Uzukage
Summary: 12-year-old ninja failure Uzumaki Naruto escapes from Konoha after the village council ordered him executed. Running into two old friends of the past, Naruto begins his own hidden village.
Disclaimer: I wish I owned Naruto.
Naruto was running. Fast. Faster than he had ever before. Well, maybe except that time. But he wouldn't let it take control of him this time.
His feet raced through the grimy and damp mud. He was running in a tunnel, a dark and dirty tunnel, lighted only by small cracks and seemingly glowing rocks. The tunnel was poorly made, about two hundred feet under ground, grimy, smelly, and suffocating… but it was the only chance he had.
Finally, he saw the tunnel lead up. Racing uphill, Naruto slowed to see a small, grimy, dusty door that opened to the top…
He slowly opened the door, and peeked his head out.
No one.
Hopping out nimbly, Naruto closed the trapdoor, as he quickly slapped the dirt back into place, until the ground looked as if it hadn't been touched at all.
Using a large bush, he swept his footprints and nimbly hopped onto a rock, hoping he had done a good job of hiding his tracks.
Then, Naruto jumped into the air, racing through the trees, as he paused only to catch a quick breath and listen for any sound of pursuers.
Only the chirping of early morning birds reached his ear, as the rising sun shone upon his eyes.
Pushing himself off a branch, he once more began leaping from tree to tree, as fast as he could. He would reach the sea by noon.
He had to get away… as far away… as possible… from… "that"… place…-Flashback-
"The final test to become a genin is to see if you can mold your chakra to create the simplest of all jutsus… the Bunshin. Please line up, and be prepared to make two to pass." Announced Umino Iruka. The genin-to-be academy students lined up, each creating a successful pair of bunshins.
And then it was Naruto's turn.
"Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto yelled, hoping desperately that it would come out right.
It didn't.
Instead, about 50 green, sickly, Naruto-ish figures popped out, and the whole class stood in shock as the figures slowly turned to green slime and began oozing into people's shoes.
"EEEEEK!" screamed Sakura. "OH MY GOD!!!" cried Ino as she jumped onto a desk in fright.
Even Hinata, usually an admirer of Naruto, looked disgusted as the slime seemed to attack her first, swelling up to her knees. "A-a-no… Na-ru-ruto…kun… wh-what… did… y-y-you… do?" she whispered, tears spilling from her eyes, as she fainted onto a chair with a dull thud.
Inukaza Kiba was laughing his head off at the distress of the females as well as some males in the class. "Hahaha Naruto, you loser… can't even do a simple bunshin without making a whole mess!! Some ninja you are, hahahaha!"
Uchiha Sasuke only nodded coldly as he didn't even glance at the blonde. "Weakling." Was his only comment.
But the word that came out of Sakura's mouth was much more devastating to the young blonde boy. "Monster." She whispered.
Naruto's mind raced at a thousand miles per second. He was so frustrated… angry… annoyed… bothered… His dream was to become Hokage, to prove to the village that he was worthy of their respect, their admiration. But instead… he couldn't even do the simplest of jutsus without screwing up! Why was he such a failure?
But not only that… why was he such a monster?
Ever since he was a little kid, he had been treated like a piece of dirt on a clean table. He was trash, worthless garbage, and he was called that everyday, and treated like one. Only one food stand in the entire village allowed him to eat there- and that was the Ichikaru Ramen Stand. All, all, the other restaurants either had him banned, or due to the complaints of other customers, kicked him out as soon as possible.
But then, the Ichikaru Ramen Stand soon became known as the only restaurant that housed the demon. It became the Demon Stand. It was known as that to the rest of the village. And needless to say, old man Teuchi and his beautiful daughter Ayame… were soon forced to move to another village to do their business.
And that is why being called a monster, a demon, hurt Naruto much, much, more than being called a piece of trash.
Because it meant that not only was he worthless… he was also harmful, to the safe and happy peoples of Konoha.
People like Teuchi and Ayame were hurt to be associated with him. He played pranks, trying to give people laughs, but instead, all he got were deadly glares and snarls, as the shinobi and villagers of Konoha had no tolerance for anything he did.
You stain the village simply by existing. Whispered a rather dark part of Naruto's mind. You hurt everyone you come in contact with.
Naruto's dark thoughts occupied his attention, as he didn't even hear the furious screaming of Iruka. His other classmates had long since left, and it was just the two of them in the classroom now, both standing in knee-deep slime.
Iruka, the only teacher in the academy who treated Naruto with a tiny bit of respect, the only teacher who ever showed him a tiny bit of care, was hurt too. When the Academy Students were tested, many chuunin, some jounin, and even the Hokage sometimes came to watch. In the eyes of a teacher, every student that passed would show how good the teacher was. Iruka had hoped to pass the entire class with flying colors, thus increasing the chances of becoming jounin.
But now…
"Naruto… you disrespected me… in front of my superiors…" Iruka said softly, gravely, "sorry… but I cannot pass you… Naruto… just leave…"
"Hahaha, Iruka, your superiors will be hearing of this!!" A watching chuunin had cackled before he walked out laughing with several of his friends.
Naruto only nodded weakly. Then he stepped through the slime, in the direction of the door.
