Of Fire and Earth

by blasphemy43

Earth and Fire is what forged him. Metal is what he became. Oneshot.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto in any way or form.

Uzumaki Naruto stood at the center of the stadium where the final round of the chūnin exams were to be held with an uncharacteristically serious expression on his young face. In fact, those who knew him and those who had thrown even a passing look at him found many things about the young blond boy strange that day.

Uzumaki Naruto had always been known for many things. The village's pariah due to circumstances that had become clear to him relatively recently but explained oh so much in his sad existence. A loud, energetic bragger and prankster, longing for attention and recognition, going on the assumption that while being known for something bad was better than not being known at all. Somewhat of a joke as a shinobi, dressed in a bright orange jumpsuit, with little skills or apparent talent, struggling through life and death situations on tenacity, determination, an almost limitless chakra supply and most importantly of all, luck. He showed little respect for people in positions of power, but was extremely loyal to those he considered friends. He was a ball of energy, always moving, always smiling, wearing his heart on his sleeve. It was a miracle he was a shinobi at all, for many of the sides of his personality were completely opposite of what a shinobi had to be to survive.

And yet no one stopped to think that he not only survived, but flourished. Even in a shinobi village, where everyone was supposed to look underneath the underneath, as his teacher liked to say. No one suspected that there may be something more under the surface, that maybe the whole persona was a mask, a lie, an elaborate ruse.

Naruto found it hilarious.

It wasn't only his stony expression that made the people around Naruto nervous on this day, where young talented shinobi would clash for the honor of their village, for their personal aspirations and talent, for the amusement of the crowd. The blond hadn't moved or spoken since the moment he took his position behind the proctor of the exam, the man who looked like any other Konoha shinobi, with his standard uniform, his forehead protector used as a bandana and a senbon between his teeth. No, the boy stood, with hands in his pockets, completely relaxed to the casual observer. But those who looked deeper, those with experience and knowledge saw that he was tense. Not the tension brought by nervousness and fear, because that would be normal, even expected – he was to fight the prodigy of the Hyuuga clan. No it was the tension of a predator right before he pounced on his pray, the tension of a bow right before the arrow was let loose and pierced the target.

The orange jumpsuit was also gone. Many eyebrows were raised in the audience when that fact was noticed and acknowledged. That jumpsuit had become a part of the boy, something that made him completely different from every other shinobi in the village, every other shinobi in the world possibly. It had become a symbol of the person that Uzumaki Naruto was.

That was why it had to go today.

In its place there were loose midnight – blue pants, bound at the ankles. Vicious looking steel toed boots covered his feet. He wore a loose black t-shirt with a small whirlpool mark on its right breast, with a mesh shirt that gleamed when the sun caught it at the right angle underneath. A long coat hung on his shoulders, so dark blue that it might as well have been black, seemingly random grey lines running on its edges. His head protector was tight around his left wrist. There was no tool pouch on his person, no visible seal that may hide the weapons that he would surely need in the battle ahead of him. His hair fell loosely around his face, still spiked and his blue eyes seemed deeper, devout of happiness and joy, unreadable. Nothing, but the faint feeling of dread that came from him to those who could feel it.

It made the shinobi uncomfortable. It made everyone uncomfortable. People did not simply change that much in a month. Something was happening, something was wrong and if there were no law, whispers of the great demon fox finally breaking the boy's will would have been heard around the stadium.

But there was such a law, so silence reigned, cold dread festering in people's mind.

For his part Naruto was unconcerned. He had come today to show something to the world, on this stage, which seemed to him as especially prepared for him and him alone. He had no more need of the personality he had crafted for himself in what seemed like a lifetime ago. He was no more a child that clung to the idea of acceptance. He had outgrown that a long time ago.

It was interesting how memory worked. Many people claimed that they could remember days and moments that changed their life with great clarity. It was not so for Naruto. He did not remember every single detail of the day he changed. In fact the whole even is clouded to him, as if he had dreamt it. But he had not, that much was obvious. He did not know if it was because the change had come gradually or because it was no change at all, but a simple awakening, acknowledgment, of something that was a fundamental part of himself since the moment he was born. Frankly, he did not care.

Every moment of his conscious life, every year, every month, every week, every day, every hour and minute he could hear it. The song. The song that called to him both when he was awake and when he was asleep. He could hear it, but couldn't understand it, for a very long time. It was beautiful, wonderful, different. And yet there was a familiarity to it, a sense of rightness, of purpose. He knew that the song was his and his alone and when he found what it is, he would be complete.

