Prologue : Red all over
Publish Date: 04-01-2011
Rating : M (Not sure, so better safe than sorry)
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable Naruto characters, settings, etc. are the property of Masashi Kishimoto and Shueisha Inc. This story is for entertainment purposes only and no money exchanged hands. Other recognizable characters are the property of the respective mangaka. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author. This story may not be posted elsewhere without the consent of the author. Any similarity to any real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
****Hidden Leaf Village, seven years after the Kyuubi attack****
Bodies upon bodies of the feared Uchiha clan collapsed down upon the paved streets of the Uchiha grounds. As for those who were killed inside their houses, the sliding doors and walls within the houses were tainted with various blood spatters, assortment of kunais, and shurikens. The inhabitants of the Hidden Leaf Village would wonder later on how on earth no one had heard the screams of help and pain from those of the Uchiha clan. Eventually the news of the perpetrators' identities didn't make anyone doubt how secretive the killings had been carried out. Whether if there actually been cries of help or screams of pain had befallen onto deaf ears? Or if there had been any screams in the first place?
"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)!"
A deep exhale, chakra of fire affinity began to mix with the air inside the pair of expanded lungs, only to be quickly released as a fearsome ball of flames through puckered lips. A trademark technique of the Uchiha clan, from a male Uchiha was set loose upon its intended target. The attack had momentarily lit up the darkness of the night as various awakened Uchiha clan members gathered together only to hopelessly fight against their attacker.
Crimson red eyes that shone had proven the attack merely slowed him down instead of stopping him dead, the killer had lunged out of the flames and onto the fire breather. There were no screams of fury or frustration upon having been set ablaze, merely another swift and fatal attack ensued, the same one he had been doing upon each and every single Uchiha that he had set his eyes upon. A small gush of blood appeared at first, the wound worsened as it deepened, and the Uchiha was met with a second swift attack that finished him off for sure.
Another Uchiha had just been killed.
"Fa.. fa..Father!" The male Uchiha stared momentarily at his father's mutilated body as it rolled to a stop from the impact of the attack, he turned back to face the killer. "Damn you!"
A series of hand seals blurred, the thought of avenging his father's death flooded Uchiha Haga's mind. Blind rage won over careful planning and strategizing, as if he didn't care the idea of using the exact same fire Ninjutsu despite having already seen his father's more powerful attack fail before his eyes. Only a small breath of flames managed to escape through his puckered lips before a hand clamped over the Uchiha's mouth. The other hand then proceeded with rapid swipe into the flesh and cartilage that was between the chin and throat, the entire front part of the shinobi's neck.
All the trapped air and chakra inside the mouth escaped through the bleeding opening from the neck, as flames gushed and enveloped both the killer and his victim. It didn't seem to have surprised the killer when several sharp kunai blades had penetrated his back. Apparently, another Uchiha seemed to have taken the opening and threw seven kunais straight at him.
With a look over his shoulder, it was as if only at that moment he began to take notice of the Uchiha's presence, not when the various kunais had struck him. His footsteps were audible enough to be picked up by the superb senses of the surrounding Uchiha fighters, but the burst of speed briefly witnessed by them was a feat they rarely saw even out in the battlefield. A feat indeed, especially when their three tomoe Sharingan eyes had determined how truly fast he had moved. A pair of red eyes met another pair of red eyes, though both pairs had different pupils. One was adorned with the three tomoe around the pupils while the other pair simply had the pupils narrowed into fine slits.
The Uchiha had realized something, something all too late, as he coughed blood along with his last word. "Genjutsu…"
Maito Gai once said that simply because the eyes could see it, doesn't mean that one's body would be fast enough to react to it. Unknown the populace of the Hidden Leaf, the massacre of the Sharingan bearers would be testament to that. The night was still young, there had been three failed attempts upon this killer, and he left more dead bodies in his trail. More would follow suit, be it men, women, or children. A truly momentous night that would be added into the Hidden Leaf's history, another one with a full moon as witness, much like the night of the Kyuubi attack on the outskirts of the Hidden Leaf Village and the night of the epic battle between Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara.
"Calm down. Don't rush." the oldest of the seven present Uchiha assessed the situation. "Right now all I want is for all of you to be the real ninjas instead of some noisy panicked chickens about to be slaughtered."
The killer merely stared down at his most recent kill, as if still confirming the head, now devoid of a face and jaw, was finally dead.
"Right." Uchiha Setsuna, a seventeen year old Chuunin gripped his kunai tightly.
'Curse you Itachi. To think you'd betray us… like this? Of all ways… this?' Uchiha Hotaru cursed inwardly, he stared upon the personification of destruction before his very eyes. "Cover each other in pairs."
All seven Uchiha ninjas braced themselves for their inevitable deaths. They were ninjas, death was not too surprising in that line of work, but never once had they thought they would die like this. Members of one of the most feared clans of shinobi history, feared even before the establishment of the five great shinobi countries. The kunai in his lower back was just the first of many more weapons that would pierce his body in that night. Blood that wasn't his dripped from his finger tips, soon more blood would drip but from not claws.
Sweat, blood, soot, dirt, and splinters of wood would later dirty his skin, hair, and clothes.
