Karma
by Withered Black Rose
Rating: K+
Summary: Jiraiya is forced by one of his former students to take a baby girl named Akeru. Once Akeru grows up a few years though, she's ready to be a ninja! It's up to Jiraiya to teach this girl what she can and can't do.
Warnings: None
Spoilers: None
Pairings: None
A/N: This is a story about an OC named Akeru, which is the Japanese word for "Dawn". She's the daughter of the Fourth Hokage and his girlfriend, Lady Koganeiro Uzumaki. She's a talented little sprite, and this is just the beginning of her many adventures in life.
Disclaimer: Naruto and its characters do not belong to me. They belong to their inspired creator Masashi Kishimoto. I borrow them without permission, but with great affection. This story is for entertainment purposes only; no money is being made from it.
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*What happens when karma comes right around and hits you?*
"Jiraiya, I need you to take Akeru."
*Some people say it doesn't exist*
"Why? Can't you handle her?"
*Other people say it's the undeniable truth.*
"It's....Complicated."
*But even so, what happens when your karma hurts someone else?*
"I don't want to raise a child. Why do you think I don't have one of my own?"
*When it hurts your loved one instead?*
"Please, Jiraiya! She's too much like her father. Here, take her."
*Karma. It's when someone hurts or helps someone else. It's when your own mother abandons you at the tender age of two because you remind her of her brother, your father, Yondanime. Because you are an Uzumaki.
~~Three years later~~
"Well, Akeru, what shall we do today?" It was early morning, just after dawn, and your sensei, Jiraiya, was wondering what to teach you.
"I want to learn to summon toads! Just like you!" You said in a happy tone. You were only five years old, but you were an advanced student. You had easily mastered the clone jutsu, and transforming was a second nature for you. You had learned the basics the day after you were brought here half a year ago. They had taken only a few hours to learn and, in the time after, you had studied every ninja art available. You had studied Tai, Nin, and Gin jutsu for almost a year before getting bored with them. You had then decided to learn the arts of a med-nin. You remembered how impressed Jiraiya-sensei had been when you showed him the book you were reading. It had been a book on the healing properties of plants. He had been so proud!
Now you were sitting on a large rock by the lake shore, waiting for Jiraiya to teach you to summon toads. You had already signed the contract with the toads, so you were ready to go! You closed your eyes and focused your chakra. You felt it swirl about you, a large amount that you couldn't completely control. It swirled and came back to you, staying in your control. For the moment.
"Now make the following signs: boar, dog, rooster, monkey, and sheep." Jiraiya said in a soft, calm, voice.
You finished with the signs and yelled, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" And then you slammed your hands onto the ground.
You stared in amazement at what you had summoned. You had expected to summon a small tadpole, maybe a small toad. But not this. What you saw standing some good sixty or seventy feet above you was a red and orange toad with a sword on his side and a pipe in his mouth. You stared in a slight amount of horror as the toad looked around for who had summoned him.
"Who dares to summon me, the king toad, to this senseless place?!" The toad yelled. You slowly hid behind Jiraiya.
"Well, that's quite a surprise." Jiraiya said to you. To the toad he yelled, "Gama Bunta! It was my student, Akeru. She summoned you."
The toad, Gama Bunta, looked down at you. "This snot summoned me? Haaahhhhh!!!! Nice one Jiraiya!!" He laughed at what he thought was a joke.
That made you angry. You came around from behind Jiraiya and looked up at the toad. Your courage wavered as you realized how tall he truly was, but you refused to be scared.
"Yeah, it was me! The name's Akeru Uzumaki, don't you ever forget it you big toad!" You yelled up at him in your strong upbeat voice. Your Uzumaki-golden hair swirled about your shoulders, your bright blue eyes holding his big yellow ones.
"Uzumaki you say? Well Jiraiya you must not have any luck if you keep getting stuck with all these Uzumaki students." The toad said with a slight chuckle.
"No, I must not. I always seem to get stuck with them. But, then again, they do keep me entertained." He said with a smile and a wink at you. You smiled back at him.
Suddenly you felt your legs go to puddy. You dropped to your knees and the world started to spin around you. You didn't understand what was happening. You tried to stand up but you couldn't move your body. It refused to budge, almost as if all of your strength had just flown out of you. You felt your head go light and fuzzy and then you blacked out.
When you awoke you felt someone holding your head in their lap. It was a woman, that much you could tell. She was softly murmuring a lullaby under her breath. "Golden slumber kiss your eyes, Smiles await you when you rise. Sleep, pretty baby, do not cry, and I will sing you a lullaby. Care is heavy, therefore sleep, while I o'er you watch do keep. Sleep, pretty darling, do not cry And I will sing you a lullaby..." The woman softly sang into your ear, while running her hand over your hair. You kept your eyes closed and stayed that way for several minutes.
You slowly and steadily opened your eyes, seeing the one person you had not expected. You had almost been expecting Tsunade. She had visited several times in the last couple of years and she was often the one who took care of you. The woman who was nursing you now was someone who visited far less often.
"What are you doing here? You never come to visit." You sat up and stared at your mother, Lady Koganeiro Uzumaki.
"That's not true. I've been to visit you before." She said with a frown.
You shook your head. She never seemed to understand how much she had changed you because of the fact that she had given you to Jiraiya. She had completely altered the way you had grown up. With her, you would have been a bit more normal. But with Jiraiya, you enjoyed reading porno, you could draw very funny looking things, and you could summon Gama Bunta. You could do any jutsu you put your hand to. Had you been raised by your mother, you might not be able to do that. But Jiraiya had pushed you. He had constantly urged you to do better. And so you had.
"I wanted to come see you. I miss you. And Jiraiya sometimes needs to be checked on when he has students." She laughed lightly.
You rolled your eyes. "I'm fine. Jiraiya is going to give me off to another sensei anyway. He said that my next sensei is young, beautiful, charming, smart, and hotheaded. She sounds a bit like me."
Your mother blinked. Then she looked down at the ground. "You've grown up so much since I left you here. You have truly matured. I'm almost glad I left you here. You would have turned out a lot worse with me."
"Mother?"
"Yes?"
"Do you...Do you love me?"
"Of course. More than anything in the world."
"That's good."
You sat down and then looked at her. You smiled and put your head back in her lap.
"Sing me my lullaby." You whispered softly.
"Yes my dear." She put her hand back on your head and began to sing.
"Golden slumber kiss your eyes, Smiles await you when you rise. Sleep, pretty baby, do not cry, and I will sing you a lullaby. Care is heavy, therefore sleep, while I o'er you watch do keep. Sleep, pretty darling, do not cry And I will sing you a lullaby...."