A child's mind sees much more than people gave it credit for. It was uncurbed by social limitations, by the tinted glasses every adult wore so as to not see what was really before him, but what suited him, what would not break his mind. And Naruto saw hate and anger wherever he went; resentment that he knew was targeting him, but could not understand. Why did people look at him like that? And his childish mind made a connection between his two constant companions. The hate had to be there because he had not found the source of the song. He was not complete, therefore he was inferior to the people who were, and had to be hated. It was the only thing that made sense, because why else would strangers look at him so? And so, as a small child he walked through the streets and listened, hoping to hear those magical sounds that only his mind could hear, searching for the thing that would complete him and make people stop looking at him with hate.

And one night, years after he had become what he was known for at the moment, he woke up, sudden clarity in his mind. The song had been there, all around him constantly. The sliding, the clash, the sound of metal against metal, both creation and destruction, entailed in a beautiful symphony.

Naruto had ran out of his apartment that night, through the village, stopping only when he could not hear anything else aside from the sounds of nature. He had collapsed on his knees listening to the song within himself, praying to whoever heard him that it would never stop, knowing that it would not. Because it was his and he was its.

Naruto had wept that day, as he changed, his soul was forged in earth and fire anew, his heart and mind changing with it. And around him metal spawned from the earth, encircling him as if to embrace him, smooth and cold and comforting on the inside and jiggered and sharp on the inside, daring the world to interfere.

The blond woke up changed the next day, the metal still around him. He looked at the mirror like surface and saw that his face had hardened, his eyes were sharp. He felt in control, powerful, defiant, hard. He felt complete.

He wanted to go back to the village, to brag and scream and let everyone know that he had finally, finally found what he was missing. But the impulse to do so was weak and his newly forged mind told him it was irrelevant. He was already in the academy, a future shinobi, a person of deception. There was no point in trying to win the people. There was no point in showing them the truth. Now that he was whole, he cared not about people's hate. He would endure the constant ridicule, wouldn't allow it to blemish him, showing only what the world wanted to see.

Because metal was beautiful, but indifferent.

And so Uzumaki Naruto lived the life that was expected of him – a borderline failure and a fool. The butt of all jokes. And all had been fine – he would have continued so, until his tried and true method of dealing with everything was proven to be insufficient. But an event had struck true and it was time for the façade to fall.

He had seen the fight between the two Hyuuga. One an arrogant prodigy, deserving respect for his strength if not for his beliefs. The other an ex-classmate who idealized his mask, having neither strength nor understanding of the world. Naruto was beyond caring for who would win and who would lose.

But then the arrogant Hyuuga had started talking and garbage had started spewing from his mouth. His talk of fate, of the impossibility of change, it struck a chord somewhere deep down in Naruto.

His anger had not been faked, for the first time.

He had felt rage, immovable and hot, threatening to burst.

Every scrap of self-control that he had was aimed at not simply killing the boy who dared speak such drivel in front of him.

Fate was immovable? People could not change?

Ridiculous.

Change was the order of nature. Even the sturdiest rock, the fiercest fire, the hardest metal changed.

His anger was real and so he had decided to act, for once his impulsive mask overlapping with his real self.

It was stupid, and childish and immature. And yet he could not deny himself.

His promise of defeating the boy was real. And he was set in his path.

When the pairings had been decided, he had turned to the side, a dark, uncharacteristic smile playing on his lips, unseen by anyone.

He wished to hurt the boy, to maim him, to kill the Hyuuga. But he would not.

Instead he would humiliate him.

Show him a power that was overwhelming, that laughed at his supposed fate and its inevitability.

There had been a month that should have been used for training and preparation. Of course he had been blown off by his sensei, who was under pressure from the upper echelons of Konoha to devote his time on the supposedly more talented student.

Naruto threw a hissy fit, for appearances sake, but in truth he did not mind. There was little of value Kakashi could teach him in such a short amount of time, while Sasuke had a similar skillset to their teacher. He could go far under his tutelage.

Instead he was forced to go to a man who he knew had no respect for him. He had given in, in the end, not caring too much if he learned anything in the period. He had 'learned' to walk on water quickly enough, noticing the surprise on his teacher's face. Evidently even such minor show of skill was beyond what was expected of him.

And to think he had known how to walk on water for such a long time.

Soon he had met another would be teacher, boisterous and perverted. And old.

Naruto knew that what you saw was rarely the truth in the world, being a prime example of the rule himself. And the man was old, a rarity speaking either of tremendous strength or of unusual cunning.

When the two had met there was recognition in the man's eyes, deeply buried, but present. The blond found it surprising that he found himself trusting the man almost instantly.

So in a fit of recklessness he had dragged him to a spot safe from eyes and shown him his true self.