He would bleed heavily and leave behind a long trail over the Uchiha grounds for the ANBU Leaf-nin to follow when everything was over.
Glazed red eyes set upon the next target, he hadn't broken into deep breaths from the moment he had taken his first kill, and he wouldn't be, not until everything was over. Mere seven years old Uzumaki Naruto, vessel of the fearsome nine tailed fox demon, proceeded to crouch with both hands readied once more. His body was being pushed beyond its limits. Any lactic acid that began to build up within his muscles from anaerobic respiration was quickly broken down by the red demonic chakra. Instead of regenerating his wounds, his body actually produced more blood cells to make up for the constant blood loss.
"Don't hesitate. Between breaking the Genjutsu and killing him then we-," declared Uchiha Hotaru,
"You don't have to tell me that. I'm still going to kill him. Genjutsu or no Genjutsu."
Hidden in the shadows, a masked man stood and watched as his killing machine continued on under the influence of his powerful Genjutsu technique. A mask that only one eye hole, on the right side, messy black hair visible under the hood he wore. The mask perfectly hid his gleeful look on his face, so many reasons to be satisfied about. There would plenty of bodies which he would be able to harvest their eyes, the worthiest of eyes, for his collection. He had managed to open another door, one of the most crucial of doors, in order to fulfill his ambition. The Jinchuuriki was an essential part of it, though he knew he'd have to postpone it, once Itachi discovers the boy and figure out what he had done. The aged Uchiha didn't mind, it didn't matter what the village would do with the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki.
One way or another, the boy was like the rest of them.
They can do whatever they want, but in the end he would be the one to truly utilize all that malevolent power sealed inside each and every single one of the Jinchuuriki and the tailed beasts sealed inside them.
****C*h*a*n*g*e***S*c*e*n*e***a*n*d***T*i*m*e****
Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Third Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village, quickly made his way from his house towards the Uchiha grounds despite already knowing what he was going to find once he arrived when two ANBU Leaf-nin reported in. Both ANBU Leaf-nins were following him, all three jumped their way from roof and roof taking the shortest route towards the scene. He had been reported that faint chakra anomalies had been detected from the Uchiha settlement as he and his partner had been doing their usual rounds of patrolling the outskirts of the village. The captain noted that he couldn't sense the slightest chakra signatures coming from inside the houses once they came near to investigate, it as if the entire place had been devoid of life. Their suspicions were confirmed when they came across bodies, weapons, and blood over the streets.
The escorting ANBU touched the earpiece hidden within his hood, "Hokage-sama,"
Hiruzen briefly looked at the masked shinobi, "What is it?"
"I've just confirmed with the barrier team that they haven't detected anyone unauthorized leaving or entering the village the whole time."
The leader of the Hidden Leaf Village merely nodded, he very well knew this was an inside job, in fact he knew who the perpetrator behind of all of this commotion. Itachi could have left the village undetected by the barrier team. Hiruzen's heart broke when he finally reached the scene and laid eyes on the aftermath of the massacre. More ANBU Leaf-nins joined by his side as he began making his way deeper into the Uchiha settlement, as one by one each of the masked shinobi gave their verbal reports as they walked beside him.
"It was Uchiha Itachi," A tiger masked ANBU reported, "Somehow he managed to get pass the detection barrier unnoticed, but he was spotted by an outpost just outside the village wall.
Hiruzen knew something wasn't adding up, someone of Itachi's caliber wouldn't have been spotted unless he intended it to be so.
A bite of thumb, enough to draw blood, Hiruzen performed the necessary hand seals and touched the ground, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu."
The elder monkey summoning, Enma, made his entry with an explosion of smoke. He scowled even more than he usually would, when the all too familiar smell of blood and the dead permeated his nose.
"Sarutobi," Enma huffed in revulsion on the sight, he was very much aware of the Uchiha predicament, something grave enough for Hiruzen to have consulted him when all his advisors and circumstances were against him.
"Search for any survivors," Hiruzen was the only one who knew there could only be one Uchiha still alive, somewhere.
"From the looks of things, I doubt there would be any." Enma looked to his left and right.
They were no medic-nin, but they could sense the faintest chakra and life signs from bodies, though apparently they didn't find any from the bodies. Enma was no ninja dog, not a dog at all, but he definitely had the ability the sense chakra better than Hiruzen currently could. That and the fact that Hiruzen would be fighting to his fullest capability with Enma by his side should the need of arise.
All present shinobi broke into teams of two, they searched the houses, streets, and even the Uchiha Police Station itself. With every dead body they discovered, checked, and confirmed, they thought that perhaps Enma was right, every Uchiha was probably dead. To them, Uchiha Itachi had made another mark in history, another addition to his great achievements, this time the killing off his own fellow clansmen. The infamous Sannin, Orochimaru, and his acts of betrayal before fleeing the village was a pale comparison to what Itachi had achieved.
"Hokage-sama, we've found someone." An ANBU wearing an owl mask alerted, upon having received the news through the radio transmitter.
Just as Hiruzen thought, they had found Sasuke unconscious, only a short distance from his house; unlike all the others he only had a slight gash on his left shoulder.
