A hidden meaning
A/N: Surprise, surprise… who would've thought that I would come up with another series? Well that's even if this is going to become a series… well, it's up to you guys then. Just see, take a look and voice your thoughts on the review section on whether I should burn this piece of crap down or what.
Warning: This story will be a major plot kill. Maybe not so much, since some canon events will occur in this story. And just like my story, Samsara, this story will also have a major butchering of character personality.
Other notes: Since I'm not good in writing romance… I'll make the pairings wait for a while now. Though feel free to suggest in the description.
Side notes: I am not a good English speaker, which is why I write Fanfictions to improve my writing.
"Don't die Naruto."
Three words were all he remembered. Eyes opening, he regained consciousness as he woke up from his deep slumber. The sun's rising, birds are chirping… a rather normal way to start a day. Except this time, he's not on his apartment. White ceiling, it's obvious that he's in a hospital right now.
"Remember, they are your enemy."
He tried to move his head, but feeling unable to do so. His body is paralyzed, it seems. But he can move his eyes though, looking in all direction, he's greeted by the plain and boorish hospital decoration of a painting and white walls. There's a door that leads outside, and a closed window.
He contemplates on whether he's dreaming or not. This scene is rare, oh so rare. Due to his condition, he was never sent to a hospital except for a few checkups on his health or any other thing. Eyes darted towards the clock to his view, it's just about nine o'clock in the morning, quite early.
Slowly as he examines the room, he started to regain his senses. Hearing, touch and even body are getting lighter. After a while, he can feel again and needless to say, he felt like shit. No, he felt worse than shit. It's like he had been forced inside a box and was forced to hold his breath for ten hours. It's not like he ever experienced being stuck inside a box or anything, but that's the closes predicament he could use.
In short, he's uncomfortable. Not to mention, his chest is hurting so he doesn't see why the thought of him being stuffed inside a box isn't possible. He tried to speak but unable to do so. Why? His throat is dry as hell, it seems like his tongue has evaporated or something.
Ignoring all his thinking, he still needs to come up with an idea on how the hell did he got here?
"Do not trust anyone. All you can trust is me, and yourself."
Ah…
He remembered.
Itachi Uchiha…
A famous person actually. Every single ninja in Konoha will know who Itachi is. Aside from saying the guy's obsession over chocolate flavored cracker sticks, they would also remark on how the guy's such a genius, smart, skilled and perfect shinobi he is. He is a genius, or was to be exact.
He clenched both fists as hard as he could.
But before he could continue his train of thoughts, the door to his room swung open.
"How is his condition doctor?"
"Stable Hokage-sama… he's free to leave on your order."
"Hm. Good." The older and lighter tone muttered. Slowly, the aged Shinobi approached the blonde who is lying on the bed. "Naruto? Naruto, can you hear me?"
With a childlike tone, he responded. "Loud and clear old man." The old man's face brightened at his reply. But the boy doesn't. He slowly stood up, while wincing as he did so, and two familiar looking faces greeted him. One female and one is an old man in his early seventies.
The doctor dressed in her coat sighed and approached the hospitalized boy, saying. "Don't stand up yet Naruto-kun, even if you're free to leave, rest for a while."
But the boy is already stretching his joints, making audible popping sounds as if to mock the doctor's words. Giving the doctor a grin, he shrugged. "Nah, I'm good. Need to water my plants, and you know damn well that Naruto Uzumaki will take care of his plants."
The Hokage chuckled at the boy's antics, it's such a bright thing seeing the boy in his happier mood. "Hahaha… I see that you've taken a liking on gardening, Naruto. Did you learn it from Inoichi?"
The boy shook his blonde mopped head. "No, I learned it on my own." That caused the Hokage to frown for a moment. "And yeah, I guess I need a few more hobbies aside from causing mayhem around town. To be honest, it's getting boring around here, the Uchihas are gone and the Hyuugas won't quit their yapping about the 'demon kid'…"
If there was a frown on the Hokage's lips, then that frown is now a sad one. taking a seat on the feet of the bed, Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed deeply as his aged lungs could. "Naruto… remember what I told you about referring to yourself?"
Giving the Kage a glance, he replied. "Uh… Yeah?"
"And…?" he motioned for the boy to continue.
Naruto sighed in annoyance, old people can be troublesome sometimes… "I am not the Fox nor the Fox is me, blah blah blah and don't listen to what others speak about you." Naruto resisted the urge to spat right here and there. "I don't get it old man. But first, how on earth did I get here in the first place?"
The Hokage and doctor deadpans. "You slipped down a roof and hit your head." Bot said at the same time.
