-1Disclaimer: I do not own naruto.
Emonaru: Welcome back my old readers and hello new ones! It's a pleasure to meet you!! Um this is another planned fic so please do not request pairings for it! There might NOT even be any pairings….and if there are they're gonna be YAOI! And this is my very own private project. So if you don't like it go read another of my many other stories! . " I'm writing this story for myself only. I just wanted to take a crack at this idea that's been swinging in my head for a while now. I would like to know if you like it though!
Warning: OOCness, violence, slight AUness (It's a village fic, but it won't follow the story line, not really anyways, I'm gonna make up a lot of stuff).
One more thing if you review: Don't say I'm just switching naruto and Sasuke's role on certain events. If you do I'll post the next chapter after a very longggg time, instead of a week's wait.
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xxX-Prologue-Xxx
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In a remote small village hidden in the mountains lay a town in ruins, ablaze in hellish fire. The sky was blackened with smoke. The air tainted with the strong metallic smell of blood. The dead lay broken on the floor like rag dolls. The few who still survived stood and fought bravely. A group of ninja cloaked in black capes and faceless masks descended on the city like a black cloud. The screams of the victims erupted almost immediately. More blood was shed.
On a mountain that overlooked the broken remains of a once proud village stood a little boy clad in blue with light blond hair. A man stood at his right. He like the ninja's below was also clad entirely in black and his face too was hidden behind a faceless mask. The boy could only stand and watch as his village , his home was destroyed before his very eyes.
"Why…?" the boy asked with a tremble as he turned to face the ninja tearing his eyes away from the horrible scene. His heart quailed under his chest as the ninja lowered his mask, revealing a horribly familiar face. And then he snapped. The familiarity of the face breaking him and his emotions overflowed as he opened his mouth to speak.
" Why did you do this brother! Why?!" He screamed as tears streamed down his cheeks. "How could you destroy our home! Our friends!!! Our family!! How!! Why did you do this…just please tell me why brother" his voice lowered to a heartfelt whisper. His eyes pleading him to explain all this horror.
"Sacrifices must be made little brother." His older brother answered dispassionately. He pulled the mask back on his face and reached for his bloodied katana. He walked forward, the katana glinting malevolently. Images of his parent's slit throats flooded his mind. He shook as his elder brother continued to draw forward. Images of his friends, the villagers being slaughtered one by one by his brother continued to invade his mind.
"No." he whispered as his brother drew forward. He stumbled back, as fear overtook him. "NO!" and he ran. I'm scared, I'm scared!!!
His feet carried him to the forest. His breathing was getting labored. His vision blurring. He didn't know how long he would last then a leaf rustled and pain erupted. He stumbled and fell forward on his knees with a cry.
A long katana blade was protruded from between his right shoulder blade. He looked up only to find his brother face a mere inches from his own. His brother pulled back his katana back sharply wrenching another scream of pain from him. Cold eyes surveyed him.
"Please don't kill me!" he choked out as blood streamed from his wound. Tears running down his cheeks helplessly. "Please I don't want to die!!"
"Such a disgrace otouto. As pitiful as this village is at least they fought and died like any true shinobi would have" His brother said coldly. His mask gone from his face once more, his contempt visible. The blonde flinched. " You were always so weak little brother. I will not sully my hands with the blood of a weakling. I will let you cling to your pathetic life. So go ahead and run. Flee little brother."
"But remember this otouto I only spare you at a whim. And if you ever wish to avenge our fallen village then live to kill me, live to destroy me. Live in hate and anger, live to kill the one who murdered your family, the one who destroyed everything you once knew and cherished. Live in everything that will make you powerful and use it to destroy me. One day I will come back otouto. Do not disappoint me when the time comes." and then as swiftly as he had come his brother disappeared in a small gust of wind.
The boy stared numbly at the sky for a second and then picked himself up. His feet carried him back to his destroyed village. Not a soul stirred. It seemed the ninja's have done their job well. Ran through his mind with no emotion. Everything felt so numb. So surreal.
Like he was in a dream. No a nightmare. The bodies of former friends and villagers were littered all over the floor. He passed by them without a glance. His wound was getting steadily worser, his vision was blurring so badly he could barely make out any shapes. And the realness of the situation had still not sunken in.
His house lay in ruins like the other houses were. He opened the battered and bloodied door and walked to his parents room. Across the bed lay his parents eye sockets empty and faces drawn in surprise and horror, their throats slit. For a second all he did was stare and then reality crashed upon him. The deadly suffocating silence that had descended on the village was broken by a bloodcurdling scream.
A scream so full of agony and anguish that it left him reeling. He didn't know how long he screamed but as his voice broke he fell on his knees and crawled forward toward his parents bed and sobbed. And as his vision blurred and faded away he heard the sound of footsteps. Voices began to shout. He struggled to stay alert as a horrible realization hit him , maybe…,maybe his brother had second thoughts and had decided to finish the job, but he was too tired and soon,unwillingly, gave in to the darkness….
