Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2). They are owned by Masashi Kishimoto and Activision/InfinityWard respectively.
Summary: Naruto is taken into the not so capable hands of two mysterious brothers at a young age. As he deals with deadly weapons, cold mentalities, violence, reality, and perhaps worst of all their endless bickering, he somehow manages to become stronger. Of course, when he accepts their training, he probably didn't realize how much it would backfire... And what's all this about gathering up a few of the other junchuriki to join him?
Author's Notes: Hello there people. For anyone who has accidently clicked on my single story in the past, or has decided upon reading it after seeing this, I should like to inform you that this story will suck infinitely less. I'm well aware that I'm certainly no Ray Bradbury, but at least this is an improvement (IMHO). Yes, once again it is a Naruto story with modern tech, however this will be far different. Not even remotely similar characters, pairings, teams or plotline, though the starting premise is similar. And yes, this one will have an actual, noticable plotline. Amazing, right? So, I suppose I should actually bring you the story.
Key:
"Speech"
Thought/Emphasis (You can use the context, can't you people?)
'Onomonopia'
"Demonic/Divine Speech"
Demonic/Divine Thought
/Transmission/
"Writing"
Flashback
And without further ado, I present Blood in the Water, Chapter One.
Chapter One: The Proposal
In the peaceful village of Konohagakure, two careful pairs of eyes stared out from the depths of a dank back alley, watching for their target. They had to be at their utmost attentiveness and ignore the bothersome rodents gnawing at their boots, the putrid stink of rotting food and something possibly of a far more sinister nature. But of course, that was none of their concern at the moment, or ever in all honesty. The only thing one either mind was their objective, and to achieve that mssion, they needed to locate a very unfortunate blonde child.
"Are you sure that he's going to pass this way?" one voice questioned impatiently, in very hushed tones. The undeniably masculine voice was soon met with a confident reply from his partner, who was also male.
"Of course, he has to in order to reach home. Unless you think that a dead last is already capable of jumping on the rooftops."
"Shut up." and with that eloquent reply, the younger sounding of the two voices ceased all conversation. A swigging sound soon followed, followed by a relieved exhaled breath.
"What are you drinking? This is a mission!" The older voice urged frantically at the sound.
"Relax, it's only sake. It's impossible to get drunk off this stuff, you know that." the younger voice replied cooly.
"Whatever, just put it away. NOW." hissed the older, angrily now.
"If I can't finish it now, I see no point in finishing it later." And with that, the younger took one last sip, before the sound of a bottle rolling over a gravely ground was heard.
It seemed as though they waited for another eternity before their patience was finally rewarded with the sight of the shockingly blonde mop of Naruto Uzumaki.
"Shhhhhh. Come on, we'll trail him." the older whispered quickly, excited after all the suspense.
"It's about time, it's been like ten whole minutes man."
Naruto carefully unlocked his apartment, peeking in cautiously before fully entering the dingy, pathetic excuse for a living space. The entire apartment was one moderately sized room, with one claustrophobic bathroom attatched. Splotchy water stains took up a good part of the cream ceiling, and the paint was peeling in the corners of the room. As Naruto walked past his torn, hole-ridden couch and bed, he stepped on a nail which had been sticking up through the worn out, thick tan carpeting. With a yelp of stabbing pain he jumped a good foot into the air, grabbing at his now profusely bleeding foot. He felt the jolt of pain shoot all the way up his leg as he fell back onto his couch.
He stared at his foot in shock and agony. The wound was deep and jagged, and it hurt like hell. However, as he was expecting, it soon began to close. As the skin seemingly melted back together the stabbing pain began to die down until finally it dissapated altogether. This was a normal occurence for him, instant healing. With a grumble he slowly eased himself back off the couch, this time careful to mark the spot where the nail was. This was already done actually, all one had to do was look for the large bloodstain in the carpet.
Walking around the crimson pool, he walked over to his 'kitchen', which was really just a set of cupboards, a one sink, a microwave and a miniature refridgerator. quickly throwing a cup of instant ramen into the old microwave, he opened the small fridge to pull out a carton of milk. He soon realized just how long it had been since he had been shopping when he unscrewed the cap, only to find his nose being assaulted by the rancid odor of curdled milk. Making a disgusted face, he turned his head away and held his arm out as far as he could, trying his best to avoid the horrid odor and find the garbage at the same time. He eventually succeeded when he nearly tripped over it and drop the carton in the can. That would have to be taken out tomorrow.
