The morning sun shone from the horizon, giving everything an orange tinge. The freshness of the morning assaulted the senses, from the smell of dew, the breathtaking beauty of the scenery, the sounds of animals waking up, the taste of the morning air, to the simple feeling of being part of the rebirth morning brought. It was so … peaceful.
Kenji sighed and closed his eyes. He was glad that after such a long and arduous life he had finally found peace. He went down the stairs of his simple tree house. He never wore his sandals in the morning so that he could feel the moist ground. He had never stopped to admire such simple pleasures in his younger years.
He walked down the path toward the small river that ran near his house. There he undressed and stepped in. He did not even notice the freezing water, despite it being late autumn. Afterwards he lay on a rock to dry himself, his robes hung on a branch to air. He lay like this for fifteen minutes, letting the warm autumn sun dry him. Any longer and he did not doubt he would catch the ague. He got up, dressed and went back to sit cross-legged by the river.
"Come forward, child," he said.
From the cover of the surrounding trees a young monk appeared. He appeared to be in his late twenties. He had black hair, black eyes and radiated a quiet nature.
"Please, Brother Daichi, come forward," Kenji said.
"I'm sorry to disturb your peace, Brother Kenji," Daichi said as he stepped forward. "But I guess I shouldn't be surprised you knew I was there." Kenji chuckled at that.
"Some habits are hard to let go, I guess," Kenji said. Daichi did not reply and came to sit beside Kenji. He looked at the old man from the corner of his eye. Despite being eighty odd years old, Kenji radiated an inner strength and vitality. Daichi did not for one minute entertain the thought that Kenji's shinobi skills had dulled in the twenty years Kenji had been resident at Hi no Tera, the Temple of Fire. Despite his great age Kenji had brown hair, brown eyes, a straight nose which had a scar line running across it, no doubt an old battle wound, perfect white teeth and a slim, tall figure. The two sat in silence for a while before Daichi spoke again.
"I have some bad news, Brother Kenji," Daichi finally said. Kenji did not react in any way, and Daichi stayed quiet for another minute. But he could not keep this news from Kenji. "Konoha was attacked last week by the Kyuubi no Yoko, the Nine Tailed Demon Fox. More than half the village was destroyed and many shinobi were killed. The entire village of Konoha would have been annihilated were it not for the Fourth Hokage. He managed to use a jutsu that, in exchange for his life, saved Konoha from the rampage of the Fox."
Kenji digested this slowly. Sorrow filled his heart at the news. His former home was destroyed. The Fourth Hokage was dead. Konoha was now severely weakened and if they so chose, other shinobi villages could come and take over, even the lesser shinobi villages.
"I see," Kenji said slowly. He did not take his eyes from the river. The gurgling water which shone blue was hypnotic in its beauty. "But," Kenji continued, "I am no longer a shinobi, and the earthly concerns of men no longer rest on my shoulders."
Daichi nodded. As a monk resident at Hi no Tera, Kenji had renounced his attachment to the earthly world and had instead devoted his life to Kami, togod.
"And I would not have troubled you," Daichi explained, "had it not been for a matter I thought … extenuating." Kenji raised an eyebrow, still looking at the water. "The Fourth Hokage made a dying wish." That instantly got Kenji's attention. Death-bed wishes were very powerful indeed, and it was considered both bad manners and bad luck to ignore them. "The Fourth Hokage," continued Daichi, "bid me to come to you and ask of you a favour: to look after a child, one Uzumaki Naruto as he is now named." Kenji finally looked up from the river and into Daichi's eyes.
"Why?" Kenji asked.
"The Fourth Hokage used the Shiki Fujin, the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, to seal the Kyuubi inside Uzumaki Naruto. The Kyuubi is an immortal creature, an extremely large mass of sentient chakra, and therefore cannot be killed. The only course was to seal away its malice where it would do no harm."
"That's where you're wrong," Kenji said as his gaze went back to the river. "By sealing the Kyuubi inside this boy, this Uzumaki Naruto, The Fourth made the boy a Jinchūriki, and the lives of Jinchūriki are rarely happy, if ever…" Kenji subsided into silence.
"Even so," agreed Daichi. "And this is why the Fourth Hokage wanted you to look after the boy. Even mere hours after the Kyuubi was sealed the villagers and other shinobi were baying for the child's blood, for the child's death. Sarutobi-sama was reinstated as Hokage, and I was honour bound to report to him the last moments of the Fourth's life. He, too, agrees with the Fourth. As Hokage his duty is to the entire village and not to just one person, but he cannot in good conscience simply abandon the child. Besides, the child is innocent of any and all wrong doing. Already Sarutobi-sama has made preparations that the child will be housed and taken care of separately from the other orphans. An ANBU guard of two shinobi will watch over him discretely, but this can be no guarantee against all the shinobi who would want to see the child dead. Only a constant guardian could keep him safe. Besides, Konoha cannot really spare any shinobi as all hands will be needed in the regeneration of the village." Kenji nodded slowly. He knew all this. He had merely been stalling. He did not want to leave the peace he had finally found from the arduous life of a shinobi. He was being selfish. Finally he bowed his head.