Even more surprisingly the man hadn't protested, hadn't said anything even. He had simply latched, and assessed. And gave pointers that actually helped.

There was a first for everything in life, it seemed.

A month had passed quickly, not so much in training as in Jiraya, the man's name, telling Naruto stories of his time, of the war and his disciples. There was a certain kind of sadness when he was talking about his late student, constantly, but involuntary, slipping one phrase over and over.

"It is shameful for the master to outlive the student."

There was the same kind of sadness when he looked at Naruto too.

It was a mystery, but Naruto did not pry. To him, it held little meaning. The same could not be said for the man, so he would not pry. Acceptance was met with acceptance.

So.

A month had passed and he was on the arena floor, looking different, having slipped masks and pretenses that only one person knew he had.

He noticed that his teammate was missing. It would be a pity if he missed his chance to prove to himself that he had progressed. He held some respect for the boy, not for any perceived skill or social standing, as was usual for the inhabitants of the village.

No he respected him for his goal and his desire to change for the better. He knew the Uchiha could never be complete before reaching his self-imposed task. He could respect that. And he would.

But it would be a pity for his… comrade, Naruto supposed, to miss his chance to show off his power. And try his strength to a true measuring rod.

Which was Naruto, of course.

The silence in the stands did not last, as was expected. Chuckles, at first nervous and then amused broke out here and there, aimed at the blond.

Ridiculing his new outfit and expression and lack of boisterous bragging, reassuring themselves that the demon was simply scared.

Even now he could hear talk from the stands, that he was finished, that his luck was over, now that he faced true skill and power.

It mattered not. Music played in his mind.

The would voice of the Hokage rung over the stadium, bright and cheerful, as if he was not announcing fights that could very easily lead to the death of the contestants. His speech was met with cheers from the crowd.

They longed for blood and suffering, it seemed.

Rules were pointed out again. Inconsequential. Naruto did not care in the least if he was going to be promoted. Not to mention that the rules were the same as the preliminaries. How silly to go over them again.

Especially when Naruto was itching to unleash horrors upon the Hyuuga.

"Would every participant besides Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Neji please leave the floor," the proctor said, urging the other children to clear space for the fight that was about to start.

Every genin moved away from the arena. No one seemed to hurry. There were many looks that spoke of unasked questions thrown in Naruto's way. The blond simply ignored them, his eyes glued on his opponent in a hard glare.

The two figures were opposing each other, roughly 10 meters apart, one drabbed in light colors, the other in dark.

Naruto found it hard to contain the dark smile that threatened to emerge on his face as he walked slowly, purposely, with a lazy slouch to his shoulders that he knew grated on the nerves of his opponent.

The proctor looked between the two. With a wave of his hand and a loud "Begin!" the match had officially started.

"So, Hyuuga," Naruto said in a loud and even voice "does it amuse you to bully the weak?"

A small smirk played on Neji's lips at the remark. It was an expression born of arrogance.

"It was Hinata-sama's fate to lose to me. I am talented. She is not. It is obvious that she would lose."

The boy's smile became a little bigger as he looked directly at Naruto's eyes, activating his bloodline.

"And so is yours, failure."

Naruto chuckled darkly, returning the Hyuuga's look.

"Is that so Hyuuga? Do you truly believe that, from the depths of your soul? Even with that supposedly all seeing eye, do you believe that?"

"It is fate. Fate cannot be denied, nor changed, nor stopped," Neji said with a small nod.

Another dark chuckle escaped Naruto, a smirk playing on his lips.

"It is what your eyes tell you, is that so? And of course, you believe them."

"There is nothing my eyes can't see."

"Really now? How interesting. You, the prodigy will defeat me, the failure."

Both boys were smirking now, Neji in arrogance, Naruto as if he was on a joke that no one else knew.

"Of course. There is no other path."

"How interesting. And why haven't you done so Hyuuga? Are you perhaps hesitant? No, it could not be that. There was no hesitation in your attack in the preliminaries. Whatever could be holding you back, I wonder?"

Total silence reigned in the stadium, but most of all from the people who had even a passing contact with the blond. Because this did not sound like the loud mouthed braggart they were used to. This boy before them was different. Several even suspected illusions and tried dispelling them, to no avail.

"I will give you the opportunity to give up. You seem much more reasonable now than a month ago," Neji said. After a moment's thought he laughed lightly. "Maybe you had a competent teacher show you the futility of your struggle."

Naruto laughed. The sound began softly, almost to the point of it not being heard. It started getting louder and louder by the moment. It was not a laugh born of mirth, nor was it hysteric. No it was a laugh that somehow managed to convey the complete ridiculousness of something, to show complete and total disregard for it. It was that kind of offensive laugh.