An obnoxious beeping sound filled the apartment and Naruto quickly opened the microwave to retrieve his ramen. He quickly scarfed down the simple meal before starting his nightly rituals, brushing his teeth and taking a shower. He trudged his way slowly into the main room once more as the sun finally set completely beneath the horizon, and plopped himself down on the couch. Life sucked, but he was okay with that for now. Dragging a blanket off the back of the couch, he turned over, closed his eyes, and attempted to doze off into a calm, peaceful sleep. What was awaiting him was anything but, of course.
He awoke in a dank sewer, the smell of algae and grime penetrating his nostrils, and the sound of ripples in the knee-high water echoed down the long pipe before him. It was very dimly lit, in fact he could barely see ten feet in front of him, and after that it just faded into pitch darkness.
"Where am I?" he called down the pipe, his voice betraying quite spectacularly his unparalleled horror at his current situation.
"Ha. That is indeed a good question!" a voice echoed back in apparent response. The voice was deep, and powerful. Every word spoken seemed to have been dripping with malicious sarcasm. The throaty laugh that followed only served to terrify him further.
"Wh-who are you!" Naruto replied questioningly, his voice beginning to crack as it became louder and ever more panicked.
"Another fair question, stupid boy. Why don't you find out?" the ominous voice replied mockingly. Naruto took a few tentative steps forward and noticed that the dim glow of the tunnel seemed to follow him. Cautiously he continued walking fowards, soon finding that many other tunnels diverged from the main tunnel. He was quickly lost, but it seemed that the cynical prescence didn't want that, as it began laughing quite clearly. Naruto began to mutter to himself as he followed the increasingly hysterical laughter,
"This is just a bad dream, just a bad dream. Oji-san said I could never get hurt in my dreams." Though he whispered it quite softly, his voice still rang throughout the pipes and tunnels and crevices and the prescence latched onto it, breaking out into full-blown cackling. Naruto picked up the pace now, the excitement and adrenaline pushing him faster than before. First walking, then walking faster and faster, then jogging until now he was all out sprinting. He noticed the water level was finally starting to drop to nothing more than a series of small puddles along the tunnel floor.
Finally he came to an absolutely massive room. The entire room was now lit by the glow which had followed the young Naruto, apparently this was an important. Looming on the far wall, reaching up and up, was a massive cage. On the the crack where the two doors of the cage met, as small paper which said merely 'seal', stuck. Suddenly, Naruto was shocked evn more when a huge, shining eye appeared from nowhere and began glaring down at Naruto, who whimpered. He felt much more insignificant now, standing before this monsterous being.
Naruto cried out in surprise when a collosal claw shot out for him. Jumping back in sheer terror, he fell to the ground, tripping over his own hastiness. He soon realized that he did not have to jump back at all, only adding to his rather low attitude. He had forgottent that this was a dream, but of course it was. Then why did it feel so real?
"I-I-I f-found you. Just li-ike you said. Who are y-you?" He whimpered, truly stuttering beyond control now. The being laughed heartily at this, the laughter not so cruel as before, yet still mocking him.
"Indeed you did. I am someone of no consequence, I'm merely a 'tenant', if you will. As to where we are, which I believe was your other question, we're in your head." At this, the gargantuan creature leaned right near the bars, revealing the face of a huge, yet oddly human looking fox. He bared a smile at the young, blonde boy before him, showing cannines the twice the size of the average man. He soon backed away from the bars of the cage once more, receeding into darkness again.
"If we're in my head, does that mean I'm crazy?" Naruto asked, worriedly. Sakura-chan would never like a crazy person, not never.
"Oh hardly. Not yet at least, though it may well be coming. I merely invited you here for a little chat, as it is your birthday today. Yes, I do believe it's past midnight."
Naruto looked up at the creature, now more confused than frightened. "M-my birthday?" He managed to say, his tone showing his loss of direction so far as the conversation was concerned.
"Oh of course. You happen to be very important to my existence at the moment, and as such I wouldn't miss your birthday for the world. No, I thought I should talk to you for once." The fox's tone indicated he hadn't stopped grinning in the pitch darkness that constituted the depths of his cage. "Today is a rather special birthday, isn't it? Turning ten on the tenth day of the tenth month? It only happens once you know." the fox replied cryptically. A moment later he let a fake sigh of distress escape his throat and said, dejectedly, "Oh my, I'm afraid that time is running short. You'll fin that I've left you a birthday present, little fleshling. You may choose whether or not you trust it." Naruto looked on as the cage began to shrink, grow exponentially smaller. The laughter of the fox was even now beginning to fade as the room drew farther away.