"It's Uchiha Sasuke." noted an awaiting ANBU Leaf-nin, when they responded to the call.
Even without the aid of Hiruzen's photographic memory, it wasn't hard for him to instantly recognize who the ANBU shinobi was, right by Sasuke's side. After all, with his silver wild hair, the ever activating transplanted Sharingan that was his left eye and the red and white dog mask that he wore.
"How is he?" Hiruzen personally checked him.
"Only a deep cut near the right shoulder. Nothing life threatening," answered Kakashi.
Hiruzen nodded. "Bring him to the hospital immediately."
An ANBU suddenly appeared close by using a Shunshin no Jutsu, down on one knee as he reported to the Hokage. "Hokage-sama…You have to see this…"
So he did, with Enma by side walking on all four, the two veteran shinobi knew exactly what was wrong after coming across three dead bodies. Their eyes widened upon seeing the state of the bodies that were completely different from those they initially come across when they entered.
"This…" Hiruzen trailed off.
It was clearly grotesque in comparison, a male body laid chest upwards, and he was missing a large chunk of his neck. His voice box, trachea, esophagus, all gone and from the looks of it, it was as if something had clawed off his neck. A slit of a throat was but a pale comparison to this. The spine and the flesh around the vertebrae was the only thing that kept the head attached to the body.
Hiruzen turned, he saw two more bodies up ahead, having been killed in the same manner.
"Sarutobi, these could only been done by hand," Enma took a closer inspection.
"I know," replied Hiruzen, the closest attack he could think of capable of inflicting such wounds were the Inuzuka clan's Jujin techniques.
The so called 'Man-Beast' technique of the Inuzuka utilized claws formed with the aid of chakra. He also thought of those metal clawed gauntlets usually associated with the Mist shinobi of the Hidden Mist Village. This was an entirely different killing method, something not of Itachi's way of killing. It wasn't long before more surprises ensued where everything began to take a turn for the worse. Those bodies, each one killed more violent than the previous one.
"What in the world?"
A bloody footprint, judging from the size of it, it didn't belong to an adult.
"Definitely a kid's." said an ANBU, the fact was pretty much obvious if left unsaid.
Then there were more of them, the patterns of the footprints haphazardly switch from walking to running vice versa. Initially they thought it belonged to one of the victims, but then it kept going. Whatever it was, they knew they wouldn't like should they finally find out who it belonged to. Sure enough, they finally did, and it was biggest surprise for Hiruzen and those present by side. They were at the end of the trail, the perpetrator stood out like a small thumb being a blond among the Uchiha brunettes.
Hiruzen broke into a run the moment he saw the bright yellow hair as Naruto lay on the ground, several kunai and shuriken that were once imbedded into Naruto's body could be found by his side. Hours ago, Uchiha Itachi had furiously pulled out the steel weapons, watched as Naruto's wounds instantly healed much to his relief, and broke into an argument against the man who casted the Genjutsu on the boy. They left, leaving the two children, an Uchiha and an Uzumaki, the only ones who were alive at the compounds on that night.
"Naruto? " Hiruzen went down on his knees and turned the said boy. "Naruto!"
The old man checked for wounds, it was difficult when Naruto's drenched in blood from his chest downwards. He was breathing, he was alive. Instant relief overcame Hiruzen for now, Naruto's pulse was normal, so he wasn't in any danger.
Eyelids slowly opened to reveal sky blue eyes, "Jii…. Jii…Jii-chan?"
Before Hiruzen could say anything in return, Naruto gasped and quickly backed away from the older man. Naruto looked to his left and right, coming to realize that everything that happened wasn't just some horrific nightmare after all. The Hokage, his animal summon, and the ANBU Leaf-nins watched as Naruto began to breathe hard as if he had just stopped from a strenuous exercise. Blue eyes widened when Naruto realized those who were around Hiruzen, he had seen them before once in a while when the old man came to see him. Yet it was as if he was seeing them for the very first time, their trademark feature, that single fact that was engraved in his mind.
Masks.
Nothing like the one eyed masked man he saw last night. Yet those masks that hid their faces had somehow begun to stir inside him.
"No…. No…" Naruto slowly backed away from them, much to everyone else's confusion. "No more…leave me alone…Please…"
"Naruto?"
"No! Go away!" shouted Naruto.
They watched as the boy shuddered where he stood, his eyes locked on the particular boar masked ANBU the entire time. The Leaf-nin's features were the closest to that of the man that had ruined everything. Given the similar short spiky black hair, approximate height, and stature. Naruto didn't care if that man was dressed completely different, or his mask looked nothing like the orange spiraling mask with one eye hole that he saw last night. What traumatized seven year old boy, who only understood what loneliness was, would bother with the differences?
"You! You made do this!" yelled Naruto, as if nothing more than a child ranting. "You made me do this!"