The blonde froze. His expression remained stiff, and slowly, a huge blush crept down his face down to his neck. The boy looked away for obvious reasons, and once he gotten rid of the ridiculous redness on his face, he turned to face the two adults once more. "S-So? Anyway… why should I accept what the people do to me anyway? It's not my fault that I contained a big fox of doom inside my stomach, right? Did I asked someone to put it in there in the first place, and even if I did, how on earth did they put it there?!"
The two adults sweatdropped. He's seriously angry there. But Hiruzen interrupts the boy's rambling with a cough, getting the boy's attention. Smiling kindly, he spoke. "Listen here Naruto, not all people are given a good life."
"But not all people are Jinchurikis, right?"
Ouch. "Well, you must understand Naruto." The professor continues, not losing his kind tone. "True, not all people are Jinchurikis but remember that you are actually protecting them right now."
Naruto blinked in confusion. "Right now?"
"Yes. With being a Jinchuriki, you are preventing the demon from escaping and hurting anyone else, doesn't that make you a hero?"
Naruto crossed his arms and looked downhearted. He pouts adorably and muttered. "But I'm sure as hell aren't treated like one though…"
The Hokage smiled. He bent down and ruffled the child's hair, doing so with a loving smile on his face. With kind eyes, he gazed down to the boy, saying. "Not all hero are treated kindly Naruto. In fact, I could probably name a few who chose to live without people knowing what they've done?"
Instead of the reaction the Kage is expecting, the child raised his arms in expiration. "Bah! Too boring old man, tell me some other time, I need to water Izu-chan right now." He got out from his bed, reached for the shelf to get his keys and left the room with a goodbye. "Bye Old man, bye old lady!"
"Daww… he named his plants Izu-chan… I'M NOT AN OLD LADY YOU BRAT!"
The aged Kage sighed, shaking his head disappointingly. He has high hopes for the blonde, he sure does. But it looks like he shouldn't have given up that easily. What does it take to make a horse run faster? Whip them? No, use food as bait.
"Itadakimasu!"
The happy and energetic little blonde bundle of joy happily gulped his noodles down his throat, after swallowing, his eyes gleamed in absolute satisfaction at what he's eating. The food of the Gods, the one and only and the most delicious food in the world…
Ramen.
"Old man Teuchi, another serving please!" he raised his bowl happily, not losing the gleam that he has in his eyes.
The old ramen chef laughed joyously, quickly preparing noodles for his number one customer. "Hahaha! Sure thing boy, Ayame, one Naruto special coming right up!"
He liked eating here. Probably because this is the only place that accept demon containers. But no, not because of that. Teuchi and Ayame are nice people, maybe even the nicest that he knew of other than Old man Hokage and Iruka-sensei. He's been eating here ever since he was eight, and that time, he was introduced by the Hokage about this family of two.
He was glad to know that there are some nice people out there, he really is. A while later, a female, young waitress came out from the back carrying a steaming hot bowl of ramen on top of a plastic tray. She looks beautiful, her eyes and hair makes her look like the local beauty around here. Smiling warmly, she set the bowl in front of the boy. "Here you go Naruto-kun, make sure not to eat too fast or else you'll burn your tongue, okay?"
"Okay Nee-chan!"
Deg! Ayame clutched her chest, feeling her heart nearly burst open from her chest. Her reaction goes unnoticed by the boy since he's busy eating. Thank God for that. Ayame sighed in satisfaction. Her little brother figure is so cute that she couldn't resist on getting a heart attack whenever he smiles.
"My, you sure like Ramen don't you Naruto-kun?" Ayame managed to comment while smiling.
The boy paused on his eating and gave the older girl a smile. "Yup! It's because you gave them to me!"
That's it.
"Aww! Naruto-kun you're so sweet, don't ever grow up and stay cute, okay~?" she hugged the boy from the other side of the counter, rubbing her cheeks against his whiskered ones.
The boy looked confused for a second. What does she meant by that? So he just smiled brighter and replied with a yes. "Okay!"
Ayame squealed harder than a high school girl in love causing her to hug the younger boy harder. Teuchi watched the scene with a huge laugh, the two really looked like siblings after all, aside for appearance. If only he could adopt the boy and raise him as his own…
But that doesn't mean that he didn't tried. He did try on adopting the blonde kid but the office of children rights always has a reason to oppose to his decision. Sighing sadly, he decided to leave the thought be. "Let him go Ayame, his bowl will go cold if you're hugging him."
"Aww… fine then." She lets the boy go, much to the boy's enjoyment. "Next time you come, I'll take you home and make you my little brother, okay?"