"Very well," Kenji said. "I will leave for Konoha on the morrow. I shall take care of this child, this Uzumaki Naruto, as if he were my own son, or rather grandson," Kenji added with a humorous reference to his old age. Daichi bowed too. He knew what kind of sacrifice Kenji was making. Kenji was finally entering back into the shinobi world. If the child was to survive assassination attempts on his life and guard himself from those who would seek to use him, or rather the Kyuubi within him, as a weapon, the child would have to become a strong and skilled shinobi. Daichi's his respect for the old man rose.
"Uzumaki Naruto could not ask for a better guardian," Daichi said. Kenji bowed his head as he accepted the praise. The two monks sat by the riverbank for a while longer, surrounded by peace, each deep in thought.
XXX
The circular chamber was dark. A thick, tapering candle burnt in the middle of a circular table. The table was made of mahogany and its polished surface shone in the candlelight. The table was dense and thick, giving an almost metallic ring if it were to be beaten hard enough. There were twelve cushions around the table, and twelve people sat cross-legged on these cushions. They all wore blue and white robes, apart from one man who wore red and white robes. This man was rather old, older than his peers certainly and none of them looked younger than fifty. This man wore a traditional straw hat that was covered with a taught cloth painted red and white, with the kanji for "Fire" written on the front. A long wooden pipe dangled from between the man's teeth.
"Welcome back, Sandaime Hokage-sama," a man on the Hokage's right said. The Hokage bowed his head in acknowledgement.
"Were it only that I was back in office in good circumstances Homura," Sarutobi said. The woman on the Hokage's left bowed in acknowledgement of the statement.
"Were it that," Koharu agreed. She waited a pause before continuing. "But it is under grievous circumstances that you have been called back into office, Hokage-sama. There are many matters that require your guidance if Konoha is to survive."
Sarutobi gave a weary sigh.
"If such duties are too much Hokage-sama – and none here would blame you if they were, and nor would your honour be tarnished in any way for you have served Konoha well for many a decade, and you have done well by Konoha as Hokage – then perhaps you should step down and let another more capable person assume your duties." Silence greeted the room at this statement. Every person in the room watched the speaker, an aging man with his right eye and half his head covered in bandages, and the Hokage. After a second the Hokage chuckled and puffed at his pipe, sending smoke up into the ceiling.
"Don't fear, Danzō," Sarutobi said. "I am still capable enough to lead Konoha. No, I was merely thinking of the Fourth. He was too young and too talented to have died. Konoha could have used a shinobi like him."
"True enough," Danzō assented after a short pause. The tension that had grown unnoticed in the room visibly eased.
"Then perhaps we can dive into the heart of the matters that require our attention," the man on the Hokage's right, Homura, said. "Our shinobi forces have been drastically reduced. It took a third of our shinobi to fight the Kyuubi no Yoko and hold it at bay until the Fourth got onto the battlefield. Fortunately most of the village was spared and very few villagers were killed or harmed so we are doubly in debt for the K.I.A shinobi." Here Homura paused and a heavy air settled in the room and each person said their prayers to the shinobi who had been killed in action. After a minute, Homura continued. "It will be a few years before we are back to full power. The wartime training methods the Fourth implemented for maximum results will need to be reintroduced so that Academy students graduate quite strong and have a firm building base from which to advance. This needs to be done immediately. Our resources are already stretched thin enough as it is so we need the next influx of Genin fast and prepared to take C-rank missions within three months of graduating." Homura took a deep breath and stopped talking. The Hokage sat there quietly for a few seconds before giving a slight nod. Homura bowed his head and then gave a quick nod to Koharu to continue.
"All the Clans suffered great losses to the Kyuubi's attack," Koharu began. "As such, for their continued trust and co-operation, we need to give them something in return for the services their Clan members rendered. The Hyūga suffered the biggest loss of all after Hiashi had to order quite a few number of the non-shinobi Branch Family members to defend Konoha. The Aburame, as I'm led to understand, also suffered losses-"
"The Aburame suffered the least losses," Danzō interrupted. Koharu bowed her head to his statement.
"In terms on the number of shinobi dead, yes," Koharu agreed. "But we should take into account, as Shibi reported to me, that the Aburame are a Clan that lives in a symbiotic relationship with the Kikaichu bugs; the Aburame are bug masters. During the fight against Kyuubi no Yoko many droves or nests of the Kikaichu died from trying to suck off too much chakra from the Kyuubi. While it seems demonic chakra has no adverse effects on the Kikaichu bugs, the Kyuubi simply had too much chakra. Even after hours and many dead Kikaichu droves, plus the other shinobi fighting the Kyuubi, the Kyuubi did not seem fazed in the least. Over half of the Aburame's Kikaichu droves were destroyed and it was all for naught."