Blue eyes flickered red as the shudder began to worsen through the short time the grownups before him tried to make sense what Naruto was talking about. Suddenly a whole lot of things happened simultaneously, bursts of red chakra from both of Naruto's hands, there were explosions of smoke everywhere followed by clatters of reverberating metal. Hiruzen did nothing as he saw Naruto ran and smacked himself right to aligned metal bars like a frenzied wild animal, onto the cage's bars. Apparently Enma had transformed into his diamond staff form, multiplied, and quickly formed into a cube shaped prison. The copies of the monkey's diamond staff had aligned and interlocked between one another perfectly in stopping and confining Naruto.
The Kyuubi vessel fell back on his butt upon impact, yet sprung back on his feet just as fast and yelled. A hand reached out from between the bars, Naruto struggled futilely in trying to reach them now, eyes just as red and as menacing as to that of the Kyuubi's. He had put up a violent struggle within the confines of the Kongō Rōheki no Jutsu (Adamantine Prison Wall Technique). What came next was perhaps like looking a train wreck, it was horrible and yet one couldn't help but not look away. Despite his hand covered in blood, they could see his nails elongate and sharpened into actual pure black claws. It was no sharp ended fingernails, they were actual claws much like an animal's.
"Naruto, it's okay. It's okay. It's over." Hiruzen tried to calm the said boy down as he walked closer, "Whatever it is, it's over. It's me, look, I'm right here. It's all over."
"No! It's not over!" Naruto's yelled, he banged himself harder against the diamond staffs with each failed attempt.
"Calm down, Naruto!"
"No!" Naruto ignored the pleas, he backed away for a moment, only to begin his onslaught of slashes upon slashes against the diamond hard bars. He then let loose a long inhuman roar from his mouth, they could see sparks fly with every slash Naruto made on the Adamantine prison bars.
"Red chakra." murmured a transfixed ANBU Leaf-nin, they didn't need the Sharingan or Byakugan to see the chakra manifest itself as the unsettling chakra swirled in the air as it was released from Naruto's body.
Naruto cried where he stood, his frustrated red eyes meet Hiruzen's, "You…you promised you'd be there for me. You promised… But you weren't there. He made me do things…. I…"
The red eyes slowly flickered back to blue, only to abruptly stop, the confined Jinchuuriki collapsed just as he was about to deliver another swipe of his claws. The saddest part after all the incident, was when the ANBU squad and forensic team would finally manage to identify the last two Uchihas that Naruto had mutilated, right where they had found him.
****C*h*a*n*g*e***S*c*e*n*e***a*n*d***T*i*m*e****
The Kyuubi vessel didn't know how long it had been, how many he had killed, he didn't care about any of those. All he wanted, all he could during the whole time, was scream inwardly and watch helplessly wanting nothing more but the horrific nightmare to stop. Everything simply moved on its own, against his will as anger, fear, and confusion stormed within his mind. His anger and confusion for every accursed thing that has ever happened in his life, and the fear of what worse things were waiting for him in the future.
There were only two left, somehow that was all he felt his body had to do that night. There were many more, those who were alive, but they weren't Uchiha, weren't the people he had been told to kill. The vessel of the Nine Tailed Fox Demon stopped, and gazed down upon them. Unlike most of the Uchiha he had killed, these two weren't going to fight back.
Nothing more but a seventy one year old elderly woman, down on her knees, as sobbed the last of her tears with held her baby granddaughter close as Naruto proceeded towards them with each step. She had been there the whole time when the blonde haired child had taken both of her son and daughter-in-law's lives. They had said they would stay behind and buy her some time much to their insistence. It was hypocritical and foolish of them, given their arguments when her own son had told her to take their youngest family member and run.
The Will of Fire was their belief, to protect the younger generation. Kagaribi argued she should be staying behind while they flee yet they knew arguing further would only waste the precious time that all of them had.
And so Kagaribi ran as fast as her two feet could her with her crying granddaughter in her arms only for a short distance, she gave one last glance and then saw their end. It had been happened so quickly and yet she saw everything that happened. A brief of flash of red, and the next thing she knew was that their remains had been sent flying to the walls. Uchiha emblems that were painted across the walls had been stained by the dead couple's blood before they fell on opposite sides of the street.
The elderly woman laid her crying baby on the ground behind her, turned just in time as the Jinchuuriki's form loomed over her. Bright red eyes shone more like glorious red rubies rather than those of the eyes of a nocturnal predator's night shine.
"Oh the irony," Uchiha Kagaribi sadly smiled in defeat, in some sort of way finally realized everything that had transpired tonight.
Strangely enough, Naruto hadn't made the slightest notion of attacking her upon that moment, as if he was waiting for the brunette to finish her last words.
Kagaribi was very much aware of her clan's plan of a coup d'état, and not everyone in the clan actually agreed that such course of action was the right and only solution. She had been there from the time that the Hidden Leaf Village was created, the coronation of Senju Hashirama as the first ever Hokage. She hated such notion, after all two wrongs do not make a right. All those lives that would be lost if all those preparations should ever be completed, the plans carried out, the thought of it all.
Her Sharingan was activated, staring right into Naruto's eyes in attempt to break the Genjutsu that had been placed on him. She winced in pain after being thrown off the boy's subconscious as quickly as she came in. Kagaribi looked back just over her shoulder, one last look of her daughter to be etched into mind before the inevitable. The cries of her daughter continued the entire time.
