hope you enjoy my story. Please review, I like to hear the reader thoughts. Criticism is also welcome as long as it's constructive. With that said, I present to you the Prologue… The Chronicles begin now.
Naruto: The Tempest Chronicles
A story by Anomander Rake
Prologue
Konoha Medical Building
46 years ago…
Uzumaki Naruto paced nervously up and down the narrow hallway, each footstep causing an echo inside the otherwise silent facility. Sitting quietly in chairs off to one side were two of his mentors and closest friends, Hatake Kakashi and Yamato Tenzo. The former was re-reading through one of his perverted novels, a volume that told the story of a gallant hero and his choice between two beautiful young women. Naruto knew that particular novel quite well, as his former Sensei had read through it at least two dozen times since the two had met and he himself had even read through it once out of curiosity. The latter's reason for accompanying the group was, Naruto assumed, to keep an eye on him and make sure the Kyuubi did not attempt anything. While he had learned to keep the beast in check most of the time, it still began to act up when his emotions became unstable. And as it were, Naruto now stood outside the emergency room where Karin had been rushed only hours before, leaving Naruto with no information to go on but "There's been complications,", an ambiguous explanation given to him by Sakura before she closed the door on his face. Now all he could do was stand and wait until somebody decided to update him with information on the situation.
Sasuke stared silently up at the moon from atop a tree branch he had chosen as the camp's lookout point. On a nearby branch sat Naruto, who chose also to be lookout even though it was Sasuke's shift. The next morning they would finally confront Akatsuki once and for all, so how could anyone expect him to sleep? Beneath them the campsite was faintly lit by the dying embers of the cooking fire, the sleeping bodies of the other ninja hidden amongst the shadows. Naruto's eyes were on one ninja in particular, her face covered by her light pink hair and her sleeping bag rising and falling in rhythm with each breath she took.
"Naruto…" Sasuke's voice was low, his eyes still on the moon above.
Naruto did not answer but rather turned his head to look at Sasuke. It had been more than a week since Sasuke and his friends had joined teams with the Konoha ninja but still Sasuke hardly talked. He kept mainly to himself, which was not unlike his behaviour, but Naruto could not sense the anger he was used to feeling in his best friend, only a cold emptiness. In the end, killing his brother Itachi seemed to do little in the way of making him happier. Sasuke closed his eyes.
"Karin is pregnant with my child." He said slowly as if he was choosing each word carefully. "If something ever happened to me…"
"Nothing will-" Naruto started but Sasuke cut him off.
"Don't." Sasuke's head turned towards the blonde ninja. He opened his eyes. "Please just listen to what I have to say, okay?"
Naruto winced. "…O-Okay."
"…Thanks." Sasuke closed his eyes again. "If something ever happened to me and I couldn't raise my child… Would you watch over him or her for me?"
Naruto's heart felt like a stone in his chest. He didn't like hearing his friend talk like this but he knew it would be better to answer the question properly. Nodding again, Naruto turned his attention toward Karin's sleeping form. "Definitely… I'd protect them as if they were my own child."
"Thank you…" Sasuke whispered, the words nearly too quiet to be heard even in the dead of night. When Naruto finally looked back at his friend, he could see the moonlight reflected off the tears on his cheeks and his lips forced into a smile that looked more sad than happy.
"…Naruto."
Just as Naruto was about to take a seat beside the others, the door swung open and Sakura stepped out from the room. She held in one arm a bundle of blankets which she cradled back and forth, but her eyes were wet with tears and as soon as Naruto and the others took a look at her, they knew they were not tears of joy. Naruto was the first at her side but the question he meant to ask got caught in his throat as he looked down at the bundle in her arm. He could see a tiny pink face poking outfrom beneath the three layers of blankets, its eyes closed and its breathing steady. On its head was a line of black fuzz and its nostrils flared with each breath it took. Naruto was mesmerized by the sight, so much so he forgot the fact Sakura had been crying and it was only when Kakashi broke the silence that he remembered what he had wanted to ask.
"What happened?" Kakashi asked Sakura, his book nowhere to be seen. Despite the situation, his voice seemed rather serious.
"She didn't make it…" Sakura whispered.
It took a moment for the words to form meaning in his mind. When it did, he couldn't even control his actions. Turning towards the room, Naruto took two steps, pushed open the door the entire way and looked towards the corner of the room. Lying on the bed was Karin, most of her body covered by a yellow comforter. Her glasses had been removed and placed on a table beside the bed, next to a vase of flowers that Naruto guessed was to give life to the otherwise depressing room. She looked so peaceful in sleep, her lips slightly parted and her cheeks still coloured reddish from the struggle of childbirth. But something was wrong, Naruto could instantly tell, and it didn't take him long to confirm that Karin wasn't sleeping, in fact, she wasn't even breathing. At the realization, Naruto almost collapsed.