After several more moments Naruto seemed to get control over himself, wiping a tear from his eye.

"Ah, Hyuuga, do not tell such jokes. It is unbecoming of one of such noble birth," Naruto said, a cocky smile still on his face, as he calmly stood against the boy in front of him. "No, no, I could never surrender. The people have come for a show, and a show I shall give them. It is only common courtesy."

Neji looked at the boy in front of him. His eyes told him with absolute certainty that he would not surrender. Another one who denied fate.

"It seems there is nothing more that should be said between us," the white eyed boy said, moving into a stance. "Let us fight then."

"Oh, but there is still lots that needs to be said Hyuuga," Naruto said, spreading his arms "I would like to converse more, truly, but if you wish to fight, do so. I do not mind."

And the blond stood there, with a cocky smirk on his face and his arms spread away from him, completely defenseless.

"Do you like music Hyuuga? I do. It is my constant companion. Always with me. Always within me. For a time, I did not understand it. And then I did. The world cleared, my mind with it. And while I was never alone, when I didn't understand, it felt so. But after that… everything change. Or more precisely I changed, the world staying the same. Does that fit with your view of the world Hyuuga?"

"Ridiculous. You have not changed, but are the same foolish, pathetic failure," Neji sneered. "And you would do well to remember your place trash."

"You know Hyuuga, I'm sure that there is a reason you speak like you do. Some deep and dark reason that eats you alive, every day, every hour, even now. And had I not changed I would have probably tried to understand, to help. But we both know that is foolish, don't we Hyuuga?"

All pretense of a smile had dropped from the Hyuuga's face, replaced with a mask of cold furry.

"Be silent Uzumaki. Be silent and prepare to fight. If you don't I will simply strike you down and that will be the end of it."

"Oh I don't think so Hyuuga, I will not be silent. I will speak, because I can't bear to hear what you speak. Attack me and let us find out how effective that will be."

With a twisted grimace, Neji rushed forward in speeds few could replicate. His fingers glowing faintly with chakra, his arms spread backward posed to strike.

Naruto did not move.

Neji stopped in front of the blond, his fingers extended, aiming to close off a tenketsu in the boy's chest.

The strike did not connect.

The dull sound of flesh hitting metal was heard through the stands.

The onlookers were stunned into silence.

Every civilian, every shinobi, the Hokage and the Kazekage, Neji. They all wore the same look of complete and total surprise.

Naruto still stood in the exact same position as he did before. He had not drawn a weapon and he had not made hand seals. And yet there was a metal rod before him, a rod that had acted as a shield for the Hyuuga's strike.

Neji was too surprised to register the pain in his fingers. No one could fault him.

Naruto let his hands drop, slowly and leisurely. The metal in front of him sank in the earth in the same manner. Slowly. Deliberately.

"Is that all Hyuuga? Is this your fate? Do you not want to see me, bleeding and broken before you?"

With each word Naruto's smile faded.

A steely, unyielding expression replaced it.

"Is this the best the Hyuuga can offer? I must say, I am not impressed."

Like a dam breaking, Neji's hand's moved, strike after strike, from different angles, all aimed perfectly, each a temporally crippling blow.

And they were all blocked perfectly, each by a piece of metal, without any visible direction by the blond.

Not visible to regular eyes, of course.

Neji could see it, chakra leaking from the blonde's feet, reaching in the ground and doing something, twisting it, making it different, controlling it. And with each pulse of chakra another of his strikes were blocked.

Neji was unnerved.

So he jumped back, still in his stance his eyes narrowed trying to comprehend the boy in front of him.

"What are you?" he asked, a slight tremor in his voice showing his confusion.

"What am I?" Naruto said, a single eyebrow quirking upwards "Do your all seeing eyes tell you? I am a failure. A reject. Fated to lose."

The blond took a step forward. A hint of killing intent followed the movement.

"No, there is more than your eyes can see."

Another step. The killing intent intensified.

"I am earth and fire."

Another step.

"I am metal, hard and unyielding."

Another step.

"I am unbound by fate, changed in whole."

And another.

"I am different from you."

There were but two meters between the two now.

"I am not a coward."

One meter.

"So. Will you fight? For destiny?"

No one could mistake the hint of disgust in the blonde's voice.

"Or have I judged you correctly?"

The two boys were at arm's reach. Naruto did not move to attack, but the killing intent was clear in the air.

A bead of sweat ran on Neji's face.

"Your arrogance will be your undoing, Uzumaki."

"Do not mistake arrogance for confidence, Hyuuga."