"Wait, are you always going to be in my head!" Naruto called after it frantically. He wanted answers!
"Hopefully not. Don't worry though, I assure you, we'll be in touch." there had been something unbearably disturbing about the entire exchange, and Naruto could help but ponder it as the cage finally disappeared completely.
He shot up quickly, shivering in a cold sweat. His shirt was soaked and there was a large spot on his sleeping couch. That was the weirdest dream he had ever had, undoubtedly. It was certainly strange that he remembered it though. He usually wasn't able to recall this much about dreams. But if course it hadn't been real, if it had been, where was that gift that the fox creature had been speaking of? There was no present to be seen, so obviously it had just been a dr- Yet there was something that Naruto had never seen in his life.
A scroll lay on the floor where his blood used to be. Except the blood was no longer there. Instead, there was this strange scroll. It was crimson in color, with a dark red border, like dried blood... No, what a strange comparison. There were many complex symbols and seals around the paper, connected by chains of complex calligraphy. The scroll was wrapped around a single, dark mahogony roller. Naruto carefully inched towards the scroll, weary it's authenticity and safety. Finally, taking a chance he reached out and snatched it up. It didn't explode, burst into flames or otherwise try to kill him, so he figured it was safe. He tried to unroll it only to find it to be unrollable. After fiddling with it for a bit, he finally gave up, plopping onto his couch, dropping the scroll next to him. He looked at it angrily, hating it for doing this to him, when he noticed something he han't seen before. On the side of the roller, there was one word inscribed into the wood.
Blood.
Well hell, it was worth a shot, right? He bit down hard on his thumb, wincing at the sting. he drew his head back and was pleased to see bright red blood swelling up into a bead on his thumb, he carefully wiped it over the end of the roller, waiting to see what would happen. He was not disappointed. The scroll flew open, revealing a mostly blank inside. The only thing that took up the white space, was a small black seal. Within seconds it began to glow and then... a weasel popped out. Hardly a normal weasel of course.
It seemed larger than any weasel should be, though it was no more bulky than the average weasel. It's very was sleek, and pitch black, but when he twisted on turned, writhing playful on the floor, sometimes, at just the right angle, what appeared to be the entire night sky would flash across his body. It was amazing watching it roll about like a child, and see the flashes of starlight, not dimmed by any lights on or shining onto the small creature. Upon closer inspection, the animals nose was platinum in color, and looked much like the metal itself. Naruto tried crawling closer towards it, but it quickly was snapped out of it's care-free play and looked Naruto directly in the eyes, apparently measuring him he stared into it's eyes, Naruto saw a unique feature, it's eyes were completely black, with the exception of the pupil. But it wasn't a pupil, it was a four point star, each one silver in color. It slowly bared it's teeth, showing ivory white cannines which appeared to be made of flame, the image had no depth, much like a fire shown in picture, except the flames were wavering and flickering. It held up a miniscule silver hand defensively when Naruto finally spoke to it.
"Hello there... My name's Naruto Uzumaki. I think that you might have been given to me by someone... In my head." Naruto finished, surprised when the weasel seemed to acknowledge him. It lowered it's paw back to the floor and cocked it's head curiously to one side, staring at him rather oddly now, which Naruto found almost as funny as the creature's previous attempt at hostility. It was then that he noticed the chracoal grey collor around it's neck, and he was rather surprised that he had not seen it before, ad it had red patterning around it. Upon closer inspect it was revealed to be stylized flames that were the patterns in red. Tied to the collar by a piece of string was a small note, which Naruto slowly reached for. The creature submitted and lowered it's head, allowing Naruto to remove the note and begin looking it over. As soon as he did, the weasel began to run around the apartment, looking for anything to occupy itself with. As it began to wriggle it's way underneath one of the couch cushions, he started reading the note.
"Happy birthday kit. Your gift is the second incarnation of the famed Midnight Weasel. Keep in mind that it is an immature and playful demon, but still one of the most powerful creatures one this plane of existence, exceeded only by the tailed beasts. Of course, getting it to use this power might be rather challenging. It likes napping, hiding and dango. Good luck fleshling."
Naruto looked up and saw the creature. He found it rather hard to believe that the small, curious rodent wedged and stuck halfway beneath the cushions of his couch was a demon,
But then again, what do I know?
He smiled at the creature as he pulled himself up and walked over to it, then pulled it out of the cushion. Much to Naruto's surprise, there was yet another note on the creature's collar when he freed it.
"Okay you little creature, let's see what this says." Naruto said calmly as he read the new note.