"They should have realized their efforts were useless and retreated, regrouped and thought of a better strategy," Danzō admonished. "The Aburame are very logical and do not let emotion get in the way of the mission. They should have seen this and done what was necessary. Besides, what matters now is the number of shinobi Konoha has at its disposal. The Aburame can learn other techniques to get by until their Kikaichu droves are back to maximum capacity, which won't be long seeing as the bugs breed quite fast; this is only a minor setback." No one replied to that as all Council members thought this out thoroughly.
"Well spoken, Danzō." Everyone was surprised by two things; first it was the Hokage that had spoken and second the Hokage was complimenting his rival. "However," Sarutobi went on, "Although the Aburame are indeed focused and logical, they also possess the Will of Fire, like every other shinobi of the Hidden Leaf. They would never retreat and regroup whilst their comrades were getting slaughtered and their homes were threatened. It was also through their efforts that other shinobi did not drop from chakra exhaustion and give the Kyuubi an opening from which to attack Konoha; the chakra their bugs extracted from the Kyuubi was given to those other shinobi in need by the Hidden Jutsu of the Aburame Clan Head. After all their efforts, and despite all the truths you spoke, Danzō, courtesy and caution say we should act for the future benefit of all and honour the Aburame as they should be. Their logical minds would have seen the conclusions you drew and they will not expect anything in reward, and this will make our gesture doubly effective in making sure the Aburame continue to support the great tree of Konoha." Sarutobi drifted off into silence, his part spoken. Most people in the room were nodding. This was why Sarutobi-sama was Hokage; his eyes and heart saw far. A slight twinge passed across Danzō's face, almost imperceptible to all but Sarutobi himself. Danzō resented him absolutely.
"As you say, Hokage-sama," Danzō acknowledged with a small bow. "But," Danzō continued, and even though Sarutobi's eyes face was mostly covered by his hat, his well tuned senses picked out the need to score a victory in Danzō's voice. After all, the two had been rivals for many a year. Sarutobi knew well how Danzō's mind worked and knew instantly where this conversation would go. "There is the matter of the child."
Everyone knew which child Danzō spoke off. It was the child the Fourth had used in conjunction with the Shiki Fujin, the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, to seal the Kyuubi away.
"Yes," Koharu agreed. "Something has to be done about the child. We cannot simply ignore him." The Council Chamber was completely quiet now. Everyone was listening to what was to come. Everyone, and by everyone it meant every person in Konoha, whether it be shinobi or villager, had been wondering the same thing. What was to happen to the child?
"The general consensus," Homura explained, "is the child's execution. It has only been a week since the Kyuubi attacked. Many lives were lost and Konoha is weak because of it. Tempers are running hot and judgements are being clouded. Already an ANBU squad has had to be ordered to watch the child every second of the day until we reach a decision."
"To many the child is an anathema. The Kyuubi, the cause of their misery and pain, lies within the child, safe and unpunished for its crimes. The wall that separates the child from the Kyuubi has become hazy, bordering on invisible, and since the child cannot defend itself from accusations, the general thought that the child is the Kyuubi incarnate has sprung up, from both villagers and shinobi. To see the Kyuubi protected and safe has sent mixed messages to everyone."
"Konoha is a village asunder," Koharu continued, picking up the plot. "We all need to be united so that we can survive, and the child is right at the middle of this. We need to send a message to everyone else that the Kyuubi is being punished. The simplest way to do that would be to execute the child. By doing so many people would be placated and we would all be united against any further trouble. Also, by killing the child we might just be able to destroy the power of the Kyuubi no Yoko. We would also remove any future threat the child might posses, like releasing the Kyuubi and letting the demon finish Konoha, or being captured and used against us in future by another Hidden Village." All of these arguments were coherent and logical, and they gained power as they mounted. Many in the room were not disagreeing. Sarutobi kept still and quiet, his face hidden and inexpressive, the only sign of him being at all present in mind being his puffing pipe.
"While I agree with most of what Homura-san and Koharu-san said," Danzō said at last, "I have other ideas regarding the child. As the honourable councillors said, Konoha is low on morale and low on strength. The child, a container of the most powerful demon to walk the land, can be put to better use than simply assuaging a few grieving hearts. By allowing the child to become a shinobi, and more specifically one of Né, one of the Root Division, the child can be trained by the elite and dramatically increase Konoha's military strength, easily taking the place of a hundred shinobi, given enough time. And I think you mentioned the grieving families who believe the child is the Kyuubi incarnate. Well, that might be to our advantage. If rumour were to spread that the Kyuubi was "imprisoned" and working for Konoha, many minds might be changed to think like we do. As punishment the "Kyuubi" can be said to be working for the betterment of Konoha for eternity, which wouldn't be far from the truth seeing as most demon containers, if they live past their youth and into their adulthood, tend to live for very long. With such a power at our command, morale would return readily enough and Konoha would become the greatest Village, and we would in turn make the Land of Fire and our Daimyo the most powerful nation and lord in the land." Danzō's voice had been carefully neutral and logical. It would not do for Danzō to sound too excited or like a fanatic. Silence greeted these words. Of the two arguments so far, this was the more alluring. No one dared to even breathe. What the Hokage would say would be the final judgement. Seeing as they had just been in a war, of a sort, martial law was still in effect in Konoha, and as such, for want of a better term, the Hokage's word was law as he was the highest authority in Konoha. For now, not even the combined efforts of the Council could out rule him.