Regaining his composure, Neji entered a peculiar forward stance with his hands spread in a line.

"And yet, you will lose. You are in range of my divination."

Neji shot forward, fingers blazing with chakra.

"Two strikes!"

Naruto simply sighed and another metal piece blocked the attacks.

"Four strikes!"

The metal plate spread, blocking the strikes.

"Eight strikes!"

The hits were getting faster and faster.

The metal plate simply grew to counter them.

"Sixteen strikes!"

"Thirty two strikes!"

"Sixty Four strikes!"

The metal plate protected Naruto's entire body now. The sound of flesh hitting metal sounded continuously on the battlefield.

Neji's fingers bled. His face was a mask of complete shock.

Complete silence hung in the arena once more.

It was broken by Naruto's voice.

"So this is a prodigy. A servant of fate," Naruto said, letting the metal recede in the ground once more. He spat to the side. "Pathetic."

The blond put his hands in front of him. Two spikes, half the length of his arm shot up in his hands.

He swiped in front of him, as if chasing a bug, making the Hyuuga jump back.

"It seems that your fate has deceived you. How very unfortunate," Naruto said, throwing a hard glare at the boy in front of him. "It seems you no longer have anything to hide against. But I wonder. I talked about music earlier."

A wave of Naruto's hand was all it took for a field of similar spikes to erupt from the ground, all of them pointing at the Hyuuga.

"These are my instruments and I am their conductor. Would you like to hear them sing? Do you have anything to hide behind? Let us find out, shall we, Hyuuga?"

As one the spikes shot forward, propelled by a force unseen by everyone who could not see the blonde's chakra that had at this point soaked through a large part of the ground.

They tore through the air, an almost unheard screeching sound left in their trail.

Neji's eyes widened and he began to spin in place, expelling large amounts of chakra at the same time.

"Kaiten!"

The spikes were repelled, littering the arena floor.

"It seems there is yet something you can hide behind Hyuuga," Naruto said, amusement clear in his voice, while his face remained as impassive as it had been. "How cowardly. Unbefitting for such a noble clan."

"Silence! You don't know anything. You know nothing of the Hyuuga, of our ways. Of our destiny of hatred!"

Naruto simply shook his head, not moving from his position, the killing intent that had been slowly leaking from him not receding at all.

If the entire audience was not so shocked at the development before them, someone would have surely commended the blond for his emotional control.

"And you do not know how little I care. Fate does not exist. It is the nature of things to change. Sometimes it is as easy as breathing," he swiped at the metal spikes laying on the ground around them. "And sometimes it requires help. But change is not something you can escape, only delay. By being a coward."

"Shut up! You are wrong, you are wrong, you are wrong!"

"And yet you could not hurt me with your prized talent."

"You can't hurt me either?"

"Is that so? And yet I have an unlimited amount of weapons and time, while you have a limited amount of chakra for that Kaiten of yours. It would be easy to simply tire you out."

Naruto gazed directly in the Hyuuga's eyes, making him shiver. The blonde's eyes looked like pieces of finely polished metal at that moment.

"But that would not be definite enough."

He raised his arms.

He flicked his hands. Two spikes came up from the earth, piercing both of the Hyuuga's legs.

Neji screamed and collapsed on his knees.

"Did you like my music, little Hyuuga? The sound of my metal piercing your body? Would you like to hear more of it? Or will you hide behind your prized fate again?"

A piece of metal vaguely shaped like a knife shot up in Naruto's hand. He slowly made his way to the panting Hyuuga, idly playing with the weapon.

He crouched down, so that their eyes could meet.

And then he pointed the knife to one of them.

"It is not fate you should fear, little Hyuuga," Naruto said in a whisper that sent shivers down Neji's spine. "No, it is me you should fear, because I hold your life in my hands."

He inched the blade closer and closer to the eye.

Neji shook in fear.

Mere millimeters before piercing the Byakugan, Naruto dropped the knife on the ground, where it sank in the earth.

The blond stood up.

"Forfeit. Now."

A shaking hand shot up in the air and the stadium heard the terrified voice of Neji say "I forfeit!"

"Winner, Uzumaki Naruto!" the proctor said, without much enthusiasm.

Naruto looked down at the boy in his feet for a moment longer and then spun on his heel, nodding to the proctor, ignoring the medical nin rushing around him, heading for the balcony and his fellow participants.

Not a sound could be heard in the entire arena.

Naruto walked, and there was a symphony of clashing metal in his mind.

Author's Notes:

I'm curious what you think of this little one-shot. Didn't beta it, so I would appreciate you pointing out any errors. Like it or not, comment, please.

Cheers,

Simon