"It's a he and he can understand you kit." A look of awkward apprehension came over Naruto's face as he read that, looking down and seeing the weasel with a deadpan look on his face.
"Oops?"
Naruto arrived at the academy early the next morning, his backpack still on his back. He had been unable to get the 'all-powerful demon of the night sky' to figure out how to get back into the scroll, so he just had it sitting in his bag, occasionally popping it's head up and looking around at the world fascinatedly.
Naruto sat down in the far back of the class, not even bothering to try to get a seat next to Sakura Haruno, his pink haired crush. Ironically enough, though she couldn't stand him, this struck her more than it bothered him. What Naruto had not realized, was that he had sat directly next to Hinata Hyuga, who was currntly quite red in the face that Naruto had chosen to sit by her, of all people. Finally she gathered up enough courage to say, quietly of course,
"H-h-hello Naruto-kun" Naruto looked over in apparent surprise at this murmured greeting and then smiled widely,
"Hey. Your... Hinata, right?" he asked enthusiastically. He remembered her name even? Hinata was overjoyed, though her spirits soon fell with his next words. "Oh yeah sorry, didn't see ya there. I guess I was kinda preoccuied. If you want me to move away, I will." He continued, his smile faltering a bit with the last sentence. Determined to keep him there, Hinata interrupted his attempt to get up with a quick reply.
"A-ano, Naruto-k-kun. It's okay." As she said it her eyes turned downward somewhat, she couldn't look him straight in the eyes, or she was sure it would overwhelm her. He seemed doubtful of her sincerity though and asked,
"Are you sure?" His cautiousness surprised Hinata, he had never seemed this... Unsure of himself. She nodded carefully in response and Naruto quickly sat down, all his happiness returned. "Thanks Hinata." he sounded just as overjoyed as she felt, though she questioned his statement.
"Why 'thanks' Naruto-kun?" she asked clearly, her confusion overcoming her overbearing shyness. Naruto replied, as if stating the obvious,
"For letting me sit by you." she soon forgot all about her confusion induced coherence and whenever he talked to her for the rest of the day, her replies were nervous and longer than they should have, due to her stuttering. During lunch he actually sat by her, which almost caused her to faint right there and then. He was eating lunch with her! In between bites he continued to talk her ear off about varying subjects, all of which she listened to quite attentively. Finally, as lunch neared he said something that nearly made her cry.
"You know Hinata, you are kinda weird." However, upon seeing the hurt look on her face and the wide eyes, he quickly recovered. "That's not a bad thing Hinata-chan, I mean, I'm weird too, so I guess that makes us... Feathers of a bird or whatever." His quick reply was more than enough to stem the flow of tears and his use of the 'chan' suffix nearly caused her heart to stop. Smiling demurely, she correted him on the saying 'birds of a feather', causing him to feign indignance. His antics caused her to giggle. He then leaned in close, as though to tell a a very important secret and then said in a conspiratory manner,
"Besides, normal people are boring, right?" she giggled even more at this nodded happily, unable to believe just how much fun she was having with her long time crush. Eventually they came to the subject of his bag when Hinata asked curiously,
"Why are you still carrying around your bacpack?" Unable to answer the question truthfully, or so he felt, he made up the most ridiculous sounding answer he could think of. Which just happened to be the truth.
What a coincidence. "I'm hiding an ancient all-powerful weasel that was given to me by a mysterious, magical being inside my head." It certainly sounded ridiculous enough.
By the end of the day, she no longer felt like she was going to faint just from being around him, but more like she was going to burst out of her shell and hug him right then and there. Of course, she would never actually do that, but she could imagine.
Naruto left the academy thinking about his new friend Hinata-chan, and how much he'd enjoyed the day, his tenth birthday.
Wait, it's my birthday today! the realization struck him, not with happiness but with terror. He had completely forgotten it was his birthday, people would start looking for him soon, they'd probably had already checked the academy for him. He quickly rushed home and locked his door before anyone saw him, hopefully.
Unfortunately this didn't quite work out.
An already drunk villager had spotted him run into his apartment, and stumbled off down the street, trying to find the mob that he knew was forming. Within the hour a rabble of villagers stood outside Naruto's apartment, yelling insults and throwing objects, while Naruto sat in corner of his apartment, holding his new pet closely to his chest and cowering in fear. They'd found him again. A brick came through the window and landed heavily with a loud 'thunk' just a foot or so short of him, causing him to flinch and begin to shake even more, and for the weasel to let a sweak of fear escape. The mob stayed for hours, throwing bricks and other objects, an unlit molotav cocktail even flying through the window nce, and a lit one hitting just below his window, the flames dying out on the brick of the exterior after the alchohol burned away. To Naruto it seemed like an eternity, especially after they had begun banging and slamming against his door. Naruto was only lucky that Ojii-san had reinforced his door.