"I shall only say this once," Sarutobi said after a long pause. "The Fourth Hokage made a request of this village before he sacrificed his life. The child was burdened with imprisoning the Kyuubi no Yoko so that Konoha and the world at large would remain safe. The Fourth wanted the child to be heralded as a hero. Obviously, from what I have gathered, that has a very unlikely chance of happening. However, I will not disregard the request of such a man and shinobi as the Fourth, one who was even stronger than me, the "God of all Shinobi". Since the child will not have the peaceful life the Fourth wanted, the least I can do is make sure the child has a good childhood. Before you say anything, I know the villagers and the shinobi need their morale restored, and therefore openly supporting the child will cause division in Konoha. But neither can I abandon the child. This is why I have enlisted the help of an old friend of mine. Konoha cannot spare any shinobi so I have found the next best thing. The child will grow up as normal as can be expected in his situation, and I am hereby making two decrees right now to help the child; the first is that all who know that the Kyuubi was sealed within the child are forbidden on pain of death to speak of it at all so that the future generations will not have their judgements clouded by their seniors; the second is that any deliberate attack on the child, especially by shinobi, will be taken very seriously. I want no vendettas to mar this child's life. He did nothing wrong. That is my final judgement." Sarutobi puffed his pipe and returned to silence. The room was silent. It was clear most of the Council did not like this at all but they had no choice but to accept. On top of being a very powerful shinobi, even at his old age, Sarutobi was also very famous and popular in Konoha and in the land in general. Going against him was not advisable in most situations, if at all.
"A decision worthy of your reputation," Danzō said with a bow. His voice was neutral but Sarutobi and everyone else in the room read the meaning behind the statement; Sarutobi was known for being a pacifist and soft hearted by the more militant people of Konoha. Sarutobi, however, did not react in any way. The council meeting continued onto other things.
XXX
Uzumaki Naruto was four years old. He was walking down a busy market street, a brown paper bag in his hands. It contained the following week's groceries. His babyish face had a permanent smile plastered on it, the simple reason being that it was his birthday today and after a hard day's work Kenji had promised to cook up a feast. If there was one thing Naruto loved, it was eating. The delicacies that were normally denied to him all year round were finally available for the eating. As usual, he would eat too much, and as usual, he would have a stomach ache the following morning. But the ever overactive mind of the young blond did not register this. Instead it concentrated on the fun it would have with its guardian.
But while Naruto strolled down the street towards his home, he was unaware of the three people shadowing him. Even under normal circumstances he would not have been able to see the people watching him for they were shinobi. No normal person, especially a four year old child, could have been able to know a shinobi was trailing them. And so Naruto continued on walking, his absent humming interspersed by random giggles as the boy contemplated his birthday celebration. Would his guardian entertain him with a new trick? Last time the old man had taken Naruto to the hot springs after the dinner and after a half hour soak, the old man had started to slowly rise out of the water until he was standing on the surface. Naruto had been three and immensely impressed. He had harped on about it for months to follow, pestering the old man to show him the trick again but to no avail. The old man said the next time Naruto saw the trick he would be doing it himself. That had been the best present Naruto had gotten, even though it a mere promise and nothing substantial.
Naruto turned down a small alley that would open up to his street. The day was pleasant and there were no clouds in the sky, and added to the euphoria Naruto was feeling, Naruto was not in the least bit scared of walking down a dingy alleyway. But he should have been for after a few seconds he heard a noise behind him. He stopped and turned, his face screwed up in confusion, confusion which only mounted as Naruto saw nothing behind him. Naruto turned round only to bump into something rock solid and drop his groceries. The brown paper bag prevented the groceries from scattering on the ground and getting spoiled. Naruto looked up and saw a boy of no more than thirteen standing in front of him. The boy's face was partly covered in shadow so Naruto could not judge who he was, but even so Naruto had the odd feeling that the boy was slightly smiling.
"I'm sorry," Naruto said bowing before he knelt down to pick up the fallen groceries. A foot suddenly stomped down on his hands, hard. Naruto have a scream of pain and tried to pull free to no avail. He looked up, the first vestiges of fear in his eyes.
"…what?" Naruto said slowly. "I said I'm sorry. I promise to look where I'm going next time-"
"That's not enough," the boy said suddenly, that constant smile on his face.