Naruto shrugged with a mouthful of noodles in his mouth. "Mwhe…" the way his cheeks puffed up from all that noodle inside of his mouth mad his Kawaii factor goes higher. And unfortunately for Ayame, her Kawaii resistance isn't that high, much less she allowed it to be resistant.
But before his daughter could be accused of child molestation, Teuchi was there to hold her back, much to his daughter's complain. "Let go of me dad! I need… to get my Naruto-kun!"
Her father laughed it all awkwardly, saying. "Hahaha… now now, Ayame, Naruto-kun has his food and he'll return tomorrow. Right Naruto-kun?" he asked the boy, obviously hinting the clueless child something.
Not understanding what the chef meant, Naruto gave the old man a thumbs up. "You bet I will! When I become Hokage, I'll make this place my personal restaurant!" he said so with a mix of bravado, cheer and pride.
Teuchi chuckled, but he's still trying to prevent his daughter from jumping the boy in front of them. He has to respect the kid. after all the things he been through… it's a miracle to see the kid still be able to smile like that. He can only hope and pray that the boy has a brighter future ahead of him.
…
"Oh! Nee-chan, your nose is bleeding!"
"Ah! Ayame!"
Standing on top of familiar tower, a shady looking man stared upon the morning scenery of Konoha. His green and familiar flak jacket quickly described his affiliation. A defying gravity silver hair, a Konoha headband being used to cover his left eye and a half face mask used to cover his face… yup, even rookie Chunnins could tell that this is Kakashi Hatake reading porn early in the morning while standing on top of the Hokage tower.
He squinted a single eye, drawing the book closer to his face. "Hm… Ayaka and Toshi never got together?" his voice took a surprised turn. Then his looks returned to the usual bored one. "Well, never liked that pairing anyway." He pocketed his book.
It's a strange thing… this place. Just a few weeks ago, Itachi Uchiha killed his entire clan for unknown reasons. And now, it's peaceful again. Makes him wonder if this place isn't under a large Genjutsu or something. But all theories aside, the famed Jonin of Konoha is bored. He's plain bored. Where's Gai when you need him anyway, oh yeah… he's out with his team right now.
Sighing in disappointment, all he could do now is to check the bookstore for any new release. Without saying any other words, the man disappeared into thin air.
In the other part of town, Kakashi reappeared in all of his glory. Appearing inside an alleyway that is near his favorite bookstore is such a convenient thing. He's not surprising anybody and he's not getting sued for surprising that certain somebody. So exiting the alley, the Jonin made his way for the bookstore. After some walking, he finally see the familiar glass door and display window on the front side of the shop. He peeked on the display window and could not believe on what he's seeing.
Is this a dream? If this is a dream, then it's a good one. ouch, okay this is not a dream. He can't believe it, the newest volume for the Icha Icha series is out on sale for today! It's a limited edition too, makes it even more worth it to get. Barely containing his excitement, the open pervert Jonin entered the shop like a child getting ready to buy candy.
"Welcome! Ah, Kakashi-san, we have the newest shipment arriving tod-aaaah!" he went zooming past the clerk, ignoring her comment. His target is obviously the books. Seeing the man's eagerness in purchasing a copy, the store clerk sweatdropped on seeing the man literally all over the bookshelf, he's even sniffing it. "Uh… okay, Kakashi-san, if you're looking to buy one it's 320 yen."
Kakashi froze. 320 yen, he's sure that it cost about a hundred or so normally… giving the clerk a knowing look, he demanded a reason. The clerk raised her hands in defense. "It's a special edition you see, and it's limited after all…"
Damn… even if it's a special edition and a limited one in that fact, he still can't just whisked his money away like that. A ninja must be smart after all so…
"I'll take it."
CHA-CHING
"Thank you Kakashi-san!"
Well, so much for being an example to the kids, Kakashi.
Walking out the book store, the famed and infamous copy ninja wasted no time in reading the book. By the few couple pages, he's already absorbed to it like glue to paper. It's amazing seeing him dodging people while reading blindly like that.
But later, he's not so fortunate.
"Ow!"
The man didn't budge. He's still reading and walking, not even hearing someone screaming before. The owner of the voice twitched; annoyed that he was being ignored. He's not going to let a random mask wearing guy bump into him without apologizing, not a fat chance.
"Hey! You, get back here!"
The taller man didn't budge. He's ignoring the younger voice no matter how one would look at it. the man's ignorance caused the boy to get even more agitated. The boy growled and approached the man.
"Hey, mask wearing dude!"
The term 'mask wearing dude' seemed to caught the masked man's attention. He stopped on reading the book he's holding and paused on his walking. He's looking around trying to find the direction of the voice that was probably referring to him.
"Here!"