"Many more would have died." said Kagaribi as faced her executioner, "A fitting end to a cursed clan such as ourselves."
The lives of men, women, and children the Uchiha clan against the lives of the men, women, and children of the entire village and that of the Land of Fire if the coup d'état should ever happen. The civil wars that would break out, the possible attacks from neighboring villages, those possible repercussions would ultimately doom the Land of Fire.
"Promise me, that my life, my family's lives," Kagaribi closed her eyes and smiled, picturing her family at their recent happiest moment altogether, inside a hospital room just days ago, "our lives, our sacrifice, everything gone tonight would never be in vain. You won't let our sacrifice be in vain."
The last words were spoken, claws empowered with demonic chakra swiped through flesh and bones, and Uchiha Kagaribi was no more. Cries of the infant behind her continued on, thought no tears streamed down the infant Uchiha's cheeks. She was still a newborn, almost three months old and the lack of tears in her cries was because her tear glands haven't properly developed yet, sadly she wouldn't live long enough to ever shed tears in her cries. Naruto then went for the last kill of the night. The only solace was the quick death he would deliver upon the young Uchiha, he wasn't going to his claws, since he slowly lifted his right foot.
The cries stopped with the sickening sound of broken bones were heard.
Naruto gasped as he woke up from his hellish nightmare, his body was soaked in sweat from heavy perspiration instead of the blood from his own wounds or his victims'. Deep breaths ensued, reflecting on what he had just been through, only to come into realization something was gravely different.
"Huh?" Naruto felt a hard cold sensation around his wrists along with its weight and sounds they made as he moved his hands.
Shackles, cold hard steel forged and clasped around his wrists just enough not to restrict the blood flow, both connected by a short length of chain. Jumbles of memories came over him like wave after wave crashed upon him, visions and memories of the massacre and then of the aged Third Hokage.
Then he saw the large steel door, chains, bolts, and padlocks on the other side, with just a small opening enough to let trays of food to slide under it. There was a small single bed by the wall on his right, the small sink and toilet by the left corner from the door. Various complicated sealing formulas were written across the walls, ceiling, and floor. The occupant's chakra was to be suppressed to a safe degree and any flow of the chakra aimed to be constantly disrupted from proper concentration or manipulation, Naruto couldn't care less about them when he crawled using his aching arms and legs to the corner of the room under the bed. The crave of acknowledgment he once held was gone, wanting nothing more but to left all alone. He realized they weren't mere nightmares after all, they were real, it had happened, and Naruto knew he was here because of it.
'Why? What did I ever do?' Naruto quivered, wondering what did her ever do to deserve everything that has happened to him.
The same nightmare would haunt his sleep for many following months every single time he'd try to rest. Reliving the night of the Uchiha massacre again and again as the memories had been branded into his mind to never forget the horrors he had committed upon taking those lives away. He'd see the faces of the dead Uchiha members even within the shortest naps.
****C*h*a*n*g*e***S*c*e*n*e***
Within a certain Uchiha house miles away, Uchiha Sasuke was down on his hands and knees, the white outlines on the floor in front of him marked the position of the dead bodies of his parents at the scene. He finally sobbed as he finally accepted the fact that all his fellow clansmen had been killed except his brother as his reality much as Naruto had accepted the fact that he had killed a number of them. He'd leave his house and head his way over to the Nakano Shrine right towards the Uchiha clan's secret meeting place just like his big brother had told him.
"I see, so that's how it is." Sasuke read the visible messages, could only be seen by normal eyes, which had been etched on the stone tablet.
****C*h*a*n*g*e***S*c*e*n*e***
As for a certain cherry blossom pink haired girl, Haruno Sakura closed the door and began to take off her shoes.
"Mom! I'm home!" called out Sakura, then she saw the numerous sandals. "Mom?"
Everything throughout the day was a mess to her from the moment she woke up from her sleep. Sakura had woke up late for some reason, had a nagging feeling something wasn't right ever since, discover the odd fact that both that her crush Sasuke and the class clown Naruto was absent, and then all those shinobi around her mother whom was crying.
"Mom? What's wrong?" asked Sakura even though knew deep down what this was about.
"Your father, his caravan was attacked…"
Sakura refused to cry, telling herself not for the moment, later on, for now the only thing she had to do was to be strong for her family. She wouldn't cry, after all she cried less ever since she befriended Ino and slowly built up her confidence and self-esteem. She refuse to let all that crumble even when times such these deemed it to be appropriate. An odd sight as a mother was being consoled by her mere seven year old daughter. Her mother had been a kunoichi before she retired after she got married, she had married her father was just a trader. He was one of the traders that her mother had met when she had been assigned to escort the caravan as her mission. Sakura remembered her mother telling her that her father was someone simply special the first moment she laid eyes on the man. Sakura reasoned that was what she felt when she saw Sasuke.
"I'm so sorry." One of those Leaf Jounin apologized solemnly, he hated being the bearer of bad news. It wasn't bandits or robbers, but rogue shinobi, probably wanted missing ninjas.
"The medic Leaf-nin did what he could, but the injuries reported were just too severe." said another Leaf-nin.