"Wait!" Iruka called after him.
Naruto spun around. Perhaps he would get another chance? Or Iruka-sensei felt sorry for him and would pass him?
"Clean it up. Oh… be sure to fill out the registration papers if you want… sigh… to reenter the ninja academy."
Naruto's heart sank. Well, it didn't just sink… it drowned. The entire academy career was five years, and those who didn't pass, were forced to stay for three more years. This is because the academy exam to pass, was so ridiculously easy, that any wannabe-shinobi who failed it was considered a failure of a shinobi, and usually not encouraged to return to the trade. If they did return, they would be punished with 3 extra years, of humiliating lessons with 8 year olds as they were retaught.
Iruka took one long look at Naruto, but the blonde didn't look up. Looking at the slime, he pulled out a mop, and began to mop… and mope.
Sighing, Iruka left the room, his mind hoping that Naruto would realize that he simply wasn't cut out for a shinobi.
But then… his dream of becoming Hokage would be ruined…-End Flashback-
Naruto stopped, panting for breath. Three hours of non-stop running had left him exhausted. But now, it was crucial that he took this slowly.
Shifting lightly on the tree he was on, he heard several footsteps about fifty feet in front of him. He hid himself behind the leaves as best as he could.
"Gai-sensei, did you hear that?" Asked a young man.
"My beloved Lee, I did, but it was soft enough to be either a squirrel or a very pretty little girl!! Believe me, if it were any threat, I will beat the enemy into submission and show them the true power of youth, and if I couldn't, then I will do two thousand pushups with a boulder on my back!!" A deep man's voice rang out.
"YOSH!! And if you cannot do two thousand pushups with a boulder on your back, then Gai-sensei, I will do three thousand pushups with TWO boulders on my back!!!" The first voice, apparently, a young man named Lee, yelled excitedly.
"And if you cannot do three thousand pushups with two boulders on your back, then I will do four thousand pushups with TEN, do you hear that, TEN boulders on my back. And HAHAHAHAHA Ten-ten boulders on my back TENTEN did you hear the amazing pun I just thought of IT WAS BRILLIANT get it??!! Ten boulders on my back, Ten-ten, HAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!"
"Oh dear God." Muttered a third voice, a female voice this time, who sounded very annoyed and exasperated.
"OSSSU!! That was an AMAZING pun Gai-sensei!! And if I cannot think of a better pun than Ten boulders on my back then I will run FIVE thousand miles around Neji!!!"
"YITTAEE!!! And if you cannot run five thousand miles around Neji then I will run TEN thousand miles around TENTEN, HAHAHAHAHAHA I just made another pun, TEN thousand miles around TENTEN, that's like, a HUGE pun!!"
"HAAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA!!" Naruto couldn't stop himself from his uncontrollable laughter at these two dumbasses who apparently had never heard a joke in their lives. And the man Gai-sensei clearly had no idea what a pun was. But as he laughed, suddenly the presences ahead of him became very still. SHIT now they noticed me!! Better think of something quick…
"HAHA-haha-ga-ga-Kaka ka KA KA KA KA KA KWAL KWAL KOOKOO KOO KOO WOO WOO WOO WOO CROWCROWCROWCROW…" choked Naruto trying to make all different kinds of bird noises, hoping to pass off his sudden laughter as a lot of crazy avians in a bloodthirsty hunt for rodents.
"Ok… that did not sound right" Said the female voice, apparently Tenten. "Neji, can you do the Byukagan?"
"Yea. Let me put down my pack." Said the fourth voice, apparently a young man named Neji.
Shit shit shit!!! Naruto thought as he looked frantically around him. He knew that the Byukagan, the Hyuuga Clan's legendary Kekkei Genkai, would be able to detect him…
Better think of something fast…!-Flashback-
Three hours later after a long "mopping," night had long settled in, as Naruto left the empty Academy. Throwing the mop to a side, he sat down on a rock, and began to sob.
Why… was he… not only a worthless piece of trash… but also… a monster… who hurt people… and a failure… who clearly would never realize his 'dream' of becoming Hokage… why couldn't he ever do ANYTHING right?!!
"I'm sorry Iruka-sensei…" Naruto whispered as he cleaned his worn orange jumpsuit with a stick. He had had this suit, and only this suit for years… he had found it in the trash, because no respectable clothing store would let him buy their clothes.
"Naruto?"
The blonde boy looked up, his heart racing with fear and hope. Was it Iruka-sensei, coming to apologize? Even if not to apologize, even if just to rant some more, Naruto wanted nothing more than to cry out apology after apology for his failure and making Iruka-sensei look bad in front of all those watchers.
But it wasn't Iruka. Instead, it was their other sensei… Opotsu Mizuki.
Unlike Iruka, Mizuki downright ignored Naruto for the past five years. While he never actually called Naruto a monster, he had always looked at Naruto with a bit of a sneer, as if he were too good to talk to such a 'dobe.'
This time, however, Mizuki had a different gleam in his eye, as Naruto looked up to see. He had not so much a sneer, but rather a smirk.
"Listen… Naruto, I will tell you… of another way to pass…" The man gave an evil smile, undoing it quickly, as Naruto, with eyes shining with hope, turned to look at the man.
-End Flashback-