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The village had been annihilated. That was the only way he could describe it as they made their way through the broken remains of the village. The bodies were torn beyond recognition. This had not been just been a village raid. It had been a full blown assassination of a village. Sarutobi, the Sandaime, thought as he and a handful of anbu searched for any survivors.
The attack had been swift, he observed. And not only that but it was carefully orchestrated. Whoever had attacked had planned this well. It had taken the whole village by surprise and in that few seconds received a death blow. It was unheard of that such a thing could of happened to hidden village of cloud , who had been one of the top villages in fire country with the most elite jounin and medical nin's.
"Are there any survivors?" Sarutobi asked a anbu as they gathered together to share information. Each had to go in pairs of two for precaution. It wouldn't bode well for them if the enemy was merely lying in wait. It wound end disastrously especially with such a formidable enemy..
"Not yet Sandaime sama," a eagle masked anbu answered. "We haven't checked the Hiwatari household yet. We've reported sightings of the enemy fleeing. They managed to escape us I'm sorry to report tough."
" I see. We'll deal with them later then." Sarutobi said with a wave of his hand. "Let us proceed to the Hiwatari household now shall we. The rest of you scour ahead." With that said he walked forward followed by a silent anbu. The rest bowed respectfully and dispersed.
They reached the Hiwatari mansion in minutes. It was magnificently still standing but it was still as heavily charred as the rest of the village. They entered cautiously. The house was ominously quiet. And as they looked around the silence was broken by a bloodcurdling scream that seemed to cut at the silence with a knife. Sarutobi felt the hair at the nape of his neck rise.
He followed the noise with great urgency. Someone had survived this horror. And it sounded like a young child. It was growing fainter. He made his way to the master bedroom and swung the doors open and ventured in. On a bed sobbing was a blond little boy, barely six years old cuddling to the bodies of his deceased parents. The sight was heart wrenching to the kind hearted hokage.
"Genma get a medic nin now!" Sarutobi shouted as he rushed forward. The anbu nodded and disappeared in a poof. This was bad. There were no immediate medic nin's on the team sent out today, merely anbu. All medic nin's were back in konoha at the moment. The hokage shook of this thought and focused on the situation at hand.
Hauntingly familiar sapphire eyes gazed at him dazedly with fear. Then they rolled back and the body of the boy lurched forward. Sarutobi caught the boy in his embrace and examined him with a critical eyes. He checked the pulse and heard with horror the heart beating erratically and rapidly…. slowing down. The boy would die soon if nothing was done! The blow dealt to him had been too close to his heart! And as he checked the boy shirt he saw the blood was not of his parents but his own!
"Hokage sama!!" the now identified shinobi named Genma shouted as he rushed into the room with a medic in tow. Tsunade, Sarutobi identified with relief. Tsunade was one of his most accomplished student and one of the best medic nin in konoha. He shook it off quickly and turned more serious in the next second however. Right now was not a time to get distracted. A life hung in the balance right now.
" I came as soon as I could hokage sama! Now what happened!?" Tsunade shouted as she pulled out her medic tools and started to apply pressure on the wound on the small blond with her chakra. Her eyebrows creased in worry as the blood continued to pour from the wound. Her hands shook. It was happening all over again. She wasn't going to save him. She couldn't even save a little kid. Like she couldn't save Dan or her precious little brother…
"Tsunade! Get a hold of yourself women! A life hangs in the balance!" Sarutobi barked. Tsunade shook her head and with a determined look applied more pressure on the wound with more chakra. The blood stopped rushing out and she began to bandage him carefully. She grimaced at the gaping hole. Who could of done this to a little kid?!
"He's gonna be okay now." Tsunade informed the hokage. "I have him stabilized now. But we need to get him to a hospital fast. He's not in any immediate danger but another attempt on his life right now will destroy him. And should that occur not even I will be able to save him."
"Yes, I agree." Sarutobi said with a nod. Then he turned to the anbu and addressed him. "Genma call back all surrounding anbu's. There's nothing else we can do here. We're going back to konoha." Genma nodded and disappeared in a puff.
"What happened?" Tsunade repeated as she gestured to the blond and then paused as she surveyed the dead bodies on the bed. And then she pressed her hands to her mouth as she looked in horror out the window and saw the bodies of other villagers scattered on the ground. "Oh my god."
"The hidden village of cloud has fallen." Sarutobi informed with a grim face. Tsunade whirled to face him her face portraying her incredulity and horror at the news.. "How can that be!? Cloud is strong! Who could have been strong enough to defeat them?"
" We don't know at the moment. I'm having anbu investigate it as we speak. The council is not gonna be happy with this news." Sarutobi informed and sighed tiredly. This would really not sit well with the council.
Tsunade shook her head in distress but shook it off and addressed the more important issue. "Do we know the number of casualties? How many have survived?" Sarutobi remained silent so tsunade pressed forward. "This is important hokage sama! I need to know how many more medic nin's konoha will need to send if the situation is as dire as you say it is!!!"
Sarutobi didn't answer but walked forward and headed to the boy. He ran his hand through the unruly blond hair and faced tsunade and finally answered in a grim voice. "He is the only survivor Tsunade. Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto."
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TBC….