Sakura didn't know what to say, was reacting in anger the appropriate way? Blame all the Leaf shinobi that had failed their mission? That couldn't protect her father? Blame whoever those shinobi were that had attacked the caravan? Blame the medic-nin for not being able to save her father? Blame whatever village that had failed to deal their rogue ninjas?
All seven year old Sakura did at the moment was close the distance between her and her mother and then hugged her mother's arm.
Her mother cried even harder with the pink haired girl in her embrace, "He's gone, Sakura. He's gone."
"I'm still here, mommy, and I'm not going anywhere."
The rare sight was what made the surrounding Leaf shinobi remember the world that they all lived in was the world of shinobi. Geniuses like Kakashi and Itachi were already exposed the true ugly side of the shinobi world at such a young age, it was after all part of their life, the life of a shinobi. The fact of someone like Itachi, he was merely four years old when he was sent out there watching the terrors of the battlefield. In the eyes of those who weren't shinobi, it was insane, inhuman of them to send someone so young out to face the harsh shinobi world.
****C*h*a*n*g*e***S*c*e*n*e***a*n*d***T*i*m*e****
Senju Hashirama, known as the First Hokage, was the founder of the Hidden Leaf Village, naturally chosen by its inhabitants as the leader and protector that came with the title of 'Hokage'. He was the man behind the belief of 'The Will of Fire', a belief that he shared with his family and fellow clansmen, members of the Senju clan, which was then instilled to anyone willing to believe in it. He was also the shinobi that made a scroll called 'Scroll of Forbidden Seals', in which contains all techniques he had deemed forbidden. Passed on from Hokage to Hokage, more and more techniques were added into the scroll. One of the oldest structures in the Land of Fire was actually built by him, constructed using his own Doton Ninjutsu to imprison the most heinous criminals and ninjas not just from the Land of Fire but throughout the world of the shinobi that stretched over the five great elemental lands.
'Looks like we've got ourselves some guests, people. Not just any guests, they're Danzo's little cronies.'
Thick walls and barrier sealing formulas couldn't stop them from communicating to one another.
'Probably here for the poor kid.'
'Poor kid? Yeah, I'd say. Probably just typical newbie who couldn't handle doing a kill, always waking up spooked from nightmares.'
'Then why send him all the way down to our level?'
'Dunno. Still can't believe about the newbie. It's like a good punch to the stomach. I mean, a mere kid? Sent down here to our level?'
'A fallen prodigy perhaps? The son of the Konoha White Fang, Kakashi, I think he was only six years when he was promoted to Chuunin, right?'
'Forget that, what exactly are Danzo's underlings going to do with the kid?'
A third voice joined in, 'The obvious? Torture and interrogate? Mind probe? The kid will just end up spilling everything he's got, whether he wants to or not, one way or another.'
'Think we should lend him a hand?'
'If he's worthy of our help that is, for all we know he could be a mole. One of Danzo's sent to infiltrate our circle.'
Chuckles and laughs could be heard all around.
'Yeah, sure, I'd like to see them try that stupid little trick again. After what happened to that mole, I don't think so.'
'Compared to what we all did to him, I'd say he was better off having his mind broken by the Mangekyo Sharingan.'
'Shut up. All of you.' The fourth person commanded calmly.
In darkness, one of the prisoners got off from his bed, placed his left ear on the stone wall that separated his prison cell and Naruto's, and both of his rough palms on the floor to get a better sense of everyone's position around him. There were four of them, two who were standing guard outside the prison cell's vault-like door, and another two slowly approaching the sleeping kid who lay on the floor. One of them wore an owl decorated mask, a specialist in mind reading on par with veterans in the Leaf Interrogation Unit, while the other wore a rat mask specialized in sealing techniques.
The rat masked ANBU began making hand seals causing the seal formulas etched on Naruto's shackles began to glow in a faint blue hue. His partner crouched by the boy's side and touched his head, carrying out the mission given by his master. Obtain all relevant information in the boy's memories relating to the Uchiha Massacre and then proceed to damaging the young psyche beyond recovery. Emotionless pawns like him never questioned the purpose of any mission, as they just receive and perform it for the good of the village. Oddly enough, he came across the fresh memories, for some reason everything was happening backwards, as if in rewind. Then there were the whispers that slowly became louder and clearer as time passed by.
Just as Danzo had told him, a figure in a mask with just an eye hole on the right side.
He then quickly recognized the Sharingan that glowed in the hole of the mask.
The wielder of the Sharingan struck Naruto in his stomach, a web of sealing formulas spread over his abdomen, exactly over the Hakke Fuuin. Red chakra had burst out like from Naruto's body like he was nothing more but cracked steam the three tomoe of the Sharingan turned hypnotically, it went round and round until it came to a stop as Naruto stared up close.
Everything exploded in red.
Naruto's neighboring prisoner was blasted along with everything right next to the middle section of the separating wall, now lay waste reduced to rubble. Instead of worrying the sharp pain in his head and back, he was more bothered with the bright light coming from the Naruto's prison cell that shone through the gaping hole. He coughed as he could hear the brief rain of debris and dust, bombardments of worries could be heard in his head.
'Kyoza! Yo Kyoza! Are you alright?'