"What?" Naruto said again, fear now evident in his voice. A manic gleam came into the boy's eyes.
"Hold him," the boy said. Suddenly Naruto found himself dangling in the air, both his arms held in vice like grips. He looked left and right and saw two people had appeared, a boy and a girl, and were now holding him up. As he looked into the first boy's eyes, Naruto opened his mouth to scream but suddenly he felt a great fear building in and around him, an irrational fear that forced all the air out of his lungs and prevented his from even struggling as the first boy ripped open the brown paper bag and desecrated the groceries that would have made up the bulk of Naruto's birthday feast. Every piece of food was trodden on, spat on and urinated upon. Silent tears streamed down Naruto's cheeks. He hiccoughed. This seemed a wrong move for the first boy suddenly turned toward him, and that irrational fear that clutched at his heart with a vice like grip returned threefold. The boy walked up to him until their eyes were an inch apart.
"I bet you don't even remember them," the boy said softly, his tone neutral.
"W-w-what?" Naruto managed to hiccough. The boy's eyes narrowed.
"No, I bet you don't, demon." The tears returned with new vigour and Naruto had to fight hard not to bawl like a baby.
"What are you talking about?" Naruto practically shouted, the sound of his own intermittent sobs making Naruto shout to be heard.
"My parents, little demon, are what I'm talking about. You took them away from me four years ago-"
"What are you talking about!?" Naruto shouted even louder, tears freely flowing down his cheeks. The boy's eyes narrowed. A second later Naruto was gagging, saliva dribbling out of the corner of his mouth. The boy's fist was buried deep in Naruto's stomach.
"You took away my parents," the boy continued as if nothing had happened, "and now I will make you pay for it. I have waited long for this, pushing myself day and night to graduate from the Academy with the skills I need to destroy you … and now I will get my revenge." Another fist landed in Naruto stomach, and another, and another. The terror that had been growing in Naruto multiplied into unknown proportions. The pain at first was indescribable, but slowly it reached mind-numbing levels. Naruto slowly became detached to the whole experience, his mind seeking refuge from what his body was experiencing. He watched as the boy, the Genin, meticulously work on his body, inflicting wounds thoroughly so that no part of Naruto's body escaped. Naruto started to drift toward unconsciousness but the boy seemed to realize his victim was passing out. The boy took a few steps back and took deep breaths. Naruto saw the boy doing some weird gestures with his hands. A second later Naruto came fully awake. He looked around. The world seemed to be … melting. The boy in front of him and the two holding him seemed to be shedding their skins to reveal their inner selves. Naruto's eyes widened as he saw the demonic creatures the kids were inside.
He screamed…
…and screamed…
And finally the cold grip of unconsciousness touched him, and he gratefully embraced it.
XXX
White. That's all he could see. He closed his eyes to moisten them and then opened them once more. Everything was still blurry and white. But slowly it came into focus. He was looking at a ceiling. Confusion gripped him as he wondered where he was. His whole body felt stiff and he couldn't move at all. When he tried there was a small shiver that went all the way through him. It was almost as if great pain was being blunted by something. He lay there for a long time, trying to force his mind to go blank but getting disturbing images instead. Finally his willpower broke and all the events that had happened flooded into his mind. Tears started running down his cheeks as the remembered pain and humiliation. After whatever that strange kid had done with his hands, and the things Naruto had felt and seen as a result, Naruto had lost all bodily functions and had emptied his bowls. But that had not been the end. As Naruto had fallen to the ground, his eyes wide and unseeing, tears running down his cheeks, the girl who had been holding him had run off and came back minutes later with a group of people in tow. The group had steadily increased in size but they had all kept strangely quiet. That had been when Naruto's nightmare had started. Unimaginable terror had come in the form of potentially a hundred villagers and shinobi venting their anger and hatred and finally getting revenge and reparation for what the Kyuubi had done. Tears started going down Naruto's cheeks. What had he done to deserve this? All of his short life had been spent enduring other people's animosity. Why? He had tried to hide his pain and confusion but it never changed, even when he tried his best to befriend other children. All he got in return were hurtful remarks, sometimes violent actions toward him, and cold looks from the parents.
"Why?" Naruto did not realize until a minute later that the question had come from him. His voice was thick and choked with emotion. His pillow was wet on both sides of his face as he cried even harder.
"Are you sure you want to know?" Naruto started at the voice. He had thought he was alone in his room. He strained his neck forward and saw that Kenji was seated at the foot of his bed. The old man, his only companion, looked even wearier and older than ever. Sadness and sympathy were in Kenji's eyes. The old man couldn't help it. Sitting there, he could see Naruto for the four year old boy he was. The raw pain and confusions was evident from Naruto's facial expression and the tears. Looking at him now, covered in bandages apart from his eyes, nose and mouth, Kenji could not comprehend just how people could do this to Naruto.