"No…" Naruto whispered, placing one hand against the wall to lean on. "No!"
Before Naruto knew it, Kakashi was at his side with his hand on his shoulder in a supporting gesture. He remained like this for a time but didn't say anything, because he knew he had to let Naruto come to terms with the loss on his own. Sakura's head was hung, shoulders shaking uncontrollably as she watched the baby nestled in her arms. Yamato stood off to the side, his full attention on Naruto.
"I was supposed to protect her…" Naruto whispered to himself. "I promised…"
"Don't let your guard down!" Sasuke screamed to the others as the enemy closed in. Several ninja, each with orange hair and facial piercings, were closing in around them and despite killing the bodies, they tended to come back to life. Apparently each body was a piece of a whole, six bodies controlled by one mind. Whoever it was, he called himself "Pein" and was obviously the Akatsuki leader. The others were off fighting the remaining members of Akatsuki, each caught in their own battlefield and thus Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke were left alone to deal with the strongest of the enemies. "Sakura, watch out!"
Hearing Sasuke's warning, Sakura turned in time to catch an incoming fist that was swung at her head by one of Pein's bodies. Closing her hand over the wrist, Sakura twisted his arm until she heard the sound of his bones breaking and then delivered a knee to his abdomen with enough force that he was sent crashing through a nearby tree. The body was impaled on a large piece of bark and then crushed beneath the weight of the tree, successfully putting him out of the fight. Meanwhile, a group of Naruto's kage bunshins were assaulting another body with various taijutsu attacks and then followed up with a successful rasengan. Naruto drove the rasengan right into the enemy's chest which sent him sprawling into the dirt but not before burning a large hole through his flesh. Then just as Naruto's bunshins disappeared and he made to finish the enemy off, Sasuke's voice called out to him.
"Naruto, watch out!" Naruto turned in confusion to see why Sasuke was yelling and then he saw what Sasuke had seen, a black spear moving with impossible speed towards Naruto. The main Pein body had summoned it at some point and none of them had noticed and now in the face of danger, Naruto hesitated.
"Not good!" Naruto growled, as he squeezed his eyes closed and ground his teeth together. He then brought his arms up to shield himself as he hopelessly awaited the incoming spear. When nothing happened, Naruto opened his eyes to see Sasuke standing in front of him with his arms spread wide, the black spear driven completely through his torso. He just stood there motionless for what seemed like an eternity, his arms spread as if he were a hawk ready to take flight. But suddenly Sasuke's body heaved as he coughed and a stream of blood began to run from between his lips. Using his last bit of strength, Sasuke looked back towards Naruto, gave him a brief smile and then collapsed to the ground.
"Naruto…" Sakura said quietly, her head still hung. Suddenly Naruto lashed out against the wall, punching it in frustration. The sound woke up the baby and he began to cry. Naruto was surprised at the baby's sudden reaction, and immediately felt sorry for what he did. Sakura just cradled the baby in her arm, humming soothing noises in an attempt to calm the child down. When it wouldn't stop crying, Sakura smiled sadly. "I guess he's hungry."
She placed her finger on the baby's lips to hush it, as she gently rocked him back and forth. Unconsciously, the baby boy took Sakura's finger into his mouth and began to suck on the tip. With the baby soothed, the hospital soon became deathly quiet again. Naruto turned towards Karin's lifeless body again and took one last look at her.
"I will protect your child." Naruto promised, his voice rising with each word. "That I swear to you."
And with that, Naruto turned and stepped outside of the room, pulling closed the door behind him. Kakashi patted Naruto on the back.
"We will give her a royal funeral and have her laid to rest beside Sasuke in the Uchiha cemetery." Kakashi assured Naruto.
Naruto looked up at Kakashi and nodded. "I think she would have liked that idea. I think both her and Sasuke would be happy."
"I'm sure they are out there somewhere, watching over you Naruto." Yamato said, speaking for the first time during the whole ordeal. "And wherever they are, I'm sure they are happy."
"Yeah…" Naruto whispered.