'What the hell just happened?'
'Hey! What was that?'
'Didn't I tell all of you to shut up?' The prisoner known as Kyoza shook his head and opened his eyes.
He saw a blond haired boy snarling at the dying masked shinobi who had invaded his mind, blood sprayed out in sequences of each heart beat, right where Naruto's fingers were in the man's neck. It seemed like Naruto was choking his neck from anyone else's point of view, but he had actually clawed all of his fingers into the man's neck. His clawed thumbs tore the Adam's apple, while the rest deep enough to feel the man's vertebrae as blood simultaneously gushed out from the neck and into his trachea. It was like an animal at the slaughter, blood carrying precious oxygen trying to make way to the brain only to spill out from the wound at the neck. Death was unkind to him, instead of a fast death due to the heavily fractured bones in his neck; it was a slow one from major blood loss in his neck while his brain thirsted for oxygen.
Kyoza blinked, the boy had clearly attacked and crashed the body through the prison wall.
Danzo's two remaining men quickly entered Kyouza's prison cell through the gaping hole, just as Naruto pulled out his fingers from the neck, letting the dying man fall as more blood squirted from the neck again and again with every beat of his heart. Having one of the members outside was a disadvantageous move, as that person was busy trying to unlock the prison door. A flash of hand seals performed by the rat masked ANBU caused the sealing formulas to shine brightly, in turn Naruto howled painfully. They thought they had subdued him, though that was for a short moment. The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki lunged out towards them, twisted around in mid air, and slashed both white porcelain masks in turn. Three full fledge ninjas, at least three times as old compared to the boy, skilled enough to be enlisted into the ANBU Corps, lay dead on the prison floor. Kyoza slowly got up, dusting himself as he did, and took a good look at the feral boy.
'Kyoza! There are four shinobi coming towards you!'
Kyoza didn't bother putting up a defensive stance, not that it mattered since Naruto seemed to ignore his presence. More and more of the red smoke was being released from Naruto's body, his hands flexed as he stared at the bodies with no remorse, Kyoza knew exactly what was going on. The boy's hands were deteriorating because somehow he was able to force massive amounts of chakra through the disrupting seal formulas, yet at the same time he was healing the injuries of the deterioration. Naruto turned around as his primal instincts alerted him of an attack from his back, thought it was too late.
"Kagemane no Jutsu completed, Hokage-sama." Nara Shikaku's could be heard.
Kyoza recognized the name of the technique, as he saw a shadow trailing back to a gruff scarred man who was currently performing the rat hand seal. His hair was tied into a ponytail, making his head reminiscent to that of a pineapple. He had two scars, one that arched over his right eye while another one just across his right cheek, and simply wore a net shirt underneath Leaf's distinct flak vest.
Then Kyoza saw the said leader walking into the prison cell.
"You, do nothing else except wait for me at the entrance." Hiruzen glared at the ANBU as he walked through the decimated wall. "I have a message for Danzo when this is over."
The ANBU made a simple nod and slowly retreated back to the corridor, to say that the Hokage was angry was an understatement, whatever message it was he knew it wasn't going to be good. Tendrils of shadow made their way and wrapped around Naruto's body and limbs, securing the shadow bind's control over the body's movements even further. It was evident that Naruto became angrier with every passing second, struggling against the hold, his intense fury became the drive for the Kyuubi's chakra to escape through the available openings of the containment seal. A platinum blonde haired shinobi held out a hand seal that Kyoza recognized as the Shinranshin no Jutsu, directed right towards Naruto, readied as a precautionary measure.
"Listen to me, Naruto. It's all over, understand? It's over. There's nothing to be angry about. Not anymore." Hiruzen explained.
"They're gone, boy. There are no more masks."
Kyoza had everyone's attention when he said that, he had Naruto's attention more than anyone.
"That was what you were angry about, wasn't it? Those masks." Kyoza clarified.
Naruto hung to every word he said ever since the shackled old man said there were no more masks. He spoke differently, not like how Naruto always heard people speak, but Naruto understood him.
"No more?" Naruto asked suspiciously, his struggle against the bind had stopped.
"The Hokage has already told him to go away. He won't bother you anymore, at least for now." Kyoza explained.
With the Kagemane no Jutsu canceled upon Hiruzen's orders, Naruto backed away from the men and sat himself away from the rubble, blood, and corpses. He sat down and hugged his legs close to his chest, disregarding everything around him, before Hiruzen could say anything.
"Leave me alone, Jii-chan. Please…" Naruto pleaded, eyes closed.
Hiruzen closed his eyes and sighed, sorting out the Uchiha Massacre was more difficult that he thought he would be. The Third Hokage moved the moment he found out that Naruto had been sent here without his knowledge. An ANBU said that it had been the order of the Council, when he asked why Naruto wasn't at the hospital under supervision of several ANBU Leaf-nins. The safety of the village in priority in event someone manages to use Naruto again, given the aftermath of the Uchiha Massacre. The place with the tightest security was indeed the Konoha Leaf Prison, but Hiruzen knew very well what this was. Danzo, Homura, and Koharu must have thought Itachi had used Naruto to help him kill off the Uchiha clan.
