*Edit: I did make some corrections on spelling and grammar. I added some more description in some scenes, and added a bit more to others. A change to the summary was also made. 7/29/15*
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
"Speech"
"Demon Speech"/ Jutsu
Flashback text
"Thoughts"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
He watched as a tattered-clothed blonde ran through the trees and into the clearing. The boy was followed by a dozen kunai that shimmered a shade of purple. The boy dodged to the left and rolled on the ground, but despite his best efforts, two kunai struck his left thigh. Adrenaline blocked the pain, but it could not stop the purple liquid from entering his blood stream.
The blonde boy, unable to run any longer, rested his weight on the large scroll he was carrying. Fatigue pushed the boy to the ground; his shaky legs could not hold him upright.
"It's too late to rest now demon!" The boy's pursuant made himself known, landing on a tree branch adjacent to his prey. The predator, it seemed to Naruto, was a tall man. Naruto could not discern more due to the shadows hiding the ninja's features.
Shifting his eyes to the blonde boy who was being pursued, Naruto noticed the preteen's jumpsuit, a ripped replica of the one he was wearing. Upon further inspection, Naruto saw various cuts along the boy's arms, legs, and torso. If not for the blood and dirt that covered the jumpsuit, Naruto would have sworn that it was the same shade of bright orange that he was wearing.
How had the boy gotten a hold of it? The jumpsuit was his trademark for a reason- he had tailored it himself with scraps of fabric he had snatched during his pranks. His tailoring skills improved over the years; the jumpsuit even seemed store bought.
"Can't talk already? The poison is acting quicker than I thought. I'm sure you can still feel pain though." The light coming from the full moon revealed a typical green chunnin vest wrapped around the man's torso. His face was still hidden in the shadows.
"Oi! Leave the boy alone and go pick on someone your own size!" Naruto's threat landed on deaf ears.
The chunnin jumped down from the branch and began to kick the boy's stomach ferociously. As the chunnin continued to kick, his whispered chuckle turned into a manically laugh.
CRASH! The ninja suddenly stopped as the sound of a tree falling was heard in the clearing.
"I would stay to see you suffer, but somebody has set off one of my traps. It must be that good for nothing Iruka. Thank you for getting the scroll for me, demon-kun!" The chunnin bent down and placed the large scroll on his back.
"The poison will eventually kill you but until then…" The ninja raised his foot and brought it down to the boy's leg. With a sickening crack, the leg bent at unnatural angle, clearly broken. The pain drove the boy into unconsciousness.
"Demon's deserve more than!" A slew of punches met the blonde's face. Wiping the blood of his gloves, the chunnin gave a low chuckle and began to make his escape, but not before setting a small trap for his dear colleague Iruka.
"Hey! Come back here!" Naruto yelled, but the fading figure ignored him.
"Naruto!" A brown haired man broke through the bushes, but instead of running towards the conscious Naruto, he ran towards the unconscious blonde. Iruka visibly relaxed as he found the boy's pulse.
"Iruka-sensei, this boy was beaten by a ninja that left that way," Naruto signaled to the canopy of trees the ninja had used to make his getaway.
"…"
Iruka continued to look after the blonde boy, checking his injuries. Iruka was able to poorly set the blonde's broken leg.
"That would do until I can get him to a medic nin…"
"Iruka-sensei…" Naruto tried again.
"…" Fear began to well up inside Naruto.
"IRUKA-SENSEI!" He was sure that he could hear him, but his teacher paid him no attention.
"Not you too, Iruka-sensei…" His voice an inaudible whisper as tears flooded his eyes. How could his Iruka-sensei ignore like the rest of his villagers? Had it all been an act? Did his teacher not acknowledge him?
One of the blonde's eyes opened; the other was swollen shut. He attempted to open his mouth, but as soon as he did, blood spattered over most of Iruka's face.
"It's a trap, Iruka-sensei. It was Mi…" The blonde warned as he lost consciousness. Iruka, still dazed by the blonde's blood, could not hear the warning, nor could he see the large shuriken that was headed towards his exposed neck.
"No!" Naruto felt pain of being rejected by one of the only men that recognized him. Intent on stopping the projectile at the cost of his own life, Naruto jumped in between Iruka and the shuriken.
SPLAT!
The shuriken met its target. Naruto had felt no pain. It must have been an instant death. He opened his eyes and realized that he was still in the same clearing as a few seconds ago.
"The afterlife sure is weird. Maybe I'm a ghost stuck in the world…" Naruto examined his surroundings. His eyes set on a trail of blood that surely wasn't there before he jumped. Following the trail, he saw Iruka's headless body on top of the blonde boy.
Anger welled up inside of Naruto and everything turned red. Bloodlust took a hold of him as he let out a feral scream. Chakra was expelled from Naruto's body.
"Take his life! He killed Iruka-sensei,"A deep voice demanded as Naruto lost control. The voice let out a demonic laugh as Naruto took to the trees. He did not look back as the blonde boy regained consciousness…
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Naruto awoke drenched in sweat. He attempted to get up, but his body protested. Forcing himself up, he looked around and noticed he was in his one room apartment. He did not remember coming home.