"Sakura, try and heal him!" Naruto was screaming, desperately trying to keep his friend from dying on him. Sakura had used a jutsu to cover the surrounding area with earth pulled from the ground around them and Naruto was keeping the Pein bodies at bay with kage bunshins. Sakura had already pulled the spear from Sasuke's body and had since begun working on healing the wound. Despite what she tried, his condition steadily grew worse. Naruto could tell Sakura was becoming frustrated with the lack of success, more and more tears began to run down her cheeks and her teeth were ground tightly together. Naruto was about to make a suggestion when Sasuke started to talk.
"Give it up, it's no use…" He whispered, his voice muffled by the blood in his mouth. "The spear he used… Something is wrong…"
Sasuke coughed and Sakura quickly leaned his head to the side, allowing for the blood to exit the mouth so it wouldn't clog his throat and choke him. After the fit was over, Sasuke began to talk again.
"Naruto… My child…" He was about to cough again but made an effort to prevent it. Successfully he avoided coughing up more blood and after a few seconds was able to talk again. "Remember what I asked… Protect Karin… Protect our child…"
Naruto grabbed Sasuke's hand in his. "Cut it out, Sasuke. We didn't come this far just so you could die on us now. Sakura is going to heal you and you are going to come home with us. You are going to be a father and you're going to damn well grow old with me, do you understand?"
Tears began to run from Naruto's eyes as he wrapped his arms around Sasuke. Lifting his body off the ground, he pulled Sasuke into a hug and looked over his shoulder at Sakura. She simply shook her head, an indication that she had failed and nothing could be done to save their friend. Naruto felt his heart rip in two at that moment but chose to fight the inevitability, he would not believe that Sasuke could die. Not after everything Naruto had done to find and save him. Was Naruto not the wind and Sasuke the fire? Was wind not supposed to fan the flames, to make them stronger? So why was the fire dying?
"I said do you understand me!?" Naruto screamed, his body heaving as he began to cry. Beneath him, Sasuke lifted his arm, a task he struggled with greatly, and then let it fall over Naruto's shoulder, returning the hug he was being given. With his other hand, he tried to reach out to Sakura, but his strength was beginning to fail. Sakura understood him, however, and caught Sasuke's hand as it fell and held it tightly in hers. Feeling how cold his skin was, she began to cry even harder.
"Idiots…" Sasuke smiled. His teeth were completely red from the blood. "You never stopped… Even when I betrayed you, even when I hurt you… You always followed me."
"Of course!" Naruto screamed, his voice cracking in the process. "You're our friend."
"Friend?" Sasuke considered the word. His voice was growing weaker now and it took him longer to say each word. "Yes, you are my friends."
They could not say how long they had remained there like that, holding on to Sasuke while a battle with the enemy raged on all around them. They also couldn't say at which point Sasuke had drew his final breath, though when they both came to, Sasuke had already succumb to the wound. They decided to stay like that for a short time longer, as this would be the last time team seven would be together.
Suddenly, Naruto felt Sakura's hand grab his own and she directed his attention to the baby in her arms. "He still doesn't have a name."
"Oh, right…" Naruto whispered, looking down at the tiny human that could fit in one of Sakura's arms. He felt a great love for the baby, an overwhelming need to comfort and protect him. He knew if Sasuke was here to see his son, nothing could ever make him more proud. "What about Shinka? We should name him Shinka."
"Shinka…" Sakura considered. "Shinka is a beautiful name."
"Uchiha Shinka..." Naruto squeezed Sakura's hand tightly as he brushed his other hand through Shinka's fuzzy hair. "…Our son."
End note: So ends the prologue to Naruto: The Tempest Chronicles. The real story begins next chapter where you will be introduced to the real characters of the story. Just a reminder, this story takes place 46 years after what you just read and follows the lives of two friends, Uzumaki Arashi and Uchiha Hotaru. Are you as excited as I am? Probably not, but oh well.
Confirmations for the Confused:
- Naruto gets together with Sakura and they raise Shinka. Additionally, they will go on to have a son of their own.
- Sasuke and Karin hook up after the death of Uchiha Itachi. They never got married but their son was planned.
- Karin died giving birth to her son. This was caused by both health problems related to Sasuke's death (Lack of nutrition, improper sleeping habits, etc.) and birthing complications caused mainly because of noted health problems.
- Despite her earlier obsession with Sasuke, Sakura did try everything in her power to save Karin from dying. She in no way, shape or form worked towards Karin's death and was genuinely upset when Karin did not make it.
- I realize Yamato is not actually Tenzo's surname, but rather his alias used in ANBU. For the sake of neatness in the fic, I chose to use Yamato as his surname instead.
Final words: Thank you for reading and always remember: Rake loves you all.