The tale of the DDD
Chapter One
The night was still and quiet on the road to Konoha. The only noise to be heard, a quiet crunch, crunch of footsteps. A red haired boy walked along, hefting a large backpack on his shoulders, the top just going over the top of his head. As he looked ahead, he could just barely see the great walls of the village hidden in the leaves.
A grin split his face as he saw the great Hokage faces sculpted into the mountain. "I finally made it" He muttered under his breath. "Finally, after all these years of roaming, I'm finally here..."
Before he could take any more steps towards the village, he heard yelling from the forest to his left. He frowned as he turned in the direction of the noise, craning his head as he strained to hear what was being said, but to no avail. His frown deepened, and he leapt up into the trees, sticking to the nearest branch with chakra before pushing off from it, propelling himself further through the leaves. After only a minute or so, he found the source of the shouting.
He hid himself in the tree leaves as he observed the scene. A boy wearing a horrifically ugly tracksuit was stood in the middle of the clearing looking up with a frightened expression. The boy had bright blonde hair and, oddly enough, 3 whisker marks on each cheek. There was also a giant scroll strapped to his back There was also a man wearing the standard garb of a Konoha chunnin nearby, pinned to a log by several Kunai. He had brown hair styled almost like a pineapple and a scar running across his nose.
Then a voice spoke up from a nearby tree causing the redhead to look up. "Naruto, Iruka's just trying to scare you cause he doesn't want you to have the scroll!" The man speaking had silver hair under a bandanna with the Konoha plate on it. He also wore the standard Konoha chunnin garb, except with two giant Shurikens strapped to his back.
"Huh?" Asked the now named Naruto from the ground.
"Stop lying Mizuki!" The pineapple-headed chunin yelled "Don't let him trick you Naruto!"
But Mizuki simply chuckled. "Oh I'll tell you who's really lying"
Suddenly Iruka's eyes widened. "NO MIZUKI!" He roared, but the silver haired chunin continued.
"They've been lying to you your whole life Naruto, since the decree 12 years ago" Naruto, his eyes filled with confusion spoke up.
"W-what decree?" he muttered. Meanwhile the redhead's thoughts rushed back and forth on what to do as the Konoha shinobi continued to argue. 'Damnit, I'd jump in and try to help, but I don't know who to side with here...Scar face doesn't seem to mean harm to the kid, but that could be just a ploy...and the one in the bandanna seems like a prick, but everyone has their reasons...DAMNIT!' His teeth gritted in frustration but he gasped at what he heard next.
"THE NINE-TAILED FOX IS INSIDE YOU!" Yelled Mizuki, pointing at Naruto with a victorious grin "THE FOX SPIRIT THAT KILLED SO MANY PEOPLE AND NEARLY DESTROYED THIS VILLAGE WAS SEALED INSIDE YOU! YOU ARE THE NINE TAILED FOX!"
"STOP IT!" Howled Iruka, as he struggled against the kunai pinning him to the log. But Mizuki simply smirked and carried on.
"They've all been sneaking around, hiding things from you your whole life!" Didn't you think it was strange how they treated you? Like dirt! Like they hated you for just being alive!"
Naruto's face contorted into a grimace as tears ran down his face. "NO! No no no no no!" he bawled as chakra began to flair up all around him.
Mizuki's grin transformed into a snarl. "That's why you will never be accepted into this village!" He reached back and took a Shuriken from his back "Even your beloved Sensei hates your guts!" He began to spin it in his hand. "NOW DIE NARUTO!" He threw his hand forward, propelling the Shuriken down toward the boy, still paralysed with what he'd just learned. Iruka yelled out in fear, struggling against the kunai that trapped him, but it was unneeded, the redhead had heard enough.