"Heck, I don't even remember anything after that voice…" Naruto thought worriedly. Knowing that he would not be able to fall asleep, Naruto undressed from his pajamas and put on his trademark orange jumpsuit.
"It all felt so real…"
KNOCK! KNOCK!
There was knocking at Naruto's door. He never received visitors at this time of the night. On second thought, Naruto never had visitors. Ever. The only people that actually acknowledged him were Iruka-sensei and Hokage-jiji, but neither of them had once been to his apartment.
Slowly, Naruto grabbed his sharpest kunai, but he knew it was useless; it was as dull as a butter knife! But it was the best he had. Taking a "menacing" stance, he opened the door, ready to attack whoever was on the other side.
Seeing a figure in the moonlight, Naruto lunged.
"Ho, ho, ho, Naruto-kun, you should not attack your visitors that way." The Sandaime Hokage said as he caught Naruto's small wrist.
"Hokage-jiji?! I swear, I didn't steal your orange book!"
"Orange book?" The Sandaime's confusion turned into mild panic as he realized what book Naruto was talking about.
"I didn't paint the Hokage Monument! Yet"
The Sandaime laughed at the boy's antics.
"I just returned from a meeting with the Fire Daimyo, and I wanted to check up on you." The elderly man did not like lying to the young boy, but one did not become the leader of a ninja village based on truths alone.
"He seems normal, if a little tired, but there is nothing out of the ordinary. But that chakra spike was definitely cause by the Kyuubi." The old man examined Naruto with great caution.
"Let's go to Ichiraku's Ramen, my treat. There are some questions I would like to ask you…"
"RAMEN!" Naruto yelled, his nightmare all but forgotten. The duo left the apartment and began to head over to the ramen stand. Neither of them noticed waxing gibbous moon that illuminated the night sky.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The next morning, the sunlight woke Naruto from a restless sleep. After coming home from his favorite ramen stand, Naruto went straight to bed. Sleep, however, eluded him; the scene from the ramen stand played on and on. Fortunately, he was able to fall asleep, even if it was for a half hour.
"Why would Hokage-jiji want to know all those things? Good thing I didn't tell him about the nightmares…"
His body was sore, and for once he could not feel the vibrant energy that usually coursed throughout his veins. It had to be the nightmares that were draining him of his energy.
For the past week, Naruto had been having nightmares. One night, he dreamt that he was late for his Genin exam. Damn alarm clock had fallen to the floor and accidentally turned off. In the same dream, he rushed to his cupboard only to find that it was empty. He had run out of cup ramen. He woke himself up after he spilled boiling water on himself in his dream.
In another dream, he was about to kiss Sakura, and she suddenly turned into Sasuke. Thinking about that one still gave him the chills.
And last night's nightmare had been the worst. He was looking forward to going to the academy and seeing his teacher alive and well.
Deciding to get ready for class, Naruto stepped out of bed, only to step on his alarm clock…
"That's weird," Naruto thought with a sense of déjà vu. He glanced towards his calendar and noticed that today was the day of his Genin exam. He looked at his alarm clock; it was only 11:46.
"EEEHHH! Shit, shit, shit, shit!" Naruto said as he rushed out of bed and back into his jumpsuit. He set water to boil as he went to his cupboard. Opening it, he found his last cup ramen. Sighing in relief, Naruto opened it. He was meet with nothing but Styrofoam. He tossed the cup to the floor.
"Not again!" Naruto screamed while cursing the "crooked shop owners" who sold him empty cup ramen. The water boiling in the pan was now useless, so Naruto decided to take it off the stove. As he grabbed the pan, he slipped on the cup and spilled the water on himself.
"Ahhhhhhh!"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Naruto busted into the classroom, panting from exhaustion. Not sleeping, along with not having breakfast, was finally catching up with the boy.
"Naruto, where have you been?!" Iruka demanded. "We were supposed to start half an hour ago!"
"Eh, I was lost on the road of life?" Naruto said, recalling the silver-haired cyclops that helped him train in one of his previous nightmares.
"He sounds like Hatake Kakashi," Iruka thought. "Never mind that go take a seat."
Naruto looked around the classroom, looking for Haruno Sakura, the prettiest girl in their class. Finding her pink hair, Naruto began to make his way to the open seat next to her. She looked his way, and her eyes grew wide as she realized where he was going.
"Naruto-baka, go sit somewhere else, I worked hard to get this seat next to Sasuke-kun. We deserve to be alone," Naruto ignored her and sat next to her.
"But Sakura-chan, how else am I supposed to ask you for a date if I don't sit next to you?"
"BAKA!" Sakura screamed as her fist connected with the blonde's face.
Once Naruto regained consciousness, he took the first seat available. Unfortunately for him, it was not next to Sakura.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The Genin exam was compromised of four sections: a written test, taijutsu, ninjutsu, and genjutsu. Luckily for Naruto, the written test only asked for the bare minimum; even a first year academy student could pass it. But Naruto still struggled.