Many hours later, after the mob had finally dispersed, of it's own accord, a soft knocking came to his door, quite unlike the drunken pounding he had been hearing. A kind voice came through the crack underneath the door, an understanding voice.
"Naruto Uzumaki? Come to the door, we're not here to hurt you." Naruto loosened his tight hug of the creature in his arms, but it stayed with him. "Come on Naruto, we just wanna talk to you. Please ope-" The kind voice was cut off by a louder, more obnoxious voice, and far harsher as well.
"He's not gonna open the door for you if you ask him like that, why should he trust you? Look kid, we're not going to hurt, unless you keep this door closed. You can either let us in, or we can let ourselves in, and if that has to happen I'm gonna kick your ass." It was hard to argue with that logic, though Naruto stayed curled up regardless. "Look kid, I'm going to count to ten. Those villagers might not have been able to bust down the door, but you can bet that I can." He began to count down. Finally giving up, and surrenduring to his fate, Naruto quickly whispered to the weasel,
"Hurry, get in my bag and stay there!" as he held the backpack open. The small creature quickly scurried in, athen turned around, watching him with wide, expectant eyes. As the boy, Naruto realized that he couldn't be more than 15, reached three Naruto ran over to the door and opened it slowly, eyes downcast and defeated. He braced himself, ready for the blows he knew were coming, only to feel none. He looked up, confused, and saw two teenagers standing over him, eyebrows raised.
"What?" The younger of the two asked when he saw the confused look that came over Naruto's frightened features.
"You're not hitting me?" This evoked an even higher rise in the eyebrows of his teenage visitors.
"What?" the response cam eagain, but this time was followed by another statement. "Whatever kid. Mind if we come in? Of course you don't, move aside." and with that the younger of the two pushed past him into the apartment. After a quick glance around the room, he dropped lazily onto the couch and waited for his elder to get situated. The older then walked into the roon, but gave the apartment a somewhat more detailed sweep.
"This is where you live?" He asked Naruto gently. Naruto nodded and the older grew angry. "Absolutely pathetic." he spat, though Naruto could tell the statement had not been directed at him all. It had been directed at the village elders, and the Hokage, and anyone who might have been responsible for Naruto. He walked over to the couch as well, but remained standing. Partly out of an attempt to retain his dignity, and partly because the younger man took up the entire couch in languid lounging about. Now Naruto had a chance to see what they look like. He immediately knew that they were related, closely. Probably brothers even. The same light tan, the same olive green eyes and dark hair. The same smooth, yet utterly masculine chins. If not for the obvious age gap, he would have bet money on them being twins. But there were differences. Even at such a young, undeveloped age, the younger of the two seemed almost scruffier, tougher than the older. He seemed stronger, and somehow his appearance gave off a vibe of restless, unrelenting ruthlessness. He seemed merciless, quite the opposite of his older counterpart. He seemed calmer, cooler. Not superior intellectually, nor did the younger appear stronger physically. Ability wise they seemed quite equal. But the older seemed kinder, gentler, a guiding hand as opposed to the younger who seemed as a clenched fist. His musing were interuppted by the older talking to him.
"Naruto. My name is Alexander, and this is my younger brother, Levi. Me and my brother have an offer for you, and we dearly hope that you accept." he turned to his younger brother, as if this conversation had been planned.
"Yeah, we would like to train you. Have no doubt, you would be far more powerful than any of those so-called 'ninja' that you go to school with. But before you accept, I think that Alex has some kind of disclaimer or something. I don't get what we need to warn you about or whatever." He ended, allowing the Alexander to finish.
"He deserves fair warning Levi." Alexander then turned to Naruto.
"The training will be brutal, hard. And you will lose something after all is said and done. You will have to abandon this place for awhile too. Are you willing to give up that much to become stronger Naruto? Are you willing to give up a part of yourself?"
"What do you mean? A part of myself?"
"I'm afraid that it can't be explained. You just have to decide. Will you choose the difficult path?" Levi interjected at this. His voice seemed less bold, not less confident, but more controlled and serious.
"Think long and hard, and make sure you know which path is the hard one before choosing. You'd better start thinking now, you've got two weeks." And in the blink of an eye, they were gone.