"You're the one who saved me," Naruto said. He suddenly remembered Kenji appearing at the end of the alleyway. For the first time in ages, Kenji's old man appearance disappeared and was replaced by something … more vital. Kenji transformed into a warrior. Maybe it was because of this new presence of power that he got noticed. Within seconds the alleyway had been deserted as the shinobi and villagers ran away, not wanting to be found out and identified by the Demon Fox's guardian. Kenji could have captured them all and made them pay dearly, and he nearly did, but the sight of his young charge mortally wounded and bleeding lifeblood onto the cold cobblestones had halted the murderous Kenji in his tracks. Right then and there Kenji's main concern had been to make sure Naruto lived, which was only just barely. Kenji had taken Naruto to the Hospital but the medics had been frightfully slow to act. However, once Kenji had incapacitated the uncooperative ones in the blink of an eye, and plus the fact that the Hokage had caught wind of Naruto's situation, the Hospital's main priority had been to save the youngster.
"Yes," Kenji replied simply. He closed his eyes. "I'm not sure this is the right thing, but I think I should tell you. You deserve to know."
"To know … what?" Naruto asked, all his crying having lent his voice a croaking quality. Kenji took a deep breath and looked into Naruto's eyes.
"Four years ago, as you probably know, on the tenth of October, Konoha was attacked by the Kyuubi no Yoko, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. Many people died that day, although thankfully the village itself was spared. The Demon Fox was unstoppable. Its power was simply too great. A third of the Konoha's shinobi died simply trying to stop the Demon Fox from attacking Konoha, and quite a few villagers died trying to flee the village as it became apparent that Konoha would be destroyed. However, when things seemed bleak, salvation came in the form of the most powerful ninja that ever came out of Konoha; the Yondaime Hokage-sama. He knew the Demon Fox could not be killed, it was simply too powerful. But he knew of another way. Using a jutsu he had created, the Shiki Fujin, the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, the Fourth sacrificed his soul to the Death God, Shinigami, and pulled the soul of the Kyuubi out of its corporeal form and sealed it inside the body of a new born baby. But since the Kyuubi is nothing more than a large mass of sentient chakra, the Fourth was not in fact sealing the Kyuubi's soul but simply sealing away its chakra into the baby boy. The Fox was not killed by the Fourth as most believe; it was put away into a cage and the baby boy became the Fox's jailor." Kenji stopped, gathering breath to finally tell this child of his burden.
"That child … it was me … wasn't it?" Naruto's tone of voice was resigned, a tone of utter helplessness. Kenji looked at the boy who spoke like a man and he felt his eyes moisten. Some things in the world were just plain wrong.
"Yes," Kenji replied. "The child the Fourth used to imprison the Kyuubi in, it was you." Naruto let out a breath and settle back into his bed, facing up at the ceiling.
"That explains a lot of things," Naruto said, more to himself than to Kenji. "I always asked myself what it was about me that other people didn't like. Why did they look at me with those cold eyes? Why was I the only person without any friends? Why did I suffer like this day and night? What was the reason?" Kenji's eyes widened as his young charge revealed his innermost thoughts. Kenji had never suspected that Naruto thought like this. How had the boy hidden such feelings from an experienced shinobi like Kenji?
"Naruto…" Kenji could not think of anything to say. How could he comfort the child?
"No, Kenji, don't," Naruto admonished. "This is my lot in life I guess." Naruto closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Kenji could see how broken Naruto was inside. "I'll deal with this. Please leave, Kenji." Kenji nodded and stood up and started for the door.
"One last thing, Naruto," Kenji said. "I have been speaking to the Hokage and the teachers at the Academy and it's been decided that instead of you going to the Academy, you're going to receive tutoring from me. Normally you begin at the Academy at the age of six but I thought it best if you started earlier. That way you will have time to learn the things other children from the Clans and with shinobi parents learn. I will teach you most of the year and you will only go to the Academy a maximum of three months per year for special functions, exams and other such stuff. You will need to get to know your shinobi comrades at any rate. Your lessons begin in a month's time." Naruto nodded and Kenji left the room.
So… Naruto thought. This is my lot in life. My life will never be safe as long as I have this … thing inside me. Well, I will endure, not matter what other people say, think or do. I will not let my existence waste away. I will not sit by idly and let others do this to me ever again. Naruto, through sheer willpower, reached up with his right hand and turned off the morphine drip. He waited an hour before the morphine in his body was negated and the pain built up. He clenched his teeth from the pain and endured. I'm going to be a ninja. I must learn to endure pain and adversity. With this pain in my body, I swear that I will never again freeze up and allow myself to get into a situation like this. I will endure all pain and adversity. I will conquer myself!
With those silent promises, Naruto clenched his teeth and set himself to endure the pain as a ninja must.
XXX
Kenji walked up the stairs toward the Hokage's private quarters. He knocked before he entered. Inside the room it was dark and quiet. The Hokage set on a settee, his eyes closed. These were one of the few moments he got true rest, time to simply relax.
"Kenji, old friend," Sarutobi said.