Naruto looked up, paralysed with fear as the Shuriken shot towards him at incredible speeds. Then, just as it was about to hit him, a red and brown blur appeared in front of him, and a loud muffled thud and SQUELCH rang through the clearing. Standing above him grimacing in pain was a red haired boy, who looked about the same age as him, but was about a foot taller. He wore a long brown leather trenchcoat over a dark green T-shirt, with brown shinobi-style pants with many pockets and black trainers. He also had a huge brown backpack over his back, which was now spilling out spare clothes and some packets of food onto the floor, along with a decent bit of blood.
The blonde's eyes continued upwards to the his saviour's face, to be met with bright red hair, pale skin, electric yellow eyes and a huge grin. "Don't you listen to that prick Naruto" He grunted.
"Huh?" Naruto's jaw dropped as he watched the boy grimace in pain for a moment before the grin returned.
"First off, just cause you've got the Kyuubi sealed inside you, that doesn't mean you are the fox, you're it's damn jailer! It's because of you that the beast isn't trashing your village! Second, and don't you DARE let anyone tell you different, having that thing inside you isn't just a curse, it's a blessing too!"
The redhead continued to smirk as he watched the confused look on the boy's face. "Waddya mean it's a blessing? I've got a massive demon stuck in my body and the whole village hates me for it!" The redhead's grin increased as he leaned forward.
"A massive demon...made entirely of chakra!" He hissed in Naruto's ear, delighting in watching the boy's eyes widen even further.
"That power can be harnessed, ya know!" He continued. "I come from the village hidden in the clouds, and there's two people there who have demons inside them, and let me tell you this! They are two of the strongest shinobi in the village! That big monster of yours is one hell of an asset if you learn to use it correctly!"
His speech was cut short when a foot came out of nowhere to kick him away from Naruto, leaving him strewn on the forest floor, face down. Naruto gasped as he saw that two of the giant Shuriken's edges had pierced his back, tearing through his backpack and jacket ,spilling blood everywhere. 'He just saved my life!' Naruto thought. 'And he didn't even know me!' His eyes narrowed as he turned to the leaf traitor, who was still staring at the downed redhead in anger. "Little punk got in the way" he grunted "No matter, I'll just-" his muttering was cut short by an onslaught of POOF noises.
The clearing was now filled with hundreds of jumpsuit wearing blondes, all glaring at Mizuki. "He just saved me, for just about no reason" Growled one Naruto "The least I can do is return the favour!" yelled another. Mizuki's fists clenched in fear as he stared at the army that had appeared from nowhere, but it was too late.
The forest was then filled with the sounds of punching, kicking, and screaming.
Naruto glared down at the unconscious body of Mizuki before a thought came to him. "Iruka sensei!" He spun around and ran up to his teacher, quickly pulling out the Kunai that were pinning him to the log. Iruka just stared down at him
"Naruto, what was that?" The boy just looked up at him with a worried look in his cerulean eyes
"Are you alright sensei?"
"I'm fine Naruto, but...what you just did-"
Naruto just grinned up at his teacher "I kicked his ass good, huh Iruka-sensei?"
Iruka's concerned stare was replaced with a tired smile "Yes, yes you did Naruto" he then turned around to look at the red haired boy on the floor. His eyes returned to their previous state of concern as he ran towards the prone body. He reached out and carefully examined the boy's wounds, removing the Shuriken and then quickly bandaging his back with some gauze from his Kunai holster. Luckily, the thick backpack and jacket had slowed the weapon down quite well, leaving the the cut fairly shallow.
"Is he gonna be alright, Iruka sensei?" Naruto asked, standing behind him.
Iruka nodded, turning back to his student. "I think so, but we should get him to the hospital, just in case. Do you think you could make a few more clones to help out?"
"There's no need" Said a gravelly voice from behind the two. They both jumped and spun around to see an old man at the edge of the clearing smiling at them.
"Hokage-sama?"
"Jiji!"
Naruto immediately dashed forward and hugged the Hokage, who caught him. "I'm sorry Jiji! I'm so sorry!" Naruto shouted as he pressed into the Hokage's chest, who realised with a start that Naruto was crying.