Kakashi turned towards where he heard the voice, but saw no one. Maybe he needs glasses and a check up with the doctor?
"…Down here." What's with that self pitied response?
Looking down, Kakashi came face to face with a pair of big blue eyes, a mop of spiky blonde hair, whiskered cheeks, and a hell lot of orange. Not the fruits mind you. The boy is impatiently tapping his feet to the ground, crossing his arms while having an annoyed expression on his face for display. "Well?"
Kakashi blinked owlishly. Then he turned his eyes into a smile, leaned forward to the boy's abnormally short height. "What's the matter little guy, you lost?"
TWITCH
That pulse mark pulsating on his forehead goes unnoticed by Kakashi. The boy's nearly exploded from the way the man is treating him. he's twelve for God's sake, he's not a 'little guy' as one would say. Trying to talk slowly, he opened his mouth.
"Do you need me to take you to the lost children center? Or are you looking for your mommy?"
But was unfortunately interrupted by the masked man.
Naruto saw red and charged at the man. "I'M NOT A KID YOU MASK- Hey, that's cheating you masked retard!" Kakashi merely placed his hand on top of the boy's head, preventing the boy from reaching him due to his short stature. Still with a hidden smile on his face, the jonin is having fun in teasing the kid. But no matter how fun it is, he's still being stared at.
"Hey, look at that man over there."
"Yeah, he's making a little boy cry."
Woops, that's not a good thing. Without saying anything, the disappeared in a cloud of smoke along with the boy who he's still holding. Later, the two appeared in an emptier alley. Realizing that they're in a different place, Naruto stopped his raging. "Hey, where are we?"
"Away from me getting into trouble." Kakashi muttered bitterly.
Naruto looked around. He's inside a stinky alley, and how on earth did he get here. Unless…
"Hah!" he pointed his finger accusingly at the masked man. That caused said man to stare at the boy weirdly. "You're a pervert aren't you?!"
Kakashi was not amused.
"Ayame-neechan told me that there are men who kidnapped boys like me and bring them into alleyway like this so that they could pop my cherry. You're a Shota… shotasomething right?!"
Kakashi's hanging mouth is now framing his mask.
"Oh no…" the boy made a seriously terrified expression. "Hokage-Jiji… Ayame-neechan… Iruka-sensei… I'm going to have my cherry popped. Whatever that means." The boy shook in fear and dropped to the ground.
Kakashi raised a shaky hand in effort to calm the boy down, but it's useless now. Sighing in disappointment, he face palmed. "What do you want… Naruto?"
The boy, who is shaking on the ground, opened his eyes. He jumped back on his two feet and gave the older man a grin. "Hah! I got you on this one Dog!" the boy let out a satisfied laugh, much to the man's annoyance.
"Haah… I'm not Dog anymore Naruto. Remember my name?" he asked the boy.
"Eh? What was it again?"
Kakashi deadpanned. "Kakashi Hatake."
"Ah, you're right!" the boy made a face that shows realization. "So how've you been doing, Dog?"
Kakashi face palmed.
Later, he was accompanied back to his apartment by the older ninja. Now standing in fron of his apartment door, he bowed to the man in gratitude. "Thank you so much Kashi!"
A nickname? Well, it's better than Dog. The masked man shrugged. "Don't mention it Kiddo." He ruffled the boy's head, smiling. "Just make sure that you eat lunch okay? And don't go wandering on your own."
"Okay!" with that final note, the boy opened the door to his apartment and banged it close on the man's face.
Kakashi could only sigh before smiling. Naruto will be Naruto, he guess.
Oh well, back to reading his book then.
Once the door is closed, the Uzumaki entered his room. He opened his orange jumpsuit jacket, discarded everything on his table top and removed the mirror to reveal a hidden cabinet inside. With expression alien to those who know Naruto, he reached inside the mirror cabinet and grabbed something.
Pulling out, he stared at the familiar looking and feeling book. A simple book covered in leather cover. Opening the book, he began to read with an expressionless expression on his face.
Friday,
The second night before my act on killing my clan, I can feel insanity losing its grasp on me. I don't know what has come to my senses. It has been cleared that I will serve Konoha by getting rid of a hatred and pride driven clan that is my own… but still… what am I? Am I a weapon for killing for thousands of innocent lives out there? Then what about the children of the Uchihas…? My siblings?... it's no matter. I've decided. A plant won't die unless you cut its roots out, after all.
Itachi Uchiha.
He gripped the book tighter, unable to retain the emotions that are seeping out from his being. Through gritted teeth, he wondered. "Itachi… why?... why my friend… why?"
Everything has a hidden meaning within it, all that matters is how deep you search for it.
End of chapter one