"Hiruzen," Kenji said as he went and sat on a settee opposite the Third Hokage. Before both men could speak again, four masked figures appeared in the room.
"Hokage-sama," said one masked figure said as he stepped forward. "Word has leaked out that Uzumaki Naruto will be privately tutored to be a shinobi through a program you agreed upon. There is unrest with most of the village. They do not think this a wise decision. We have managed to spread word that the tutor will be a monk from Hi no Tera and that despite being privately tutored, the boy will still be subject to the Academy's rules like any other student." This report was met by silence. The two old men in the room read beneath the impartial tone of voice of the ANBU group captain and into what his own opinion might be. Sarutobi nodded.
"Thank you. Please continue in your efforts, and have two other teams do the same. After what's happened the last thing we need is another troublesome situation. Dismissed!" Sarutobi gave a nod and the ANBU returned it before disappearing. Sarutobi sighed.
"You do know there's nothing I can do about what happened to Naruto, right?" he said. "Politics has blocked everything I could do. The Council is constantly opposing me, their main excuse being that we have finally recovered from the devastation the Kyuubi wrought. If I launch an investigation regarding the Kyuubi's container the villagers will not take that kindly. Simply issuing the decree that forbade anyone from mentioning that night brought an outcry from everyone. This situation … it's too tricky to handle properly. The most I could do would need Naruto's help, which raises two problems; the first being that he would most likely not cooperate for fear of being targeted again or he does not want to appear to be a tattletale; and the second being that no one will take the words of a child who has suffered severe mental and bodily injuries seriously. My hands are bound, Kenji."
"I understand, Sarutobi," Kenji said, and he meant it. While the Hokage was the ultimate power in Konoha, he was still subject to the daily trails and politics all leaders experienced.
Sarutobi's eyes narrowed slightly. "What do you intend to do about this?"
Kenji smiled one of his rare smiles.
"I sometimes forget you know me better than any other man, Sarutobi." He chuckled at this. It was true that sometimes the only person who knew you best was an enemy, or in this case, a former enemy. "But rest assured, Sarutobi, I will not do anything to the scum who abused Naruto. It would prove too easy. No, I'm going to let the boy handle this in his own way. He may be little but today I saw something in his eyes that seemed ancient. He's tough."
"I wish he didn't have to be," Sarutobi said wearily. He sighed. "Sometimes I wish I had never resumed being Hokage."
"But if you hadn't I wouldn't be here, Konoha wouldn't as peaceful as it is now, and Naruto would either be dead or Konoha's greatest weapon."
"True," Sarutobi said.
XXX
"Your shinobi training begins today, Naruto." Kenji and Naruto stood in a forest. Naruto wore a black gi with black sandals, and fingerless gloves; simply put, he was wearing the traditional black clothes worn by ninja. He was crouched before Kenji who was wearing his usual monk's garb of red and orange.
"I am a former ninja and I know quite a few things about shinobi from various countries. I am going to teach you everything I know so you can pass the Academy graduation. After what I told you when you were in hospital, I'm sure you can understand why I want you to only get stronger and stronger. People are going to make life hard for you and try to bring you down, but don't let them. You are my student and you're not going to fail. I am going to take things slow on you, but also very hard. It has been my observance that students are speeded through their learning in their early stages, right at the time when their minds are like sponges too…" Kenji drifted into silence as he saw Naruto's blank look. He coughed.
"Very well, then," Kenji said. He closed his eyes to gather his thoughts. "First of all, don't be surprised if you are the last in your class for years. While your time at the Academy will start when you are six years old, my teachings take patience. I want to get you through everything you will need to become a Genin who can defeat a Jōnin with the help of his teammates. For such a thing to happen you need to become strong individually." Abruptly Kenji felt silent. "Tell me, Naruto, for you to defeat the Hokage, what would need to happen?" Naruto blinked at the sudden change of topic.
"For me to defeat Hokage-sama? I would need to become stronger, of course, very strong." Naruto said it as if he thought it a stupid question. Kenji smiled slightly.
"And what if, and bear with me here, you made the Hokage weak, as weak as a Genin your age, what then? Would you be able to defeat him?" Naruto blinked again, a spark of understanding in his eyes. He nodded, indicating for Kenji to continue.
"What I'm trying to show you here is that you do not necessarily have to possess great jutsu to be strong. Being physically strong is only one part of the problem. The other is that you have to become strong mentally. Being a ninja requires deceit to confuse your opponents and catch them off guard. If you can break down your opponents' moves into simple and easy to understand steps of logic, you can then devise countermoves so that once an opponent who seemed godlike now merely seems like a mortal and very clever human. This is most of what I will be teaching you for I, unlike the ninja clans and other sensei, do not place great emphasis on physical power. And, as a Genin, I do not believe you should possess jutsu that exceed your rank for that will only make you arrogant and lax, and will also attract unwanted attention, and as I already stated, anonymity is a ninja's greatest tool." Kenji closed his eyes again, gathering his thoughts.