"it's fine Naruto, it's not your fault" He said gently, as he patted the boy on the head.
"But-but I betrayed you, I stole from you!" the blonde whimpered as he continued to hide his face.
"Naruto, Mizuki tricked you, you couldn't have known. If anything, it was my fault for not watching you closer. Besides, even though you made a mistake, you fixed it, didn't you?" Naruto raised his head up to look at the old man's face, sniffling.
"Huh?" he mumbled, confused.
"Yes, you may have taken the scroll, but you stopped Mizuki, and now he will pay for his crimes. In fact..." He reached behind himself, into a back pocket. "I'd say that with the competence you showed in revealing this traitor, your swift defeat of him, and the learning of the Shadow Clone Jutsu to such a degree, warrants you an official-" He revealed what he was holding in his hand, a Konoha Hitai-ate "Promotion to Genin of the village." The boy gaped, before grabbing the headband and quickly tying it to cover his forehead.
The hokage smiled down at him before walking around him to look down at the redhead who was now lying face up with his backpack under his head, still unconscious. He made a small hand gesture and three ANBU members leapt down from the trees. Two grabbed Mizuki, before Shunshining away with him, while the other leaned down over the redhead. They held their hand out and scanned down his body, the green light of Chakra covering their hand. After a minute or so of silence, the chakra faded away. "He'll be fine, Hokage-sama" The ANBU reported with a feminine voice. "His jacket was vey well made, it almost stopped the Shuriken completely. he should recover in a few days. If he's lucky, it may not even scar"
Hiruzen smiled down at him. "So, are you going to stop faking sleep soon or do I need to ask politely?" He asked. The boy's eyes opened, fixing the village leader with an almost lazy smirk
"Hehe, sorry. I prefer to stay a fly on the wall." He looked over at Naruto "Congratulations kid, you're gonna go far."
Naruto grinned back at him "You're damn right I am! I'm gonna be Hokage someday! Believe it!"
The redhead chuckled "I do" he muttered before pushing himself into a sitting position and looking uo at the Hokage with a small smirk "So, you gonna kill me now, or when blondie over there has gone home?" The Hokage's eyes widened in surprise as Naruto watched in confusion.
"Kill you? Jiji would never do something like that...would you?" he turned his head to the Hokage as the redhead spoke up again.
"Kid, you being a Jinchuuriki is such a big village secret that even you didn't know about it, and now not just an outsider, but someone from Kumo knows? Yeah, they're not gonna let that get out-" He was interrupted by quiet laughter from the old man standing above him.
"I'm not going to kill you, young one, in fact..." The Hokage then reached behind his back again, before pulling out another Hitai-ate "You seem like a very competent young man, if you're interested, I could use someone like you in our ranks"
The redhead looked at the headband with distrust. "No way is it that easy"
The hokage nodded at this "It's true, there will be some paperwork to go through, along with a basic questioning by one of our village's interrogators to make sure you're not a spy"
The redhead gulped at this, but nodded "Well...alright, so long as he doesn't actually like, interrogate me..." Hiruzen chuckled again "worry not, I'll be there too, I'll make sure they don't go too far, it'll just be basic questioning. For now though, could you at least tell me your name?"
The redhead grinned at this, before reaching up to take the headband, wrapping it around his wrist tightly and offering his hand to the Hokage to shake it. Hiruzen accepted the shake and the two locked eyes. "The name's Denziel. Just Denziel"
A/N: Well, that was the first chapter of The Tale of the DDD. Please bear with me, this is my first fanfiction I've written, and I'm still trying to get things down. The biggest thing I've been struggling with is paragraph placement, especially during conversations, but with practise and any advice reviews can give me, I'm sure I'll improve.
One last thing, yes I will explain what the "DDD" are...later. if my plans for the story stay on course, it should be explained during or right after the Invasion of Konoha arc.
Thank you for any support you can send me and I hope you look forward to the next chapter as much as I do!