The taijutsu and genjutsu tests were on a one-to-one basis. To pass the taijutsu test, the student had to simply land a hit on the proctor, who was only allowed to block and rotate in place. Naruto, with his unorthodox style, surprised Mizuki, an assistant chunnin, and landed his hit within the first few seconds.
Naruto was dreading the genjutsu test. They were required to dispel a poorly done E-rank genjutsu within a minute of it being administered. However, Naruto never noticed when they were cast in class. Feeling nervous, Naruto followed an unknown chunnin to the genjutsu testing room.
"Like hell I'm going to let this demon pass," The proctor murmured to himself.
"Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu" (Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique)
A swirl of leaves enveloped Naruto as Sakura walked through the door.
"Naruto-kun! I finally realized that you're the love of my life. Kiss me!"
"YATAAA! I knew this day would come!"
Naruto leaned in, and just as both of their lips met, Sakura turned into an enraged Sasuke. Realizing that he had just kissed Sasuke, Naruto panicked and threw up, dispelling the illusion.
"What!?" The proctor said as he felt Naruto unwillingly dispel the genjutsu.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Naruto, just make me two bunshin and you can become a Genin of Konoha."
Naruto was filled with dread as Iruka guided him through the last part of the ninjutsu test. He could never perform the Bunshin technique. He was determined to succeed. Concentrating all of his chakra, Naruto yelled,
"Bunshin no Jutsu" (Clone Technique)
Smoked filled the room as a hundred copies of Naruto appeared, yet none of them looked like the real Naruto. Some had extra arms, some were missing arms, one had red hair and green eyes, and another had no face.
"Naruto! You fail again!"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Naruto was sitting on a swing, far from the newly-minted Genin. Disappointment was evident in his face. He had failed. He would never be a shinobi now. He would never be Hokage. Nobody would acknowledge him. He was a failure; he was a monster.
Mizuki came up to him, offering a stick of dango. Naruto kept on looking forward with the same blank expression.
"Naruto-kun, don't be disappointed. There is still a way you can graduate…" Upon hearing these words Naruto looked up, hope residing in his eyes.
"Eat up and listen…"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Naruto heard the whistling of kunai coming behind him. He attempted dodging to his left, only to trip on a root. If not for his expertise of falling gracefully, Naruto would have remained on the floor. To an onlooker, it seemed as he purposely rolled.
He felt a sting on his right thigh, but he paid no mind to it…
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
(Flashback)
Naruto had finally succeeded at learning a jutsu from the scroll.
"Now Mizuki-sensei will let me graduate." He said to no one in particular.
Suddenly, a slew of kunai grazed the blonde. Mizuki stepped out of the shadows.
"I always wanted to hunt a demon!" A crazed look adorned Mizuki's face.
Naruto tried to run, but his body felt stiff.
"Poison in the dango and on the kunai. I'll still give you a head start…" Mizuki laughed as Naruto disappeared into the trees.
(End Flashback)
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Naruto's muscle stopped reacting and he took the support of the Forbidden Scroll he had stolen from the Hokage's office.
"It's too late to rest now demon!" Mizuki said as he landed on a branch.
"…" Naruto tried to talk, but his mouth was too numb.
"Can't talk already? The poison is acting quicker than I thought. I'm sure you can still feel pain though." Mizuki took a step forward before jumping down to the ground in front of Naruto. He released a onslaught of kicks to Naruto's stomach as he laughed in glee.
CRASH! Mizuki suddenly stopped his assault as the sound of a tree falling was heard in the clearing.
"I would stay to see you suffer, but somebody has set off one of my traps. It must be that good for nothing Iruka. Thank you for getting the scroll for me, demon-kun!" Mizuki bent down and placed the large scroll on his back.
"The poison will eventually kill you but until then…" Mizuki raised his foot and brought it down to the boy's leg. With a sickening crack, the blonde's leg bent at an unnatural angle, clearly broken. The pain drove the Naruto into unconsciousness.
"Demon's deserver more than!" A slew of punches met the blonde's face. Wiping the blood of his gloves, the Mizuki gave a low chuckle and began to make his escape, but not before setting a small trap for his dear colleague Iruka.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The first thing he saw when he opened his eye was Iruka. He opened his mouth to speak, but he only coughed up blood,
"It's a trap, Iruka-sensei. It was Mi…" Naruto lost consciousness a second time.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Take his life! He killed Iruka-sensei,"A deep voice told Naruto, waking him in the process. He looked down at his chest and saw headless body. He lost all control, expelling a great deal of demonic chakra in the process. With slit-blue eyes, Naruto scanned the perimeter, searching for Mizuki's trail. Finding the trail, Naruto took to the trees, unaware at the demonic laughter that coursed through his mind.
As you can see, things can be rather dark. The killing of Iruka was a necessity; I could not realistically change Naruto without drastic changes. Leave a review and tell me what you liked, hated, things that need improvement. Anything is welcome.