"My methods are going to be a mixture of what I have learnt myself from many places, as I said before. I have combined this mixture into a training regimen for you to follow. The training regimen is in a red leather-bound book in my hut." Naruto knew Kenji meant the hut he had paid to have constructed in the forests surrounding Konoha. The old man claimed his mind worked better away from the distractions of the village. Naruto was inclined to agree. "Under my hut is a vault I created. In it are copies of the knowledge I have gathered over my lifetime. The originals are at Hi no Tera, the Temple of Fire. Some of these scrolls and books you will have to learn and some are there so that you might read them at your leisure." Kenji stopped again for a brief moment.
"You have a belief, Naruto. I was surprised when you told me it for not many other ninja share such a belief. You believe to be a ninja is to endure, whereas most others would say to be a ninja is to be a soldier for your village or perhaps to be a ninja is to possess great strength and ninjutsu or something along those lines. Your belief tells me a lot about you as a person and this helps me teach you." Again Kenji stopped. Naruto remained silent as he listened to his sensei. He knew there was a reason Kenji was saying all of this although he did not understand what. Maybe he wasn't meant to.
"Beliefs aside," Kenji continued, "to be a ninja requires chakra. I shall tell you a few things now, even though I doubt you will understand but a few. First of all, chakra is mixture of the physical energy present in every cell of the body, which can be increased by rigorous training, and the spiritual energy in the body, which can be increased by gaining experience and meditation, among other things. I would recommend meditation a lot because it helps calm the mind, it helps you gain more control over your body and your own abilities and for the reason I am going to mention next; you have to be able to mix the physical and spiritual energies in your body to make chakra. Different techniques require different portions of each while a few techniques require solely physical energy and others solely spiritual energy. By meditating and increasing your mind's potential, you also gain the more skill on the range of techniques you can learn and master. Do you understand all that?" Naruto's face was a mask of concentration but after a few seconds he nodded. Kenji continued.
"Understanding and mastering chakra is to understand and master most of the ninja world. But you cannot understand and master the ninja world until you understand and master your own chakra. As I told you, because of the Fourth's technique, you now possess two chakras; one is your own and the other is the Kyuubi's. The Fourth's seal was designed that your body would leak out a little bit of the Kyuubi's chakra slowly until you had mastered it, adding it to your own surprisingly large reserves. At this point in time it is impossible and unadvisable to teach you about the Kyuubi's chakra as you are too young and the villagers still remember the feel of the chakra and they will not take kindly to me teaching you about the Kyuubi. But instead I will teach you about your own chakra so that your feet will firmly be in place on the path to mastering it. It takes years to master one's chakra and it's a long road. I expect by the time you are a Genin you will be close to that juncture, closer than any your age at least." Kenji smiled sadly down at the boy. Even at a young age he could tell the boy understood the reason behind all of this. As his ninja career continued, the people who would dare attack him would be stronger and stronger. If he was to survive he would also need to be strong. Again Kenji felt the wrongness of such a fate on the shoulders of a boy. I hope you had good reasons for this, Yondaime…
"Lastly, in aid of getting your physical levels high, you are to wear these at all times." Kenji moved to one side revealing a small mound behind him. On the forest ground laid items of lead; a breastplate and a back plate joined by leather belts; two braces that went on his forearms; and two curved cylinders, greaves, that would open and close around his shins and calves. "Wear them under your gi." Naruto did so and was surprised by how light they were. Even though they were paper thing he had expected them to be heavy seeing as they were made from metal. Kenji smiled and formed the ram seal. From under his clothes a purple light briefly flickered before Naruto suddenly yelped as his body was dragged down by the increased weight of the artefacts.
"I placed a gravity seal on those. There are twelve levels. You are on the first. By the time you graduate you should be on the seventh level. I also think you should specialize in weapons because in the last decade there has been an alarming drop in any sort of weapon mastery. Ninjutsu seems to be filling up that lot." There was a note of disgust in his voice. "We will start with the basics like shuriken, kunai, senbon needles, and acupuncture needles. You also need a specialty and I think kenjutsu is perfect for you. I will teach you how to use katana, wakizashi, tantō, Dao swords, jian swords, and zanbatō type blades. Each requires different techniques and after a few years we will move onto only one type of blade." Kenji closed his eyes and nodded. "Yes, I think that will amply prepare you for your tenure as a Genin. Very well … do you understand all of this?"
Naruto also closed his eyes and let out a breath. It all sounded so much. He was supposed to learn this all. Eight years did not seem enough. Suddenly a steely edge came into Naruto's frame as he remembered that dreadful day weeks ago. He refused to be caught like that again. He had endured the pain then and he would continue to do so. He would do whatever it took to survive.
"Yes, I understand," Naruto said softly, not knowing that this kind of calm and soft manner was one he would adopt for the rest of his life. "I am ready."