Prologue

Kushina gasped for breath, lungs burning as she stood over the two now dead ROOT Anbu ninjas. Pain seared up and down her left leg whenever she put weight on it. Gritting her teeth, she left the room silently. Kushina had to get to her son, to take him away from this place while she had the chance.

"Minato-kun, you don't need to push Naruto so hard. He's only three after all."

"He's a big boy, he can take it." Kushina shook her head at her husband, "He's going to be the one who protects the Village someday."

"Him and every other leaf ninja."

"Mommy?" Naruto looked up from playing with his toy kunai.

Kushina put on a smile for him, "Hey Naru-kun. We are going to play a ninja game okay?" She knew this wasn't something she should try to explain to him. How would she tell her son that they were going to be running away from his own father?

"Naruto will be the great power who keeps us in peace. No one will attack the Leaf when he grows up."

"Nani?"

Naruto grinned happily as he clung to his mother's back. They were 'running away', trying to see how far away they could get from home before they were caught.

Kushina ran as fast as she could, trying to put as much distance between them and the Leaf Village. Convincing Naruto to be quiet was the easy part, ninja's had to carry out their missions in silence, this was just another game to him. But to Kushina, it was very real.

Every other step made her leg throb more, the pain becoming numbing as she ran. Wounds from her earlier battle stung painfully as she moved. High in the tress she darted from shadow to shadow, avoiding any and all chances of being seen from the Village walls, she didn't want to be noticed, nor found missing until she was well away from Konoha.

"You're beginning to sound like Naruto's a weapon."

"He will be, all ninja's are weapons." Kushina narrowed her eyes at Minato dangerously. He knew how she felt about such things.

"All ninja's are human, with morals and dreams. You can't make him become something he isn't or doesn't want to be."

"But he's already a weapon."

Kushina paused for a moment to catch her breath before plunging into the dense forest. "How are you holding up Naru-kun?"

"Fine, I want to run to." Naruto whispered, happy they hadn't been caught yet. That meant the game was still on.

"Not yet, you can run if you still want to when it starts to get lighter ok? I don't want you to hurt yourself in the dark." Kushina compromised, they needed to widen the distance as much as possible now.

"Naruto isn't a weapon, he's your son!"

"I sealed the Kyuubi inside of him. That sealed his fate, he's going to be a weapon and he's going to learn how to control the demon inside of him. He will be able to control it better than that Killer Bee from Kumo. Don't you see what I'm trying to do? I'm trying to make the world a better place for him in the long run Kushina. Better for our family."

"Better for our family? You're turning our son into a weapon for kami's sake, beyond what a ninja is considered as a weapon."

Kushina grit her teeth against the pain, her conversation with Minato ringing in her ears. Reminding her why she was running in the first place. Her resolve began to numb the pain, her mind focusing solely on getting Naruto away from such a future. She had always been a strong believer in letting people decide their own fates, despite the common belief that it was already decided at birth. And she would stop at nothing to make sure her only son would have the same chance of picking his own future as well.

"Danzo, what do you think of this?" Kushina demanded, turning on the senior ninja, looking for any kind of support. Even from the leader of ROOT.

"I believe Lord Hokage is making the right decision. Not only is he securing the safety of the village, but he is also making sure that the Kyuubi doesn't overpower your son and go on a rampage." Danzo responded dully.

"Exactly!" Minato shouted, throwing his hands into the air.

"I think I heard someone behind us." Naruto whispered, Kushina stiffened trusting her son not to be playing around.

"Are you sure?"

"Hai!"

Kushina groaned silently, they had caught onto her too fast, Minato would be following in a matter of seconds once their pursuers caught up. They needed to lose them fast. Jumping to the forest floor Kushina began moving faster than before, panic fueling her muscles to work harder, to endure the pain while she fled.

"If you continue to treat Naruto this way I swear I'll take him and run away from this Village."

"And go where? Your home Village was destroyed in the last war. This is your home now Kushina." Minato growled, this conversation was growing old fast. "You aren't going anywhere with my son."

"I'll go anywhere that will keep Naruto from becoming a weapon for your personal uses."

Kushina cried out in shock as her foot caught on a tree root, sending both her and Naruto crashing to the ground. While Naruto remained fairly unharmed by the fall, his mother taking most of the damage, Kushina landed heavily on her side and stomach, reopening a bloody wound won from her battle with the ROOT Anbu.

The three year old's smile faded once he caught sight of the blood seeping through his mother's shirt. This game wasn't fun anymore.