He ordered Shikaku and Inoichi to stand outside in the corridor. "Chouza, please remove their bodies."
"Understood, Hokage-sama."
"Don't worry about him, if anything he's asleep right now," said Kyoza, "Regardless of such bursts of remarkable power and chakra, it must be taxing on such a young body."
True enough, Naruto was dozing. The oldest living prisoner of the Hidden Leaf Prison observed the youngest one, he shook his head. The prisoner was completely bald, heavily wrinkled skin, noticeable liver spots all around, and the only hair he had left was his eye brows and faintly his ears.
"You know what he is." Hiruzen commented.
"A boy with a tailed beast's eyes and menacing aura coming off the chakra. The Kyuubi's eyes of all eyes. I'm no fool who would forget such a thing after seeing them." replied Kyoza, he slowly sat, the two heard his knee joints pop, "After all this time, just when I thought I've seen them all, you finally send down a Jinchuuriki."
"It was a mistake. He's not supposed to be here."
"For what he is, he should have a whole level reserved for him alone right below my feet, Hiruzen." Kyoza snorted.
"He is just a child," Hiruzen knew if didn't find a way to fix this, this might turn to be one of the biggest regrets he'd carry to his grave.
Kyoza stopped, he narrowed his eyes never breaking eye contact with the guilt ridden Hiruzen, and then scratched his chin.
"So… once again they went behind your back. And you call them advisors, friends…? I don't know why you bother yourself with them, Hiruzen." Kyoza shook his head. "I guess all I have to say is congratulations on another job well done, oh Hokage-sama."
"Someone has to do it. After all, I remember someone saying that I am the lesser of two necessary evils." said Hiruzen.
"True. True." Kyoza chuckled, apparently Hiruzen still remembers the conversations they had despite the long time that had passed, "I'm sure Hashirama and Tobirama would be proud if they could see you as you are now, like this."
Hiruzen was slightly astonished that the man before him touched such sensitive subject.
"Protect the younger generation. Protect those precious to you. Tell me, Hiruzen, how true have you carried out the 'Will of Fire'?" sneered Kyoza, "The ideals of my own fellow flesh and blood, what my two ungrateful grandsons have taught you. Do you think they would be proud?"
"At times, I think they would roll in their graves for the mistakes I've made."
Kyoza snorted, "They were Hokage too, weren't they? I'm sure those two have done their own fair share of horrible mistakes they're not proud of. After all, Tobirama did create the Edo Tensei, that one fact is but one of the many ugly secrets we know of."
They continued on talking, just as they always did every time Hiruzen did his rare prison inspections. Over the first few months, Naruto would realize that he shared something with all those imprisoned within the same level. They were the darkest secrets and disgrace of the Hidden Leaf Village, away from the eyes of its inhabitants. All the thick walls and bars of steel all adorned with chakra suppressing seals didn't stop them. Those hindrances didn't stop the bonds that formed between him and them. Loneliness was hell, but even when he knew who they were, for what they did, that didn't stop from them being acknowledged as his precious people.
Three years later, Hiruzen would receive the news that Kyoza had died in his prison cell with a peaceful smile. The same peaceful smile he had on the very first time they met, Hiruzen's first trip to the lowest bowels of Konoha prison just days after his inauguration as Hokage. An unforgettable death indeed, especially when the news also reported he died after performing a forbidden Fuuinjutsu.
On that day, Naruto would have both of the Kyuubi's Yin and Yang chakra inside him, one sealing technique on his navel while another over his back.
'Meguri Kyoza' was a title that the long forgotten Senju lived up till his last breath, he had managed to reverse the usage of the Shiiki Fuujin. Sacrificing his soul to the Shinigami, in turn he was able to unseal Kyuubi's Yin chakra within the Shinigami's stomach and seal it inside Naruto.
**Preview**
Haruno Sakura set the cardboard box down as she squatted, and slowly proceeded to arrange the cups of instant ramen from the box onto the shelf. She heard the momentary jingles of the bell from the front door, signaling the entrance or leaving of customers.
"Welcome to…."
The pink haired kunoichi in training found it odd that the welcome greeting trailed off, and then felt the presence of someone slowly walking, two of them upon later realization, as if wondering around through the groceries. She paid no heed to it, just like she always did as any busy worker would to any customers walking around. She was about to finish with emptying the cardboard box when she sensed a person standing behind her.
"Excuse me, I hope you don't mind if I…." Sakura trailed off with the cups of instant ramen in her arms.
It was a blonde haired boy, in a bright orange shirt, with at the cup of instant ramen in his right hand. What grabbed her attention wasn't his bright orange shirt, it was the whisker marks he had on his cheeks. Upon confirmation, she slowly proceeded to look at his forearm due to the rumors she kept hearing about.
One of the rumors was true because Sakura saw a set of numbers, five digits to be exact, tattooed over his forearm.
Hatake Kakashi looked over the orange smutty book, the latest of the Icha Icha Series, and noted another speechless reaction to Naruto's presence. His first day, being chosen as one of Hiruzen's few entrusted and capable parole officers, wasn't as bad as he thought it'd be.
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