"Mommy, you're bleeding." the young boy whispered, scared by the crimson liquid. Out of all the ninja in the world, only his parents were totally indestructible. So why was she bleeding so much?

Kushina smiled grimly, covering the pain the best she could. "I'm fine, really. Mommy just needs a quick rest." She shrugged off her jacket, ripping portions of it into strips and wrapping them around her middle. Creating a make-shift bandage that would last until they got to a small village.

"I don't like this game anymore, can we go home?"

"How would you stop me from taking my son? You are rarely home because of your Hokage duties!" Kushina demanded furiously, she didn't mind that he was out a lot due to his job, he was loved by everyone. "Your jounin would let me do as I please no matter what you said."

"I'm putting you under watch Kushina. You and Naruto from now on, Danzo will select two ROOT members to oversee you. To make sure you don't do anything rash. I wouldn't want you to weaken the Village or become a threat to us." Minato growled just as furiously as his wife.

"Over there!"

Kushina jumped, the voice was close, they couldn't afford to lose anymore time. Scooping Naruto into her arms she darted into the trees, plunging deeper into the forest praying that she would lose her followers.

"Stop!" Kushina grunted in pain as kunai where embedded into her back, but she didn't stop. She made comforting sounds to Naruto as he started to cry, trying to calm him.

"Who are you? You aren't the man I thought I married."

Kushina was caught, surrounded by three ROOT Anbu. Clutching her son to her chest she bared her teeth at the men who were ready to do anything to bring back the Kyuubi child. Even kill the wife of the Hokage if necessary.

"Sometimes war changes a person Kushina."

Naruto dropped to the ground, running towards a tree his mother had pointed out to him as a safe place to hide while she took care of the Anbu. One of the ninja tried to get a hold of him as he ran by but was stooped by a harsh kick from Kushina. The three year old watched terrified as his mother fought viciously with the Anbu. Unable to tear his eyes away as two of them were killed, the third strangling her as he coward, tears running uncontrollably down his face.

"I don't think that even war could have changed a person this much."

Something inside of Naruto snapped. Without knowing why, he darted out of his hiding place, screaming as he ran towards his dying mother.

"Whoa there gaki, I don't think you'd want to be interfering in this." Naruto crumpled to the ground motionless, a man standing over him grimaced. "Didn't mean to hit him so hard."

"No!" Kushina choked out, vision fading as the Anbu's grip loosened on her. The man dove forward, cutting into the Anbu's side viciously. Blood spilled from the wound in waves, drenching his clothes. Kushina took her last chance to cut the Anbu's throat, letting him drop dead in front of her as she slid down a tree trunk.

"You okay lady?"

"I'm dying, do you think I'm okay?" Kushina growled weakly, slipping a ring off of her finger, eyes fixing on her son. "You didn't kill him did-"

"No, he should be fine. Just hit him a lil to hard tha's all." The man grunted roughly. "Since yer dyin' and all, is there anything I can do as a last wish? Since I'm going to loot your corpse. Sorry it's my trade as a bandit." He grinned cheekily.

Kushina's dull mind slowly processed this information. "Would you then, give this to my son and take him away from here? I don't want his father to find him. Just get him away."

The bandit blinked slowly at her, taking the ring from her fingers carefully. He looked back at the small boy unconscious on the ground, he'd always wanted a kid of his own, but couldn't seam to managed finding a wife who would stand by him as he continued his life as a bandit. He shrugged to himself, the boy was old enough to manage on his own for short amounts of time. Didn't need to be constantly babysat like a baby would. Hell all of that had already been taken care of by his real parents.

"Sure, what's his name lady?"

Kushina smiled faintly, "He's three years old and his names N-"

She never finished her last sentence, her consciousness abandoning her as soon as she confirmed Naruto would be taken away from his father's clutched soon. The man looked at her mournfully, and closed her eyes. Pocketing the ring he looted the other corpses, taking weapons and other valuables they had on them. Deciding to leave Kushina alone to die in peace he scooped Naruto up on his shoulders and lumbered away, whistling quietly to himself as he vanished into the thicket.

Challenge: 1,ooo - 2,ooo words

Word Count: 1,858

Reveiw as always readers. And check out FalseIdentity's version of the story. Same story idea intentionally meant to test our writing abilities, so it's not stolen from either of us. It's done intentionally. We even have a coupla rules in place which I will not post until the last chapter and whatnot.
Questions? Feel free to ask 'em whenever you like. I'll get back to you when I do.

Her version .net/s/5869456/1/Banditti_are_the_New_Nnja

4/4/2o1o, 11:48 pm

Edited 4/5/2o1o